A retrogamer's dream system!

If you're looking for a review about the technical specifications of the famed Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP, you're not going to find it here. That subject has been covered time and time again, and I'll not dwell on it too much. If you're looking at such a review, let me direct your attention to this very good one, written by Epinions' own Kittyokc.

Rather than go through technical specs, then, I'd like to point out why an aging video game junkie like myself would mess with one of these things. I like old, junk, see. My beloved Atari 2600 still sees a lot of use and one of my favorite machines in my collection is my top-loader Nintendo Entertainment System. While people will either tout or rail against some of the staples of the Game Boy collection (Pokemon, anyone), I tend to pick up some of the older titles. How old? Well, there are so many classic titles available for the Game Boy Advance SP that I've done the unthinkable -- both my Atari Lynx and Sega Game Gear have become almost permanent residents of my closet.

Yes, I never thought I'd shove those two systems in the closet, but the Game Boy beats the socks off of both of them when it comes to those vintage titles on which I waste my cash. Naturally, you've got the obvious stuff -- the Advance SP will play all the titles for the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color. There are plenty of great games to choose from there, certainly. After all, games featuring great Nintendo licensed characters like Mario and Kirby were made available for the older Game Boys. Heck, the original Game Boy even featured Hyper Lode Runner, a game sure to get the interest of those of us who grew up with the Apple ][.

Ah, but something very interesting happened with the Game Boy Advance. It seems the whole retrogaming craze was in full-swing, and some fantastic titles were made available for the Game Boy Advance. Take Activision Anthology, for example. That one features no less than 55 titles that were released for the Atari 2600, and those games are ideal for the portable gaming format. After all, it's hard to deny that there are times when a short game is ideal in a portable unit due to short car trips, time spent waiting on appointments and etc. The arcade action that was common on the 2600 comes across extremely well in a portable format.

Of course, Nintendo got another money-making idea for the Advance. Why not repackage some of the better-known, eight-bit NES games and release them? Indeed, everything from the classic Zelda games for the old Nintendo to Ice Climber and Excitebike were made available for the Advance. Those are downright fantastic in a portable format.

And, let's not forget the way a lot of classic titles have been packaged for the Advance. Like Activision Anthology, the name of the game seems to be releasing compilations. For example, the Pac-Man Collection features the original arcade classic and three other Pac-Man games that are fun as all get-out. Also, Midway's Greatest Hits is a fine title that, oddly enough, puts four classic Williams arcade games on one cartridge (namely, Defender, Joust, Robotron 2084 and Sinistar). And, there are other compilations all over the place, such as a game that combines the excellent Gauntlet and Rampart into one title. Those compilations are great in that they are arcade-perfect ports of the original games and offer a lot of bang for the buck -- getting two or more classics in one package is appealing.

Now, I know there are similar compilations available for other systems, but the appeal of having those games in a portable format is hard to describe. I'm not to interested in firing up my Nintendo Game Cube to play Pac-Man, but I'll sure as heck slap that game in and play the fool out of it when all I have is my Game Boy.

But, it gets better, still. Some mention must be made of the Sonic Advance series. Hell, in the 1990s, the idea of Sonic appearing on a Nintendo system was far-fetched, to say the least. In the case of the Game Boy Advance, however, the classic 2D-fun of Sonic the Hedgehog was brought to "Big N" fans all over the place. Classic gamers should celebrate that little fact.

Of course, there are plenty of new games out there for the Advance (and only the Advance to keep us retrogamers happy. There seems to always be a new Mario title out there, and the Kirby games for the system are always appealing. Then, of course, there are always new titles coming out in the Zelda series, and those are great, too.

Now, I will have to mention some of the technical aspects of the machine just to illustrate the durability of the thing. The Advance SP, of course, has a backlit screen (finally) and a built-in battery that comes with a recharger. I love the battery as keeping that Lynx and Game Gear in batteries cost a heck of a lot -- those things drain batteries like they're going out of style, and slapping in 6 AA's in each unit every few days costs a little bit of cash. That problem is resolved with the Advance SP. Oh, and it's a durable little unit, too -- the clamshell design of the thing means that it's easy to avoid scratching the screen and the directional pad and shoulder buttons are very solid, as are the action buttons.

All in all, the Game Boy Advance allows me to find virtually all the classics I want to play, and the old days of swapping batteries constantly in the Lynx and Game Gear have ended. It may seem like heresy to shelve my Lynx in favor of this thing (Nintendo killed off Atari, after all), but this product is so good I can't help myself.