LogFAQs > #926189450

The GBA-SP is still quite possibly the greatest handheld console ever made. It had great battery life, a super-compact form, an incredible library (including SNES ports), and decent enough specs.

The DS-L had better specs, but was larger, frailer, and it never seemed like the technical capacity justified the larger size. I compare it more to the 3DS, which does almost everything better but has a worse battery life and loses GBA BC.

My favorite GBA games include:
MMZ3 (and the franchise in general), MMBN1-3, Pokemon FRLG, Pokemon RSE, Metroid Zero Mission + Fusion, Pokemon Pinball: RS, and Monster Rancher Advance.

Including ports, there's also LttP, SF Alpha 3, and iirc one of the KOF games.

My favorite DS games include:
Custom Robo Arena, Contra 4, MMSF1&2 (haven't played 3), Monster Rancher DS, and... idk, Bleach: Blade of Fate. Been a while since I used the DS. The two Zelda games on it were alright.

SpeedDemon20 posted...

But you can play GBA games on the DS, Arv!
:D

Yeah, but a bunch of them are glitchy on the DS to the point of freezing up during certain segments (in addition to losing link features). Plus the GBA had GB and GBC bc.

And, honestly, even for some of the stuff on both systems, I tended to prefer the gba version. Even with modifications, I find the MMZ Collection worse than its individual GBA counterparts (although at least the DS cart doesn't have batteries that can burn out)

GanglyKhan posted...

I have around 30 DS games and maybe 12 GBA games. The GBA also lasted, what? 4 years before the DS came out? Almost every single worthwhile GBA game had sequels on the DS as well. I love the GBA, but nobody is convincing me to pick it over the DS.

I think I have a lot more GBA games than DS games, but it's hard to know. It could be around 100 gba games vs 60-70 ds games.

Warrax posted...

GBA has better games but the SNES games ported to GBA should have been on the DS instead (like Chrono Trigger) since all the SNES ports are generally inferior (minus the extra content).

...what? The gba was well-configured for snes ports. Offhand, I can't think of any snes ports that might have been better off on the DS due to a hardware issue. In most cases, it was more a problem with something being sloppily ported. A great case-in-point involves something from the Genesis (ie, same 16-bit): Sega's awful Sonic port where fans created a better version.
---

(\/)(\/)|-|
There are precious few at ease / With moral ambiguities / So we act as though they don't exist.