Nintendo surprised many of us a few months ago by announcing a new Gameboy system, the Gameboy Micro. The Gameboy Micro would be a smaller version of the Gameboy Advance SP, appealing to those who don't already own a Gameboy Advance and the "image conscious" gamers looking for a nifty new gadget. Some thought the Micro was a great idea while others thought the idea of another Gameboy was over-kill. Well, it's here. The Gameboy Micro was released last week and so far, to the surprise of many, it's been a commercial hit. Here are my impressions but first a little background info.
The Gameboy Micro is available in two colors. One color has a black body with a silver faceplate while the other the reverse, a silver body and black face plate. The faceplates are interchangeable and each version of the Micro comes with two extra. The black (body) Micro comes with a green camouflage faceplate and a flame faceplate while the silver version comes with a lady bug faceplate and a black and blue swirled faceplate. Included in the box, which is very iPod'ish by the way, is a standard manual, a fabric drawstring pouch, a battery charger and faceplate key (used when swapping faceplates).
The first thing that's obviously noticeable about the Micro is its size. I was expecting a small device, but this system is tiny. It measures about 4" in length, 2" in height and is about as deep as a dvd case. Overall, it's about the size of a credit card. It weighs only 2.8 ounces which is almost nothing and lighter than a standard cell-phone. It's also pretty nice looking. It really does catch your eye and is easily one of the niftier gadgets I've seen. It has a very sleek, clean look to it, with its minimalistic design (not even a Nintendo logo on front), sharp edges and shiny buttons. It really doesn't look like a hand held video game system at all.
The Gameboy Micro has a standard Gameboy button layout. On the left side of the system is a D-Pad. It's slightly smaller than the standard SP and DS digital pad and has a smooth, responsive feel. Across the screen from the D-pad are the 'B' and 'A' buttons, slightly offset from one another. The buttons are about the same size as the SP buttons and larger than the DS buttons. It also doesn't have the cheap, small, plastically buttons that the DS has. On top there are two shoulder buttons, L&R, all chromed out. The start and select buttons are actually on the bottom of the system which is where the cartridges are loaded from and the power switch is located.
With the system being so tiny I was worried about comfortability but that's not a problem. Despite it's small size the hand held fits nicely in my hands. The d-pad and buttons are placed towards the outside of the unit so your thumb and fingers don't have to make long movements. The start and select buttons, as mentioned earlier, are on the bottom of the system but can be easily accessed with either thumb. The only problem I have with the layout is the shoulder button location. Because the system is so small you can't keep your index fingers extended and must curl them in a bit to use the shoulder buttons, it's mildly uncomfortable and only a minor gripe.
The Gameboy Micro uses a new screen which is the best part about the system. The screen is much smaller than the SP's and DS's and is about the size of a standard cell-phone screen. It's smaller and takes some getting used to but when you turn the screen on you'll notice it is brighter and much crisper than the SP's, a big improvement. Overall the screen looks great, it's vibrant and clear and gives a pretty dramatic improvement to GBA visuals. A nice feature is the slider which lets you adjust screen brightness. One concern I had was reading text, but it's not a problem. Text is small but the resolution is high enough that every letter is readable.
The battery life is about 10 hours. The lithium-ion battery can be easily taken out and replaced if necessary. A standard head-phone jack is located on the bottom of the system but no head phones are included with the system. Cartridges are inserted from the bottom. On top of the unit is the expansion slot for linking to other Gameboys and the wireless expansion pack. The Micro cannot connect to the GameCube.
Unfortunately the Gameboy Micro isn't compatible with original Gameboy Games and Gameboy Color games. It's not crucial, most of those games are horribly outdated and the system already has a library of a couple of hundred games but it would have been nice and a selling point for Nintendo.
Nintendo has released a slick little unit that is quite eye catching and will no doubt sell systems because of that. With this being the fourth machine capable of playing GBA games and competing with both a newly released SP (brighter screen) and the Nintendo DS you have to ask yourself, is it worth it? The answers is up to you. The new screen is very nice and the smaller size may add a little convenience but those new to the Gameboy may be tempted to just go with the cheaper SP or slightly more expensive but more capable DS.
The Gameboy Micro is available in two colors. One color has a black body with a silver faceplate while the other the reverse, a silver body and black face plate. The faceplates are interchangeable and each version of the Micro comes with two extra. The black (body) Micro comes with a green camouflage faceplate and a flame faceplate while the silver version comes with a lady bug faceplate and a black and blue swirled faceplate. Included in the box, which is very iPod'ish by the way, is a standard manual, a fabric drawstring pouch, a battery charger and faceplate key (used when swapping faceplates).
The first thing that's obviously noticeable about the Micro is its size. I was expecting a small device, but this system is tiny. It measures about 4" in length, 2" in height and is about as deep as a dvd case. Overall, it's about the size of a credit card. It weighs only 2.8 ounces which is almost nothing and lighter than a standard cell-phone. It's also pretty nice looking. It really does catch your eye and is easily one of the niftier gadgets I've seen. It has a very sleek, clean look to it, with its minimalistic design (not even a Nintendo logo on front), sharp edges and shiny buttons. It really doesn't look like a hand held video game system at all.
The Gameboy Micro has a standard Gameboy button layout. On the left side of the system is a D-Pad. It's slightly smaller than the standard SP and DS digital pad and has a smooth, responsive feel. Across the screen from the D-pad are the 'B' and 'A' buttons, slightly offset from one another. The buttons are about the same size as the SP buttons and larger than the DS buttons. It also doesn't have the cheap, small, plastically buttons that the DS has. On top there are two shoulder buttons, L&R, all chromed out. The start and select buttons are actually on the bottom of the system which is where the cartridges are loaded from and the power switch is located.
With the system being so tiny I was worried about comfortability but that's not a problem. Despite it's small size the hand held fits nicely in my hands. The d-pad and buttons are placed towards the outside of the unit so your thumb and fingers don't have to make long movements. The start and select buttons, as mentioned earlier, are on the bottom of the system but can be easily accessed with either thumb. The only problem I have with the layout is the shoulder button location. Because the system is so small you can't keep your index fingers extended and must curl them in a bit to use the shoulder buttons, it's mildly uncomfortable and only a minor gripe.
The Gameboy Micro uses a new screen which is the best part about the system. The screen is much smaller than the SP's and DS's and is about the size of a standard cell-phone screen. It's smaller and takes some getting used to but when you turn the screen on you'll notice it is brighter and much crisper than the SP's, a big improvement. Overall the screen looks great, it's vibrant and clear and gives a pretty dramatic improvement to GBA visuals. A nice feature is the slider which lets you adjust screen brightness. One concern I had was reading text, but it's not a problem. Text is small but the resolution is high enough that every letter is readable.
The battery life is about 10 hours. The lithium-ion battery can be easily taken out and replaced if necessary. A standard head-phone jack is located on the bottom of the system but no head phones are included with the system. Cartridges are inserted from the bottom. On top of the unit is the expansion slot for linking to other Gameboys and the wireless expansion pack. The Micro cannot connect to the GameCube.
Unfortunately the Gameboy Micro isn't compatible with original Gameboy Games and Gameboy Color games. It's not crucial, most of those games are horribly outdated and the system already has a library of a couple of hundred games but it would have been nice and a selling point for Nintendo.
Nintendo has released a slick little unit that is quite eye catching and will no doubt sell systems because of that. With this being the fourth machine capable of playing GBA games and competing with both a newly released SP (brighter screen) and the Nintendo DS you have to ask yourself, is it worth it? The answers is up to you. The new screen is very nice and the smaller size may add a little convenience but those new to the Gameboy may be tempted to just go with the cheaper SP or slightly more expensive but more capable DS.
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