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[DMczaf]

 

[neptunes]

yay for sh!tty 3D

 

[Matlock]

I like that 3D view...kinda neat to see this kind of stuff on the GBA, almost like if there was a generation between the SNES and PSX eras.

 

[cvxfreak]

I like that 3D view...kinda neat to see this kind of stuff on the GBA, almost like if there was a generation between the SNES and PSX eras.

Does 32X count?

As for the graphics on a handheld, DS will be our savior (and PSP).

 

[Greekboy]

Horrible. Stupid underpowered GBA. Thank God for the PSP as Nintendo will finally stop with this underpowered BS they have been shovelling us in the handheld arena.

 

[jarrod]

Horrible. Stupid underpowered GBA. Thank God for the PSP as Nintendo will finally stop with this underpowered BS they have been shovelling us in the handheld arena.

GBA is 3 years old, and at the time of it's release it was head a shoulders better than any previous handheld performance wise. DS looks to be larger step forward than Nintendo's ever taken before though...

 

[Greekboy]

DS looks to be larger step forward than Nintendo's ever taken before though...

Because of the PSP.

 

[radios shipping overview]

Yay for companies writing inadequate 3D engines for platforms not meant for them. They should just try to make the best 2D-only soccer game they can rather than this crap. But hey, I guess the kids want 3D, by hook or by crook.

This won't even approach NeoGeo World Cup '98 Plus on the NGPC, let alone Sensible Soccer.

 

[jarrod]

Because of the PSP.

Actually, DS would've had to have been in deep into R&D well before PSP was announced. It likely dates back to 2001 (when rumors of a N64 level handheld within NCL started surfacing). The gameplay focused additions were likely a bit of a response to PSP (and the market in general) but the chipset was likely set in stone long before E3 2003...

 

[Greekboy]

Then why did we see a lame leap from 1988 GB technology to the GBA yet the GBA to DS jump is much more significant? I point to the PSP once again.

 

[jarrod]

Then why did we see a lame leap from 1988 GB technology to the GBA yet the GBA to DS jump is much more significant? I point to the PSP once again.

Actually the jump was from 1998 GBC (NES level) to 2001 GBA (SNES level) to 2004 DS (N64 level). Maybe in 2007 we'll get that handheld GameCube.

 

[Soul4ger]

This reminds me of Davis Cup Tennis. In every bad way imaginable.

 

[john2kx]

those screens remind me of my dog's vomit because she eats grass sometimes to help her digest food.

 

[Mejilan]

In the game's defense, those pics look inappropriately zoomed in. It'll undoubtedly look much better and crisper on an actual GBA.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

looks like total shite.

 

[DJ_Tet]

Then why did we see a lame leap from 1988 GB technology to the GBA yet the GBA to DS jump is much more significant? I point to the PSP once again.

Are you always this annoying? Why are all 'girls' on the net against Nintendo? I smell a conspiracy.

 

[Ghost]

i hate GBA 3d, i cant help but thinking how great it would be if they just used 2d, in the case of this, fifa on the GBA should be a sensible soccer clone.

 

[Deg]

Could be good. EA seem to be going all 3d on GBA. The gameplay will also obviously be more simpler.

 

[Shompola]

Trolling or not, GBA was indeed outdated when it came out. Graphics were exactly not what I was impressed with, and the sound? well yah...

 

[DJ_Tet]

Trolling or not, GBA was indeed outdated when it came out. Graphics were exactly not what I was impressed with, and the sound? well yah...

I guess it depends on which generation you were brought up with, I'm still pretty impressed with GBA graphics as a NES kiddie.

 

[Deg]

Trolling or not, GBA was indeed outdated when it came out.

Dont get carried away. GBA tech was excellent when it came out and handheld devices in the same price bracket price bracket are pretty weak compared to GBA when justifying their prices in comparison even now.

Bear in mind its very recently that LCD(in general) and 3d tech has progressed alot and quite fast in handheld devices but at cost. PSP and DS simply wouldnt have been possible a little while ago. Which is why DS and PSP will be sold at much higher prices than the GBA because they are that much more ahead cost wise. As they adopted further prices could fall but it does depend on various factors. The timing is akward because niether have tech that are look to get to close to common for some time.

 

[Greekboy]

Are you always this annoying? Why are all 'girls' on the net against Nintendo? I smell a conspiracy.

Check my post history and then get back to me on that one. The GBA was underpowered because Nintendo had no viable competition to do so otherwise. Quit being so sensitive.

 

[Gchaime]

This won't even approach NeoGeo World Cup '98 Plus on the NGPC, let alone Sensible Soccer.

i hate GBA 3d, i cant help but thinking how great it would be if they just used 2d, in the case of this, fifa on the GBA should be a sensible soccer clone.

Have you played sensible soccer recently? It was my favorite football game during the snes era. But when i recently replayed it i couldn't help noticing how bad it has aged. It looks horrible, it's overly simple and quitte frankly it isn't fun to play.

 

[AndreasNystrom]

hm.. actually i think the atari lynx had better 3d, and it was uh.. well atleast 12years ahead.

 

[FightyF]

those screens remind me of my dog's vomit because she eats grass sometimes to help her digest food.

HAHAH

Nintendo should just forget the DS and work on GBA2. The DS reminds me of the Virtual Boy...a gimmicky diversion from what should be a next gen handheld.

 

[FightyF]

Yeah the Lynx...and in a lot of respects, the GBA wasn't that much better than the SEGA Nomad. Thank God Sony is entering the handheld arena.

 

[Rocket Punch]

Horrible. Stupid underpowered GBA. Thank God for the PSP as Nintendo will finally stop with this underpowered BS they have been shovelling us in the handheld arena.

Have you even played any software on GBA?? I sincerely doubt you'd be saying that otherwise. Simply put Nintendo's handheld has some of the most compeling games for ALL platforms.

Don't make me list the games...

 

[jett]

Okay people, I understand your reasoning behind defending the GBA's graphics(I don't agree with it, though), but what's your excuse for the shitty sound?

 

[Rocket Punch]

Okay people, I understand your reasoning behind defending the GBA's graphics(I don't agree with it, though), but what's your excuse for the shitty sound?

Whay games are you exactly talking about? It all depends on how much effort puts into sound in their games like.... any other game for any console.

Nintendo games have a very good sound. I doubt people are going to expect dobly surround sound 5.1 to go along with a 16-bit game, I mean seriuosly.

 

[neptunes]

what about quality sound?

 

[radios shipping overview]

Have you played sensible soccer recently? It was my favorite football game during the snes era. But when i recently replayed it i couldn't help noticing how bad it has aged. It looks horrible, it's overly simple and quitte frankly it isn't fun to play.

Yeah, it's mostly recently that I've become familiar with Sensi. I like the arcadey play, the great ball physics, the tension, the quick games. It's just what I want in a sports game (not that I play many of them). The graphics have always been tiny (deriding them as old-looking became redundant a decade ago), but they're part of the series's charm for me. IMO, the GBA's a bit overdue for a version of the series. Too bad Sensible Software's properties are dead.

 

[FightyF]

Okay people, I understand your reasoning behind defending the GBA's graphics(I don't agree with it, though), but what's your excuse for the shitty sound?

Well...considering that my posts were off topic from the original post (Fifa is 3D on GBA)...I'm not going to say much other than this...Nintendo doesn't seem to care about sound on handhelds...they've always gotten the shaft. You should ask Pana about the hardware in general, but I know the sound hardware is horrible.

 

[Greekboy]

Have you even played any software on GBA?? I sincerely doubt you'd be saying that otherwise. Simply put Nintendo's handheld has some of the most compeling games for ALL platforms.

Don't make me list the games...

Yes I have. Did I bash the games on the GBA? What do games have to do with an underpowered piece of hardware? I love Nintendo but the GBA was underpowered for obvious reasons. I'd do the same thing if I was Nintendo.

 

[jarrod]

hm.. actually i think the atari lynx had better 3d, and it was uh.. well atleast 12years ahead.

Yeah the Lynx...and in a lot of respects, the GBA wasn't that much better than the SEGA Nomad.

GENESIS/NOMAD
68000 @ 8 MHz
main CPU
1 MByte (8 Mbit) ROM Area
64 Kbytes RAM Area
VDP (Video Display Processor)
dedicated video display processor
- controls playfield & sprites
- capable of DMA
- Horizontal & Vertical interrupts
64 Kbytes of dedicated VRAM (Video Ram)
64 x 9-bits of CRAM (Color RAM)
Z80 @ 4 MHz
controls PSG (Programmable Sound Generator) & FM Chips
8 KBytes of dedicated Sound Ram
VIDEO:
NOTE: Playfield and Sprites are character-based
Display Area (visual)
- 40 chars wide x 28 chars high
each char is 8 x 8 pixels
pixel resolution = 320 x 224
- 3 Planes
2 scrolling playfields
1 sprite plane
definable priorities between planes
- Playfields:
6 different sizes
1 playfield can have a "fixed" window
playfield map
- each char position takes 2 Bytes, that includes:
char name (10 bits); points to char definition
horizontal flip
vertical flip
color palette (2 bits); index into CRAM
priority
scrolling:
- 1 pixel scrolling resolution
- horizontal:
whole playfield as unit
each character line
each scan line
- vertical:
whole playfield as unit
2 char wide columns
- Sprites:
1 x 1 char up to 4 x 4 chars
up to 80 sprites can be defined
up to 20 sprites displayed on a scan line
sprite priorities
- Character Definitions
4 bits/pixel; points to color register
4 bytes/scanline of char
32 bytes for complete char definition
playfield & sprite chars are the same!
COLOR:
- Uses CRAM (part of the VDP)
64 9-bit wide color registers
- 64 colors out of 512 possible colors
3 bits of Red
3 bits of Green
3 bits of Blue
4 palettes of 16 colors
- 0th color (of each palette) is always transparent
SOUND:
- Z80 controls:
PSG (TI 76489 chip)
FM chip (Yamaha YM 2612)
- 6-channel stereo
Z80 can access ROM data
8 KBytes RAM

GameBoy Advance
CPU: 32bit ARM7 Custom @16.7Mhz, with reduced Z80 core for Game Boy and Game Boy Color emulation. RAM: 32Kbit work
RAM: 96Kbytes VRAM, 16Kbytes sound RAM
GPU: Nintendo Custom. Supported functions:
- Hardware sprite scaling, rotation, distortion.
- XY scroll, rotation scroll.
- Multi layers.
- 4096 maximum hardware sprites, with maximum of 256 sprites on a single line.
- No dedicated 3D acceleration.
SPU: Nintendo Custom:
- 2 hardware sound channels.
- Maximum sampling rate @44.1KHz.
Resolution: 244x160, half the resolution of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, although in a reversed aspect ratio.
Color depth: Multi color depth, maximum of 65,536 colors from a palette of 16 million. Supports alpha channel.

 

[Socreges]

Hell, that actually doesn't look too bad.

Is it out in Europe?

 

[Deg]

Yeah.

Sound is the only area GBA behind in for its time. The rest is fine. Ofcourse people will argue the cost issue. Overall GBA worked well.

 

[FightyF]

jarrod, do you see what I mean? When looking at those specs, plus keeping in mind that the Nomad was released in 1995, while the GBA in 2001, the Nomad still had higher resolution, and backlit screens. It wasn't until 2003 when the SP was released with its backlit screen.

The Nomad itself was essentially 1991 technology to begin with.

So when you compare the numbers, it makes it look even more ridiculous. 1991 technology, versus 2001 technology...and the 2001 technology is better in some regards, but not all. I think it's sad...and hopefully competition from Sony will push technology further.

As we compared 1991 SEGA technology to 2001 Nintendo technology, and didn't see much of a leap...we can compare 1994 Sony tech (PSX) to 2004 Sony tech (PSP) and we can see a leap in almost every regard.

 

[Azih]

Everybody ignores the fact that handhelds have different constraints and restrictions than standard technology. Battery life being the chief one.

 

[FightyF]

Everybody ignores the fact that handhelds have different constraints and restrictions than standard technology. Battery life being the chief one.

You are telling me that power consumption in electronics has not changed in a 10 year period, and that battery power has not changed over a 6 year period?

 

[jarrod]

jarrod, do you see what I mean? When looking at those specs, plus keeping in mind that the Nomad was released in 1995, while the GBA in 2001, the Nomad still had higher resolution, and backlit screens.

A Nomad gets ~2 hours off six AA batteries while GBA gets ~18 hours off two AAs (SP gets ~12 hours off a single charge). GBA is also less than half the size of a Nomad. Performance isn't the only measuring stick when it comes to handhelds.

The Nomad itself was essentially 1991 technology to begin with.

So when you compare the numbers, it makes it look even more ridiculous. 1991 technology, versus 2001 technology...and the 2001 technology is better in some regards, but not all. I think it's sad...and hopefully competition from Sony will push technology further.

As we compared 1991 SEGA technology to 2001 Nintendo technology, and didn't see much of a leap...we can compare 1994 Sony tech (PSX) to 2004 Sony tech (PSP) and we can see a leap in almost every regard.

Well using the same standard universally, if you consider GBA 1991 technology, would that make PSP 1998 technology (Dreamcast level)? It's only 6 years old as oppossed to 10?

And from the tech specs, GBA blows Nomad/Genesis away in every department but screen real estate and sound channels. There's little room for comparison, MD would choke on a game like Golden Sun or Tony Hawk. It's like saying Dreamcast is on par with XBox in terms of performance...

 

[Deg]

PSP is ahead of its time. Its hardly standard technology. Why do you think PSP is looking so cheap compared to GBA?

 

[AndreasNystrom]

if the GBA was built using the same techniques as the Nomad in die-size etc, it would
not even run on batterys!.

Gameboy was released in 1988? 89?, and How long did it take for GB color to come out?.

and what did it ad beside some colors? (this is a question, cause i dont know the answer)

 

[Mejilan]

The GBC added NES-style coloring (a bit better at times) and support for the displaying of high resolution, static images. Also, the GBC featured a couple of games with FMV, for what its worth. But I don't know if it was the GBC hardware enhancements that allowed devs to do that or no.