Heat

The price will be ~ $50 at Walmart on Black Friday. But is the system any good? That is, is it a game system that I can enjoy, as well as my five year old son? (different games) How are the graphics?

Any games that are as fun as the original Nintendo games (or better) would be what I was looking for.

Any suggestions on what games I should look for or which ones I should avoid?

goLUCKY

Hell yeah! There are tons of games for it.
29.99 games to look for:
Advanced Wars - turnbased RISK type game
Super Mario Brothers 2 or 3 - same as the original
Yoshi's Island - pretty much the same
Golden Sun - RPG

Plus all of the old Gameboy regular games still play fine on it.

Groucho

If you liked the SNES, you'll like the Gameboy Advance. The big title coming out next week is Metroid Fusion. Most of the games on the system your son would enjoy as well. I would add Mario Kart to the excellent list already compiled by goLUCKY.

sdcrym

What is Black Friday?

tha_dvd_man

February wasn't enough for'em.

goLUCKY

The Friday after Thanksgiving. It's the biggest sales day for the retail world. It gets them out of the red and puts them in the black. That's how you get BLACK friday.

goLUCKY

ClarkKentKY

I bought mine. Used it on a plane and on vacation a few months ago, and haven't touched it since. The games seem a little pricey, too. I mean when i'm getting PS2 games at 34.99 and 39.99 the week of release, it just seems expensive to ask 29.99 for Yoshi's island.

Plus, half the games are just straight ports of SNES games i wore and wore out 10 years ago.


$0.02

Icculus

Yeah, I pretty much agree. I've played a few of the Mario games on the GBA but if wasn't for Metroid Fusion I would have sold it long ago.

tha_dvd_man

Yeah, that price range seems like a real jip. You'd think the dev costs of making a Gameboy game would be far lower than regular console game, and half the games for the system are quasi-ports anyways.

Josh H

It's a great system. I still prefer 2D gaming to 3D gaming, so my GBA gets a lot of play time with games like Castlevania and all the great SNES ports.

fujishig

Well, when the games were 40 bucks each that was a rip-off. And yet some of the games I bought for that price were still worth it to me. 25-30 is decent. Tactics Ogre was worth 40 bucks to me.

It is a cartridge based system, so the cost is probably a little higher (even if the cartridges are teeny). And it is a different market than the big systems... I mean, the thing is portable. I think it's well worth the money, and it's actually my favorite system. Maybe it's because a lot of the games are ports of older games, but the games seem to rely less on flashy graphics and more on content.

If you're stuck on graphics, especially 3D graphics, I wouldn't recommend it. I also wouldn't really recommend it for fighting games... you'll need two cartridges each, and there aren't enough buttons. But for 2D platformers, action, and old-school RPGs (where graphics really just make the game seem longer) it's great. Looking forward to Metroid Fusion...

Outlaw

You folks are forgetting about Castlevania Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonense, those two games are awesome and justification alone for owning a GBA. Metroid Fusion just came out too, and Mega Man Zero is pretty good too (so is Mega Man Battle Network 2). On the horizon there's a new Lufia game coming out (finally!) and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. The 2D ports of SNES games are just as good as when they were released on the SNES, especially since its been years since I've played them.

But really, the only one game you absolutely need is Advance Wars, its really addicting and a blast. I've spent hours playing it. And don't forget you can also play Zelda: Oracles and Seasons on the GBA.

joltaddict

And SONIC!!!! Good old fashioned 2D Sonic!

Trigger

I'd get one if it was backlit, but the games aren't really my taste either. The only game I ever liked on the Gameboy was Tetris. I'm waiting for a handheld to come out (I'm sure there will be one soon) that has a backlight and better graphics and uses the same games they're making for cell phones and PDAs (Need for Speed, etc...). I think you have to be a big nintendo fan to get into most of those games for the GBA. I know it makes a really good gift for a child though because I know of several children who can't be ripped away from their GBA for two minutes.

random123

IT's worth $50, but I think the games are a bit too pricy unless you get lucky and best buy has a good game like one of the mario games for $25 on sale. I played metroid fusion at target, and that baby makes GBA worth it.

donnie5

I bought one last week and got advance wars. I have to agree with what a few people have been saying, this system is great. I agree that some of the SNES ports are too expensive, but I love the game made speciafically for the system, Advance wars is my current favorite game, forllowed by golden sun. Catlevania: HOD is also worth the $$$. I found advance wars for $15 at a used shop last week. I ordered Golden Sun for $18 off eBay so deals are out there. As far a backlighting goes, Afterburner is great!

zuckuss

I'm thinking of picking one up for $49.99. Does the Gameboy Advance let you save games? Is there a memory card? Thanks for the help!

joltaddict

Most have battery saves.

MrSneis

I've owned the GBA twice, ive sold it twice because after a while I realize the system is just too darn expensive~ with a real console games usually take usually at least twice as long as the average gba game to beat~ multiplayer is awesome sounding on paper but clumsy and boring in practice, the 4 players w/ 1 cart in most games is horribe! every once in a whle awesome games come out, but there are usually months at a time where nothing but crap games come out, since your shellin out 20-30 apiece for only 6-10 hours of gameplay for a game that once it's beaten there is no real replay value~ I just can't justify the GBA sometimes, but other times it's real nice to have. Maybe if it were cheaper and backlit, it would be perfect, but right now its too much of a liability~ it's late and im rambling so bleh.

Ralph Wiggum

I just sold my GBA.

It's a good system and all, but I agree with the points above that while the games are fun they are short and expensive. I still have my SNES hooked up so I don't care about those ports.

If they ever release a backlit version I'll pick one up again, but for now it just wasn't convenient and the aftermarket lighting solutions were either inadequate or too expensive for me.

Deadpool

I like my GBA very much and think it is worth the money. I kill time with it on the subway playing Yu-Gi-Oh EDS at the moment. My 3 year old son loves SFII, and my wife plays Advance Wars here and there. Don't like the e reader much tho' now that's a rip.

Breakfast with Girls

I think you haven't given the Advance games a chance. There are a wide variety of game types (RPG, strategy, racing, puzzle, and of course, platform).

I set aside Advance Wars a couple months back after getting my ass handed to me a few times too many, but I came back to it recently and have been playing ever since.

I need to pick up the Phantasy Star Collection (PS I-III)...

kar10

I don't have anything against any system but a GameBoy Advance?

I like new games not old ones! Playing with a GameBoy seems boring.

I love at one time the 2D gaming but now I love the 3D.

I would only paly 2D if it's a Fighting game and maybe Contra or Metal Slug but that's it.

It's not worth it. I'm sure many of you agree that you got bored with it!

Groucho

All I have to say is this: Metroid Fusion