Let's start by just comparing the "top ten" games of Neo Geo Pocket Color to Advance.
NGP - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnWrvKrDweY
Advance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CaJkcny7e8
That is not what I call a next-gen difference in graphics and presentation of the games. The graphical presentation of most GBA games is somewhere between sufficient and just plain ugly. The more detail they try to implement, the uglier the game usually looks. NGPC games are a bit more basic looking yes, but everything is clean and vibrant/colorful. Like FF Tactics, that's a perfect example of GBA ugliness. Blurry, overly detailed character models that don't mesh well with the background graphics, which by the way are super pixelated and blurry because again, highly detailed sprites in a super low resolution look like crap. It looks hideous, and a lot of GBA games look like that. Not so with NGP games, where everything is crisp and colorful with less detailed sprites but much more pleasing to the eyes.
Have you looked at Wonderswan Color games? The sprites and backgrounds are every bit as detailed as GBA. It has a very similar graphical style to GBA, and again released two years prior. It has a diverse line-up of equally hideous abominations. Square, Sega, Pokemon knock-offs, it's got it all if that's your bag.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb7mZBPOp20&t=600s
That's because Game Gear is basically Master System hardware crammed into a handheld, of course it's not a Genesis. Master System is nothing to sneeze at, it's a solid 8-bit console and frankly I'd take that classic 8-bit style over GBA any day, because again the presentation and colors are simply cleaner looking, and it has lots of good old fashion side-scrolling action games which I'll take over a bunch of a slow paced isometric games trying to be modern and quasi-3D. Despite only being Master System hardware, Sega managed to crank out some pretty sharp looking games on the Game Gear, some of which do look closer to 16-bit than 8-bit.
i agree super mario kart on gba is garbage but I don't even like the snes version of the mario kart series or if I'm totally honest any 2d kart racing game period.
the first playable mario karts for me are mario kart 64 and ds. 2d and 3d mario kart are just different kinds of games.
that being said neo geo pocket I have played my fair of those games and they are very basic also the music and sounds are way worse than on 8 bit home consoles. sound is quite a bit of the game experience and that's not great on all other handheld consoles except from gba. and some of the gameboy classic tracks. i could say the same for game gear btw but that console is a bit worse than neo geo pocket (color).
Also how is the gba worse while having very decent ports of a link to the past snes, super mario world yosi's island also them advance wars, metroid fire emblem kirby , megaman & bass megaman zero 1 to 4 and castlevania all excellent looking games and a quite a bit more sonic advance 1 to 3 are way better than the sonic game on neo geo pocket.
metal slug advance on gba is way better than metal slug 1 and 2 on neo geo pocket 2nd mission one of the best looking neo geo pocket games how is that not a small difference. the grapical difference between gba and neo geo pocket is huge not to mention the superb music and sound effects on gba especially compared to even the wonderswan color there is no comparison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPlCC58sRZwmetal slug advance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-jJs_ikerEEven wonderswan color the sounds are way less advanced comparable to early mostly worse gba sound effects and music it's very mediocre in terms of sounds. and grapic wise it's only compared with the medium low end stuff not the above average high end wich have way better grapics. also only 90 games wich are mostly very subpar don;t make me laugh that this is comparable to gba you have to be joking. what a trash console that is. game gear and neo geo pocket are way better options than wonderswan color after looking at the full library of that console.
sure wonderswan looks better than gba's trash filler title grapics but is it truly an accomplishment to beat sombody's trash while even the top titles seem very mediocre and have horrible sounds.
I will not deny that there are a ton of bad looking gba games especially the filler titles in most cases look horrible but all systems have bad stuff that look as bad as pre generation consoles and a ton of them that's not a good excuse that happens with every retro console.
Everyone can have their opinion obviously. gba is not my favourite system but in terms of handhelds there is a ton less interesting stuff to play on handheld systems that are not gba. also unless your speaking fluent japanese a ton of those games are unplayable while doing so for a very mediocre system
GBA has excellent rpg's action games shoot em ups and them snes esq mascot games wich look very comparable. the other systems don't come close in terms of gameplay aside from way lesser quality sounds music and grapics.
in terms of zelda, kirby metroid and mario. I agree with super mario kart but otherwise the mascot games alone make the gba already a ton more interesting than the other handheld consoles
That's because Game Gear is basically Master System hardware crammed into a handheld, of course it's not a Genesis. Master System is nothing to sneeze at, it's a solid 8-bit console and frankly I'd take that classic 8-bit style over GBA any day, because again the presentation and colors are simply cleaner looking, and it has lots of good old fashion side-scrolling action games which I'll take over a bunch of a slow paced isometric games trying to be modern and quasi-3D. Despite only being Master System hardware, Sega managed to crank out some pretty sharp looking games on the Game Gear, some of which do look closer to 16-bit than 8-bit.
i disagree it should be a master system but the quality is a ton less. more like a poor mans master system even though the game gear has 4000 colours vs the master system wich has 64. Game gear games look allot worse than master system games and let's not forget the music and sound effects you can basicly write those of on game gear. obviously worse than master system
Game gear is an inferior master system logical since it's a handheld but i can't agree that it is basicly a master system.
let's look at power strike II on game gear vs master system
master system
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk1yqYfbTQsgame gear
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cZs0-8zepkI dare you to play some neo geo pocket or game gear games or if your bold atari lynx
and compare them to the likes of the snes ports of a link to the past mario world contra final fantasy III or games like metroid zero mission/fusion mario & luigi superstar saga gunstar heroes or any other great gba games
Let's see what you enjoy more even titles likes shinobi on game gear stand no chance against gba and they look really bad on game gear btw. if game gear truly had master system grapics it actually could have looked pretty decent.
also if you don't like the gba grapical style no worries gba got you covered
mario bros, castlevania zelda zelda II metroid 1 mighty final fight all have very nice ports of the nes games on gba.
there is almost no genre that the gba does not cover
we have run & gun we have plenty of action platfomers to many rpg's snes ports of the iconic snes classics shoot em ups puzzle games etc. everything that other handheld consoles have the gba has and more I see nothing what i would rather play on them older consoles aside from the games being different. if we would look at genre's alone I'd rather pick one of those games on gba than on any older handheld console wich already have less enjoyable experience thanks to the lack of good music and sound effects.
and atari lynx? that system's library is absolute trash you can't even take that handheld seriously compared to the others.
How about Ninja Gaiden, Double Dragon, California Games, Stun Runner, Batman Returns? Yeah the titles aren't fantastic but what's sad is some of the games look strikingly similar and in some cases better than GBA, and arguably could have never been done on SNES and we're talking about a handheld released in 1989! That alone is very impressive.
I pity the fool who would rather play double dragon on a atari lynx than double dragon advance on gba
if you'd rather play double dragon on atari lynx than double dragon advance be my guest.
atary lynx is imo a way worse console than gameboy classic just try and play some games. colors are fun and all but in reality it's a very poor console in my experience. gameplay wise it is a downgrade compared to gameboy classic let alone gba.
if your still saying that other handhelds are better than gba your basicly saying neo geo pocket, game gear and wonderswan are better than a snes console. the grapical difference of the snes ports or other games that could have been on snes aren't to big and gameplay wise they are pretty much the same in for example a link to the past final fantasy III not to mention gba's unique games zelda four swords and minish cap that could have easily been snes games