Gameboy Micro was worth more than I thought.

[AWinterFuneral]

Recently I have been really into expanding my Nintendo Collection. I was at a local gaming store the other day and realized they had a good copy of Super Mario RPG for Super Nintendo, but I let it go. I thought about it that night, and decided it was too good of a game to pass up (I used to spend hours playing through it when I was younger), so I decided that the next day (today) I would return to whisk it off the shelf and into my collection. Upon leaving my house I realized I had a small collection of Gameboy stuff I had while I was in Tech School, and haven't used for years. It was a Gameboy Micro with the charger, some games (Final Fantasy 3 advanced, Final Fantasy 5 advanced, Advanced Wars, Castlevania: Circle of the moon, FF Tactics Advanced, and 3 classic games remade for Gameboay advanced like the old castlevania, metroid, and one more I can't seem remember. Regardless of the price or rarity of the games, I was expecting to maybe get 15-20 bucks for the bundle, but to my surprise I got 70 bucks for the bundle! I was pretty stoked because I had money in my pocket ready to spend on a few games, but today, I pretty much didn't even need it. I just wanted Super Mario RPG (which was going for 19.99), so I told them I'd take the game, and they could just give me 50 bucks. Pretty good deal I think.

[WoodyXP]

[AWinterFuneral]

Haha thanks man. I noticed your location says you are located at Lajes? Portugal right? Sweet dude.

[Smashed Brother]

The Walmart in the little town that I used to live in around 3 years ago had GB Micros clearanced out for about $20 each. They had about 5 of them, including the Famicom one. Still kick myself for not picking all of them up...

[Darko]

I am the proud owner of a Famicom GBA Micro. I took off the gold faceplate so I wouldn't mess it up and went with a black one. The black on red looks awesome!

[garagesaleking!!]

There are definitely an oddity, the game store near me sells them for $40-$50, I have never seen one in the wild.

[mobiusclimber]

I'd suggest checking prices on Amazon. They're usually a bit higher than market value (and sometimes way higher) but it's a quick way to get an idea of what something is worth. $20 for SM RPG is a great price, but you likely took less for the Micro & games than what they're worth. But if you're happy that's really all that matters. The GBA stuff was just taking up space as you say.

[dreamcaster]

I personally feel the GBA Micro is pretty worthless :P

[NomadGamer]

I personally feel the GBA Micro is pretty worthless :P

That's how i felt about the GBA in general. Not sure if i gave it a fair shake or not to be honest. When i finally got rid of it, it still had the original batteries in it with a charge lol.

The only games i bought for it were the Super Mario Advance Collections. Beyond that, i never played the thing.

[dreamcaster]

Don't get me wrong, I quite like the Game Boy Advance. I just felt the GBM was a waste of hardware - smaller screen, incompatible with GB/GBC games.

I mean, I'm all for miniaturisation but it's hardly like the GBA SP was a behemoth.

[mobiusclimber]

Yeah I never really understood the thinking behind it either. You can fit an SP in your pocket as easily as a micro and the SP has a wider library of games to choose from since it can play GB & GBC as well. Also Nintendo released it alongside the announcement that they were released the DS. Seriously, guys, WTF? No one's going to buy your OLD hardware when you announce you're abandoning it anyway in favor of a NEW platform. Which is one of the reasons the micro is so hard to find, imo. No one bought them.

Also to NomadGamer, you might not like the GBA too well because you only bought re-releases. Try some of the other exclusive games and you might find something you enjoy. My favorite is Golden Sun, but there are plenty of platformers and action games that are worth your time as well.

[Icarus Moonsight]

GBA Micro + flashcart (PocketNES and your GBA cart library without toting or swapping) = win

When I'm at home I'll use the GBA Player or SP (SP also at work). But for gaming during travel or while out and about, nothing touches the mighty little Micro.

They fit in a shirt pocket. Not something one would want to do with an SP or DS. The controls being spaced a bit further out than the SP has some benefits also.

I would think that it was designed primarily for non-US markets (especially Japan) but since it was non-region specific, might as well put in on the shelf here too. PSOne was on the shelf alongside the PS2 not too long before... Even though either case didn't make much sense really. I think it must have been more of a "What the hell, why not?" decision. Anyone that bought one at retail more than likely were thinking the exact same thing.

[suckerpunch5]

man, I love my Micro. I have every GBA itteration, but I really like the Micro. The best part, I would put it in my pocket and go to work. Then I would take a bathroom break, and play 30-45 minutes of Fire Emblem! Ah . . . good times.

[BetaWolf47]

It's just GB micro, not GBA micro. Kind of misleading as it only plays GBA games.

I still like it though. GBA SP never felt as comfortable to me as either that or GBA original.

[dreamcaster]

PSOne was on the shelf alongside the PS2 not too long before... Even though either case didn't make much sense really. I think it must have been more of a "What the hell, why not?" decision. Anyone that bought one at retail more than likely were thinking the exact same thing.

I dunno, this always made sense to me. The original PlayStation was such a strong brand for consumers and was still selling extremely well when the PS2 came out. A major factor was price - the PS2 was $799AUD when launched here in Australia. This was almost 3DO territory when it came to price tags. Meanwhile, a tried and true PSone with it's enormous library of games could be had for a mere $99AUD. For those just getting into the gaming scene for the first time, the PSone seemed like the more logical investment, whilst the PS2 remained the 'elite' choice.

In my opinion, the PS2 didn't become an affordable or worthwhile console until the end of 2002 (which is when I decided to buy mine), at which time was now half the price ($399AUD) and most places were offering a free game or extra controller by that stage. It was around this time too that PSone hardware and software started to disappear off store shelves.

The same situation occurred here again with the launch of the PS3 - the PS2 remained the stronger seller until the PS3 became a little more affordable (although I believe the PS2 was knocked out of the way much more quickly here than the PSone was).

[maxlords]

I love my SP, don't get me wrong...but I take my Micro to work with me...never take my SP.

[poloplayr]

man, I love my Micro. I have every GBA itteration, but I really like the Micro. The best part, I would put it in my pocket and go to work. Then I would take a bathroom break, and play 30-45 minutes of Fire Emblem! Ah . . . good times.

EXACTLY my main reason for wanting one!

[boatofcar]

The Micro is the only GBA I play anymore. The buttons are just the right size, the screen is super crisp, and, as has been mentioned before, will fit in a shirt pocket. I love Mario Golf and Tennis, and one of these days I'd like to dig a little deeper into the catalog to find some other gems.

[Icarus Moonsight]

@dreamcaster: Well then there, mystery solved. GBA was a strong and popular platform as well. I don't think dropping GB/C compatibility is too bad considering this was being done in 2005/06. Basically a super-slim model of GBA. I don't know this for a certainty, but I'd wager a guess that the Micros sold well enough in their target regions to have been justified, even if it sold poorly in others. From the US gamer perspective, I didn't see any particular value to them at first. Then I bought one used and fairly cheap and it all made sense to me immediately. It's definitely a small groove for users and most wouldn't fall into it.

[Nightram]

My understanding of the Micro is that it was made primarily for the Japanese. In Japan, the thing sold like mad initially because of the size and convenience. It's the most portable system to this day, and was very popular on the trains there.
Nintendo decided to see how it would do here after the massive success in Japan, but obviously had an inkling that it wouldn't do as well because the distribution wasn't that great. Also, it came out after the original DS, which had much more capability and a GBA slot to boot.

For the record, I love the three I have (regular, Famicom, and Mother 3), because of the resolution and superior backlighting. It's also kind of cool to show them off because few people have one and many people hold the opinion that they were worthless. Once they see one though, in my experience, they come around pretty quickly. Just a cool little gadget from Nintendo with some impressive capabilities and design.