Nintendo handhelds ranked by their game libraries
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https://screenrant.com/every-nintendo-handheld-console-ranked-games-compared/
This is also just a bad article. No real justification for why they listed one over another, just a listicle that mentions a couple of the greatest hits
Yeah, the GBA really should be on top. The other systems just had lower-quality versions of what was available on consoles, but the GBA was the only source of high-quality 2D games for its time. The style pretty much died out during the late '90s and early 2000s, and wouldn't really return until online marketplaces and indie games rose to prominence int he late 2000s and early 2010s, but in the meantime the GBA kept a lot of genres alive.
Modern journalism. There you have it folks. The answer is original Gameboy and 3DS. If you thought otherwise, you were completely and utterly wrong. You can all go home now.
Huh, this didn't happen to me, using Firefox Beta in Android with Ublock origin addon (and AdAway in Android).
GBA has the benefit of handling all games from the OG to the GBA games without being too bulky like the DS line. Plus GbA has some great re-editions of SNES games as well as Pokémon FireRed which is a nice revisit of the OG Pokemon (in my eyes). The backlight was awesome! The lack of headphones, not so much but it prepared me for the future (looking at you, Apple). The original GBA shape was much nicer though. I wish they had made a landscape console with backlight.
Luckily the GB(A) consoles are the easiest to mod nowadays, to add backlight, rechargeable battery, better audio... IMHO this is still the best way to enjoy GB/GBA games, instead of emulators which can be buggy/force me to stay on the computer (or worse, on my phone)
This is the way. Still have my AGS-101 SP stock besides new shell and buttons because, frankly, it doesn't need to be modded. But my GBA has an IPS screen, rechargeable usb-c battery, and hi-fi amp. Slap in a flash cart and it is easily one of the best ways to play any Gameboy game anywhere you want
I have everything except the amp mod. What does it do? I’ve heard it quiets noise (which the screen and battery mod apparently contribute to) but I haven’t seen a good comparison of original audio vs the upgraded amp.
The lack of headphones? I had to look it up. The GBA SP didn’t have a port, but the original and the micro GBAs did have it.
There’s some awesome mods to restore headphone jacks in the SP, but I myself prefer the original GBA form factor anyway.
Actually, my preferred ways to play GBA are in the following order of preference:
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Analogue Pocket
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GameCube GameBoy Player (with a SNES controller using an adapter I intended to link but the Etsy shop appears to be gone now)
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MiSTer GBA core
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OG GBA with a screen mod
Easily the most comfortable one for your pocket, other than the Micro but that can't play OG GB/GBC games.
Got to be a toss up between the OG GBA, which could play original GameBoy games as well as GBA games, or perhaps the OG DS which could play 2DS and GBA games (although I don't think original GameBoy worked).
Or the Switch, which lets you play a full sized console Zelda game on the toilet.
Wii-U let you do this with WW, TP, and BOTW. It's just that you had to remodel your house to move the bathroom within 20-30 feet of the console. No regrets, still worth it after all these year.
Same for me. If we're counting in backwards compatibility, I was always a GBA guy for the fact it could play the entire Game Boy library.
As I've gotten older though, I've been gravitating more to the DS for the combination of DS and GBA.
I am fixing up a pile of dead DSi XL’s and let me tell you, those things are a joy to play on for my aging eyes and massive hands. They’re hell to get parts for (the battery cover, and the OEM type stylus with a softer nib rather than the cheap solid one piece plastic replacements, are basically unobtainium). But my preferred format for anything NDS/DSiware.