GBA Screen Questions

[Strolls]

Hi there,

I've recently purchased a GBA, primarily for playing Pac-Man Vs. and can't help noticing that the screen is rubbish. It seems ok during daylight, but is so rubbish under artificial light that you can barely see it. I think mine is the original model of GBA - at least it is this shape and style.

My cellphone and laptop are MUCH brighter and easier to see - is this because those have "backlit" screens and the GBA does not?

I don't particularly like the shape & style of the GBA SP, nor do I want to arse around with some stupid 3rd-part lighting accessory so can anyone tell me if the screen of the GBA Micro is any better?

Whilst writing this I've discovered the full Wikipedia article on the Micro which refers to a Ninty press release which claims the screen to be "the "best Game Boy screen ever", but it also looks to be smaller (I started this posting intending to ask if that was the case!!) so some independent corroboration would be great.

What's the best GBA screen in your opinion?

I really wanted to put together a good Pac-Man Vs. kit for parties & for visiting people, but the way things stand with my GBA - I'm pretty sure the batteries are fully charged - the game seems unplayable because of the screen. But lunching out on a GBA Micro could get expensive - especially since my collecting sensibilities may demand the famicon edition. I think those go for about ?50 (??) which would go a good way towards a DS Lite & Pac-Mac Vs when it's released for that in a couple of months.

Any thoughts?

Stroller.

[wakka]

The Gameboy Micro screen is far and away the best Gameboy Advance screen ever in my opinion. It's big enough to see everything fine, very bright and with great colour and clarity.

The original version of the GBA, the one you have bought, is near useless due to the lack of backlighting and the darkness of the screen I'm afraid. Buy a Micro. It'll be a revelation.

EDIT: Just realized you want it for GC/GBA linkup. Hmm, I think you will need an adapter to do that with the Micro in fact :/

[gossi the dog]

Backlit SP all the way. May be a tad difficult to find as they were never relased in Europe and only in small quantities elsewhere.

[Tetsuo]

The Micro has the brightest screen, even brighter than a DS Lite. For playing link-up games, the SP is probably your best bet though - don't be put off by the shape, it's fine, and more suited to playing link-up GC games due to having a bigger screen (micro is tiny). SP will be cheaper too.

[JamesS]

The original GBA screen is pretty awful, but then it came out in 2001 and LCD screens have moved on a heck of a lot since then.

For connecting to the Gamecube, you're probably best off with the newer SP with the brighter screen, though I'm not sure if they ever came out in Europe, so you might need to import. The older SP screen is brighter than the original GBA (it's front-lit), but nowhere near modern standards.

The micro doesn't have the standard GBA serial port, so is a pain to get it hooked up to a Gamecube.

[Strolls]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I still feel the SP is ugly, so am reluctant to spend money on one, but will give it more consideration in light of your responses. The larger screen does certainly sound more practical for link-up games.

EDIT: Just realized you want it for GC/GBA linkup. Hmm, I think you will need an adapter to do that with the Micro in fact :/

I meant to mention this in my original post. Apparently you can hack one together - I know I read of someone else on here who has one of these.

Stroller.

[Strolls]

One more question - does the SP take the same kind of link cable as the original GBA, please?

Stroller.

[gossi the dog]

Yes the SP does.

[Strolls]

Cheers.