morganpugh84 Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 I have been keeping my eye on the GBA SP since it was released. I have an original GBA however never used it because the main places I wanted to play it (in bed or in the car, etc) were often too dark to see the screen. The only time I could play on it was if it was a very sunny day and I was outside directly under the sun. As I am in England this doesn't happen all that often :p Anyway like I said when the SP was launched I was interested but didn't want to waste money on something that I might not use. However now the price is decent (?90) and I have heard good things about the battery life (I was a little worried it would die in 13 months and be out of the warranty so dead GBA!) I am thinking of getting one. I already have 4 games (old though) so if I do get one I would be wanting to get a few new games to play (to death I hope) over the Christmas holidays. The games I was looking at are... Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Advance Wars 2 Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga Mario Advance 4 If you have any of these games please reply with just a few words about it. Good and bad bits, etc. I want a game that will make me think but also be fun to play. Cheers all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malechai Veteran Posted December 19, 2003 Veteran Share Posted December 19, 2003 Hello, I'm sorry I don't own those games, but I did want to comment on the battery life. A full charge lasts a LONG time. I'm not sure exactly how long in one extended sitting but its a long time. Also, the battery is replaceable so I'm not sure why you'd think dead GBA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morganpugh84 Posted December 19, 2003 Author Share Posted December 19, 2003 Hello, I'm sorry I don't own those games, but I did want to comment on the battery life. A full charge lasts a LONG time. I'm not sure exactly how long in one extended sitting but its a long time. Also, the battery is replaceable so I'm not sure why you'd think dead GBA. Cheers Spyder :D I was under the impression it wasn't changable. I wish this information was made available on the Nintendo website or on Amazon, etc. All it says is it comes with a adapter to recharge the built in battery which makes one think it isn't replacable! Cheers again. I appreciate you telling me. I assume you own a GBASP? If so do you recommend it? I own a GC but I don't think I can hook up the SP to it just yet can I? At least that is what someone else said in another thread. This isn't a major problem for me but it would be a nice bonus if I could :yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malechai Veteran Posted December 19, 2003 Veteran Share Posted December 19, 2003 Yep, I have the blue SP :) I can recommend it without a doubt. The backlight is great and you're able to turn it off should you have enough light to play otherwise. I've never done that and the battery lasts hours and hours and hours on a full charge. Regarding the link, all you need is the GC/GBA link cable. I have one and use my SP with Zelda: TWW quite a bit :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morganpugh84 Posted December 19, 2003 Author Share Posted December 19, 2003 Yep, I have the blue SP :) I can recommend it without a doubt. The backlight is great and you're able to turn it off should you have enough light to play otherwise. I've never done that and the battery lasts hours and hours and hours on a full charge.Regarding the link, all you need is the GC/GBA link cable. I have one and use my SP with Zelda: TWW quite a bit :) ohhhh nice :) That person obviously didn't know what they was talking about then :whistle: I have Zelda: TWW for GC (sweet game!) do I need any games for the GBA to access the GBA parts of Zelda: TWW? I don't really know how all this linkup to the GC stuff works. I assume you have to have the GBA version of the game also like you do with Metroid Prime/Fusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malechai Veteran Posted December 19, 2003 Veteran Share Posted December 19, 2003 some games require a gba game for the link feature to work, but others don't. Zelda is one of the latter. You just link up the systems.. then in zelda, you use the tingle tuner.. and it'll tell you turn on your GBA. Once you do that, it uploads data to the GBA and you get the features without the need for a cartridge in the SP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel Posted December 19, 2003 Share Posted December 19, 2003 I have one and use my SP with Zelda: TWW quite a bit :) Have you finished the game yet? You've had long enough. :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malechai Veteran Posted December 19, 2003 Veteran Share Posted December 19, 2003 lol no i haven't. i've been distracted for far too long with ssx3 :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morganpugh84 Posted December 19, 2003 Author Share Posted December 19, 2003 Cheers Spyder (Y) I am going to pop into Argos tomorrow and get one (too late to order online sadly :( ) Can't wait :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishie Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 sps own, my battery never seems to run out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kryptonik Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 All the games you want are great games. However, you'll also want to get Golden Sun 1 & 2. Both very good RPGs that will keep you occupied for hours and hours. :yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morganpugh84 Posted December 20, 2003 Author Share Posted December 20, 2003 Well I just got myself a GBA SP :woot: I got 3 games with it. The games are Advanced Wars 2, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Mario Advance 4 (Super Mario Bros. 3). They all look excellent, I just have to wait until the GBA is all charged up :) Graphics and sound is very good in Mario Advance 4. I think these 3 games will do me over the Christmas holiday and then I can get Golden Sun 2 and Final Fantasy Tactics in the new year :) Cheers to all who replied and a big thanks to Spyder for all his info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morganpugh84 Posted December 20, 2003 Author Share Posted December 20, 2003 Well I have had my GBA SP for a few hours now and I have been playing on it non-stop however I am going to return it tomorrow. The screen is very bad on it. I do not know if it is like this on all units but apart from it being off centre (something I can live with) there is pretty bad ghosting and a noticible refresh rate (vertical bars). It seems like a good console but I am disappointed :( I also don't like the buttons on it. They are too "clicky". I prefer the old style buttons on the GBA. My girlfriend is gonna kill me as I already returned my T3 because it had a dodgy screen! Does nobody make decent screens anymore :cry: I am now presentless on Christmas day again! lol oh well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon_Slayer Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 My little brother has got a GBA SP for christmas, he's well looking forward to getting his hands on it. It does look very impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morganpugh84 Posted December 20, 2003 Author Share Posted December 20, 2003 The games are very good and providing your unit is fine then I am sure he will love it. The problem is I notice little problems (where as if you brother is young he probably wont). I am sure your brother will love it :yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon_Slayer Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 Well my brother is 14 but as you say he won't notice the problems. I think the worse prob is the buttons. I hate them they are too small and clicky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 Merged Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morganpugh84 Posted December 20, 2003 Author Share Posted December 20, 2003 Merged Cheers Spyder. I was going to post it in this thread but decided not to. I am very disappointed with the GBA SP :cry: Spyder what is your GBA like? Could you take a close up picture of the screen so I can compare it? Infact could anyone do this for me? It is a weird request but it would put my mind at ease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel Posted December 20, 2003 Share Posted December 20, 2003 My name is silly_walk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morganpugh84 Posted December 20, 2003 Author Share Posted December 20, 2003 My name is silly_walk. oops :blush: sorry about that! I was chatting with Spyder a lot in this thread and I could have sworn that Spyder merged this thread :blink: I must be tired :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malechai Veteran Posted December 21, 2003 Veteran Share Posted December 21, 2003 I am very disappointed with the GBA SP :cry:Spyder what is your GBA like? Could you take a close up picture of the screen so I can compare it? Infact could anyone do this for me? It is a weird request but it would put my mind at ease! Sorry you're disappointed. Here's a photo of mine. Tried my best :) I do not know if it is like this on all units but apart from it being off centre (something I can live with) there is pretty bad ghosting and a noticible refresh rate (vertical bars). I can confidently say that my screen isn't off centre and I don't have any ghosting. I don't see any flickering refresh rate either.. vertical bars I'm not sure what you mean. do you mean very very very fine little black lines? I can see tons of very fine little vertical black lines less than a millimeter apart across the screen, but thats only if i'm holding it almost right next to my nose and looking really hard. they also don't move. holding the screen a "normal" distance in front of me they disappear. You can almost make them out in the picture and i had the camera about 4 inches away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MR_Candyman Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 ya, I have no problems with mine either.... only problem I've ever seen is yesterday my co-worker's R button started binding a little when clicking...we both know it's just the stupid rubber pad behind it, but he doesn't care enough to fix it as it still works perfecctly find and it's a little used key anyways Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morganpugh84 Posted December 21, 2003 Author Share Posted December 21, 2003 Cheers Spyder your unit looks perfect perhaps it was just mine! Oh well :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon_Slayer Posted December 21, 2003 Share Posted December 21, 2003 Why don't you just exchange your GBA SP for another one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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