What are the +'s and -'s to GBA SP?
 

I am so waivering on whether to buy one or not. My main motivation is to play during my prep periods at school because I get bored and usually play all my games on my cell phone, but I have played those to death and they are so limited and not as fun. I think I would play at home, but doubtful on that.
One thing I see as - is that I don't really want a kid or *gasp* a teacher catching me play.

So I just want all the +'s and -'s to buying this in my situation and beyond.

Thanks.

+s
- Fits in your pocket fairly comfortably (my most important criteria). The original GBA wasn't nearly as compact.
- Great strategy games that can be played in short bursts but provide 10's of hrs of gameplay (Fire Emblem, Advance Wars).
- Good battery life - I get about 10 hrs (get a usb recharger for extra convenience!)
- Some games allow you to save at almost any time which is good for short play sessions.

-s
- Not nearly as many deep rpgs as there should be, Golden sun and what else? (at least port chrono trigger or something).
- Games, particularly the snes ports, are overpriced. Should be good deals on older games though.

Uhm, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance not enough for you? :)

There's also Fire Emblem, Golden Sun 2, games like Advance Wars 1 and 2, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Link Minish Cap, etc etc etc.

Tons of deep RPGs...

Fire emblem, Advanced Wars, and FFTA are strategy games (I suppose FFTA might qualify as a strategy rpg but only played 5 hrs before I got sick of it). I gather M&L is good but haven't played it. Link is an action adventure game. Anyway it's a bit of a dry selection for having a library of 1000 or so games.

What about stuff like chrono trigger, FF 4-6, Phantasy Star 4 (you can get 1-3), earthbound. Port some of the ps1's fantastic library of 2d rpgs while you're at it :).

Zelda is not an RPG.

Plus, I wouldn't call Golden Sun deep.. more like trying, extremely trying.

+
tons of games, regardless of what genres you like

Don't forget that there is no headphone jack. You can turn the volume all the way down though.

There is an adapter that gives you a headphone jack.

+ pretty colors!

NEW COLORS and Styles... Surf Blue, Tattoo, Graffiti, and Pearl White! (w/ the old standbys... Flame, Onyx, Cobalt, Platinum & Classic NES)

Pros are tons of games, including lots of 2D games.

As for cons, the screen is a little muddy. The DS one is MUCH better. I reccomend a DS instead as it plays GBA games (thus you get better picture on GBA plus the DS game library), unless you want to play old GB and GBC games as the DS can't play those.

so with a usb charger...it can be charged by your pc? does it also come with a regular plug in charger? and do you have to constantly manipulate the screen to get the best light and all that? i remember with the old advance i had to contort and all girations to get good light for the screen, but the new backlight fixes that correct? so light or dark room it is same and perfect viewing?
thanks guys for all comments...

It is actually a front light, rather than a back light. It is infinitely better than the old no-light system though.

The usb charger is just something I bought from lik-sang.com for about $5. I often find it convenient to be able to charge my SP off my work computer, or my laptop. The actual SP itself comes with a normal charger that you can plug into an outlet.

The backlight works fine, the only problem is that you can't adjust the brightness level. The afterburner unit for the original GBA allows you to adjust the brightness I believe. Like there are times when you have some natural light so probably only need 1/2 the normal brightness.

The biggest plus for me is that there are lots of really fun, simple games on the GBA that can be played for minutes or hours. It's an endearing trait that's all but lost on the big consoles.

Pros:

Good battery life
Honestly portable
Svelte, sexy design

Cons:

There are so many good games that are both re-released/reengineered classics as well as a vast trove of exclusive games that it makes you wonder what the hell developers for other systems are smoking when they should be all making games for this system. Some of the games are so deep, involving, and just plain fun that it'll suck the life out of you.

like?? i would like some of those games...could you list? is grand theft auto advance like that, i hear it is all driving, i'm not sure i like that? thanks much.

Depends on what type of games you like. Almost all genres have extremely good representation. Most people criticize the GBA for having a first-party intensive library...but to me, that's more of a good thing, after all, Nintendo is probably the best first-party developer. Apparantly, anything Nintendo does is always wrong...they don't have enough third-party publishers (most of which make shitty games like GTA anyway), so they suck...their first-party games are timeless classics, so they suck...

Strategy games:

Advance Wars 1&2
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Tactics Ogre
Shining Force
Fire Emblem

Action/Platform

The Super Mario Advance series
Ninja Five-O
Metroid Fusion/Zero Mission
Sonic Advance 3 - don't bother with the other 2, they're rather mediocre
Wario Land 4
Astro Boy: Omega Factor
Castlevania series
Zelda: Link to the Past and The Minish Cap
Boktai - probably one of the most original game concepts ever. The game interacts with a solar powered cell that effects gameplay. It's really a niche game, and the whole game centers around the concept of the sun, so if it sounds unappealing or you live in Seattle, just skip it.

Racing

Mario Kart Advance
F-Zero GP
Motocross Maniacs Advance

RPGs

Phantasy Star Collection
Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls
Kingdom Hearts
Golden Sun 1&2 - most people recommend these games, although I must say, they're rather average RPGs. There's nothing really stellar about the battle system, the dialogue is mostly "..." and answering yes or no questions that really don't have any bearing on the direction the game goes in. The game drags on most of the time, and given the nature of the GBA, which is given to short interstitial playtime, you're most likely going to lose your place and direction in the game if you take long breaks in between playing it. I started over twice because I lost track of my goals in the game, which themselves are quite vague.

Puzzle:

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
Puyo Pop
Mr. Driller 2 (import)