Topic: GBA is still better than 3DS

Game and Watch: Cement Factory is the greatest handheld of all time.

My cell phone is the greatest handheld of all time.

I love my 3DS but agreed, GBA is awesome. It was my first ever Nintendo game system and my first ever game system in general. I think nostalgia puts it at my favorite spot for Nintendo consoles, but regardless of nostalgia, it still had some awesome games. I regret selling mine.

I haven't seen a single game on the GBA that compares to Super Mario 3D Land or Mario Kart 7.

Congratulations, i'm still going to play 3DS games though.

GBA SP was awesome, but the original was lanky and weird. I remember trying to play mario bros. 2 and fire emblem on it, and man it was the most hideous shaped thing nintendo ever released, while the SP was one of the coolest designs ever made by nintendo.

Ugh, I hated that about all the Game Boys! They should have made like the primary competition and had lit screens from the start. That's why my brother and I each asked for our own GBA SP. The screen was (and still is) good enough for our purposes, though I will confess disappointment when a purple object appeared silver on that front-lit gibasp.

We did have a snake light for the Game Boy Color. It was insufficient.

Adding a lit screen to the original Game Boy?
It was almost certain a cost thing.
Nintendo always was looking for a way to have a price advantage (and a light would've almost certainly cut into the GB's seemingly infinite battery life).
And then when Nintendo did release a GB with a light, it was after they had already announced the GBC was going to be out a few months later.

The DS has a diverse selection of really good stuff across most genres as does the GBA and especially the earlier stuff is not dumbed down totally.

The 3DS has lots of the modern style JRPG's and (30fps i.e junk) Platformers.

I like most genres and the DS has about 3 good or great games in all of them.

I like my 3DS but when I'm in the mood for some handheld Nintendo gaming more often than not I fire up my GBA SP, I prefer the library of games it has to offer than what the 3DS currently has.

@Waveboy Have you tried the GBA AGS 101 makes all Gameboy, Gameboy Color and GBA soooooo pretty :0 Plus you can get same effect with GBA games on DS and DS Lite. Seriously looks amazing!

@Bolt_Strike so so so very wrong sorry man but nah! Play Mario Vs. Donkey Kong, Megaman Zero series, Sonic Advance (the rebirth of a KING yo!) Wario Land 4, Astro Boy Omega Factor, DK King of Swing (amazing) and sooooo many more! Alot I haven't even been able to buy and play yet but a wish list as long as my arm!

Also is the 3DS not just an extension on the DS can we not just lump 'em together? I mean its not as if itwas a massive jump between the two? Or was it? I could be mistaken I am only just now getting into DS so please don't hurt me for that comment... LOL

I agree. The Nintendo DS isn't just better, it dominates both the GBA and 3DS. The DS reminds me a lot of what I've seen of the SNES library via the VC, where both Nintendo and third parties bought into the potential of the hardware. The diversity of the DS is just incredible with the quality offerings the system has per genre and in terms of 2D/3D experiences. It's the system where gaming grew up with me, got the DS in 2004 when I was 12 and still enjoy the games today. In fact, there are still plenty of DS titles I still want to order, over 20 of them. I haven't played any of the system's Castlevania games, I haven't played an Ace Attorney game, I haven't played a Layton game...The Nintendo DS really is a behemoth of quality, and I don't think Nintendo will reach that level again in house and with third party support.

Silly. DS doesn't dominate the 3DS. Since the 3DS can also play DS games, the DS is inferior

The 3DS plays DS games badly. The only way to not make them smudged is to hold on select but then it makes it much too small.

Specific games are much worse as well on the 3DS (e.g Metal Slug 7 - Feels the same as playing a console game on a bad TV when on the 3DS but works just fine on a DS for whatever reason).

I was only referring to exclusive libraries. The best feature of the 3DS line though has been the fact it can play DS games, otherwise I wouldn't use them much for gaming.

Looking more into it via the Racketboy site (He has good taste in games generally I think). There is absolutely loads of GBA games that look just like the type of stuff I like (Maybe even more than the DS) that I never even knew anything about.

The GBA has Gunstar Super Heroes (Which I prefer to even Contra 4) and Drill Dozer (Which is equally great).

Most of the rest I have only found out about today but it seems like where the DS has 2/3 the GBA has more like 10.

It makes sense because the GBA has loads less total rubbish shovelware I thought it had more games in total but I think I was wrong.

GBA loses a lot of value in a post-VC world, since one of its main appeals was the ability to finally play (insert Nintendo game here) on a handheld. I mean for Christ's sake, Super Monkey Ball was put on to the system.

I'd recommend waiting until the 3ds gets the benefit of a full generation's worth of a library before comparing year 3 games to a generation that is being rated with fully mature games

Ditto. Both great handheld gaming systems. 3DS is still young, but it is shaping up to be a great. I almost feel like this is an apples to oranges comparison. Yes they are both Nintendo Handhelds, but other than that they are immensely different. Almost like comparing NES and N64, both are great, but wildly different.

I'd say the GBA is probably the better at this point in time. It's hard to say what the 3DS will look like in 4 years time though. This year is looking a bit quiet for the 3DS really, especially compared to last year. Nintendo do have a habit of working in spurts.
If we get another 3 years of the kind of output we had in 2013, I think the 3DS will definitely be the better system overall. However, if they've already done their best work on the 3DS and we can only look forward to 2 or 3 big exclusives a year (what 2014 is looking like!), I'd go with the GBA.