Topic: Transmissions from Planet GameCube - January 11, 2013

[Karl Castaneda #2]

In a brand-new column, Karl brings you commentary on the week that was... in 2003!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blog/32976

Hello and welcome to the very first edition of Transmissions from Planet GameCube, a look back on a week that was.

The premise is simple: Every Friday, I'll pull an article from this very week 10 years ago, provide some perspective with my 20/20 hindsight, and even get some commentary from the article's original writer. Got it? Good. Let's start.

The day was Saturday, January 11, 2003, and a scant two days earlier, our esteemed founder, Billy Berghammer, phoned in impressions on the one, the only, the Game Boy Advance SP. Among the earth-shattering details were that the SP stood for "Special," that the screen was lit from all sides (and not just horizontally, as was the case with the Afterburner) and, interestingly enough, that the SP was not a replacement for the existing GBA, and instead was targeted toward older gamers.

That last part is really the most amusing bit. Only a year later, as we started to hear rumblings of Project Nitro (the prototype that would eventually become the DS), we'd get the same "third pillar" talk. It's quite strange that Nintendo's always been so sheepish when introducing clearly superior hardware.

Of course, history would show that they didn't have anything to worry about. The GBA SP would go on to sell over 40 million units (just over half of all of the GBAs sold) and re-released with some way bitchin' variants.

Myself, I loved the SP. Everything, from the ergonomic form factor to the super-bright screen to the tough-as-nails case made it a huge improvement over the original GBA. I was also lucky enough to own the super-swank Zelda Edition SP, seen here.

And that'll wrap it up for the first edition of Transmissions from Planet GameCube. Be sure to come back next Friday when we'll be talking about the week of January 18, 2003. Until then, did you buy an SP at launch? What were your thoughts on the system? Let us know in the comments and we'll spotlight the top post in next week's column!

[NWR_Karl]

It's good to be back on NWR, everybody. I'm still working out some of the finer details of this column going forward, so any feedback or criticism is very welcome!

[supergtt]

as a PGC reader from way back.... this is awesome!

[StrawHousePig]

Funny. Just thinking the other day how the SP was the golden age of handheld gaming.

[TJ Spyke]

Back when it was a lot cheaper. I believe the GBA SP came out at $99. At the time I was in high school and had no job, so I was content with my launch GBA. But then a friend brought his GBA SP to school, and I loved it. So I started saving up my allowance and also traded in my GBA towards it.

[ThePerm]

I was in the same position as TJ. I'm still cheap though. I wish I had gotten an SP, but buying several games took precedence.

[ShyGuy]

I got a GBA SP for a little game Legend of Zelda: Four Swords

[UncleBob]

I held off on the GBA SP for awhile.

Then, I saw the NES edition in stores.  Drool.

[Cyrian]

That's what sucks about being an early adopter for Nintendo hardware, I always miss out on the cool variants that come out later. 

[Neifirst]

Great column idea!  I remember picking up the SP along with Advance Wars and Phantasy Star Collection, one of the best purchases I ever made.  The DSLite remains my favorite Nintendo portable of all time, but the SP is right up there too.

[GK]

To this day I still prefer playing GB/GBA games on my SP over my DS Phat.

[Shaymin]

On my list of things to buy once I get the money is a Model 2 SP (the ones with the actual backlight that came out in 2005).

[NWR_insanolord]

I'll go the other way and say this makes me even less able to wait for GBA games to finally hit the 3DS Virtual Console.

[oohhboy]

I really never got in to handheld gaming until the DS. I have an original white GBA, but most of the games weren't my tastes and the number of ports from the SNES era did turn me off a little. It didn't help the OG GBA needed blinding sunlight to be used. My suster had gotten a GBA SP and she played the hell out of it with Pokemon and such. But at the time I still mostly a console gamer, so I didn't see the need to upgrade.

As for the third pillar talk, from day one I knew it was nothing more than a hedge against failure should the DS fail or for the Gameboy name to be retire if the DS succeeded. It was interesting at the time since quite a few people actually believed in the third pillar hook, line and sinker. They were still talking about the next Gameboy a year in to the DS's life, months after Nintendo abandoned the Third Pillar marketing.

[Ceric]

Ba...
Original GBA was far superior ergonomically to the SP.

[terrisus]

You know, it's funny, I still use a bookmark to PlanetGamecube.com to come here.
Just never got around to updating it to the new URL, and it redirects here anyway.


Those were some fun times back then...

[terrisus]

.

[Caterkiller]

I want to read an article where the writer condemns something but it turns out amazingly awesome in the final product and sales.

[azeke]

I want to read an article where the writer condemns something but it turns out amazingly awesome in the final product and sales.

How about a podcast?

I've been checking your older podcasts for kicks, and probably this one was the most hilarious so far.
It starts with everyone saying: "DO NOT preorder Wii" and ends with doubts if "you're the inspiration" from Chicago is a good choice for Elite Beat Agents.

[Ceric]

To be honest everyone we owns a device capable of playing DS games should be EBA.

[StrawHousePig]

To be honest everyone we owns a device capable of playing DS games should be EBA.

Eaten By Ants?

[azeke]

To be honest everyone we owns a device capable of playing DS games should be EBA.

Eaten By Ants?

I am trying to decipher this post all day. Might as well be ants.