text: Introduction and Portable Gaming - boards.ie
  Introduction and Portable Gaming
  Burkey0 Registered User
  25-Apr-2012 21:22 #1
  Hello folks, am new to these here parts. A young collector am I!
  What's your opinions on portable gaming, particularly retro portables? Got any favourites? I do love the GBA F-Zeros, Wario Land 2 and Link's Awakening (and the Pokemons obv). I play a whole load of games on my phone as well these days. Hectic lifestyle, you know?
  25-Apr-2012 22:37 #2
  Well, imho the best console to kick off portable gaming is a bog standard GBA-SP.
  The screens are normally in good nick because of the nature of the device, it folds up to protect the screen.
  There is a massive selection of games for it, from Warioware Inc to F-zero, from Zelda: The Minish Cap to Mario Kart.
  Not only that but there are all the Gameboy and Gameboy Color titles to choose from as well, so you can play the classic GB Tetris, R-Type DX and the Super Mario Land series.
  They are a robust little device and, once you have you collection going, you can bolster it with the GB Micro, a gorgeous mini GBA, size of a mobile phone and a stunning machine to boot.
  25-Apr-2012 22:47 #3
  GBA is fine but there's something about the old monochrome brick GB, a certain je ne sais quoi. One thing about the GBA is the amount of pirate carts being sold on ebay, it's a minefield. Not a nice system to collect for due to this.
  If you want to get something a little bit exotic but certainly won't break the bank then the Neo Geo Pocket is great. There's loads of amazing games on the machine and most are dirt cheap if you don't mind them unboxed. If you want them boxed it's a little bit more expensive but worth it since the PAL boxes are amazing. A very easy portable to collect for.
  26-Apr-2012 00:01 #4
  Gba? Neo Geo Pocket? Pff, they all pale in comparison to the Sega Nomad!
  26-Apr-2012 00:37 #5
  Yeah I've noticed this, Pokémon games on eBay in particular seem to be rife with bootlegs.
  Actually when it comes to collecting I prefer Nintendo home consoles. Don't seem to lose console games so easily as I do tiny GB/GBA games...
  26-Apr-2012 01:14 #6
  Just get a neo geo aes. Easy as piss to get up a collection there or my name isn't EscobarOTT.
  An old slab of a gameboy is great but personally I'd go for a micro. Great screen and looks fab! Screens get scratched easily though, so watch out for that.
  26-Apr-2012 08:30 #7
  Well, my selection of the GBA-Sp is based on someone wanting a start in the area.
  No need to plumb the depths of eBay, there's plenty of GBA titles popping up on Adverts all the time, often with the device included.
  A classic Gameboy is also a worthy purchase, but I'd go for a Gameboy Pocket beforehand, a lovely monochrome screen with none of the issues of the original screen, it's a good deal smaller and lighter but the aforementioned screen is bigger and, also, it is quite frugal on batteries, only needing two AAA cells to keep going for ages.
  Again, a smashing back catalogue of games to choose from.
  The Gameboy Color is nice but the screen is a disaster, requiring you to sit, at midday, on Mercury to see it properly, otherwise it's murky, very murky!
  A NeoGeo Pocket Color is an affordable entry point also, available in bundles from eBay for small prices.
  It has a relatively tiny catalogue of games available but the quality is excellent, Metal Slug 1st and 2nd Mission, The Last Blade, King of Fighters, Pacman, all good, all cheap too.
  The screen is based on the same principals as the GBC screen but is implemented far better and it is a great buy.
  The GBA:SP-ags 101 is the primo Gameboy, it has a larger version of the Micro screen coupled with the ability to play anything from the Gameboy back catalogue, whilst the Micro only plays GBA games.