My Review Of My New Game Boy Micro

[Bowser N64]

Okay. The strange thing is... Game Boy Advance Micro never attracted me as a console SOLELY. One day I went into FX Video Game Exchange and saw one laying in a display case in the used systems. I was like "Huh. Yeah. GBA Micro. Interesting.". Little did I know that in just a few weeks I would buy one. Ha ha. I'm VERY pleased with it.

 

Well, today I bought my GBA Micro. I hope I'll love it, it costed me a nice, friendly 43 bucks. I waltzed into FX Video Game Exchange today and bought it. The clerk was not feeling well. I guessed he had the flu, maybe allergies, I don't know. I didn't ask.

 

Anyway we got into a discussion about Game Boy systems and such. He told me that the GBA Micro I was about to buy was traded in by one of his employees. He said his friend got tired of the Micro and traded it in for a DS instead. I thought that was interesting. We also talked about the fact that the "EXT." slot on the top back of the Micro was similar to the receiving slot of a USB connector. This is also where the GBA Micro charger is plugged in.

 

The clerk was like "Hell no man! It's not USB! Nintendo made it some weird nonstandard connection instead."

 

I said "Yeah. They always do that. They did that with SP too."

 

We talked a bit longer, then I had to go.

 

Now, I heard on the internet from various sources that the Micro could not do Multiplayer on GBA games because it lacked the link cable connection! BAH HUMBUG! Just pick up the specific GBA MICRO link cable to do this.

 

Another thing AWESOME about the GBA Micro is it has a removable faceplate. Scratched screen? No problem! Just replace with a new faceplate! It's got good sound through the headphone jack. A great control pad as well, much similar to the DS's buttons. The L and R buttons seem awesome as well, though they were designed to be pushed nearer the center of the unit, versus the edges, like DS.

 

My favorite features of the Micro are that volume AND screen brightness can be adjusted by the same rocker switch on the side of the system. Of course, you must push L AND the rocker switch for adjusting brightness. The beautiful thing about the digital notch by notch, button operated volume is that you can play at a LOW volume, easily. This eliminates boosting the volume on accident as sometimes happens with the older GBAs when your hand slips and hits the volume slider. You can also be precisely SURE of what volume you're playing at.

 

As for the removable faceplates, consider that an awesome step for style. And something new I just figured out. On those GBA games where you can have sleep mode, the two LEDs behind the Start and Select buttons will flash to let you know the GBA is asleep, like a FREAKING LAPTOP! Just face it. The Game Boy Advance Micro is awesome. If you like it? Get it. I highly recommend it. HIGHLY. Okay fine... I ENTIRELY RECOMMEND IT!

[Reaperman]

agreed, my GBMs are my favorite systems ever. I have four, two of which are currently NIB, reserved systems which will help get through the DS dark ages. They're so small they're actually portable, very comfortable shape/controls and with a brilliant screen. It *hides* in your pocket until the joyous moment of "I hate standing in lines, I wish I had something to do...oh wait!" I wish nintendo would reconsider the size of their current systems and make their next handheld this size.

 

If this specific version of the GBM were released first, so more people could have played it, and maybe it wouldn't have been orphaned so quickly. It's a real shame.

 

some things I didn't like were that the detachable screens were hard to find--and some third party ones are actually painted on the wrong side (outside). It also *needs* one of those tiny screen protectors, because the faceplate will scratch, and get hard to replace. The 'gbm socks' will also help protect it without increasing its size much. All it needs to complete is one of those flush-fitting bulk storage cards that take mini-sd. I'm a fan of the revised m3 myself, but I've been thinking of picking up an ezf 4 just to be complete.

 

A link to a short blog post I made about my favorite system

Edited November 15, 2008 by Reaperman

[Bowser N64]

Ah yes. I have heard of this EZ Flash thing. What do you mean by Mini SD card? Is that a Micro SD card? I have plenty of those. about how much is the EZ gonna cost me? I hear 20 bucks.

[+atari2600land]

Too bad you can't get new games for it without resorting to used video game stores. I have one, but i can't find it since I moved. Hopefully they can withstand winter in a garage in a box.

[Reaperman]

Ah yes. I have heard of this EZ Flash thing. What do you mean by Mini SD card? Is that a Micro SD card? I have plenty of those. about how much is the EZ gonna cost me? I hear 20 bucks.

it's about $30 here. and that's a good price. The ez flash 4 won't run the biggest of gba games but there are *VERY* few of those. (sims 2, kingdom hearts come to mind as the only two that would possibly be missed) Since it's also under half what a proper m3 goes for so it's a spectacular bargain. Granted I've never run an ezf4 personally, since I have the m3. The price difference is because the ezf has half the ram (which is why it won't do the handful of *HUGE* gba games), lacks the pokemon real-time clock (no biggie) and doesn't have all the multimedia functionality of the more expensive card.

 

AVOID SUPERCARD LIKE THE PLAGUE. We all started out with them, they do work, but there are far better cards for about the same money (like ezf4)

 

SD comes in 3 sizes.

Standard, mini and micro, and the ez-flashIV needs miniSD. With the exception of the first run of m3-minis, every mini-SD gba card fits flush. With a micro, fitting flush is important.

 

think of gba mass flash options like cars

m3=ferrari (excessive and expensive)

ezf4=Ford (reasonable and works well for most people)

supercard=Yugo (gets you there with slowdowns and incompatibility)

Edited November 15, 2008 by Reaperman

[Bowser N64]

What qualify as HUGE ROMS? Is there a comprehensive list?

Edited November 16, 2008 by Bowser N64

[Bowser N64]

Ah thanks. I will take your word to avoid Supercard. Do you think I'll be able to find an EZ at my FX Video Game Exchange store? That would be nice. I guess I could order online as well. My dad seems fascinated about my new GBA Micro. It amazes him of it's size. I told him that it has a 16 Mhz 32 bit processor. I know this is true, and I hope there is homebrew that can run well on such conditions? And the EZs run homebrew apps for GBA? And I'm pretty sure Micros will stand that cold, atari2600land. Nintendo builds their consoles well. The Urbz: Sims In The City for GBA ROM is 32 MB. Is this qualifying as a huge ROM that EZ will NOT run? I absolutely need that one to work. Super Mario Advance should run like candy, considering it's only 4 MB or so.

Edited November 16, 2008 by Bowser N64

[Bowser N64]

And ALSO, I have an SD card adapter that I insert a Micro SD card into, and plug in as an SD card. will this work with EZ Flash? and what version of EZ flash is compatible with GBA and in my price range for what I best need? Does it only run on DS on the higher versions?

 

I know. I know. SOOOO many questions. But I want to be sure I buy the best thing I can afford easily, and have it do what I need it to do.

 

 

The SD Card Adapter with my Micro SD card plugged in:

 

 

 

The SD card Adapter and the Micro SD Card:

 

Edited November 16, 2008 by Bowser N64

[Segataritensoftii]

Too bad you can't get new games for it without resorting to used video game stores. I have one, but i can't find it since I moved. Hopefully they can withstand winter in a garage in a box.

I know. The GBA still has quite a few users, and third party developers just shouldn't have abandoned it as soon as they did.

[Reaperman]

There are many flash choices for GBA, if you go for one in a local shop, it will really limit your selection to what they have. A lot of cards have really become outdated by the newer piracy technology.

 

It would also appear the picture you posted is a microSD-to-SD converter, and you need mini-sd.

here's all 3. SD, miniSD, and MicroSD

 

to answer another question, 32megabytes (256mbit) is considered *huge* for a gba game, and those few titles will not work in the EZ-Flash 4, as it doesn't have enough ram. It will run 16megabyte (128mbit) and below. As far as versions, EZ-flash 4 is the one you want for GBA, as ez-flash 5 is a DS card. Not to say that EZ-flash 4 won't work on DS, it will, even run DS games (with a passthrough in slot 1), but it's expense makes it a pretty poor choice. Ez-flash III on the other hand, has internal memory rather than the mini-sd card, so it's a poor choice for carrying around a lot of games, since its storage is very small. (though if I were a betting man, I'd guess the big 256mbit games run better on ez-flash 3

Edited November 16, 2008 by Reaperman

[Atariboy]

Why are you changing your font? It's annoying to look at, its too large and looks like you turned bold on.

[Bowser N64]

Well, what would be the BEST affordable choice for me? I need to run GBA homebrew and games on my GBA Micro, and compatibility with DS would rock as well.

[Bowser N64]

K, I'm leaning between the EFA Linker I and the EFA Linker II. The EFA Linker II has 1GB of space, ans costs about 39 dollars it seems. Not quite the 20 dollar range I wanted..but hey..you get what you need. I don't know if the EFA Linker I is big enough, as it is 512 mbit. The Urbz is a 32 MB ROM. Also, I want to choose a card that will allow me to have all my GBA games, plus homebrew and other stuff all on one cart. What is the best choice for this?

Edited November 17, 2008 by Bowser N64

[Reaperman]

EFA is a good card with some good features (real time clock for example). Compatibility is also excellent.

 

just to make sure you realize that urbz is a 256mbit game and that the "MB" on a flashcart stands for megabit not megabyte. meaning it takes up half a 512m card. Granted most games are much smaller.

[Bowser N64]

Alright then. I think I'll g with the EFA Linker II. It's more expensive at almost 40 dollars, but if it has more space for stuff, that's what I need. Also, this EFA Linker II is the same as the previous EFA Linker

I right, just with more space?