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Should you buy a Gameboy Advance SP? | Culture of Gaming

Released back in Feb. 2003, the Gameboy Advance SP is an upgraded version of the original Gameboy Advance. It housed a great library of video games and was backward compatible with Gameboy and Gameboy Color games. The Gameboy Advance series sold 81.48 million units worldwide and 43.52 million of these units were Gameboy Advance SP units. But should you buy one today?

What do I like about the Gameboy Advance SP?

The Gameboy Advance SP is extremely slim; when closed it is about 3.3 x 3.2 x 1 inches. It has 10 to 18 hours of battery depending on the brightness of the screen and also had a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. This was a huge leap; the regular Gameboy Advance required two AA batteries. While the Gameboy Advance did get a decent charge, constantly having to use AA batteries and spending extra cash then sucks.

The games still hold up and the SP has a great library of games. Plus, the Gameboy and the Color have a solid library of games. I personally have not played a ton of Gameboy Advance games, but the few games I have played have been enjoyable.

Here are some of my favorites and games I enjoyed:

  • Donkey Kong Country
  • Metroid Fusion
  • Fire Emblem Sacred Stones
  • PokĂ©mon Mystery Dungeon Red Team
  • PokĂ©mon Emerald, Ruby, and Sapphire
  • PokĂ©mon FireRed and Leafgreen
  • Warioland 4
  • Krazy Racers
  • The Megaman Battle Network games
  • Megaman Zero
  • The Legend of Zelda four swords

Should you buy a Gameboy Advance SP?

SP’s generally start at about ~$35 and this is generally for the version with the weaker screen. The AGS 101 model is about $50~$60.

Gameboy and Color games are also easily accessible on the Nintendo eShop. You can access these games easily on your 3DS, a more modern system. Plus, Color and Gameboy systems don’t have rechargeable batteries, thus you can possibly lose all your save progress.

The DS seems like the better choice because the DS can play Gameboy Advance games and includes a headphone jack. While I previously stated my opinions about the DS and how it felt dated, I do think the DS is a great system especially if you want to utilize the Gameboy Advance slot. The DS is also about the same price as a Gameboy Advance SP, if not sometimes cheaper.

So, do you think the Gameboy Advance SP is worth picking up? What do you like about the Gameboy Advance SP? Let us know in the comments below.

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