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The third incarnation of Nintendo's Game Boy Advance line, Game Boy Micro just might be the quintessential pocket game device. Internally, Micro is more or less the same as the bi-folding Game Boy Adavance SP, itself a revamped update of the original Game Boy Advance. Hence, Micro plays all GBA/GBASP games--it is a GBA, just modestly miniaturized, cosmetically sexier and easily the best of the three.
Now roughly the size and shape of a modern cell phone or an iPod Mini, Game Boy Micro has a natural mass appeal. No folds, nice lines, faux chrome accents, headphones ready, pocket or purse friendly. It features changeable faceplates for the fashion conscious folk with three available out of the box--which also work as disposable screen protectors. While the display screen is comparatively tiny at just 2 inches (diagonal), it's also the clearest, with SP resolution but packed in tighter and brighter. More importantly, it's backlit. To date, the SP's screen was merely front-lit with a white LED array giving it a slightly washed out look, and the original, now discontinued GBA screen had no lighting at all, which was brutal.
Ironically, Nintendo has also just re-released the Game Boy Advance SP, quietly, almost covertly, also with a new and properly backlit screen for hugely improved visual clarity but at the stayed SP price point of US$79.99 / CA$99.99. The Micro currently retails for US$99.99 / CA$129.99. However, even though you pay more and get less face with the Micro, it's still the better buy for anyone other than the ardent gamer. After all, pulling out a bi-folding SP on the bus is tantamount to affixing a propeller to that cap on your head. Pulling our a larger, more powerful, more expensive Sony PSP makes you look like an affluent propellerhead, pulling out a touchy feely Nintendo DS makes you look like an aspiring propellerhead and pulling out any other pocket game device makes you look like an idiot. But the Micro's singular stylishness seems to carry similar status as an iPod Mini or a tricked-out cell phone. It's gadget of stolen moment distraction, proving that you're not necessarily a rabid gamer, but a tech-savvy causal player taking a big step up from Snakes and Java on your cell, or perhaps a former rabid gamer who was once told to "get a life" and did so--without denying your glory gamer days past. Which leads us to what you're actually going to play on Micro. With more than 800 titles available (in North America) in the Game Boy Advance format, there's a lot to choose from. Granted, the majority of them are shamelessly derivative, side-scrolling, platform hopping, berry-picking games as tired as the day is long, but any of those are good for a quick gaming fix and most likely available in the pre-played bargain bin for a song. Moreover, that also leave scores of great GBA games to choose from; Your Mario This, Metroid That, Zelda Other Thing and the whole catalog of Classic NES for GBA games to boot.
Screen size being what it is, you will get eye-strain if you play on Micro for too long--that's where the DS, SP and Sony PSP are better to best respectively--, and the thing is so small that large-thumbed people will feel a little oafish playing it. Too, it doesn't play old Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, though the GBA SP does. However, it's still the quintessential, stolen moment, way-stylin' player that fits in your pocket or purse and leaves room for anything else you might want to hide there, like your propeller cap.
Reviewed: Sep. 27, 2005
Type: Hardware
From: Nintendo
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