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I ::heart:: my GBA

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    I ::heart:: my GBA

    Just a little thread dedicated to what is fast becoming my favourite and most used gaming paltform of recent times.

    This weekend, I added the superb Mario and Luigi to my repetoire of GBA games and there are newer other titles I'm looking forward to as well as old ones interested in purchasing.

    Thanks to the likes of Metorid Fusion, Wario Ware (game of the year for me) and Advance Wars, my little blue, battery operated mini-console is always in use - particularly as I seem to spend most of my time away from my house.

    Yeah, there is some crap out there, but which machine doesn't have its fair share of worthless tat? And yeah, there are some SNES remakes, but not as many as some would have you believe -and as I never had a SNES back in the day, it ain't a problem for me.

    So... that's all I really wanted to say; I think the GBA is a great platform, providing a nice 'alternative' to the gaming experiences provided by the 'big' consoles. And that is a very good thing indeed. May it long continue to entertain.

    Do you have anything to say about the handheld (good or bad)? If so, then please share.

    #2
    I totally agree, I love the GBA, and since I got a GB Player, and I can actually see the games, it's much better!

    Metroid is brilliant, as is Pokemon - two of my most played games.

    And there is loads to play and look forwards to, Mario and Luigi and FF Tactics Advance are brilliant games, I've had FFTA a week and already played it 30+ hours!

    The release schedule is wonderful also, Sword of Mana, Harvest Moon and many, many more. I love it. Due to hardware constraints many games aren't flashy or attempting to be something they can't be, and are simlpy unbelieveable fun!

    I too love my GBA to bits!

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      #3
      ditto to both the above.

      I picked up FFTA and Mario and Luigi on Friday and Saturday respectively and can't put them down. The GBA even goes to work with me for some lunch time gaming.

      I will never be without mine

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        #4
        GBA SP is my favourite console without a doubt, currently clocked up around 160 hours on tactics. I will complete it....

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          #5
          I like messing around with the pattern tool on AC through a GBA>GC cable. I like getting free stuff like NES metroid and fusion suits for hard graft completing Fusion.

          My favourite game on the GBA so far is Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, qulaity title.

          I like my GBA too.

          I want an E-reader now.

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            #6
            I completely agree with everything posted so far. The GBA gets my vote for console and game of the year (Wario Ware)...I have spent so much time on my GBA, playing the most amazing games, and having so much fun. And I find myself playing more games thru my GB Player than I do on my GC and PS2 at the mo....its funny how when people talk of the console war between the big three, no-one mentions the humble GBA.

            IMO it has been the winner of the console war.

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              #7
              I'd love a GBA SP but I hardly get time to play my Cube so god knows when i'd get time to play all the fantastic GBA games! (I prefer reading on the train than the idea of playing on a GBA).

              But then I think of the link up for Animal Crossing, the games out now (Wario Ware, Metroid Fusion, Various Marios, Advance Wars, Mario and Luigi) and the Future ones (Metroid Zero Missions, Sword of Mana etc) and it tempts me. BUT NO! I will be strong.

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                #8
                Three gripes:

                1) GBA SP without the SP part. Noooooo. Cannot play Pokemon in the dark!
                2) How much for an 11 year old SNES port from Nintendo? The game prices are insane. For example ?30+ for Wario Ware. Great game, love it, but considering it's brevity and the fact that a person could make most of those minigames very quickly...
                3) Advance Wars and Pokemon ruined my marriage. What do you mean "You're not married"? See, that is how bad it is, never even had a chance to start.

                Love the SNES ports, HATE the prices. Especially considering LTTP's messed up save system. Advance Wars had the right idea.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by Crispin
                  Three gripes:

                  1) GBA SP without the SP part. Noooooo. Cannot play Pokemon in the dark!
                  I must be the only person on planet earth who doesn't have a problem with the screen.

                  Conversely, I don't like the SP. The controller space is too small and cramps my hands. Also, the lack of headphone socket is an unforgivable, calculated oversight.

                  2) How much for an 11 year old SNES port from Nintendo? The game prices are insane. For example ?30+ for Wario Ware. Great game, love it, but considering it's brevity and the fact that a person could make most of those minigames very quickly...
                  Well, Wario Ware isn't an "11 year old SNES port", and (no offence) but it really irks me when people accuse the game of being 'short'.

                  Have you unlocked ALL the minigames? Have you unlocked ALL the hidden games (which involves playing through all the minigames and getting the opimum score in each)? Are you trying to better your scores?

                  Wario Ware isn't the sort of game you breeze through once just to get the end sequence. It's something you have to constantly open up. In a way, you can't really 'complete' it in the same way you can't complete a game like Defender or Asteroids. You need to keep on bettering your scores.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Ady
                    Well, Wario Ware isn't an "11 year old SNES port", and (no offence) but it really irks me when people accuse the game of being 'short'.

                    Have you unlocked ALL the minigames? Have you unlocked ALL the hidden games (which involves playing through all the minigames and getting the opimum score in each)? Are you trying to better your scores?

                    Wario Ware isn't the sort of game you breeze through once just to get the end sequence. It's something you have to constantly open up. In a way, you can't really 'complete' it in the same way you can't complete a game like Defender or Asteroids. You need to keep on bettering your scores.
                    No I was referring to LTTP and other SNES games on the system when I was referring to ports. Apologies as I didn't make myself clear enough

                    That said there is a retro section in Wario Ware.
                    I love this game. And it is short. The unlockables don't add much to the game. Each one adds, at most 5 seconds of fun per game. The high score argument applies to any game that involves statistics. Adding some form of (in this case - crude and simplistic) counter to a game isn't that hard. So I don't accept the argument that it somehows extends the length of the game. Almost any game could do that. It wouldn't be too hard to integrate it into current FPS games. It was in the original Doom IIRC.

                    Since most games could easily sport such a feature, I do not believe it extends the length.

                    I love this game loads and loads and loads, but I resent the ?30+ price game.

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                      #11
                      I've been without my PC for the last couple of months and will not have it around for another couple of months to come either so I have had loads of time to play on my GBA. I just got an SP (Boktai red/black version) and the screen is so much better than the original GBA (although it is a bit too small)

                      I've now played FFTA and pokemon for almost 200hrs between them - FFTA is now fully complete except for some of the multiplayer missions and Pokemon is about 98% complete.

                      Sword of Mana, Harvest Moon and River City Ransom Ex are the games I'm most looking forward to. I've just got a link cable so I can connect it to a PC as well - hopefully when I can work out how to write to the flash card I will be able to turn my gba into a PDA as well. Has anyone else had any problems writing to an EZF Advance cart?

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                        #12
                        I also (heart) the GBA. My GBA library is as big, if not bigger, than my cube library and many of the games released on it are amazing...

                        My faves, in no order:

                        Wario Ware (obvious)
                        LttP
                        Yoshi's Island
                        Mario Bros 3
                        Super Mario World
                        Ghouls'n'Ghosts (OMG.. hardest game EVAR)
                        Colin McRae
                        Pokemon Saphire
                        Advance Wars
                        Final Fantasy Tactics
                        Broken Sword (best version imho, as a result of best interface)
                        Metroid Fusion (my first ever metroid game! shock!)
                        Mario Kart
                        Fzero
                        Super Monkey Ball (worth it for monkey bowling alone!)

                        oh lord.. it keeps going and going

                        There's so many great games for the GBA... and now with the GBA player, it's just openend up another great way to play it... Currently working my way through FFTA and loving it!

                        I do fear for hand-held gaming come the PSP. sure, Nintendo needs the competition to drive the platforms forward, however, what is great about the GBA games is that for the most part, they are 2D and as a result of being confined in this way, means that they must focus on great gameplay. with the specs of the PSP, it will undoubtedly launch with a high profile 3d game like GTA or something, and that will be the end of classic 2D gaming.

                        Hey ho.

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                          #13
                          It is brilliant. I don't have many games for it, but as soon as I get double discount at Asda, most of the good back catalogue will be mine. Particularly looking forward to Mario and Luigi.

                          Any system with a strategy game I actually like has to be good.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Crispin
                            I love this game. And it is short. The unlockables don't add much to the game. Each one adds, at most 5 seconds of fun per game. The high score argument applies to any game that involves statistics. Adding some form of (in this case - crude and simplistic) counter to a game isn't that hard. So I don't accept the argument that it somehows extends the length of the game.
                            But the whole point of the game is to keep on bettering your scores as with old-school arcade games. Therefore, the game is as long or as short as your level of skill (or attention span).

                            Anyway.... moving on... can anybody tell me about Broken Sword on the GBA? I've always wanted to get this but the infamous Spain bug has always put me off. What exactly do I need to do (or not do) to not get caught out by this?

                            Originally posted by scottcr
                            I do fear for hand-held gaming come the PSP. sure, Nintendo needs the competition to drive the platforms forward, however, what is great about the GBA games is that for the most part, they are 2D and as a result of being confined in this way, means that they must focus on great gameplay. with the specs of the PSP, it will undoubtedly launch with a high profile 3d game like GTA or something, and that will be the end of classic 2D gaming
                            I know what you're saying, but I'm not quite so sure the PSP is going to be the great success everyone seems to have already decided it will be. Going by present info, it's too kitchen sink. And if the rumours of its battery life are anything to go by, memories of a certain bulky, black handheld come to mind...

                            I'm also skeptical as to whether a lot of 3D greats will actually work on a handheld screen. We'll see.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Broken Sword.. argh.. the bug... even with it, and even though I got caught by it, I still loved the game. Lovely tuned interface, and as a result of hardware limitations, it didn't have any superflous speech (which so far, BS3 is suffering from imho).

                              There's an order you need to do things in when marib appears on the map... something like don't go to X before going to marib or whatever (can't really remember), but it does result in the game being impossible. Check out gamefaqs (that's where I found out about it after I realised I was completely stuck! :@)

                              I'm a bit concerned about the PSP's apparent lack of focus. I for one, have no intention of re-purchasing movies from my DVD collection just so I can watch them on the PSP... (personally, handheld DVD is really rather pointless... I want to watch it at home, on the plasma with the big sound ). MP3 playback is kinda nice though but not something that I'm that bothered about. You'll almost certainly have to buy a big memory stick for game saves and I imagine it'll be about 200 quids or so and sold at a loss. We shall see...

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