@“Mnemogenic”#p113632 there is a pretty good archive.org collection of just like… every english-translated ROM for every console. any time i hear about a game that was translated that i wanna check out, i look there first and like 90% of the time it‘s there in the EN-ROMs collection! also won’t link but you should be able to find it pretty easily w/ the name of the collection
My middle school experience was defined by the GBA, and Maple Story. I remember being so bored, having super mario advance, wario land, and f-zero at the crappy places I'd get dragged to back then. All the pitfalls of the early years of GBA set such a low standard for games, in the best way. Highly compressed bitmaps and audio samples galore.
I posted couple of videos of GBA reflective screen. The screen looks very nice with big lights!
https://youtu.be/3BWqnUio_oU
https://youtu.be/vIh4ch0jV2w
Like crts, it looks better in person. Interlace-like flicker is not that noticeable when looking with my eyeballs. Less pixelated. It has nice organic quality to it. Things look different with different light positions and types. Very comfy and pleasant.
Also, I got EZ Flash Omega which is a bit cheaper than Everdrive and has more features like thumbnails. That turned out to be super helpful when rom surfing.
@“KennyL”#p118270 are you talking about a screen replacement or just the original non-lit gba screen in a well lit area?
@“exodus”#p118283 Yeah this is original non-lit reflective TFT with new glass screen lens. I'm blasting it with 10" ring light lol.
https://youtu.be/rUhHFcL2TNc
@“KennyL”#p118301 This was your upload?? I saw it on my timeline and just had to be that guy and comment about how underrated TFT screens are. I was overjoyed to see someone give them the attention to upload such flattering footage on youtube.
Great lighting!!
*try and tell me "you can't even see it" on that screen*
@“treefroggy”#p118313 Bahahaha yt robot knows you better than your wife!!! After seeing the light of GBA reflective screens thanks a lot to you, I was pretty frustrated that there is pretty much no decent capture of them on yt. So I‘m doing it myself!! It could be better since I’m just using phone camera but I think they turned out well enough.
@“KennyL”#p118321 I christen thee, my most noble first knight of the TFT Reflective LCD crusade. May you continue to go out upon the earth and spread the good news. May your videos garner millions of views. God Speed. 
Mother 2 for GBA is super under-rated and over-hated. It‘s a neat little version, the chippification of the sound samples is interesting, and it plays great! it’s a shame it was never made playable in english, just because tomato said “there's no reason” to do so, and everyone fell for it!
anyways I think the AGB 001 is difficult to capture because the screen is interlaced! Photos appear to be half resolution! uh oh!
@“treefroggy”#p119595 Yes… those screens are like crts, impossible to photograph as how your eyeballs see them…. just gotta see for yourselves!
@“KennyL”#p119627 reason number 001 why they have the most underrated screen of all time
@“treefroggy”#p113746
Man, this was my experience too!
The GBA was my first very own handheld and my memories of playing are usually defined by where I was and what game I was playing. Sonic Advance during family gatherings, Metroid Fusion out back by the bonfire, Megaman Battle Network while waiting for my mom to run errands. I was just so stoked to have a portable game system, much to the chagrin of my mom who, up until that point, relied on me being forced to leave the house so I would stop playing video games.
And the early years of GBA you mentioned set off some memories of when I was starting to get into emulation for the first time. I was getting into that scene when the GBA first came out and had a site bookmarked with every new game dump. I think I downloaded the first 100 dumps for that system just because it was so new and exciting to be able to play the newest releases before anybody else. Of course, the software was still being developed and my ancient (even by early 2000s standards) computer couldn't handle it, so I mostly had to play with choppy gameplay or some severe frameskip setting turned on.
The GBA also reminds me of a time when developing handheld games was less about trying to fit a gaming PC into a tiny box, and more about making good games within the limits of small hardware. At the time, seeing those detailed sprites on handheld system was incredible and I quite literally thought that handheld graphics couldn't get better than that.
@“milo”#p119692 Aw yeah, I have memories of the same exact games:
GBA emulation was unique because it dropped before the console even came out iirc, generating some intense too-good-to-be-true schoolyard rumors that were actually true for once.
Remember when gba roms had demo-scene-style UK ass intros added by the dumping group?
this is the one I remember:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAeAkwSK5fw
I remember seeing "GOD'S SON" and getting the evangelist impulse that what I was looking at was bad and I could get in trouble with god for doing it.
Anyways, here's my adult Jeeb Cibs:
[URL=https://i.imgur.com/HthR5tK.jpg]
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/HthR5tK.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=https://i.imgur.com/1a8GMlJ.jpg]
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/1a8GMlJ.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=https://i.imgur.com/eF6ncvA.jpg]
[IMG width=400]https://i.imgur.com/eF6ncvA.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Truly awesome time to be a kid, getting the last gasp of golden greats on the 2D plane, that were celebrations of the crowning glory of video game achievements to that point.
I'm probably not the only one who said “what” after seeing this.
https://twitter.com/LandofObscusion/status/1673393039580995590
@“hellomrkearns”#p121677 The last decently priced game I picked up at the NYC Book Off
@“hellomrkearns”#p123858 I literally walked past this ad today at Shimbashi Station. I thought about taking a picture, but I was in a hurry! But I sure did take a good long look. I felt targeted in the best possible way.
@“hellomrkearns”#p125433 I'm so glad I subscribed to this channel a couple months ago. that kid is so me & my friends while playing this game in middle school.