/vr/ - Retro Games

Because it was largely designed for Japanese kids commuting in natural light conditions where the screen light didn't matter. The lack of a backlight cut down on energy consumption which meant less money for the consumer to spend on batteries.
The revelation that the GBA was ACTUALLY being played by American children underneath their covers at 2AM could not have been foreseen by the designers, and the rechargeable batteries to support the backlight effectively weren't commonplace before the launch of the SP anyways.

>>7030459
>muh Muricans
GBA was successful all over the world

>>7030471
I get all this, but why was it considerably worse than the GBC's screen, couldn't they at least make it on par with that? Does it have to do with the increased resolution?

>>7030459
Honestly I have no idea how I used it as a kid
>Normally use my SP
>Need 2 GBAs to trade trading cards between Crash and Spyro fusion
>Normally have a bright lamp on in my room
>Can't see shit and have to use my full lights
Fuck it was painful

>>7030518
>spoilers for no reason
>useless off-topic reaction image
hi /v/ tourist

It's so embarrassing that this console basically served as a care-home for the increasingly senile Castlevania series.

Imagine, they used to run on awesome systems, like the NES, MSX, X68000, PC Engine, Genesis, SNES, PS1, even N64 and PS2! And then being relegated to THIS!? It's like if you were castrated and forced to wear dresses the rest of your life!

>>7030459
it was a real kaka dooie

>>7030459
It was only around for 3 years anyway

>>7030459
It’s simply easier to hold, the wider body layout survived in the DS series.
I do however prefer playing my colour. Pic related

>>7030459
The better question is what the fuck was going through nintendo's mind when they put a shitty frontlight in the sp when the psp and ds released a year later both had a much better backlit screen.

>>7030579
you look cute :)

>>7030535
I just wanted to talk about a recent experience I had and clicked on the wrong image faggot

>>7030579
Cost.
It's how they don't lose money on consoles like the other companies do

>>7030582
Not my pic, I don't even own one of those pieces of shit anymore.

>>7030593
ok, you're ugly then

>>7030590
NIntendo doesn't lose money on consoles like...Nintendo? The ds only sold for $50 more than the sp and was better in every conceivable way. There was no reason why nintendo couldn't have afforded to put in a backlight for what the sp costed.

>>7030579
the front light isnt that bad, and gb/gbc games look better with it.

>>7030606
They did, the AGS-101 model was backlit. With all the GB/GBC games it could play, I always liked my backlit GBA more than any DS.

>>7030548
The GBA was the best possible platform for a series and genre that had no successful 3D transition

>>7030606
The cost for parts changes with time. The final GBA's did have a backlit screen, both SP and Micro

>>7030641
>GBA was the best possible platform for a series and genre that had no successful 3D transition
That's false. Just compare those games to the PS1 entry in terms of graphics and sound and you'll see how much of a castration it was. Portables are for casuals, who don't have better things to do when they find themselves without a proper screen and gamepad. It's just as ridiculous as the idea of serious movie-watching on tiny screens. On top of that, Nintendo's portables tend to be underpowered due to their market dominance (they don't have to care), although GBA did have a sweet spot inbetween the Neo Geo Pocket and the PlayStation Portable.

2D doesn't need to be relegated to casual systems. There are plenty of superior games that partly owe their superiority to the fact they can use better hardware than those senile Castlevanias did. Even Konami's own Contra Uprising (Igarashi's Harmony of Despair just rehashed old assets) shows you can do 2D well in HD.

>>7030724
hush

>>7030725
If you can't refute it...don't be a hypocrite, stay quiet.