DS lite for GBA only?

[SuperDerpBro]

Looking to play some GBA and they are absurdly expensive these days. Super common but somehow selling for way to much (IMO) for even crap condition on eBay. Lots of DS Lites for pretty cheap. I play DS on my 3DS so i would basically be buying for GBA only.

I haven't played GBA on one in many years. Is it worth it of should i just keep bidding on GBAs until i win one for a decent price?

[samsonlonghair]

I didn't know that GBAs had become expensive. How odd. Maybe it's the Pokemon Go effect.

If you only want to play gameboy advance games, and never want to play gameboy color or B&W gameboy games, then a DS or DS lite would be just fine for that purpose. If you ever want to play gameboy color or B&W gameboy games, you're going to want to get a GBA.

[flylikeabird]

Define pricey. Original GBAs without the back light are pretty damn cheap. The AGs-001 isn't much more. The AGS 101 is relatively expensive I suppose, which is understandable since it's the best model/more limited production run.

Ds lite is fine for gba games. I like to be able to play og gameboy games as well though, so personally I use an original gba modded with a backlit 101 screen. Was fairly expensive (150$) but best way to play gba imo.

[Tanooki]

It's probably Go related as those Pokemon old games are being influenced too, check the uptick from when the game launched and before.

The DS Lite can only handle GBA games, no GB or GBC, it's guts wise in that respect like the GB Micro. To do old GB you'll need a GBA or either SP, or use original hardware (GB, GBP or GBC.)

All this splash effect from that game pleases me I held onto FireRed and the earlier Yellow plus related guide books.

[Fragems]

I'll keep an eye out for a GBA / SP tomorrow those used to be dirt cheap around here like $15-$20 tops, but the market has been swamped with fleamarket/ebay resellers over the past few years so competition is pretty tight for anything game related. I'd definitely go for an original GBA or SP for the extra backwards compatibility.

[SuperDerpBro]

I didn't know that GBAs had become expensive. How odd. Maybe it's the Pokemon Go effect.

If you only want to play gameboy advance games, and never want to play gameboy color or B&W gameboy games, then a DS or DS lite would be just fine for that purpose. If you ever want to play gameboy color or B&W gameboy games, you're going to want to get a GBA.

I play GB/C on my GBC .

Define pricey. Original GBAs without the back light are pretty damn cheap. The AGs-001 isn't much more. The AGS 101 is relatively expensive I suppose, which is understandable since it's the best model/more limited production run.

Ds lite is fine for gba games. I like to be able to play og gameboy games as well though, so personally I use an original gba modded with a backlit 101 screen. Was fairly expensive (150$) but best way to play gba imo.

Even the OG GBA's are pretty high (considering what they are) on ebay these days. I am including shipping in the price. Take a look.

AGS-001s are like over 100 CAD shipped in shit condition.

I play OG GB on my GBC

I can't stand the 101 screen. Everyone sucks it's dick but i cannot stand the blur. Once I saw it back in the day i couldn't unsee. I owned a few but always ended up selling them. I preferred the 001. I am thinking the cobalt blue DS (supposed to have the best DSL screen) might be the best way to play GBA but i remember the Dpad sucking on the DSL.

It's probably Go related as those Pokemon old games are being influenced too, check the uptick from when the game launched and before.

The DS Lite can only handle GBA games, no GB or GBC, it's guts wise in that respect like the GB Micro. To do old GB you'll need a GBA or either SP, or use original hardware (GB, GBP or GBC.)

All this splash effect from that game pleases me I held onto FireRed and the earlier Yellow plus related guide books.

Very likely GO related.

I play OG GB on my GBC

[Exhuminator]

I've beaten quite a few GBA games on DS Lite, it does the job fine.

The only thing is the resolution of the DS versus the resolution of the GBA is not natively compatible. That means you can either play GBA games in native resolution quite tiny on the DS screen, or you can have the DS upscale the resolution of the GBA game to its own native resolution. Upscaling does make the GBA game look bigger on the DS screen, but the pixels are multiplied by non-whole numbers and look fuzzy and not great.

[SuperDerpBro]

Is that new? I vaguely remember the GBA games on my old DSL being in a box on the screen. With no way to at least stretch it to the sides. Stretching it to fill the screen would be kinda silly as the DSL is 4:3.

[Tanooki]

That stretch is nothing new, they started it back with the old GB stuff on GBA, press L/R it gets wider or blackboxed 1:1. I find I like it blown up, I can deal with things being a hair wider to gain the screen space.

I too mostly will just play 8bit GB on GB/GBC. I've got a Worm Light (GBC also works on GBP) and I have a Vik Tokai Game Light that magnifies a little and lights the original brick very well. Places I'd tend to use such things as it usually is anyway are under some LED lamps so they light up nicely. Usually when it goes towards the GBA I will go between using a micro or my NES Sp but I kind of like how that one is in really great shape so I try not to use it as often.

As far as price goes sadly I'd say that around the $40 mark for a really sweet GBA SP with a clean screen and body would be fair whereas maybe a year ago half that was possible/probable. At least the games themselves (cart only) most of them are still very cheap, few go up...pokemon, some random stuff (kid dracula for GB as an example) will break their original retail price or even ugh...double it. GB of any flavor much like Game Gear and Genesis, at game alone levels are super affordable against anything else of a notable name anymore due to flipper scum.

[Exhuminator]

Is that new? I vaguely remember the GBA games on my old DSL being in a box on the screen. With no way to at least stretch it to the sides. Stretching it to fill the screen would be kinda silly as the DSL is 4:3.

IIRC you just hold down start after you boot the GBA game, and it switches to the upscaled resolution. The upscaling does not stretch the image to the full aspect ratio of the DS resolution. It just stretches the GBA image vertically until it stops, and puts black bars on the left and right side of the GBA image. The picture gets bigger, but it gets uglier.

I'm pretty sure that's how it worked. It's been like nine years since I last played a GBA game on DS though. I could be smoking crack over here.