Collecting for the Gameboy Advance: Your Thoughts?

[Unbeliever]

I am now thinking about possibly collecting for the Gameboy Advance. My question to everyone here is how hard is it to get complete (box, instructions, game) carts for the system and what is the "average" price? I know it probably depends on what game I'm talking about, but in general. Is this something that would be fairly easy to do, or would be rather difficult?

 

I don't know how "collectible" the Gba and games are right now, so your thoughts on it would be appreciated. I would want full game sets, not just carts. I have an old Gba (the original with no backlighting) already, but might want a boxed one if they are available. Any comments would be highly appreciated!

[+Gemintronic]

This topic on another forum seems up your alley:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?158344-Rare-COMPLETE-Game-Boy-Advance-Games

[Unbeliever]

Thanks, theloon. Great topic. And very informative.

[Rev]

I have a small collection of GBA games.

 

Some of the 'black label' games and some mario/yoshi/kirby games.

 

I love this system, it reminds me of a portable SNES/NES.

[Unbeliever]

That's what I'm thinking, for the portability, plus the system has some great games on it (I love the classic NES series they released). I gave up on the DS and such...not really looking for a modern system (I have an Xbox 360, but classic gaming always pulls me back). My original Gba has scratches all over it, but it's still playable. Not sure where I got this purple original Gba, but I'm sure it was from someone here.

[MagitekAngel]

Been trying for years to find a nice AGS-101 with tight buttons and a minty screen. Incidentally, if you've got one and you want to cut a deal, let me know in the PMs.

[Amstari]

I sold my GBAs (original and SP version) and games a long time ago but I really regret selling them. It's a great system and even better that it is backwards compatible with the Game Boy.

 

I've got a Dingoo A320 which does a decent job of emulating the GBA but nothing beats having the real thing with real carts.

 

Good luck with your collecting!

[AtariLeaf]

I started collecting for the GBA recently, along with original gameboy and gameboy color. For me the draw was the great library of classic arcade ports. My local game stores seem to have quite a few CIB gba carts but their prices are pretty high for CIB versus bare cart and of course the first party stuff like mario, kirby, dk, etc has some pretty nutty price tags on them.

 

Its a great system, I do have an AGS-101 and would like a second back up unit someday but I have the gamecube player which is great for playing these games as well.

[Reaperman]

It's getting more tricky to find games CIB or sealed, but they're still out there. I'd say the average internet price on a sealed common/undesirable game is $15 shipped. I don't have a good feel for CIB prices since I usually only go for loose or sealed, but I think CIB and sealed are actually about the same price. Prices on GBA carts of any condition bottomed out a couple years ago, and have slowly been climbing.

 

I've been collecting for gba for some time now, but I know I'll never get anything like a full set. Thanks to the many flash cart options for the system, many of the games that I bought for GBA during the its lifespan are still sealed, which means I played the good games until they went on sale and filed them in drawers.

 

Other positives about GBA collecting are that GBA kiosks are small and easy to ship, and those Visteon GBA/DVD players are probably as cheap as they're going to get right now, and can still be had new.

Edited January 16, 2013 by Reaperman

[Unbeliever]

Thanks for the thoughts, guys. I believe my local Gamestop still has options for picking up titles. My thoughts turn to the system itself, if I want to try and snag a Gba Sp. I wish I wouldn't have gotten rid of my Micro I got years back. Dammit. It was a really nice little system with a super bright screen. WHY oh WHY did I get rid of it?

[Reaperman]

Thanks for the thoughts, guys. I believe my local Gamestop still has options for picking up titles. My thoughts turn to the system itself, if I want to try and snag a Gba Sp. I wish I wouldn't have gotten rid of my Micro I got years back. Dammit. It was a really nice little system with a super bright screen. WHY oh WHY did I get rid of it?

Honestly the SP's wear a little better than the GBM's anyway, and the ags-101 screen is about as good. I used to like the micros over the SPs all day long, but the button rubber turns mushy and it's *impossible* to get replacements. SP's don't get as bad, and replacement pads are still commonly available.

Edited January 16, 2013 by Reaperman

[Unbeliever]

Thanks for the advice Reaperman. I will probably go with an Sp versus a Micro, since I would assume they'd be cheaper as well.

[Atariboy]

Honestly the SP's wear a little better than the GBM's anyway, and the ags-101 screen is about as good.

 

It's just as good.

 

The screens on this, the Micro, and the DS Lite that all came out right around the same time are identical in performance.

[+wood_jl]

I was the biggest fan of the SP when it came out, and then even more-so of the AGS-101 with the backlit screen, when it came out. It seemed perfect. The Micro is just un-necessarily small, IMO.

 

However, I just use the DS Lite, now. The only thing that sucks is that it won't LINK on 2-player GBA games; why the hell couldn't they have included this functionality? They could have used the DS link to wirelessly-link GBA games, and it would have totally rocked! But since I can't find any other adults interested in playing GBA link games anyway, it's not such a big deal.

 

As far as which "wears better," the DS Lite with the Joytech (or knockoff copies) Armorlite clear polycarbonate casing......

 

 

.....offers about the best wear-prevention, ever. Along with a bottom (touch) screen protector, you'd have to work pretty hard to screw up the system. I wish more stuff had these clear cases, to protect the paint. After years of use, my DS Lite has not a single mark.