Why is a mushroom called mushroom? As usual, Peter Meilinger
<mellnger@bu.edu> got it all completely wrong and wrote:

The games from the earlier editions should all work. IIRC there's just
one game which doesn't work, because it's got some special hardware
(Kirby's Tilt & Tumble???), but apart from that you'll be fine.

Zelda is fantastic, you should definitely go for it. However, if
you're used to PC RPGs, you should be careful, it's quite different.
It's more of an action-adventure than an RPG, but it's great.

Apart from Zelda, there's the two Golden Sun games, which feature a
rather typical console RPG-style. Both are very good, although they
have some quite long speech parts...

I'm sure other's will have more suggestions...

Hi Peter,

Just about every Gameboy and Gameboy Color game can be used in the GBA
- a google will find a list of incompatible games, but they tend to be
obscure things.

There's not much else like the Sims, but you might want to look at Sim
City 2000 or even something like Ham Ham Heartbreak as possibilities.

RPGs tend to be of the explore dungeons and fight lots of random
battles affairs. If you like action rpgs like Diablo you might want to
have a look at the Lord of the Rings Two Towers and Return of the King
games which are good fun and an excellent way of showing off the
graphical abilities of your GBA. My other tip would be Advance Wars 1
or 2 - an excellent strategy wargame.

What is this bug? I'm not trying to rup the PS2 version or the GBA
version, just curious. But, since I most likely won't be buying this game
anyways, what difference does it make?

Are they the right size? Well, yes and no. The older GB, dual-mode and
GBC-only games will work just fine in the GBA and GBA-SP. They fit inside
the cartridge slot no problem and are compatible from that point of view.
The older games do extend out of the shell of the GBA and GBA-SP, so it's
not a clean appearance, but otherwise they work just fine.

Can't help there. Such things are too subjective. I'm currently hooked on
Tetris Worlds and can't get past certain points on the Mario games.

I am not really into RPG's, but got Zelda WW for the GameCube since it
came with a bonus disc, so good value. I got hooked on WW real fast and am
about to solve it, just have to hook it all up again. This makes me
tempted to get some for the GBA as well. Also, Zelda Wind Waker works with
the GBA via the link cable, which is cool.

Peter Meilinger:

I'll focus on this.

GBA cartridges are rectangles. They fit smoothly into the GBA cart slot,
leaving nothing protruding. GBO games are squares. They fit snugly into the
GB/GBP/GBC cart slot leaving nothing protruding.

Going on their different shape, one would think that GBO carts would be
incompatible, but looking at the carts, its quite simple.

All GB carts (game paks) are the same size in width, but GBA games are a
little more than half the height. As such, you can play every original GB
game on the GBA, as the slot is the same size. However, on the GBA and SP
the original carts protrude out the top by a little less than half. I have
never heard of a problem with snapping or anything like that before. While
starting a non-color game, you can press a series of button combinations to
change the default palette. When using an original GBA, you should
experience no problems, but with the SP/GameCube you'll have problems with
the game Kirby Tilt N Tumble, which is a GBC game with a tilt sensor for
playing. As such, on the SP the tilt is reversed, and with the GC it just
won't work.

Now, the screen is much like the cart. Different sizes. The original is a
square, the GBA is, for all intents and purposes, a rectangle doubled in
width, just about the same in height.

As such, GBO games display their square screen in the center of the GBA
screen. With the addition of the L/R buttons that were missing on the other
incarnations of the GB, you can stretch the square screen into the full
rectangle like stretching a rubber square. Because of this, it looks a
little distorted, but some people prefer to play like this.

This is all possible because of a small switch located in the cart slot
that, when not pushed by GBA carts (notice the little notch on the corners
of the carts?) plays in GBA mode, but when pushed by regular carts,
activates an emulator which essentially makes the GBA into a GameBoy Color.
You can test this by pushing in the switch with a toothpick and turning the
system on. Tahdah! GBC bootscreen.

My wife really liked the following:

The Legend of Zelda
Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga
Golden Sun (both)
Pokemon Ruby
Fire Emblem

You've picked up the best gaming platform available.  Enjoy.

A Games Ranking search of the top *100* 988.... games does not turn up
Harry.  Buyer beware...*+9

Games from old gameboy and gameboy colour also work on GBA. I konw its not
like the sims but you can't go far wrong with Mario Kart - its a great game.