Activision Anthology for GBA ! ! !

[Shannon]

Years ago, I bought the cd of Activision games for the computer as I remembered them as being my favorites from my Atari days.  Although they played fairly well, it just wasn't the same.  As I now have an Atari again (thank god), I can play any the "real way" that I can get my hands on.  One of the GBA games that I played (very briefly might I add) was Namco museum but everything was too small.  Maybe I'm just too old.....anyway, on the flipside, it would be nice to be able to play some of the games that I've only heard about because they are rare carts.

 

Get yourself some bi-focals sonny!!!

 

Or better yet buy a GP32, it has a bigger screen! :wink:

[Shannon]

Rayman advance is another game that is hard to see on a GBA. I completely stopped using my GBA cause I was tired of all the contourtions I had to go thru just to see the screen.

 

That completely changed with the SP and has actually renewed my interest in it. Although I admit it does cramp my hands a little. In fact my index fingers (which wrap around the l/r buttons) tend to bump into eachother. Annoying.

 

Can't they ever get anything right? I'm seriously considering getting one of those mad catz grips.

 

Ahhhh to have younger eyes.

[slapdash]

no one's coded a VCS emu for GBA yet.

 

Correction: no one's coded a VCS emu for GBA that has been a) completed and/or b) released. There were at least three of them out there in development that I know of.

[JB]

no one's coded a VCS emu for GBA yet.

 

Correction: no one's coded a VCS emu for GBA that has been a) completed and/or b) released. There were at least three of them out there in development that I know of.

Ah. My mistake.

[MegaManFan]

I didn't try it, but did watch a few people play it.  It looked well done.

 

I thought it was pretty sweet myself.

[+Nathan Strum]

Go into a toy store or electronics store. Most still have a working Gameboy Advance and a Gameboy Advance SP on display. Compare the two, buy the one you like.

 

That was easy.

 

Personally, I like the Lynx better.

[JB]

Go into a toy store or electronics store. Most still have a working Gameboy Advance and a Gameboy Advance SP on display. Compare the two, buy the one you like.

 

That was easy.

 

Personally, I like the Lynx better.

NeoGeo Pocket!

...

What? I like the thumbstick.

[israelg]

does anyone has a link about this topic or is it just a unbased news ?

[Shannon]

Just a warning about store displays... pay attention to the lighting. Sometimes they provide "optimal" lighting conditions to make a handheld look better.

 

I remember toys -r- us did that for the neogeo pocket.

[+Random Terrain]

Every toy store I have visited in my area has the games clamped down so you can't even hold them in your hands. They might let you poke it with a stick from 10 feet away and some stores might even let you touch it, but only with your elbows during a full moon on Tuesdays.

[JB]

Just a warning about store displays... pay attention to the lighting.  Sometimes they provide "optimal" lighting conditions to make a handheld look better.

 

I remember toys -r- us did that for the neogeo pocket.

My Toys R Us had the NGPC hidden in a corner of a glass case. You had to ASK to use the demo unit.

 

OF course, I remember the original GB demo units. They were pretty deep enclosures, with the GB right in the center, and some bright flourescent bulbs pointed straight at it.

[SteveW]

I got to play the Activision Anthology at AGE, and it wasn't perfect. Megamania CRAWLED. All the games in general didn't seem all that speedy. I asked one of the Aspyr guys about it, and he assured me that it was still early in development and they were still working on it. Then he handed me a couple of tickets for a giveaway. I ended up winning a shirt, a laptop optical mouse, and a little tin of AMD mints! All that for trying out some 2600 games on a GBA! Nice!

[MegaManFan]

I kept listening to the announcements, but 204 176 never won a damn thing all day long. However, why should I complain? I still came home with a ton of cool games and free schwag.

[Lost Monkey]

My Toys R Us had the NGPC hidden in a corner of a glass case. You had to ASK to use the demo unit.

 

This reminds me of the day that it was posted on the internet that all the NGPC merchandise was going back to SNK... I went in to both Toys R US and EB and asked about it.. both denied it was happening.

 

The next day I went back - EB had already packed up and shipped everything out.. At TRU, they were in the process of boxing everything up right on the floor. I said I wanted to buy one of each title, but the manager said he couldn't sell them to me.

[MegaManFan]

TRU are often jerks like this. I came in a few days after they had taken all the N64 stock off the shelves and asked the clerk where it went, he said he didn't know. I said was it going to be clearanced, he said he didn't know. I said was it in a storeroom at the back, he said he didn't know. I finally said fuck it and left. (For you Omaha rezzies this was the one on 76th and Dodge, the same one where an old lady got carjacked.)

[RCorcoran]

Personally, I like the Lynx better.

 

The Lynx, to this day, is still IMHO the best "handheld" system out there. It may not be on the edge of the technology curve, nor will it fit neatly into a pocket, but it still kicks butt...

[Godzilla]

i think what is most impressive about the lynx is that until the game boy advance came out, it was still the most technically advanced handheld. thats a pretty long reign at the top.

 

Hell, electrocop is still ahead of it's time, and blue lightning is still the best afterburner style game i've ever played (much better than AB)

[Shannon]

TRU are often jerks like this.  I came in a few days after they had taken all the N64 stock off the shelves and asked the clerk where it went, he said he didn't know.  I said was it going to be clearanced, he said he didn't know.  I said was it in a storeroom at the back, he said he didn't know.  I finally said fuck it and left.  (For you Omaha rezzies this was the one on 76th and Dodge, the same one where an old lady got carjacked.)

 

Granny wasn't buying a playstation 2 for her grandson was she?

 

LOL... I remember those days... pitiful..

 

I never got mugged for walking out of a store with my atari stuff. But then again nobody plays that stuff anymore.

[chrisbid]

i think the Neo Geo Pocket color was better than the lynx. sorry, but i love the stick on that thing

[tyranthraxus]

Get the SP the size issue is not a factor! I'm 6'4 so as you can guess

I have big hands. The size of the SP was a concern but I quickly

adjusted to it. No cramps! Only sore thumbs from all the play!

The battery lasts 9 hours with the light on, 15 with it off. If you are

playing a GBA for more than 8 hours a day then you need to get

a job! The light is fantastic! It is very bright and can be used in total

darkness. Its flip case format is well made and very compact. You can

easily fit the SP in a pocket. The lack of a headphone jack is its only

flaw and is a major oversight IMO however an adapter can be bought

for less than $10 and since I play with the volume off this has not been

an issue for me. The light is well worth the extra money. Go to a store

and compare them.

 

John

[Sheldon Sims]

Get the SP, unless you are brave enough to perform the Afterburner installation. My wife has the SP and I have the older GBA that I installed the Afterburner and stealth dimmer chip into. It works well, but installing the Afterburner is definitely not for the faint of heart.

[CPUWIZ]

stealth dimmer chip into.

 

A what ?

 

I used a potentiometer on mine.

[Shannon]

Hehe... I've actually used the SP to look for things in a dark room!

 

Forget the SP... hook up your Atari 2600 to a TV and play some haunted house in the dark with the sound cranked all the way up!!!

 

Woo hoo!!!

[Godzilla]

went to eb, and traded in my advance, and got a used SP, total cost with tax, $54 (pretty durn good!) :-) I can say (IMHO,) (and I ONLY use the BIG xbox controllers, if that tells you anything,) that the SP is fine, i actually prefer it to the advance.

[raindog]

I liked the wider design of the original GBA too (I was a Gamegear user way back due to Mappy, and I liked the Lynx too) but you people who said you could see it 90% of the time must have permanent head-mounted fluorescent lights with diffusers or something. Even "bright" games like Mario Kart were unplayable for me unless I was sitting under office lighting (multiple, diffuse, high wattage fluorescent) or in direct sunlight (which I can't due to some medicinal side effects.) I must have bought 6 different lights for that thing, the first being the worm light, which worked so well for the GBC, but this thing's link port position caused major glare. The BEST I ever managed to do was to make this weird cat's cradle of pipe cleaners ("craft sticks" I think they call them now so as not to avoid the tobacconically hypersensitive) and scotch tape with two white Photon lights with fresh batteries. That actually lit the screen far better than the SP's, though at a cost of about $55 and the first time I tossed it on my bedside shelf it all came apart. Those Photon guys missed a market opportunity there.

 

Yeah, okay, so the SP is narrower. I find its switches much more responsive so I find it a fair tradeoff, but I also think that if it hasn't happened already, some Chinese or Taiwanese company will make "Super Big Hand Advance" or something that slips over the SP's lower half and extends the buttons out to a more comfortable position. And it will suck, like all 6 lights I tried.

 

Of all the GBA users I know personally, only one, a die-hard outdoorsy type, never bought a light. Most bought several and about 3 of us bought an SP rather than just writing our investment off altogether.

 

The original GBA screen sucks, and nowadays, the big places that still sell it are going to arrange their demo units so you realize how much it sucks before you buy it (my local Best Buy moved their original GBA endcap to the other end of its aisle, where the only light is reflected off of the wall behind the user), and spend the well-worth-it 30 bucks extra to buy the SP. And those who are willing to cut their cases up and mess with razor blades and dust particles on adhesive film will still be able to get the best of both worlds through the magic of cheap GBA's being sold on ebay... at least as long as they keep making Afterburner kits. I personally just didn't have the time nor physical coordination to do case mods on something that small to save myself $99.