http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/sys...dvance/faq.jsp

Why doesn't the Game Boy Advance use a backlit screen?

When Nintendo created the Game Boy Advance, we wanted to provide our consumers with the most powerful hardware at the best possible price. As we've done with all of our earlier Game Boy systems, we decided to use a reflective screen, rather than a backlit screen, for several reasons:


Flexibility. Reflective screen technology allows users to have greater control over their lighting choices. With a backlit screen, images tend to get washed out and may be difficult to see when viewed outdoors or in well-lit areas. With reflective technology, the brighter the light the better it looks. For low light conditions, players may use overhead lighting or optional light accessories to provide the light they need.


Cost. The use of the reflective screen technology allows Nintendo to offer the Game Boy Advance at a much lower cost than it could have using a similar, backlit screen.


Portability. Reflective screen technology is the best way to display games on a portable system in terms of cost, screen resolution, colors available and excellent battery life. Other portable systems that have used backlighting required a great deal more power and had a much shorter battery life.


Performance. The new Game Boy Advance reflective screen is larger, provides finer detail, and displays a much wider range of colors than any other Game Boy system.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...71311?v=glance

Looks like amazon has it. The difference is in the description from "reflective screen" to "Front light integrated with LCD" but in the description it says...

"The SP comes with a well-designed power adapter that recharges a built-in battery; its prongs fold in for easier storage. Our informal tests found that it takes about four hours to fully charge (you can even play it while it's plugged in and charging), and the battery lasts about 11 hours with the backlighting constantly on--your results may vary. Using the backlighting less often will conserve battery power.

The quality of the backlighting is very good. It's bright and clear when looking directly at it, but degraded from other angles. This is only a problem for friends who are watching the screen from over your shoulder"



Same price as the others, it looks like.

Right now the GBA is still outselling the DS and the PSP in the US, so apparently it's still got some life left in it.

That's still the front-lit model based on that comment.

The new backlit models are just hitting stores. For now only the pearl blue and graphite colors are backlit.

From what I've gathered the light button on the new backlit GBA SP no longer turns the light on or off, it changes the brightness from full brightness to half brightness; there is no longer a setting to turn it off.

I was thinking about picking up the GB Micro for the screen alone (and the novelty) but will probably trade up to one of these backlit GBA SP's instead now (as soon as I can find one)!

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fab

Holy shit. So they're real? I'm SO replacing my current one. *dances* Yay!

Yep, they're definitely real. IGN says this:

Sweet. I'll be looking for a Graphite this week (as opposed to the original black model, Onyx).

So the DS screen looks as bright as the new SP?

Dave, probably. The IGN article states they're putting them in SP because they've got a deal going from putting them in DS and Micro. Apparently, if you want to get the new back-lit SP look for Graphite or Pearl Blue colors, the other colors are the older front-lit models. Of course, I'm just assuming they're in stores already based on the comparison pictures and that Amazon states they're ready to ship. I'll check it out Friday.

A couple more pics:

*drooling*

That's.. beautiful, man.

Come on Friday!

So how does the screen brightness and image quality compare to the DS? Any comparison shots with old and new GBAs, GBA micro, and DS?

See post 17 for GBA to GBA comparison shots.

Right, but I wanted to see all four together.

Why not just drop the extra $50 and get a DS?

The box clearly indicates the new screen. Wonder why Nintendo didn't promote this.

The DS isn't universally compatible, right?

Right. The SP is the last GBA that works with the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. Not to mention the GBM and DS can't connect to the GameCube if you use it that way. The SP is still a must have IMO.

Wow, Nintendo really screwed up this US launch. Nobody, and I mean nobody, had the Micro, and I'm in Chicago, no small area. I went Monday morning to the Game Crazy that is walking distance from me to pick it up, since I put a deposit.
They didn't get their shipment in. I decided to check out other stores - including GameStop, Circuit City, Target, Best Buy, and Coconut's. When I inquired about the product, the answers varied between "It doesn't come out until Friday, but you can pre-order it" (Gamestop) to "It's out already? Why didn't we get any preorders?" (Coconuts) all the way to "Nintendo is coming out with a new Gameboy?!?" (Best Buy). The next day, my local GameCrazy told me that a store located in Chicago's deep South Side had one, and only one, which was fortunately the silver colour I wanted. They didn't get a shipment though - they had had it in stock for a week, after some guy came in and traded in a sealed GBM for some cash. So, despite the fact it was sealed, I got it for the used price of $79.99.

So far, so very good. I love it. Compact and easy to carry. Still love the SP, but this one is just easier on the pocket, which is the key. Beautiful screen too! And, while I am not a fan of the flower faceplate, the blue one looks great. The whole faceplate concept is great - not just for the purpose of customization, but because the faceplate also is a screen protector. It is more comfotable on the hands than the SP as well, IMO.

So it wouldn't overshadow the GB Micro release.

I'm also wondering how this screen compares to the DS. I just bought a DS to play Castlevania: DoS and all my GBA games. If the GBA games look better on the SP I may have to get one of them as well . The screen on the SP is smaller than the DS screen...but the viewing area on GBA games I think might be greater on the GBA SP...not sure.

Here's a good screen comparison pic between old and new SP and Micro:

http://pocketmedia.ign.com/pocket/im...1020330737.jpg

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fab

Nintendo really has done very little promotion for this system. I know at my store (Circuit City), we've received nothing about it. I don't even think it made our ad this past week.

Just to note. The DS screen is almost the same size as the GBA screen. 3.0 compared to 2.9 on the GBA. However, its a higher resolution screen which is why the GBA games have a such a large border around them. So you would have a bigger viewing area on the SP and still get the same quality of lighting from the DS.

This is still the thing that bugs me about Nintendo of America and why I think the DS and Revolution have a very tough road in the US. In Japan Nintendo did a brilliant job or promoting the Micro and the strong sales show how successful they are.

In the US they once again fumble the ball when it comes to properly promoting the product. I don't understand how Nintendo of Japan can do so much right and Nintendo of America do so much wrong.

Got my Pearl SP today...SO fucking nice. I didnt know that it came with the light OFF out of the box, and when I hit the ON button it was even nicer! Too bad I can't find a Micro anywhere...neither can anyone else. Nintendo didn't promote the Micro at all, and the new SP was never even MENTIONED!