"GBA and GBA SP: A Comparison"

There is an interesting dichotomy that I often notice within the Nintendo corporation. This is a company that is capable of horribly half-assed mediocrity in one breath, and in the next, intuitive and perfect gaming brilliance. Nowhere is there a more fitting example of this than in the Game Boy Advance and the Game Boy Advance SP.

The GBA was initially released in 2001 by a Nintendo complacent and confident after a decade of virtual monopoly over the handheld gaming market. And the system reflected this. Though it boasted superior graphical capabilities than its predecessor, the Game Boy Color (with a display similar to the quality of a Super Nintendo), the GBA’s numerous problems were a huge and overshadowing disappointment. The screen was susceptible to glare and lacked backlighting, making certain games such as the notorious Castlevania: Circle of the Moon almost unplayable. The buttons felt cheap, and when combined with the poor lighting led to physical discomfort in the arms, hands and neck after even short sessions of play. The single, small speaker and resulting poor audio quality was also regretful.

Yes, there was a lot of justified complaining going on from gamers. And Nintendo opened their ears and listened. I’m sure that the announcements by both Nokia and Sony that they were planning to release handhelds of their own helped to clear out a lot of that earwax. At any rate, the Game Boy Advance SP was the result. It is all of the things that Nintendo should have done the first time around, but for whatever reasons, didn’t. When Nintendo is good, they are very, very good. The GBA SP is very, very good.

Size and Layout
Game Boy Advance
The GBA is held horizontally with the D-pad, Start and Select buttons on the left side and the B and A buttons on the right, with the screen in the middle and L and R shoulder buttons on the top corners. It is comfortable to hold and sits nicely in the hand, yet the screen is easily scratched unless some sort of cover is made or purchased for it.

Game Boy Advance SP
The GBA SP is literally half the size of the GBA. It flips open into two segments like certain cellular phones, with the screen taking up the entire top segment and all of the buttons on the lower segment. The buttons follow roughly the same layout as the original GBA, although obviously they are closer together.

The fact that the SP is in two foldable segments is one of its coolest features. It is now truly a portable system that can easily fit into a back pocket, with a screen that is automatically protected from scratches.

Buttons and Control
Game Boy Advance
The D-pad, B and A buttons, and shoulder buttons are made out of plastic, however the Start and Select are made out of a rubber that is susceptible to pet nibbling (I lost my Select button to a rabbit). The shoulder pads are rather shoddily attached and not always accurate. As well, there is quite a bit of click-noise as the buttons are pressed down. (Note: this is only a problem on the North American GBAs, which were made in China. The Japanese systems are both sturdier and quieter.)

Game Boy Advance SP
All buttons are made out of a high quality plastic. They feel much sturdier and less cheap than those on the GBA. As well, they are thinner and require less pressure to be pushed down. The shoulder buttons are smaller and more precise also. The comfort of the buttons themselves and the minimal effort it takes to press them down offsets the loss of ergonomic comfort that results from everything being compacted more closely together.

The Screen
Game Boy Advance
The GBA had a wider screen than the Game Boy Color, and is capable of graphics as good as those of the Super Nintendo, although being able to enjoy these graphics to their fullest often proved impossible. Lacking a backlight, the GBA was useless in situations with dim or no light. Yet in direct light, the glare would also make the screen impossible to see. Catching the precise angle of light to “unlock” the image often required sitting in ridiculous and awkward positions or holding the thing at silly angles. Even then, the picture would often be faded or washed out unless the light was just so. This was easily the most frustrating thing about the GBA.

Game Boy Advance SP
The GBA SP comes with a backlight with a button to turn it on or off depending on the situation. The light does a fine job of illuminating all portions of the screen uniformly, and is powerful enough that the screen can even be used as a flashlight should the situation arise! Another nice though overlooked feature about the SP is that even without the backlight, the screen seems to be clearer and not as susceptible to glare.

The Speaker: Sound
Game Boy Advance
The GBA’s sound is pumped through one tiny speaker that is positioned directly under the B and A buttons. The result is that the player’s thumb completely covers, and muffles, the music. The only solution to hearing decent sound is to use headphones.

Game Boy Advance SP
On the GBA SP, the speaker has been wisely repositioned to the centre of the unit, where it cannot be covered by the hands. As a result, the sound is much clearer. The only snag to the GBA SP comes in the fact that it has no headphone jack. A special headphone adaptor must be purchased through Nintendo if one wishes to use headphones to listen to the sound. These adaptors are extremely cheap, however this is still an admittedly small hassle.

Power and Battery Life
Game Boy Advance
With the GBA, it is possible to get 15 hours of continuous play out of two AA batteries. (Playing time is significantly less when rechargeable batteries are used.)

Game Boy Advance SP
The SP uses a custom rechargeable battery that is basically built-in to the system. (The battery case is actually screwed shut, meaning Nintendo really doesn’t want people messing around in there.) Each three-hour full charge allows 10 hours of backlit play or 18 hours of play with the backlight turned off. While it is true that the battery will eventually lose its charge, Nintendo promises over 500 charges before this happens. (And let’s face it, by the time the thing begins to wear out, the next version of the Game Boy will likely be out anyway.)

Another interesting point of comparison is in the two power adaptors. The GBA’s adaptor fits into the battery slot, meaning that you have to remove the batteries to use the power adaptor. The GBA SP’s charger plugs its own separate slot. This actually offers SP owners more freedom, because they can plug in or remove the adaptor from the wall at any time. Let’s say you’re playing a game on the SP and the low battery light comes on. All it takes to continue playing is to plug into a wall. With the normal GBA, on the other hand, if the batteries are low on power the only thing you can do is pray that you reach a save point in time, since you can’t connect the power adaptor to the GBA without removing the batteries altogether.

Summary
The Game Boy Advance SP is a superior system in every way. It sells for only slightly higher than the GBA did at its initial release, which is extremely reasonable considering everything that it has to offer. We can argue the about Nintendo’s ethics and why they chose to take this long to release something they should have released in the first place. We can question why they chose just after Christmas to announce the GBA SP, when tens of thousands of little children were likely opening up their brand new GBAs. We can rant and rave and say there’s no way in hell we’re paying for another Game Boy when we have basically the same thing already sitting at home. Well, I can tell you that these systems are nothing alike. They are miles apart. Worlds apart. To all you naysayers who think that portable gaming sucks, I urge you to take the GBA SP and throw in Metroid Fusion, Circle of the Moon, Wario Land 4, Lady Sia, or Golden Sun. I’m willing to bet that this system will change your mind.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/28/03, Updated 06/07/03