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Editorials   Playing Classic Game Boy Games on the GBA - Is it the Same?
- By Andrew Weatherton

With the Game Boy Advance’s launch having occurred just over a week ago, I feel certain that most gamers have concentrated on the new GBA games that are available for launch rather than on classic Game Boy games. And with good cause, some of the GBA’s launch titles are amazing, but for those of you who have not realized it yet, the GBA is backwards compatible. This is old news, I know, but it is an aspect of the GBA that has not yet been explored by all too many gaming fans. With backwards compatibility comes a gigantic library of Game Boy and Game Boy Color games begging to be played on the new, more powerful system. The GBA is making games like Zelda: Links Awakening and Metroid 2: Return of Samus available to new GBA owners who were unfortunate enough to have missed out on them the first time around.

Now for the million dollar question; is playing Game Boy games on the GBA the same as playing them on the GBC? The big answer; it isn’t, the old games don’t have any new modes or levels added to them (of course), but they are being played on a new system with a radically different (sideways) control configuration and 50% larger screen. These hardware changes have lead to changes in the accessibility of some gameplay features found in GBC games. In some cases, these features are negatively affected and in others, they are made even better.

Let’s begin by looking at the Game Boy Advance’s new shape. Unlike all previous ‘versions’ of the Game Boy, the GBA has a horizontal configuration. Spreading gamers’ hands further apart has alleviated the cramped feeling caused by the shrinking sizes of previous Game Boys (The Game Boy Pocket was about 1/3 the size of the cumbersome original). The system is certainly much more comfortable, less strain is placed on players’ wrists and thumbs. Also, the back of the Game Boy Advance is more ergonomic, conforming to the shape of a player’s hands rather than forcing a player’s hands to conform to the shape of the system. With a new shape and configuration also come several less obvious benefits related to playing old Game Boy games on the GBA. For one, with games like Micro Machines V3 (which allowed for two players to share the same Game Boy Color in order to play two-player versus mode), the GBA is much more inviting to pad-sharing.



When sharing the controls on the GBC, players’ hands would get tangled up with each other. Also, they would have to sit extremely close, often receiving sore necks from the strain of sitting in odd positions in order to see the GBC’s tiny screen. With the GBA, players can sit more comfortably and have plenty of space to spread out their fingers underneath the system. Additionally, when playing Game Boy games on the GBA, the games only take up about half of the screen due to their lower resolution. Players have the option to toggle a special wide-screen mode on and off by pressing the ‘L’ and ‘R’ buttons. This forces old Game Boy games to take up the entire width of the GBA screen and, though it distorts the image a bit, it is a nice option. For pad-sharing especially, a wider screen gives gamers a larger and less straining viewing window.

Of course, the GBA’s larger screen isn’t without its downfalls. Besides distorting the image and making text difficult to read, the GBA seems to make the color palette of GBC games darker than they were on the GBC. This isn’t just a requirement for additional light, the colors actually become darker on the GBA’s screen. I have no clue why this is, perhaps a flaw in hardware emulation, but it’s actually an extremely negative aspect of the GBA’s ‘100% backwards compatibility.’ Some games are nearly unplayable due to the color shifting that has occurred.

Why this color shift occurs, I don’t know, but it cripples my ability to play some of my favorite Game Boy classics. Can the GBA’s hidden contrast control alleviate the problem? Perhaps, but I don’t think many gamers are willing to void their warranties just to be able to see their Game Boy games better on the GBA.

Assuming that you can stand the darker colors while playing old Game Boy games on your GBA, or that you’ve been able to change the contrast of your GBA’s screen, I’ll continue on in my comparison.

The next area involves multi-player games that use the link cable rather than pad-sharing. All previous Game Boys have had their link cable port located on the left-hand side of the system, forcing players to sit next to each other rather than across from each other. The GBA’s link port is located on the top of the system in order to promote players to sit across from each other. However, the GBA’s port location also makes sitting next to other players doable.


Two things about the GBA’s link port make it superior to that of previous Game Boy games. Firstly, its placement on the system itself gives players more sitting options and makes four-player competitions easier to set up. Secondly, the GBA’s link port is able to send information significantly faster than the previous link ports. This may not be of any significant help to old link cable games, but it’s certainly a plus for new GBA games intending to take advantage of the link port.

One final area of confrontation remains – cartridge size. The GBA’s game cartridges are about half the size of previous Game Boy games. So, when old Game Boy games are placed in the GBA’s cartridge slot, they stick out from the system about an inch.



This is actually only a minor gripe because the cartridge almost never gets in the way, it seems more of a reminder that the game you’re playing an old game than a nuisance. However, having a cartridge protruding from your sleek new GBA makes the system too bulky to place in your pocket. You’ll need to remove the cartridge from the system in order to do so. A small hassle, but a hassle non-the-less.

And so, the Game Boy Advance is certainly able to play previous Game Boy games, but it isn’t quite the same experience. For some of my games I prefer playing on the Game Boy Color and enduring hand cramps in order to have a more appropriate screen brightness. Other games, however, have me delighted to play them on the GBA due to some of the reasons that I have outlined above. You’ll have to try it yourself to see what your own opinion is, but no matter what, if you’ve missed out on any of the great Game Boy Classics, please don’t forget to give them a run through.

-- Andrew Weatherton