Is the GBA the best Portable console of all time?

Yes, as far as I'm concerned.

• It's essentially 3 handhelds-in-one: GBA, GBC, & Original Game Boy.
  
  
• Awesome library of original games, SNES ports, and Nintendo first-party titles. Plus the added back-catalogs of Game Boy & GBC games. Mario games, Zelda games, Metroid games, Donkey Kong Country, Sonic Advance, Tony Hawk, Castlevania's, Tetris, and on and on and on.
  
  
• The backlit feature is best the way to play the above mentioned's libraries. The original Game Boy and GBC games just look magnificent on the backlit screen. And I don't know about later models, but compared to my original Nintendo DS's screen, the GBA-SP's actually looks better for GBA games.
  
  
• The flip-feature protects that awesome screen from accidental scratching
  
  
• The rechargable battery makes it easier on the wallet than previous handhelds.
  
  
• Speaking of the rechargable battery, it gives the GBA-SP longer periods of playtime vs. the old AA batteries.

psp and i think you know the reasonRTCWGR1SCRB6H2

;) I was just thinking that myself but didn't have the guts to imply it.

I would agree that it is the best portable of all time. I love the SP version......small clam shape that fits in pocket and goes anywhere. It has amazing ports, great originals, and backwards compatable. I own PSP and DS as well, and while those are great systems, it is the GBA that gets the most playtime.

Pretty much. I can't fault it at all.

It's my favorite handheld for sure. Actually, I might be willing to call it my favorite console period, not just including handhelds. For starters, it has a bunch of great ports of old home console games but it's original library is what I really love. It kept old school 2D gaming alive and had lots of original titles in the 16-bit style when everything else was going 3D. Plus, you have bawkwards compatibility w/ GB/GBC and there are a lot of real classics there as well.

yeh

actually portable

and got dem klonoa 1-2games

gota have that

too bad no rocket knight

or any good sonic games

Just library v. library (not including backwards compatibility, which if included I think helps the DS more than the GBA)? I think DS takes the cake.

A lot of GBA's best games are not original installments, and if we were to just take things objectively and go to GameRankings, the amount games that have at least 10 reviews or more that have an average of 80% or more, GBA has 83 and DS has 106. We can talk about personal preference, but we can't really have an actual discussion if you just argue that your game that you like that not many others do is "sooooo" much better than that one game everyone loves except you. Emerald_Warrior gave an excellent point-by-point explanation of why he likes the GBA so much and how it helped improve handhelds in general using objective reasoning.

I think the DS and PSP are better and I'm not a fan of the PSP.

yes so many great games were on it and everyone had one to trade and use the cord and stuff to do a form of multiplayer

loved it alot.

Lol what?

It's two gens behind.

So no.

It's pretty dang awesome. The backwards compatibility, along with the huge variety in it's library, the GBA is a hard system to beat.

IMO, the GBASP stands on the highest pillar of handheld gaming. It is the most portable, has a huge library of games not even including the libraries of its older brothers in the GB line, and has no region lock. I have some Japanese and a game that is only sold in the UK and all of them work fine. Once you include the library of the GB and GBC, there is no other handheld that could match its ammount of games. The 3DS is slowly gaining on it since it is compatible with the DS Original titles.

The PSP however is great until you upgrade the firmware. Then you're screwed. Not to say the PSP is not great by itself though. Missing out on all the mods they have for it though is a major bummer.

Lol what?

It's two gens behind.

So no.

GreekGameManiac

also cause it's two gens behind doesn't mean it doesnt hold up well today.

just cause it's new doesnt always=better

same applies with music,movies,tv

shocker isnt it?

Yeah, I actually think it holds up quite well with what the other handhelds are putting out today. I enjoy my PSP and DS, but honestly the GBA is the system that I absolutely LOVE! Other systems may be technically superior, but that is where I think they lose out in the handheld department. The handhelds are getting far too technical today. The GBA was as simple as it got, and you could even do minor repairs on it. To me.......nothing beats the 2D games.... Metroids, Zeldas, and the GBA Castlevanias.....and don't even get me started on the 2D Fire Emblems. They were Fire Emblem peak in my book. Throw in there the 2D FF ports and you have RPG goodness. And of course......GOLDEN SUN series are simply the best it gets in RPG on the GBA!

Sure it is 2 systems behind, but it is still tops in my book. Love the fact people are dumping their stuff on craigslist now and people like me who love legacy are able to snatch them up.

Yeah, I actually think it holds up quite well with what the other handhelds are putting out today. I enjoy my PSP and DS, but honestly the GBA is the system that I absolutely LOVE! Other systems may be technically superior, but that is where I think they lose out in the handheld department. The handhelds are getting far too technical today. The GBA was as simple as it got, and you could even do minor repairs on it. To me.......nothing beats the 2D games.... Metroids, Zeldas, and the GBA Castlevanias.....and don't even get me started on the 2D Fire Emblems. They were Fire Emblem peak in my book. Throw in there the 2D FF ports and you have RPG goodness. And of course......GOLDEN SUN series are simply the best it gets in RPG on the GBA!

Sure it is 2 systems behind, but it is still tops in my book. Love the fact people are dumping their stuff on craigslist now and people like me who love legacy are able to snatch them up.

jefferyjosephh

oh joy now you're in legacy platforms.....

also cause it's two gens behind doesn't mean it doesnt hold up well today.

just cause it's new doesnt always=better

same applies with music,movies,tv

shocker isnt it?

almasdeathchild

Lol i'm on Legacy Platforms everyday.:)

Contrary to what you think,i do like old games.

And no,you're wrong.

Videogames are a totally different format than music.

You can't say something like that.

To me it was! Compared to the original GameBoy and PSP, I owned the GBA for the longest period of time. The games were awesome (and visually impressive for its time) and the backwards compatibilty just made it that much more awesome. I also remember having this light attachement mounted to the screen. Now that was badass...

Maybe so far. But 'all time' is still sort of going on...

Yes it is the best.

[QUOTE="almasdeathchild"]

oh joy now you're in legacy platforms.....

also cause it's two gens behind doesn't mean it doesnt hold up well today.

just cause it's new doesnt always=better

same applies with music,movies,tv

shocker isnt it?

GreekGameManiac

Lol i'm on Legacy Platforms everyday.:)

Contrary to what you think,i do like old games.

And no,you're wrong.

Videogames are a totally different format than music.

You can't say something like that.

I'd have to say the DS because it has bc with the GBA, and it beats the crap out of the Gameboy line in terms of variety of games. The DS can also play all 5 generations of Pokemon thanks to the remakes of gens 1 and 2 along with all of those awesome GBA games. Losing out on GBC/GB BC sucks, but the DS's library is better to me.

[QUOTE="GreekGameManiac"]

[QUOTE="almasdeathchild"]

oh joy now you're in legacy platforms.....

also cause it's two gens behind doesn't mean it doesnt hold up well today.

just cause it's new doesnt always=better

same applies with music,movies,tv

shocker isnt it?

homegirl2180

Lol i'm on Legacy Platforms everyday.:)

Contrary to what you think,i do like old games.

And no,you're wrong.

Videogames are a totally different format than music.

You can't say something like that.

To me it was! Compared to the original GameBoy and PSP, I owned the GBA for the longest period of time. The games were awesome (and visually impressive for its time) and the backwards compatibilty just made it that much more awesome. I also remember having this light attachement mounted to the screen. Now that was badass...

Amster_G

[QUOTE="Amster_G"]

To me it was! Compared to the original GameBoy and PSP, I owned the GBA for the longest period of time. The games were awesome (and visually impressive for its time) and the backwards compatibilty just made it that much more awesome. I also remember having this light attachement mounted to the screen. Now that was badass...

StatusShuffle

What's wrong with that? It was visually impressive for a handheld, until PSP came out. Which was a few years down the road.

[QUOTE="StatusShuffle"][QUOTE="Amster_G"]

To me it was! Compared to the original GameBoy and PSP, I owned the GBA for the longest period of time. The games were awesome (and visually impressive for its time) and the backwards compatibilty just made it that much more awesome. I also remember having this light attachement mounted to the screen. Now that was badass...

Emerald_Warrior

What's wrong with that? It was visually impressive for a handheld, until PSP came out. Which was a few years down the road.

Gosh, I don't know......I still prefer great GBA 2D graphics to some of the stuff today. The 2D stuff is timeless.

I quite agree that the graphs are/were impressive.

[QUOTE="Emerald_Warrior"]

[QUOTE="StatusShuffle"] Lol wut?StatusShuffle

What's wrong with that? It was visually impressive for a handheld, until PSP came out. Which was a few years down the road.

Neo-Geo Pocket Color? It didn't look better. N-Gage? Like the PSP, it came out a couple years down the road. Game.Com? No way. Game Boy Color? Again, no way.

As it aged, like any other system, yeah, it got stale. But when it came out, I can't think of another handheld that looked as good.

[QUOTE="StatusShuffle"][QUOTE="Emerald_Warrior"]

What's wrong with that? It was visually impressive for a handheld, until PSP came out. Which was a few years down the road.

Emerald_Warrior

Neo-Geo Pocket Color? It didn't look better. N-Gage? Like the PSP, it came out a couple years down the road. Game.Com? No way. Game Boy Color? Again, no way.

As it aged, like any other system, yeah, it got stale. But when it came out, I can't think of another handheld that looked as good.

[QUOTE="Emerald_Warrior"]

[QUOTE="StatusShuffle"] No...... There were other handhelds than the GBA...StatusShuffle

Neo-Geo Pocket Color? It didn't look better. N-Gage? Like the PSP, it came out a couple years down the road. Game.Com? No way. Game Boy Color? Again, no way.

As it aged, like any other system, yeah, it got stale. But when it came out, I can't think of another handheld that looked as good.

The Wonderswan Crystal was very impressive when it came out. But not as impressive as GBA. From what I've read, it was the GBA that helped retire the WonderSwan.

I never even heard of the GP32 until you just mentioned it. And Googling it tells me it was released in Korea...really? That's your shining example. And Leapster? Come on.

[QUOTE="StatusShuffle"][QUOTE="Emerald_Warrior"]

Neo-Geo Pocket Color? It didn't look better. N-Gage? Like the PSP, it came out a couple years down the road. Game.Com? No way. Game Boy Color? Again, no way.

As it aged, like any other system, yeah, it got stale. But when it came out, I can't think of another handheld that looked as good.

Emerald_Warrior

The Wonderswan Crystal was very impressive when it came out. But not as impressive as GBA. From what I've read, it was the GBA that helped retire the WonderSwan.

I never even heard of the GP32 until you just mentioned it. And Googling it tells me it was released in Korea...really? That's your shining example. And Leapster? Come on.

[QUOTE="Emerald_Warrior"]

[QUOTE="StatusShuffle"] GP32? Wonderswan color/Crystal? leapster?(Yeah I went that far.) Off the top of my head.StatusShuffle

The Wonderswan Crystal was very impressive when it came out. But not as impressive as GBA. From what I've read, it was the GBA that helped retire the WonderSwan.

I never even heard of the GP32 until you just mentioned it. And Googling it tells me it was released in Korea...really? That's your shining example. And Leapster? Come on.

Like I said, the Wonderswan Color was very impressive. But the GBA could do things that the WonderSwan Color could not, such as pre-rendered CGI. And 3D. It wasn't great looking, but it was there. Clearly a mark that GBA has better graphics.

And yeah, I'm not even responding to the completely obscure Korean system and Leapster. That's freaking funny!

[QUOTE="StatusShuffle"][QUOTE="Emerald_Warrior"]

The Wonderswan Crystal was very impressive when it came out. But not as impressive as GBA. From what I've read, it was the GBA that helped retire the WonderSwan.

I never even heard of the GP32 until you just mentioned it. And Googling it tells me it was released in Korea...really? That's your shining example. And Leapster? Come on.

Emerald_Warrior

Like I said, the Wonderswan Color was very impressive. But the GBA could do things that the WonderSwan Color could not, such as pre-rendered CGI. And 3D. It wasn't great looking, but it was there. Clearly a mark that GBA has better graphics.

And yeah, I'm not even responding to the completely obscure Korean system and Leapster. That's freaking funny!

Is the GBA less powerful than the Turbografx-16 or around just a powerful or more?Dj-Dampleaf

[QUOTE="Emerald_Warrior"]

[QUOTE="StatusShuffle"] It was RELEASED in Korea you had to ORDER it to get the system but it was not KOREAN only and thousands had it. Also yes, Leapster, YES LEAPSTER HAD A LIBRARY OF GAMES. Which is embarrasing since they put terrible effort in that thing. Also, Swancrystal was pretty much on par with GBA, I have no idea how the GBA retiring it made it less powerful, and to be honest, that's also not the real reason it dropped out, but the first point remains the same. using your logic the Vita is weaker than the 3DS at the moment.StatusShuffle

Like I said, the Wonderswan Color was very impressive. But the GBA could do things that the WonderSwan Color could not, such as pre-rendered CGI. And 3D. It wasn't great looking, but it was there. Clearly a mark that GBA has better graphics.

And yeah, I'm not even responding to the completely obscure Korean system and Leapster. That's freaking funny!

Attacking my wife, completely over the line. Reported.

[QUOTE="StatusShuffle"][QUOTE="Emerald_Warrior"]

Like I said, the Wonderswan Color was very impressive. But the GBA could do things that the WonderSwan Color could not, such as pre-rendered CGI. And 3D. It wasn't great looking, but it was there. Clearly a mark that GBA has better graphics.

And yeah, I'm not even responding to the completely obscure Korean system and Leapster. That's freaking funny!

Emerald_Warrior

Attacking my wife, completely over the line. Reported.

[QUOTE="Emerald_Warrior"]

[QUOTE="StatusShuffle"] yeah obscure. leapster sold millions, and uh, you don;t know what is is, so because you are wrong you can't reply. i understand. Has to be over 40 million to be good, regular millions like 15ish or so, is unsuccessful :roll: G32 sold hundreds of thousands, i know this because I have one. Hey but the TG-16 is Obscure, to most people in the U.S., so I laugh at your wife for buying you a sh!tty present! That's freaking funny! Because everything must sell over 50 million to be relevant! I would get an immediate divorce. Come back later when you stop spinning things because you never heard of them personally!StatusShuffle

Attacking my wife, completely over the line. Reported.

[QUOTE="StatusShuffle"][QUOTE="Emerald_Warrior"]

Attacking my wife, completely over the line. Reported.

Ragnarok1051

>_>

Can we just go back to the point of this thread like civilised persons?

Thank you.

>_>

Can we just go back to the point of this thread like civilised persons?

Thank you.

GreekGameManiac

Yes. GBA is the best handheld of all time. :P

Graphically, I don't think it's that impressive then or now. SNES graphics in 2001? I mean, come on... Good for a handheld, maybe. I don't really care about graphics from a technical standpoint anyway. Graphics either work for the games or they don't. GBA couldn't do the realistic graphics of the home consoles at the time but in my opinion more than made up for it w/ unique 2D games that often offer refinement over the classic 16-bit era games that are (justifiably) so well respected around here.

no u got it all wrong (trollface)

>_>

Can we just go back to the point of this thread like civilised persons?

Thank you.

GreekGameManiac