Draven

Picked up a Cobalt from the Richfield Best Buy. They had about 7 or 8 on the shelves. Platinum was sold out.

They didn't have a very good game selection though (lots of blank spaces...guess they got cleaned out) so we picked up Zelda and Namco Museum (for the wife, though she's playing Zelda now).

I love it! It's very slick. I missed Zelda...

Copenhagen

I picked mine (platnium) up on Thurs night from Babbages and am very pleased with it so far.

Homer Simpson

My platinum is charging on the floor as I type, hopefully it's only another hour to go. Got it today at TRU (free thanks to TRU Visa) along with a Mem Card 251 to prepare for Wind Waker. They had lots of Cobalt but I got the last platinum, fortunately I called ahead and they had it behind the counter waiting for me.

kaiyouske

How come you guys are all charging your GBA SPs? Was I the only one that got mine pre-charged? Hmmmm...

Copenhagen

Mine came pre-charged. The clerk made it a point to tell me that it was that way when I picked mine up.

Homer Simpson

That's odd, I didn't try it before I charged it, but the instructions say to charge it before you use it and the LED goes off once it's charged. It took just short of 3 hours as the instructions said it would. I guess I'll never know...

Y2K Falcon

Wow...

Great thread, all! THANKS!!!!

I spend most of Wednesday night going from game store to game store only to be told:

1) Sorry, our initial order is all sold out with pre-orders, but you can turn in your GBA now, and you will get one the following week (or so) - Funcoland/Gamestop, EB

or

2) We have no idea WHEN we will be getting them, but wanna buy this import for $169?

I didn't consider Wal-mart until seeing others post about it, but lo and behold the one at IH-35 and 1325 in North Austin/South Round Rock has about 10 cobalt and about 7 platinum in the glass case in electronics! ($99) The lady said there was "one more box of each" (another case?) in the back but that they "didn't get that much".

Just in time for my daughter's 10 year birthday party Sunday afternoon! (birthday is 3/25) My wife thinks I'm a freak for this, but I didn't see this thread till 3am!

Now tomorrow, I'll see if I can still get the $40 credit for the GBA at EB.

JaxComet

K-Mart was more than happy to sell me one on Saturday. I went with the Platinum. They had about 4 or 5 of each....

darkside

Picked up a Platinum at Target just now and got Driver II free. I also had a 10% off coupon I was saving so everything was $96 with tax.

I'm glad I didn't preorder. They had 20 of each, but it looks like everyone is buying the Platinum as they were almost gone and the Cobalt was untouched.

Now I have to wait for it to finish charging.

Apocrypha

our stinking Target didn't have the FREE DRIVER shipment arrive with the units so I got put on a list for the free game.
Anyway I got COBALT(reminds me of the box in MULHOLLAND DR.) and there were probably 6 platinums and 2 cobalts left after 3 had sold. Now to trade some DVDs for games.

Courtjester

Got mine on Friday at Gamestop (pre-ordered).

jediwicz

The battery is like a cell phone battery and if you don't charge it to its full capacity first the battery will "remember" where you started playing and will only charge to that point. The SP needs to be charged before playing.

collven

Lithium batteries don't have that problem. Only nickel cadmium and, to some point, nickel metal hydride batteries do. That's one of the reasons why lithium batteries are becoming so predominant.

Apocrypha

I think it is wise with ANY rechargable battery to FULLY charge and DRAIN it the first time it is used.

Daryl

got mine at Target this morning. 10 people waiting, they got 60 in. They had it set up so we were randomly given a color based on our ticket number, but since there were so few people in line, we got to pick our color. Got Driver II for free.

gkrykewy

I've noticed that when playing some games on my GBA SP (especially old, original gameboy games like Tetris) with the sound volume on high, I get a background hissing sound through the speaker that is fairly pronounced when there is no sound from the game. This also occurs during the bootup screen, even for Gameboy advance games. I do not experience this sound with my original Gameboy advance. I haven't tried my SP with headphones, as I don't have the headphone adaptor. I was
just wondering if this is normal, or if I need to have my system repaired or exchanged. It doesn't happen on most GBA games, so I don't think it's really a hardware issue, but I wanted to make sure if I could. Thanks!

darkside

I've got the sound thing too. Only notice it with the sound all the way up and its probably just a limitation of the small speaker. I wouldn't worry about it.

BartleyR7

When I brought my cobalt (great color) SP home, I pluged it in and, in a little over a minute, the charge light went out. Guess mine came pre-charged as well.

William Wallace

I just got a GBA SP + Metroid Fusion + carrying case at Best Buy all for just $69.99!!

I took the Comp USA ad which said you can get a GBA SP for 69.99 with the purchase of Gulty Gear for $30. The BB clerk misread it and thought it meant that you get a GBA SP for $70 and a free $30 game. lol.

UKingdom

anyone check carefully to make sure there's no dust UNDER the screen? i have a small tiny speck in the black border around the screen but that already bothers me a lot; i bought it at gamestop; you think they'll be able to exchange it for another?

darkside

This is a drawback to a front lighted screen, but if you are already seeing it I would exchange it. In time dust will work its way in, but if Nintendo did a good job of sealing the screen it will hopefully be minor. These dust problems have been a common problem in the Palm and Pocket PC world for years.

lordzeppelin

I picked mine up this morning with the free Driver 2 @ Target...

It's sweet. BUT, there's this dust spec right under the lens on the screen, and I can't get rid of it no matter what, so I'm contemplating returning it for another...anyone care to chime in? Should I or shouldn't I...

Joshic

These are both false statements. You can do whatever you want with lithium-ion batteries, and they won't lose their charging capacity. This is why they are the best rechargeables and are used in laptop PCs. Unfortunately lithium-ion batteries are also the most expensive rechargeables.

Justin00787

my mom bought mine for me but I cant play it untill I get enough money to pay her back

sniper308

I didn't pick one up, but my local Target looked like they had at least 60 or so in this afternoon and still had the Driver II games as well.