I believe he was referring to the original horizontal GBA, not the clamshell GBA-SP.Originally Posted by Cornelius
An original 1st-generation GBA with the GBA-SP AGS-101 screen would indeed be awesome. Just have to be careful scratching the screen.
I believe he was referring to the original horizontal GBA, not the clamshell GBA-SP.
An original 1st-generation GBA with the GBA-SP AGS-101 screen would indeed be awesome. Just have to be careful scratching the screen.
Thanks for indulging my gaming habit when I was young, Dad. You were the best. I miss you. ~David Barnes 1926-2007~
No, he said it is the NES classic version of the GBA SP. Given that omnedon does all kinds of mods, it isn't surprising at all that he'd put a 101 screen in a 001 model SP.
Also, people did a lot of modding of the original GBA with new screens, though I don't know if it was with a 101 screen. I believe a popular one was called the afterburner mod.
I've got one of these, got them when they first came out so it's safe to assume I have the non AGB-101 screen.
"Ai Oboete Imasu Ka?"
Wow, judging by the pic heybtbm posted, I've really been missing out all-around. I've got that silver GBA SP AGS-001 and the silver fat DS, so either way I'm not getting the kind of color palette and pop that I could with the superior versions.
(Guess I never really looked at a side-by-side comparison of either GBA or DS..)
Failure.
Thanks for indulging my gaming habit when I was young, Dad. You were the best. I miss you. ~David Barnes 1926-2007~
I actually didn't like how some of the games looked with the backlit screen. I noticed that certain games were produced with extreme contrast and brightness to compensate for the original dark GBA screen. With the bright backlight, these games look rather odd. The first game that comes to mind is Super Mario World (Mario Advance 2?).
The other huge benefit of the frontlit screen over the backlit, is that you can actually play them out in the direct sunlight. I frequently do this as I have a young child and am outside quite a bit. Systems like the DS and backlit GBASP are very hard to see. The original GBA and GBASP have the reflective layer which makes them appear perfectly in the sun.
However, I have to admit that the playability of most games goes way up. I tried playing Metroid Fusion on the front-lit screen and it was frustrating.
The afterburner wasn't adding a new screen. It was just adding a front light. Basically a thin wedge of plastic with white LED's in the egde which would reflect down onto the screen. I was installing them for a very short time for Portablemonopoly.net until Nintendo announced the SP. After that, all his orders dissapeared. The frontlit SP was basically the same thing as an afterburner.
"Game programmers are generally lazy individuals. That's right. It's true. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Since the dawn of computer games, game programmers have looked for shortcuts to coolness." Kurt Arnlund - Game programmer for Activision, Accolade...
PortableMonopoly had a huge problem trying to keep up with the influx of orders, as I recall.
I suppose it's possible, but it seems to me the problem with doing such a mod would be fitting in the backlight's on-off button somewhere.
"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russel (attributed)
Yeah, that's why he (and I say "he" because it was just one guy) started asking for outside help. I think I saw the help wanted ad on the bulletin board at a local electronics store. What happened was that at first he was just running it as a little side business and didn't have any problem keeping up with orders. Then a magazine mentioned his website and all the sudden he was overtaken with orders. Didn't last too long though because as I mentioned before, the orders vanished after the SP was announced.
"Game programmers are generally lazy individuals. That's right. It's true. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Since the dawn of computer games, game programmers have looked for shortcuts to coolness." Kurt Arnlund - Game programmer for Activision, Accolade...
Not sure what you mean. The little light button in the top center of the the GBA SP? Both 001 and 101 have that button, they just do slightly different things.
Oh! Oops.
"There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russel (attributed)
I never use the light on my front-lit SP. It's just unbearably dim and washed out.
I keep it around for outdoor use and flashing carts, but mostly I use my micro or Gamecube to play GBA games.
If anyone is looking for a used SP2, there's a really easy way to tell if it has the brighter screen without checking model numbers/turning it on.
On the original GBASP, the screen will be a dull gray color when the system is off.
On the GBASP2, the screen will be a dark, almost black color when the system is off.
I grabbed a (second) mint-condition SP2 @ a local used electronics store last summer for only $39.99!
Upgrade Gameboy Advance SP to brighter screen
Here is a company in China selling the bright screen on Ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nintendo-GBA...item4cf63eccf3
I sold my bright screen GBA SP several years ago and recently picked up the Classic NES Limited Edition. I was VERY disappointed with the dim screen. So, after a lot of
looking, I found a bright replacemente screen on Ebay from a company in China. Very nice people to work with, and I installed it in my NES retro GBA SP. It looks
GREAT! Here is the Ebay link to get this screen, the only place I found it, by the way. I wrote them first and verified that it is indeed the bright screen, and it should
work in any Gameboy Advance SP, and runs $31.99, well worth it!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nintendo-GBA...item4cf63eccf3
Is your old SP Japanese (check its bottom sticker)? Our usually considered AGS-101 only Pearl Blue and Pearl Pink, are very similar to AGS-001 colors available in Japan.
Lum fan.
I know this is an almost 2 year old post, but I still would like to say something. There are actually a few GBA games that take this into account and have a setting you can change to make the game look properly on differently lit screens.
Super Mario World looks fine on my backlit SP. The brightened colors aren't terribly noticeable.
The color changes are really noticeable on a Game Boy Player though even though it still looks good. Unless someone did a comparison or had played the SuperNes original recently, I think many wouldn't even realize that Nintendo did some color adjustments to try to compensate for the earlier GBA model's poor screen. It's just different from the original but they didn't really harm it by doing it.
Last edited by Leo_A; 10-22-2012 at 10:46 PM.
Some games, like Final Fantasy Tactics, even have a setting for both the illuminated and non-illuminated GBA screens. The difference is substantial.
Oh I am glad to find this topic...
I have around 8 Gameboy SP systems (2 with dead batteries)
The Two Dark Grey Game Boy SPs are Identical...but one has a dull screen and one has a bright screen..
Like the below..
The other Dark Grey Game Boy SP I have has a dead battery but its screen is like shown on my silver SP..both Silver SPs I have,have this dull screen..
Sadly,this nice bright screen that I prefer on the system to the right,has an issue..if you notice there is a black straight line on the bottom of the screen that shows up in every game..
The Two Dark Grey Game Boy SPs are Identical...but one has a dull screen and one has a bright screen..
The one to the Right has a dead battery now but it has a dull screen...
Unfortunately it’s sticker spec info is missing..
Here’s the Bright lit specs..
Last edited by Videogamerdaryll; 10-24-2012 at 11:58 AM.
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