Generations 1985 - 2001: Part 3

Hello and welcome to this special entry, “Generations 1989 – 2005: Handhelds”. In this entry I really want to give the specs of Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance. I never owned a Gameboy until 2001. I should take pictures, and put all my handhelds up on my Angelfire site! I have two Gameboys (Gameboy Advance and Gameboy Advance SP). According to Wikipedia, GBA is Nintendo’s fifth generation of handheld. First was the Game and Watch (1985 – 1989), than came Gameboy (1989 – 1997), Gameboy Pocket (1997 – 1998) Gameboy Color (1999 – 2001), GBA (2001 – Present ) and GBASP (2003 – Present). According to the Geniis Book of World Records - the most successful handheld in sales is the Gameboy Color, and most popular handheld game to date is Super Mario Bros. DX. Keeping this in mine, GBA can play all the original GB and GB Color game carts. One Nintendo propaganda gimmick is to keep their Pocket Monsters franchise on the GB and GBA so kids would buy Game Boys. It works out for Nintendo, adult gamers will buy Gameboys. Those who still find playing games fun.



| Gameboy Advance |



As far as handheld specs go, the Gameboy Advance can slow 15-bit color (32768 colors). Features a 32-bit RISC processor (like PDAs use) and a separate 8-bit processor for Gameboy Color games. The GBA doesn’t use both processors at the same time. Not that that’s really important, but it does show that GameBoy Advance does not emulate GameBoy games rather read it with a real GB processor. One important thing about GameBoy is that the early games showed Dark on it. This is fixed by owning a 10 dollar mini-light that plugs into the GBA. I happen to own one. It works well. I use to play all my games in bed when I was 16. I can get at least 5 ½ hours of game play in with 2 fully charged AA alkaline batteries. I can get twice that with no light. I usually didn’t play sound and that saved me 40 minutes to 1 hour of battery life. With no light and no sound, I can play GBA for over approximately 7 hours. I haven’t tested my GBA SP’s longevity yet. I was fond of the back-light in GBA SP. That’s one of the reasons I bought it at Wal-Mart at a full 99. I never have to buy batteries for it. If the lithium battery ever wears out, I simply replace it with another lithium battery. I don’t think I played more then 5 hours with it since I bought. The GBA, however, I played almost everyday during lunch break in high school. I’ve grown old and I look on Gameboy as an expensive kid’s toy. People can buy several LCD screens for cars at Best Buy and Circuit City now-a-days, playing PS2 or Xbox in your car isn’t an issue any longer.



| Gameboy / Gameboy Pocket / Gameboy Color |



The original Gameboy ran on the 8-bit Z80 processor. Z80 was created in 1976 as a very powerful prototype. It was designed by Federico Figgin at Zilog Inc. The frequency of the Z80 was 2.5 MHz. The Z80a was introduced in 1977 and was clocked up too 4 MHz. The Z80 can do approx. 272 instructions per second. The processor is still used today in many mobile devices, Gameboy being to most recognizable. Gameboy supported the most powerful handheld processor in mobile gaming devices from 1989 through 1990 until the Sega Game Gear came out in 1990 in the US. In Japan it was out in 1989. The Game Boy was created by Gunpei Yokoi who later also created the Wonderspan for Bandai. Yokoi died in a car accident in 1997 while going to Kyoto, Japan. He produced and created the popular Nintendo character “Samus Aran™” seen in Metroid and Super Smash Brothers. Another character he created who isn’t as well known is Kid Icarus. I think that game use to be on the NES. Metriod is actually unlockable after Metroid Prime is beaten or if you beaten Metriod Fusion on Gameboy Advance and hook the link cable up to the Gamecube to unlock Metroid. I cheat by loading my Action Replay code which allows you to bypass both requirements stated above, and play Metriod on-the-spot!



Specs of Gameboy / Gameboy Pocket

• CPU: 8-bit Z80 at 4.194304 MHz

• RAM: 8 kbit internal

• ROM: 256 kbit, 512 kbit, 1 Mbit, 2 Mbit and 4 Mbit and 8 Mbit cartridges

• Video RAM: 8 kbit internal

• Sound: 4 channel stereo sound. The unit only has one speaker, but headphones provide stereo sound

• Display: Reflective LCD 160 x 144 pixels

• Screen Size: 66 mm (2.6 in) diagonal

• Color Palette: 4 shades of gray

• Communication: Up to 4 Game Boys can be linked together via serial ports

• Power: 6 V, 0.7 W (4 AA batteries provide ~35 hours)



Gameboy Color

• CPU: 4/8-bit Z80, ran in single mode (4 MHz) and double mode (8 MHz)

• RAM: 32 kbit (plus 128 kbit on cartridges)

• ROM: Cartridges up to 64 Mbit were made

• Video RAM: 16 kbit

• Sound: Same as Game Boy

• Video: Highly reflective TFT LCD, 160x144 pixels made by Sharp

• Color Palette: 32,768 colors; Supports 10, 32, or 56 simultaneous colors on-screen

• Communication: Serial or Infrared

o Serial: 512 kbit/s; up to 4 consoles at a time

o Infrared: Less than 2 meters at 45 degrees

• Power: 2 AA batteries provide 30 hours. An AC Adapter (DC 3V) was also available.



That question about Game Boy Advance worth the money I paid for it? It’s a no-brainer for me. Yep, it’s worth every penny. I don’t see any money wasted. The first GBA was a Birthday Present. In December 2003, I choice whether or not to buy a GBASP or a Gamecube. I think I bought it because it looked cool. You already know what I’ve chosen. I already made up the minor set back with chores I did around the house in January.



| SEGA GAME GEAR (1990 – 1997 USA) |



Sega’s first handheld was the Game Gear. It was in color! I see one in Toyriffic every time I go in the store and actually handled one for the first time 3 weeks ago. I really don’t know much about it. Toyriffic didn’t have a very good selection- in fact – the store had more used Game Gears than Game Gear games! We already know it was a failure. I don’t know why gaming sites keep saying that. I think everyone who’s into handheld videogames knows this. I call this anti-SEGA propaganda. Okay, yes, you’re absolutely right about Game Gear being a failure! Well I believe you said that [to site] because you took information off another site, and said “Sega Sucks” because you know you’ve would agree with 8 out of ten people, and the fact it makes you look good. Obviously, if the Game Gear did well enough, SEGA would have made a Game Gear 2. So I mean come on here. I am referring to Wikipedia’s description of Game Gear.

Majesco came in and manufactured the Game Gear Core System sometimes called the Game Gear Pocket due to its smaller design. Majestco also manufactured the Sega Genesis v3 in 1998. The difference is there is no difference! The buttons are configured the same, and the hardware quality is comparable to previous Genesis, and the price is a lot cheaper. It is rumored in 8 years, Majesco will publish one of the current generation consoles, and may cost as little as 40 dollars in 2010. On Majesco.com, I found out a neat accessory for Game Boy Advance that lets you send text messages up to 3 miles away using a wireless band called the Majesco Wireless Messenger. It uses very low power of the GBA, and can actually make GBA run as much as 3 times as long as it normally would when playing a game. It’s a good idea, but I rather talk through conventual’s 3 mile radius walkie-talkies. I do own a pair of walkie talkies that broadcast up to 2 miles. I’m cheap, I won’t even buy a weather band radio, and that’s pretty bad because those start at 50 dollars.



| Bandai Wonderswan 1996 – 2001 |



There are three versions of Wonderswan. The clunky black and white one. The Wonderswan Color (it’s in color what can I say?), and the Wonderswan Crystal (A Wonderswan that looks more high tech than it really is) The Wonderswan Color runs on one AA battery which is suppose to last 20 hours. The CPU is a 16-bit RISC like the Game Gear is. The most noticeable game on it is probably either Metal Slug or Final Fantasy 1 & 2. The game is identical to the Gameboy Advance versions. Remember, Wonderswan shared 2% of the market in 2000 in the USA. More importantly, Wonderswan owners usually also owned a Gameboy Color. A lot of kids knew that Gameboy had more games out so I’m sure they knew that Wonderswan was undergoing a slow death as soon as it first came to Toys R Us.



Technical Specs:

CPU: 16-bit (3.072MHz)

RAM: 512K

Colors: 4096 (241 on screen)

Resolution: 224x144 pixels

Sound: 4-channel mono (stereo with headphones adaptor)

Screen: 2.1" LCD, reflective TFT



| Nintendo Dual Screen |



Announced in 2003, rumors were defiantly floating around months after Gameboy Advance SP was released. Nintendo Dual Screen can be considered a 64-bit Gameboy except it probably won’t carry the Gameboy name. It won’t have the name Nintendo Gameboy Dual Screen. The system will feature a touch-screen based color LCD screens that can do high resolution polygon displays. Most popular games on it are Super Mario 64x4, New Super Mario Bros, and Metroid Prime (FPS for a handheld). Rumors going around message boards is Super Mario 64x4 is the first of many N64 ports onto the handheld. Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time, Goldeneye, and Star Fox 64 may also find a 2nd home on Nintendo DS. The handheld has a d-pad (directional pad), 4 buttons (A, B, X, Y), and two triggers. It will use a lot less battery life than the Playstation Pocket will, and be priced 100 dollars less. Who wants a Playstation Pocket that sucks up tons of battery life, anyways?

Tech Specs:



• Dual Processors: ARM 9 clocked at 67 MHz and an ARM 7 clocked at 33 MHz. It will feature 4-MB of video RAM and can do about 120,000 polygons onscreen.

• Dual Screens both 256 x 192 resolution.



| Sony’s Playstation Pocket |



Second 128-bit handheld on the market (if you include the Tapwave Zodiac 2). It’s games will be based on mini-cd or mini-dvd, and the unit will market at 300 dollars US. It will have a 24-bit liquid crystal LCD screen and will play FMV. The Dual-CPUs is going to be 333 MHz, and the video card will be at least 16-MB. Rumored to not have very good battery life due to the graphics processing and the mini-dvd player, about half the time you get with an ordinary CD-player. The PSP is not on my list of things to buy next year.



MD(Universal Media Disc)



60mm

Laser Diode:660nm

Dual Layer :1.8GB

Transfer Rate:11Mbps

Shock Proof

Secure ROM by AES

Unique Disc ID



PSP CPU CORE



MIPS R4000 32bit Core

128bit Bus

1 - 333MHz @ 1.2V

Main Memory :8MB(eDRAM)

Bus Bandwidth :2.6GB/sec

I-Cache, D-Cache

FPU, VFPU (Vector Unit) @ 2.6GFlops

3D-CG Extended Instructions

PSP Media Engine

MIPS R4000 32bit Core

128bit Bus

1 - 333MHz @ 1.2V

Sub Memory:2MB(eDRAM) @ 2.6GB/sec

I-Cache, D-Cache

90nm CMOS

PSP Graphics Core 1

3D Curved Surface + 3D Polygon

Compressed Texture

Hardware Clipping, Morphing, Bone(8)

Hardware Tessellator

Bezier, B-Spline(NURBS)

ex 4x4, 16x16, 64x64 sub-division



PSP Graphics Core 2



'Rendering Engine' + 'Surface Engine'

256bit Bus, 1-166 MHz @ 1.2V

VRAM :2MB(eDRAM)

Bus Bandwidth :5.3GB/sec

Pixel Fill Rate :664 M pixels/sec

max 33 M polygon /sec(T&L)

24bit Full Color:RGBA

PSP Sound Core: VME

Reconfigurable DSPs

128bit Bus

166MHz @1.2V

5 Giga Operations /sec



CODEC



3D Sound, Multi-Channel

Synthesizer, Effecter, etc

AVC Decoder

AVC(H.264) Decoder

Main Profile

Baseline Profile

@Level1,Level2,Level 3

2Hours(High Quality) - DVD movie

4Hours(Standard Quality) - CS Digital



I/O



USB 2.0

Memory Stick

Extension Port(reserved)

Stereo Head phone Out



Communication



Wireless LAN (i802.11)

IrDA

USB 2.0

Earlier today was much like yesterday - surfing the Internet, looking at game reviews especially the SNES ones. I find it fun reading. So around 4pm yesterday I walk into the Game Store (Toyriffic, formerly known as Toys 4 Trade). Weird how the guy at the counter loves all the games I mention. He’s the same guy that cuts me deals off videogames. Ironically, River Falls store does not. What store you think most budget conscience gamers go to buy new games? Almost everything I told him he said he loves. For example, I ask for Super Mario World 2 – Yoshi’s Island, and he says it’s his favorite game on Super Nintendo. I mean what a quiescence. So I’m thinking of owning this game, since I hear it’s got good game play and Mario is in it. I hear the person who created Mario is extremely talented programmer / artist. His name is Shigeru Miyamoto. I end up buying Donkey Kong 64, Star Fox, and Yoshi’s Island at the Hudson game store. I’ve been reading reviews on Star Fox, and it was only 10 dollars over there. I had 10 bucks in pocket change – literally. I thought about buying 1080 Snowboarding along with 1080 Avalanche, but I only had enough money for one or the other. And I use to own Donkey Kong 64 for a while. I sold it to the Hudson game store a year back, and I wanted it back. Donkey Kong 64 is RAREWARE’s 3rd to last platform game for N64. I know have seven SNES games. Wow, I remember late last year when I only had two. I tested out Star Fox, Super Mario World 2, and Secret of Mana. As expected – all the games work fine. I took a pure alcohol solution and a couple of Cube picks, and cleaned the cartridges out by pressing against the insert feed. A lot of black stuff came off of the Star Fox cartridge. It’s almost like owning a brand new game. I really recommend everyone to clean their game out. Your cartridges last longer and it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Remember clean them with a pure alcohol solution and not peroxide.



New Games I will add to my VG list:

http://www.ian1984.m...gview&blog_id=152484



• Star Ocean 3 (when I get it this week)

• Super Mario World 2

• Star Fox

• Donkey Kong 64



I went to a Bittorrent protocol site called http://suprnova.org. Yes, it’s supposed to be spelled without a ‘e’. It has ISO rips of several Dreamcast, Gamecube, Playstation 2, Playstation, and Saturn games. I wish I could download some of them like the Panzer Dragoon Saga, but I don’t have the bandwidth. I also found Grandia on it! It’s times like these I wish I had a modded Playstation 2. Darn! All my console games are legit copies. It’s that not all my computer games are original copies. Suprnova also has plenty of movies on it too. I imagine that I can download 150 MB of MP3 easily on Monday. My first Bittorrent download is the Final Fantasy 1 & 2 GBA rom. I mentioned above this is one of Wonderswan’s most famous games. I downloaded Bittorrent, ABC v2.6.9 [Another Bittorrent Client], and Azureus 2.1.0.4 over the school’s sever. All those programs are under 5 MB. I honestly do not think I’ll be able to download them. I found out by looking at my favorite open-source webpage, http://sourceforge.org. It gives me some ideas about what to download at school. Strangely, no students are at school after 4:30 PM on weekdays. I think I know why. In rural areas ppl need high speed Internet by satellite, even if it’s costs more than DSL, and has about the same bandwidth of it. That’s what I think. Other people who don’t care about satellite - I completely disagree. We need cheaper Internet out where I live.



Good Bittorent servers lists: http://members.chell...p.wiersema/list.html