stragee Registered User
Posts: 1
(7/13/01 10:37 pm) Reply
Disclaimer: This post could be considered a spoiler
First of all i'd like to say I've always really enjoyed Nintendo products. I've always supported them and loved the games that came out on'em.
The first time I seen anything on this portable console was on their website. It had a nifty Flash video you watched and then you could go through and look at screen shots of different games. The games looked incredible! My second experience was at Circuit City. There I walked up to a fairly large GameBoy Advance testing unit. Being new to the console I didnt really second guess anything I saw. *hint *hint So I walk up casually to examine it. I find it playing a demo of Super Mario Advance. And man was I impressed. I did notice that the light in this testing unit was kind of bright but I figured this was just a way to improve the looks and that it would have a light soarce of its own. So I walked away convinced that Nintendo had made another hit.
So today I purchaced a Gameboy advance and two games. One being Super Mario Advance, and the other being F-Zero Maximum Velocity. Now I get this unit home tonight getting everything hooked up etc and to my astonishment I cant see anything. Could it be?! No way! Did Nintendo go cheap and not put in a backlight to this monster machine?! Aww those cheaps SoB's!!! Thats right folks NO BACKLIGHT. Now some of you ((that havent played minature consoles)) might not know this but without a backlight of some sort to support the games guess what your screwed. Unfortunately normal room lighting in a house isnt going to be enough light for you to see much of anything. So your forced to sit under a lamp, (which ofcoarse reflects on the montior.) You could use one of the cheap snake lights or Glow Guards that are made by third party affiliates. Which is what i'm using now but this doesnt really work properly either. Lastly if your a hardcore gamer you could choose to only play this console during the day outside or near a window. (YEAH RIGHT! ) All in all I must say I feel ripped off. I had a gamegear *Years ago and it may not have been 32-bit but I could play that thing in absolute darkness and it didnt make any difference what so ever.
My main rant is why put out such a great portable console and then screw everything up and not add a backlight to make the whole gaming experience complete. So I say shame on You Nintendo! I mainly play computer games these days as it is but after spending 170 dollars on such a piece of crap that doesnt have a backlight I'll never buy anything from Nintendo again.
P.s.
In case your curious, seeing as how Nintendo fooled me into beleiving this console was great I feel too ashamed to return it. But beleive me, they will be hearing from me heh. Via email, phone and any other method I find on the internet.
-discusted
DoctorLeePhD
Unregistered User
(9/30/01 12:25 am) Reply
dont be so negative
first of all, to be the equivilant of politically correctness on the internet, I am not writing this to start a flame war :-)
==
I don't think that the comments about the gba's screen are justified. Nintendo wanted to make a system that runs for a long time on two AA batteries, and they did a good job, Game Gear had nothing near these graphics, and got 45 min of battery life if you were lucky. The technology in GBA is nothing short of amazing. although, the gba is definately NOT a disappointment IMHO, it is built better than most PDAs, beats the super nintendo in graphics, has amazing sound (just try castlevania!) and I am very happy with how it came out. I also point out that gameboy classic, gameboy pocket, and gameboy color were also not backlit. Lights are cheap anyway.
but I plan on opening up my GBA and placing some white LEDs just outside the screen to create a backlit effect, and power them off the link port. It has already been done on TI calculators and can't be too hard. The gameboy advance is still the best handheld on the market.
backlight
yeah no backlight that kind of sucks, but so would the GBA if it did have a backlight in it, you would get maybe 3 hours on a set of batteries and the unit would be bigger, not to mention more than likely have interferrence thru the headphones because of the backlight., not to mention that the power supply for a LCD backlight will get very hot and make the unit unstable as @#%$.
anyones thats used a PDA before will know how totally shitty the batterylife on the colour backlit units are, my $1500 HP is lucky if I can get 6 hours out of it with and theres no way to turn the backlight off.
people will bitch about anything, there would be just as many bitching people here if the unit was backlit moaning about batterylife.
to me the most important thing about the handheld gaming consoles is decent battery life and kickass games, both which the GBA without a doubt has.
but yeah i would have to agree that at this stage most of the aftermarket lights for these things are pretty shitty and cheap, but in time some top quality units are sure to appear on the market.
also a backlit LCD display is just over twice the price of a non backlit LCD., I dont know what the GBA is worth where you guys are but here in NZL its already bloddy expensive enough by the time you buy the console, games, and a couple of accessories and case.
bjmcreal Registered User
Posts: 6
(12/26/01 1:35 pm) Reply
Re: backlight
I don't have a gbA, just a gbC. But for 15$ at target, I got :
1 power pack
1 screen magnifier (with LIGHT)
1 radio
1 headphone set
1 wire link
All was in the same package for fifteen dollars, brand new.
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stragee Registered User
Posts: 2
(4/26/03 12:10 am) Reply
backlight
Ah so its a bad idea to put a backlight in a GBA eh? Guess thats why Nintendo made one with rechargable batteries even.
Too bad they ripped off everyone that took a chance on the original one.
Dont post unless you have something intelligent to type.
word from the expert
well yall...i didnt buy the cheap gba because i saw a light behind the demo thing in the store. i also asked a store person if it had a light because i knew some of my friends had it and they said it had no light and was hard to see. so i didnt buy it and bought a gamecube instead. then i saw the mighty gameboy advanced SP. it has a larger screen and has an ENORMOUS backlight. BUT it doesnt take up alot of battery power. it plays 18 hours straight with the light on when fully charged. it takes about 6-7 hours to fully charge. (yes the batteries r rechargable). so the lesson here is...no matter what u see in the store or here from friends, always ask the store people and believe only what u hear from ppl who know it best. OR buy a gba sp.
maxtrin
Unregistered User
(11/10/03 7:38 pm) Reply
just goes to show you....
It just goes to show you that patience is a virtue for a reason, that and not to go out and buy stuff just because the way a store displays it.
) All in all I must say I feel ripped off. I had a gamegear *Years ago and it may not have been 32-bit but I could play that thing in absolute darkness and it didnt make any difference what so ever. 
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