Soapbox options allow our particular person writers and contributors to voice their opinions on scorching matters and random stuff they have been chewing over. Right now, almost 20 years to the day because the GBA SP launched in Japan, Jim argues the case for why it nonetheless has a vital position to play in his day-to-day…
Okay, let’s get this out of the way in which to start with. The 12 months is 2023 and I personal a Swap OLED packed stuffed with nice video games, and even some nice Sport Boy Advance video games, too. So why — with certainly one of Nintendo’s most profitable consoles ever sitting proper there — am I nonetheless enjoying my Sport Boy Advance SP? The reply (in case you had in some way stumbled this far with out seeing the title): public transport.
Gaming on the go is a wierd beast. For the reason that start of handheld consoles, the idea of enjoying your video games wherever you occur to be has been the massive promoting level within the gross sales race. Why play Skyrim in your TV when you could possibly be enjoying it on a type of large drop-down airplane tables that solely exist in TV advertisements?
I moved to London six months in the past and my travelling has turn out to be much more Tube-focused ever since. Whereas I used to make quirky choices like strolling or using my bike to the venue 20 minutes up the highway, I am now a type of Large Metropolis Children that you simply see in The Films™ — no must get my strolling footwear on, I will hop on the Tube.
However this comes with its personal set of challenges. I have been fortunate sufficient to journey on quite a lot of underground prepare networks in my time (I do know, save your applause) and I’m but to seek out one that does not make me need to stuff headphones thus far into my ears that I can not hear myself suppose. Continuously, there isn’t any cell phone sign on these journeys so you’re left to both play some trashy, Flash-y recreation {that a} YouTube advert mentioned “you completely should play,” stare into the abyss of the chewing gum-encrusted flooring to keep away from catching anybody’s gaze, or carry a video games console alongside for the journey.
The factor is, it is a crowded market lately. You’ve got received your loved ones of Switches and new-fangled Steam Decks on the one hand, however there is a boatload of so-called “retro” consoles that additionally match the invoice from the traditional days of *gulp* 10 years in the past. I am speaking about your DS, 3DS, and PSP. Consoles that, sure, have fallen out of style, however nonetheless provide that sense of portability that we crave so badly. None of those, nevertheless, can match as much as the Sport Boy Advance SP.
The Swap, whereas packed stuffed with nice video games, is simply too massive for this. Most individuals cannot slide one into their pockets and even if you happen to do take a bag with you when leaving the home, enjoying Nintendo’s newest in a crowded carriage is sure to attract undesirable consideration from these round you. “Wait a second, he is not staring into the abyss of his cellphone. What is going on on there?”
The identical may be mentioned of the 3DS. It’s simpler to slip right into a pocket, sure, however you open up that unhealthy boy on the prepare or bus and it’s going to be very clear that you’re the odd one out. There is no use making an attempt to crack the case of The Curious Village when a snotty toddler reverse is providing you with these “you bought video games?” eyes.
And so we land, comfortably, on the GBA SP. It slips into most pockets (I put on males’s denims and perceive that I’m extraordinarily fortunate within the pocket-size division as a consequence), has a backlight, and when unfolded isn’t any bigger than a typical cellphone in the present day. In actual fact, at first look, people would possibly suppose that I used to be tapping away on a type of new sci-fi-looking new-old folding telephones and transfer on with their quest for a grubby seat, blissfully unaware that I’m really taking orders from a speaking hat on a two-decade-old Sport Boy.
What’s extra, there is a recreation library besides which ensures that no two journeys want ever be the identical. Sure, all of us personal at the least one unhealthy film tie-in title *appears to be like shamefully at my GBA copy of Pirates of the Caribbean: Lifeless Man’s Chest*, however for probably the most half, there are video games for all events. I’ve accomplished a full playthrough of Pokémon Emerald and I’m presently engaged on A Hyperlink to the Previous for longer journeys, however there are quite a lot of titles damaged down into crisp 10-minute ranges which really feel made for using a few stops earlier than hopping off — Tremendous Mario Advance, Wario Land 4, that Crash and Spyro bundle that everybody appeared to personal, the record goes on!