Gameboy Advance SP

Being awesome, I’ve got to have me a Gameboy Advance SP right? It is amazing. I had a regular Gameboy advance before, and I’m assuming that everyone who has/had one knows first hand that the screen was impossible to see. I constantly had to sit at awkward angles in order to see anything at all – and even then, it was hard to make anything out. Plus, I like to be able to sit back and relax in bed or something while I’m playing, and this was just impossible with the regular version. But now…

SP is much better. The frontlighting (I guess it technically is the same screen under there, just with a light surrounding it on the top) is great. Now I can play at any angle, and sit anywhere I want to sit. You can turn the lighting off – but who would want to? I suppose the screen does take on that slight blue color that white lights often add to the screen, but it isn’t bad enough to deserve more than a mention. Possibly my second favorite thing about it (after the lighting) is the clamshell design. First of all, SP is TINY. Really tiny. And it is really light (as is not heavy). It is much smaller than the original, and would fit in your pants pocket, I bet. I think I’ll be carrying it around a bit more. The auido seems louder, too – and the analogue volume control works pretty much the same way. The L and R buttons look small, but don’t fret – they work just fine. I find that I can hold the Gameboy in different grips and still press the buttons with without any trouble.

On the downside, SP has to be charged. That is OK with me, though, because I think it is worth it for the light. Of course I would rather be able to use batteries, or rechargable batteries, but I’m used to charging things like my MP3 player anyway. There isn’t a plug for headphones, which is odd. I don’t know why that is (must be some engineering thing) but it is annoying. I guess 5 bucks for the adapter isn’t going to break the bank, though. The buttons are a bit different, too – they are sort of ‘clicky’ – probably to let the screen flip down without hitting the buttons. But I actually find them to be more responsive, and I think I like them better.

In the end, I can’t believe how much better SP is. Plain and simple. i play it twice as much as I did before. I highly recommend getting one yourself, even if that means trading in your old gameboy. Trust me, its worth it.