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36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Just buy one., 24 Jun 2001
I got mine on the day of release. Clear blue, compact and light. First impressions were maybe a little dissapointing. It REALLY is light, even with batteries and game in, and feels a little more flimsy that the old GB. The battery compartment in particular feels likely to break. I guess time will show how sturdy these things are. I've also been told the screen is prone to scratching, but if you take care of it you should be OK.On the subject of the screen, it IS dark. You'll notice this when playing games such as Tony Hawks, or Castlevania, and you'll maybe start off by squinting at the thing. Having said that, you DO get used to this pretty fast, and you can get add on light packs that help a great deal. In reality, it's not much darker than the old GB. Maybe they could have made a backlit screen, but this was sacrificed in the name of battery power. The batteries (2xAA) are reported to last up to 15 hours - 50% longer than the GB. the machine is also pretty small, about the size of a DVD case maybe, and as such you may find fault if you have giant hands. The shoulder buttons can be tricky to use, although I've not found it TOO much of a problem. So - The graphics and sound. Well, prepare to be impressed. This machine is capable of producing some quite nice little tunes from it's small speaker, and you can plug headphones in to get the superb stereo effect. Games like Castlevania, Mario and Tony Hawks will impress with their samples. The graphics are superb. I've been told the machine is faster at 2D than the PSone, which is easy to believe when you look at the likes of Tony Hawks. It's just a shame that the dark screen doesn't always do them justice. The games - Well, in essence, this system is a handheld SNES. For those of you old enough to remember the SNES, you'll know that the games on it were some of the best ever. This is a real return to simple, hardcore fun gaming. Take a look at Kuru Kuru Kururin, where you guide a spinning stick through mazes without touching the sides - simple, but highly addictive. Expect to see a large number of SNES conversions appearing soon. I'm looking forwards to maybe conversions of the older Final Fantasy games, many of which are better (story and gameplay wise) than the recent ones. It'd also be nice to see the classic Tales Of Phantasia in a handheld version - The GBA could certainly do it. This machine is perfect for those dull bus rides home after work, and will even impress those with no interest in games. One more thing - It seems to have the capacity to alter time, too. I started playing Kuru Kuru last night at seven, and I guess I played for half an hour, but when I looked at the clock it was almost eleven! Very mysterious..... ;)
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