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despite the fact that i grew up mostly in the late 2000s and early 2010s, i had a weird love/fixation for the Gameboy Advance, and to a lesser degree the GB and GBC. i did have a 3DS (which, to be clear, i played on just as much if not more than the GBA) but even then, i still kept coming back to this old thing. over the years ive amassed a decent collection of stuff relating to the system, as well as a lot of weird stories relating to it. even this image that i've attached isn't my full collection, it's still missing Super Mario Land, Boomer's Adventures in ASMIK World, and Donkey Kong 94. (i just forgot to include them, oops) so sit down as i recall a handful of tales relating to the GBA, some of the games i have for it, and other such things.
1.) Frank the Thief
in 6th grade, my band class held a "lock-in", which was essentially a sleepover that was held in the school cafeteria. if you were like me and had a hard time convincing your parents to take you to hang out with your school friends, it was essentially a free pass to go hang out with everyone for a night. like the little dweebus i was, i brought both of my GBAs (yes, i did have two of them, it's kind of a long story) and a link cable so we could play some old games together. one of the friends attending this lock-in was a guy named Frank, an avid pokemon enjoyer and professional big talker. he was the kind of guy to try and convince you that you could catch Giratina in Pokemon Emerald or something. he noticed that i had two gameboys and a number of (reproduction) Pokemon games, and asked if he could potentially borrow it for a little while. now, to any normal human being, the immediate answer would be a big fat no. letting someone, especially a 6th grader, and ESPECIALLY a 6th grader like Frank, borrow both a game console and a handful of games is just asking for trouble. but it was getting late and i was kind of delerious, so it seemd like a good idea to me. i let him borrow one of my gameboys, a reproduction cart of Fire Red, and a reproduction cart of Emerald. fast forward to a few weeks later, and i ask him for my stuff back. he tells me that i can have it back if i come over to his house, because his mom won't let him bring games to school. as i mentioned before, i had a really hard time convincing my parents to let me visit friends' houses unless they knew the kid's parents, so that wasn't gonna happen. to make things short, i don't get it back by the end of the year, and Frank takes my gameboy with him to summer vacation. no biggie, i'll just get it back next school year. well, cut to 7th grade, and i notice a severe lack of Frank. someone in band class informs me that he moved to another state, and he took my stuff with him. that lyin', cheatin' thief!! to this day, i still have not gotten into contact with Frank, and he still has my gameboy and two reproduction pokemon games. Frank, if you're reading this, i WILL serve retribution someday.
2.) The Unbreakable Chicken Little
the neighborhood i grew up in was built on a big hill, and at the bottom was a pool area. next to this pool area was a small, metal playground unit, which was for kids to go hang out in when adult swim was in session. i was only ever interested in a playground if it had a swing set, and this one didn't, so i mostly used it as a place to go play my GBA when waiting for adult swim to be over. one of the only games i had at the time was Disney's Chicken Little, a (surprisingly okay) liscenced 2D platformer based on the movie of the same name. (me growing up with this game led to me blindly defending the movie for 10+ years because i kind of liked the GBA game as a kid) somehow or another, i ended up losing the game at this playground unit, and i never saw it again. i was pretty bummed, but i forgot about it for a couple years. smash cut to about two summer vacations later, and im sitting near the playground waiting for adult swim to be over, when i see a little gray piece of plastic sticking out of the dirt. i pull it out, and it just so happens to be a disgusting, waterlogged GBA game with the label almost entirely melted off. after cleaning off the dirt, i give it a shot and put it into my gameboy. not only does it still work, but it's Chicken Little, MY Chicken Little. somehow, it sat out in the elements for over two years and not only survived, but still works to this day. i swear, they don't make em like they used to.
3.) Shattered to Pieces, then Resurrected
you know how i ended off the last segment by saying that old nintendo stuff is surprisingly resilient? well throw that out the window for this next one. (sorta...) my sister had a GBA SP as a kid, and when she got a DS lite, i got the GBA as a handmedown. i really only used it to play Chicken Little at the time, as previously mentioned, and a little later on i played a lot of Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga on it as well. one night though, i guess i got a little clumsy and dropped it down the stairs in my house. to be fair, the stairs were carpeted, but it still hit the hardwood floor at the bottom. yet, it didn't have a scratch on it, so i got away scott free. that is, until about 5 minutes later, when i drop it AGAIN, this time from the living room coffee table (which was about knee height) onto carpet, and somehow THIS time it shatters the entire plastic body of the console. what makes it sting extra bad is that that was the model with the fancy IPS screen, not the frontlit one, and i broke it like a dumbass. i was, understandably, pretty bummed about this, and wanted to fix it however i could. i was a pretty crafty 8 year old, and decided i would somehow tape it back together. so i got to work with a roll of scotch tape, and surprisingly, i was able to get it to turn back on? i had to hold the battery in an extremely specific way, it had to be plugged into the wall, and it would only cut on for about 2 seconds before immediately shutting down again, but i'm astonished a dumb kid like me got it to do anything at all.
i've got plenty more, but i'm seriously running out of space on this post. im curious, does anyone else have any interesting GBA stories ? i'd love to hear em!!
1.) Frank the Thief
in 6th grade, my band class held a "lock-in", which was essentially a sleepover that was held in the school cafeteria. if you were like me and had a hard time convincing your parents to take you to hang out with your school friends, it was essentially a free pass to go hang out with everyone for a night. like the little dweebus i was, i brought both of my GBAs (yes, i did have two of them, it's kind of a long story) and a link cable so we could play some old games together. one of the friends attending this lock-in was a guy named Frank, an avid pokemon enjoyer and professional big talker. he was the kind of guy to try and convince you that you could catch Giratina in Pokemon Emerald or something. he noticed that i had two gameboys and a number of (reproduction) Pokemon games, and asked if he could potentially borrow it for a little while. now, to any normal human being, the immediate answer would be a big fat no. letting someone, especially a 6th grader, and ESPECIALLY a 6th grader like Frank, borrow both a game console and a handful of games is just asking for trouble. but it was getting late and i was kind of delerious, so it seemd like a good idea to me. i let him borrow one of my gameboys, a reproduction cart of Fire Red, and a reproduction cart of Emerald. fast forward to a few weeks later, and i ask him for my stuff back. he tells me that i can have it back if i come over to his house, because his mom won't let him bring games to school. as i mentioned before, i had a really hard time convincing my parents to let me visit friends' houses unless they knew the kid's parents, so that wasn't gonna happen. to make things short, i don't get it back by the end of the year, and Frank takes my gameboy with him to summer vacation. no biggie, i'll just get it back next school year. well, cut to 7th grade, and i notice a severe lack of Frank. someone in band class informs me that he moved to another state, and he took my stuff with him. that lyin', cheatin' thief!! to this day, i still have not gotten into contact with Frank, and he still has my gameboy and two reproduction pokemon games. Frank, if you're reading this, i WILL serve retribution someday.
2.) The Unbreakable Chicken Little
the neighborhood i grew up in was built on a big hill, and at the bottom was a pool area. next to this pool area was a small, metal playground unit, which was for kids to go hang out in when adult swim was in session. i was only ever interested in a playground if it had a swing set, and this one didn't, so i mostly used it as a place to go play my GBA when waiting for adult swim to be over. one of the only games i had at the time was Disney's Chicken Little, a (surprisingly okay) liscenced 2D platformer based on the movie of the same name. (me growing up with this game led to me blindly defending the movie for 10+ years because i kind of liked the GBA game as a kid) somehow or another, i ended up losing the game at this playground unit, and i never saw it again. i was pretty bummed, but i forgot about it for a couple years. smash cut to about two summer vacations later, and im sitting near the playground waiting for adult swim to be over, when i see a little gray piece of plastic sticking out of the dirt. i pull it out, and it just so happens to be a disgusting, waterlogged GBA game with the label almost entirely melted off. after cleaning off the dirt, i give it a shot and put it into my gameboy. not only does it still work, but it's Chicken Little, MY Chicken Little. somehow, it sat out in the elements for over two years and not only survived, but still works to this day. i swear, they don't make em like they used to.
3.) Shattered to Pieces, then Resurrected
you know how i ended off the last segment by saying that old nintendo stuff is surprisingly resilient? well throw that out the window for this next one. (sorta...) my sister had a GBA SP as a kid, and when she got a DS lite, i got the GBA as a handmedown. i really only used it to play Chicken Little at the time, as previously mentioned, and a little later on i played a lot of Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga on it as well. one night though, i guess i got a little clumsy and dropped it down the stairs in my house. to be fair, the stairs were carpeted, but it still hit the hardwood floor at the bottom. yet, it didn't have a scratch on it, so i got away scott free. that is, until about 5 minutes later, when i drop it AGAIN, this time from the living room coffee table (which was about knee height) onto carpet, and somehow THIS time it shatters the entire plastic body of the console. what makes it sting extra bad is that that was the model with the fancy IPS screen, not the frontlit one, and i broke it like a dumbass. i was, understandably, pretty bummed about this, and wanted to fix it however i could. i was a pretty crafty 8 year old, and decided i would somehow tape it back together. so i got to work with a roll of scotch tape, and surprisingly, i was able to get it to turn back on? i had to hold the battery in an extremely specific way, it had to be plugged into the wall, and it would only cut on for about 2 seconds before immediately shutting down again, but i'm astonished a dumb kid like me got it to do anything at all.
i've got plenty more, but i'm seriously running out of space on this post. im curious, does anyone else have any interesting GBA stories ? i'd love to hear em!!
