Details of Game Boy Advance as U.S. date nears

The new Game Boy has a larger screen and faster processor

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By Tokyo Drifter

(IDG) -- Released last week in Japan, the Game Boy Advance was an instant smash and the U.S. launch will probably be equally successful. Judging by the first batch of games and the final hardware, it's safe to say that the Game Boy Advance lives up to the hype of being the hottest video game system this year. The design and feel of the handheld system is fantastic, and it even comes in three snazzy colors right from the start: Indigo, Artic, and Glacier. When it makes its debut in the U.S. on June 11th, the portable console itself will retail for $99 and new games will range from $29.99 to $39.99.

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The games themselves are quite impressive and fall somewhere near the above SNES level for graphics and gameplay. Future titles promise to tap into more of the 32 bit power of the system, but rock solid gameplay is the focus of the GBA, and in that regard it absolutely fulfills expectations. Of the available games in Japan, almost all the standouts are slated for a U.S. release which makes June 11th that much tougher to wait for.

According to Nintendo, the official line up of U.S. games available on June 11th will include "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2," "Army Men Advance," "Dodge Ball Advance," "Fire Pro Wrestling," "Super Mario Advance," "Chu Chu Rocket," "Rayman," "High Heat Major League Baseball," "Pitfall: The Mayan Adventures," "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2," "Fortress, F-Zero: Maximum Velocity," "Iridion 3-D," "Top Gear GT Championship," and "Tweet and the Magic Jewel." Nintendo expects over 60 titles to be in stores by the end of the year.

One of the most impressive features of the Game Boy Advance is the ability to play all Game Boy Color titles. There are some titles that have compatibility issues, but an official list from Nintendo regarding the games that are not 100 percent compatible has yet to be released.

The screen of the GBA is much wider than the good old Game Boy so when you play Game Boy Color games on the GBA, the game shows up in a window positioned in the middle of the screen by default. However, the GBA has a neat trick up its sleeve. You have the option of either playing Game Boy games in "centered mode" or you can stretch the graphics to fit the wider screen. While this makes the graphics look a bit strange at first, most of then GamePros agree that it becomes so much easier to play side scrolling action titles and especially shooters.

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Game Boy Advance

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