My son loves his Game Boy and he always complained about not being able to see it in the car. I upgraded to the SP and he is thrilled. Rechargable battery, back lit screen, smaller size, sound seems better…whats not to like. It has a high coolness factor as well.

It’s fantastic, in my opinion. Between the internal light and the smaller size, it’s a worthy upgrade. The missing headphone jack is only a small problem — not everyone uses headphones, but everyone with a standard GBA needs a light! Something amazing: The SP is smaller and lighter than the Gamester Floodlight I was using with my old GBA…

People have said they thought the smaller size would make it less ergonomic for people with “grown up” sized hands. Well, I’ve got good-sized hands and fairly long fingers — I’ve been told I should have been a pianist — and the SP is actually better than the original GBA for me. I got past a boss in Metroid Fusion that had been giving me fits, the first time I tried it on the SP. The new buttons have a “clickier” tactile feel that I especially like, and there’s fewer accidental presses on the L/R shoulder buttons with the SP, something that used to drive me nuts on the original GBA.

I’ll even confess I picked up Pokemon Advance (Ruby version, since we have a dog named “Ruby”), which I’m really enjoying — though it is too easy, as several reviews have mentioned, it’s fun to play. With an on-line coupon the game was $19 at Target this week.

Nick

<rant>
p.s. I don’t use Netscape 4.7 or Internet Exploder, so I can’t order the headphone adaptor from the Nintendo Online Store. This really annoys me, since Nintendo has said they have no plans to sell the adapter through retail outlets. Sites with specific browser requirements suck.
</rant>

I own a regular non-lit GBA, and as everyone said…Unless you are standing on the sun, it was pretty much worthless without investing in a lighting add-on.

The biggest problem with all the add-ons (except the Afterburner which required knowledge and taking apart the GBA) was the light was not uniform. You suffered from hot spots and cold spots.

Between the GBA and the SP release I amassed about 12 different games for my unit. Some were practically unplayable due to the uneven lighting and the color palette of the game (dark colors really suffer). After charging my SP, the games were suddenly playable. I went from an archive of 4 or 5 games to the full 12.

The only part I worry about is the hinged opening. If there is going to be any one problem, I think this will be it.

The only other drawback is there is no headphone jack, you need a special adapter from Nintendo (so far only available on their site) and it costs $5.

I’ve rambled enough, and I don’t have time to do a very in depth review. But I’m still a newbie.

Overall, I would still give it a ‘Must Have’ rating. Especially with all the SNES games that are being ported to it (Mario, Zelda, etc)