Game Boy Advance Hardware
Reviewed by James Wardle
Sometimes, I wonder about todays machines, The
Playstation 2, the Gamecube and the X-BOX, and I
think how do the manufactures manage to make such
impressive consoles, with games on there with
brilliant graphics. The four next generation consoles
are 128bit. I don't wonder about the consoles which
was released several years ago, like Playstation and
the Sega Saturn, as they have had their moment in the
32bit spotlight, and Nintendo have thought of
upgrading the Gameboy from 8 bit, not to 16 bit but
to 32 BIT!!! A lot of people are passing up on the
upgraded Gameboy, the Gameboy Advance which is 32
bit, just because 32bit has had its go, but let me
tell you this, the Gameboy Advance is one of the best
things man and woman created.
Graphics - 9 : Since being 32bit, you'll be expecting
remakes of Final Fantasy VII-IX or a better version
of Resident Evil 2, but those games was on a Compact
Disc (CD) and the Gameboy Advance uses a cartridge (A
Nintendo tradition) so they can't play games like
that, but they CAN play updates of Super Nintendo
games, Like F Zero. The Gameboy Advance can play some
remakes of Playstation games, but without FMV's, like
Ubi Soft have released Rayman for Gameboy Advance,
which came out years ago on the Playstation 1. Hits
like Broken Sword and TEKKEN are coming out as
remakes, with near perfect graphics. I have to admit,
the graphics are very impressive, and some games go
on to a lot of detail. The only shame with the
graphics is that if you play a Gameboy Color game on
your Gameboy Advance, the screen will be much darker,
making games like Alone in the Dark and the dark
levels on Super Mario Brothers Deluxe impossible to play.
Sound and Music - 10 : Also brilliant, the tunes from
remakes are all there! The Gameboy Advance has some
great music up its sleeve!
Gameplay - 10 If you have big arms, you'll notice
that the Gameboy Advance is hard to play, as it is
modeled for the Japanese people. If you can old the
pad, you're in for a very fun time. Super Mario
Advance, Castlevania, Tony Hawks and Rayman will
leave you hours of enjoyment, and those was all out
on the release. There are more great games coming
out, Super Mario Kart's remake, Mario Super Circuit,
Banjo-Kazooie, Broken Sword and Tekken, and that is
just four of them. The buttons are back from the
original Gameboy Design, with two more, the R and L
button, which are like the L and R buttons from the Nintendo 64.
Replaybility - 9 : With spectacular games out on the
release, you will be spending a long time on this
handheld. The novelty might wear off soon though, as
there isn't any games out recently, Mario Kart is
coming in a few months though......
Overall - 9 : Yet another one of Nintendo's great
piece of work. It is the best Handheld made, but it
does have its faults with the dark graphics on
Gameboy and Gameboy Color games....
Pros
It is by Nintendo
Great launch games
Mario Kart and Sonic are coming out for it
Cons
Screen is a bit dark when old games are played on it.
Overall: 9 out of 10