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A comment on Architecture of the Game Boy Advance. Parent comment

Re:Architecture of the Game Boy Advance by Igelau on Monday December 28, 2020 @09:56PM (#25566236)
The greatest handheld console was the Genesis Nomad.

Cons:

- It was the size of a brick.

- It was designed with oddly skewed angles.

- It didn't have room for batteries inside, so they had to be shoved in a little pack that clipped on to it.

Pros:

- It was a handheld Sega Genesis.

- You could connect it to your TV.

- You could connect a second controller.

- You could run it off A/C power.

- Ergo it's also a console! In a roundabout, not-all-peripherals-supported kind of way.

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Re:Architecture of the Game Boy Advance by dleslie on Tuesday December 29, 2020 @12:33AM (#25567049)
Calling the pack "little" is a stretch; the battery pack itself is larger and heavier than the GBA SP.

Also, the screen suffers from terrible ghosting. I can barely bring myself to play sonic on it.

Still, the Nomad is a neat piece of kit.

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Re:Architecture of the Game Boy Advance by Igelau on Tuesday December 29, 2020 @08:25AM (#25569522)
To be honest, I don't remember the ghosting. I do remember the ghosting on the Game Gear, so if it was even marginally better on the Nomad I probably overlooked it.
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Re:Architecture of the Game Boy Advance by danbolt on Monday December 28, 2020 @11:06PM (#25566609)
I never had a Nomad, but did you ever find the console inconvenient to use? One thing I find Nintendo always does so well with their consoles is the ease-of-use and complimentary library. I feel like a clunky handheld that plays Gunstar Heroes for 2-3 hours might be harder to appreciate than Pokemon for ten.
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Re:Architecture of the Game Boy Advance by dleslie on Tuesday December 29, 2020 @12:35AM (#25567059)
I have one. It's not convenient to travel with; the carts are comparatively large and the unit itself is roughly the size of an early 90s camcorder, and as awkwardly shaped too.

The screen ghosts something awful...

It's mostly a cool gimick to show your friends who are Sega fans; akin to owning a working CDX or Activator.

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Re:Architecture of the Game Boy Advance by timw4mail on Tuesday December 29, 2020 @09:31AM (#25570040)
The CDX is more practical than the Nomad, though. I will agree that it's a poor portable CD player, but it's the most compact Genesis and Sega CD. It even works with the 32X, and there are 3d-printed supports for the CDX/32X to help with the 32X weight.

I may just be proving your point, though.

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Re:Architecture of the Game Boy Advance by Igelau on Tuesday December 29, 2020 @08:22AM (#25569505)
It was definitely inconvenient as a portable. It was sheer fantastic novelty.

> Gunstar Heroes

I was so close to listing that game as a bullet point in its own right.

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