Background

I grew up with Nintendo. I had a few of those Game and Watch and got the NES when it debuted in 1985 in NYC. I also picked up the original Gameboy when it debuted in 1989. These were my consoles until 1989 when I moved to Sega for the Genesis and 1991 with the Game Gear. At that time I was 11 years old, having some sort of Nintendo product for more then 6 of those years. I did not buy another Nintendo product until the Gamecube was about 1 year old…and I sold it about 2 months later.

Reason for the purchase

I decided to buy the GBA Micro because it was tiny (I could carry it everywhere) and Nintendo released all my old favorites (Mario, Excite Bike, Zelda, Metroid, etc) and I always thought games were just better in the 80’s. I decided to get the Micro released in Japan and not in the US because the US is two toned (Silver/Black face, Black/Silver face) and the Japanese version is a solid color. The Japanese release did not include the faceplates that the US release will get.

First Impressions

As you can see from the pictures, the inner box slides out from the shell. It is well packed and the Micro itself is protected nicely. The device is about the size I expected, the back of the unit is coarse while the front is glossy. They included a soft pouch for carrying it around and a charger for the device.

On the front you have the screen, D-Pad, A&B buttons, and Start & Select buttons. On top you have the charging port as well as the L and R buttons. On the back you have a strap loop, and port for the cart. On the bottom you have the power switch and headphone port. On the right side you have the other part of the strap loop as well as the volume/brightness rocker switch.

Use

I charged the Micro (it took about 2 hours). The Start and Select keys light up blue, and go off when fully charged. I inserted my game, Super Mario Advance 4 (The original Mario 3) and turned the device on. “Gameboy” came up in bright colors with a very bright white background. I was very surprised to see how clear and bright the screen was. It did not seem too small at first.

I continued playing for about an hour. I have medium, but chunky, hands and had no problems with the tiny controls. I did notice that every once in a while I would pull the device closer to get a better view of the screen…especially during difficult jumps. I do wear glasses, so my vision isn’t perfect.

Conclusions

The device is solidly built, has a beautiful screen, is very small and light, and plays a vast library of GBA games. I would suggest getting a better case, I ordered one from ebay, as I don’t see the pouch protecting it beyond scratches. This is just small enough to put in your pocket…smaller then a Treo, but not small enough IMO, to put in your shirt pocket. I am a fan of the classics, about the only reason I got the system, I am not sure if it’s worth it otherwise. Considering a PSP costs about $225 new, this is $100 and the PSP does a lot more for the $125…Movies, Music, Photos, Web, etc.

Pictures

Front of box:

Back of box:

Box Opened: (Notice how I needed to open both sides…it slides out)

Micro Packaged:

Manual, Warranty, Power Cable, soft pouch:

Micro:

Top:

Back (sorry its blurry, I was rushing)

Bottom:

Right side:

PSP, Micro, Nano:

PSP. Micro, Nano:

Erik