Well, it's finally here, its monopolizing reign over the handheld market has been emphasized once more. It has hit North America like a fiery cannon ball, marking the commencement of the long battle ahead. Game Boy Advance hit the market in North American on Wednesday, June 13, 2001, and boy was it big. Even with the gazillion (estimate) pre-orders in stores before launch date, some shelves were wiped clean by the end of the day. Surprisingly, I have noticed that the Arctic white colour disappeared first, even with heavy criticism of it being dull by online fans, not me of course. Sure enough, there were games available in all stores that sold the system, but most casual stores had three to five, yet video game based stores had up to fifteen.
Personally, the system itself is fantastic. The screen is a lot wider, so the dimensions are different with the length measuring more than the height. All the buttons, including the direction pad have the same feeling as the Game Boy Color. However, the two shoulder buttons add a completely new feeling to the system, as so does its positioning, horizontally. The system is really small, compared to the impression pictures offer and the shoulder buttons are absolutely tiny, which makes them sometimes difficult to operate. Otherwise, the LCD screen has a bit of reflection which you must get used to and the sound is absolutely stunning. Overall, Nintendo did a great job with the hardware. I managed to grab a hold of two excellent games the day I bought the system, which were Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and Advance GT, which not only proves that the hardware is amazing, but the software as well. Here are a couple short reviews!
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: What can I say, an overall gorgeous game, with brilliant graphics and game play. First of all, it is completely different from its other Game Boy versions and plays and feels more like the console versions on Dreamcast, Playstation or N64. Everything is in here, the manuals, grinds, grabs, wall rides and flip tricks, all operable under your command and into crazy combos. You will skate through three different modes: career, free skate and session. All very unique and exciting. Hec, I can simply skate in free skate mode for two hours, trying to pull off mad combos and master the special moves. Too bad they couldn't fit this cartridge with a multi-player mode, or it could've gotten a ten. I won't say much more and this is definitely the best game released yet, so don't hesitate to spend a bit of cash!
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