Gamebuino Meta GBAtemp review
Hardware
Product Information:
The Gamebuino Meta might look familiar if you’ve read my review of the MAKERbuino. And that’s no coincidence! The idea behind the MAKERbuino sprouted after the first iteration of the Gamebuino, the Gamebuino Classic, was released back in 2014 after successfully raising ten times more than its original crowdfunding goal. While the MAKERbuino allows one to make his/her own console, the Gamebuino comes fully assembled with the promise of enabling one to create their very own game for the console, no prior experience needed! After the success of his first console, Aurélien Rodot, the brains behind the Gamebuino, came back with a revamped Gamebuino idea which was also successfully crowdfunded last year and was shipped this year.
So without further ado, let’s see what the Gamebuino Meta is all about!
Getting Meta
Out of the totally Made in France box comes the following:
- Gamebuino Meta console
- 8 GB microSD card with 15+ free games
- microSD card reader
- USB cable
- Quick start manual
- Genuine wood skin
- Game stickers
- Screen protector (optional)
The Gamebuino Meta is a little 105mm x 54mm x 17mm handheld, small enough to fit in your palm and pocket but sturdy enough to withstand bumps and little hits and the casing even feels tough. It's highly reminiscent of the Game Boy Micro in form factor but with some extra features sans cartridge slot. This small device does pack quite some features like a 1.8" LCD, LED backlight screen, 900 mAh LiPo battery enough for 16+ hours of gaming and 8 RGB LED on the back that light up and respond to some in-game actions. The 1.8" screen does look small but is somewhat appropriate for the little games that it plays.
As for more detailed specs of the handheld, take a look below:
- Microcontroller: ATSAMD21, 32bit ARM Cortex M0+, 256KB flash, 32KB RAM (same as Arduino Zero)
- Display: 1.8", 80*64px RGB 16bit color display (or 160*128px, indexed 16 colors). 25FPS refresh rate by default, up to 50FPS.
- Battery: 900mAh, charged through micro USB B port (like most phones).
- Back lights: 8 independently controllable RGB LEDs for light effects in your palms!
- Buttons: 8 buttons: D-pad, A, B, Home, Menu.
- Sound: 10bit DAC, multi-channel 8bit WAV playback, 2.5W class-D audio amp, audio jack 3.5mm, 1W speaker.
Now if you want to get fancier, you can stick the wood skin around the handheld to style it. The end product gives the Gamebuino Meta quite a unique look and it actually smells like wood (since it is made of real wood, duh!)!
If you want to get funkier, there’s an optional “breadboard backpack” extension that allows you to step up your game and debug and experiment by soldering your own components in the prototyping area. Oh and it’s compatible with Arduino shields!
More accessories, spare parts and buying options are available on the official store.
My major complaint with this device is the price. At the time of writing, the Gamebuino Meta is priced at €99.90. That's quite considerable for a rather unknown console. However if you can afford it, the Gamebuino Meta will be a worthwhile investment as it will serve as an educational tool to learn video game programming, which is what the device's primary aim is. And unlike the MAKERbuino, you don't have to fiddle around with soldering with this one and just get straight to programming. So let's see how learning to program a video game on the Gamebuino Meta is like!
Press Start
With the Gamebuino Meta, the idea is to provide a pocket-sized handheld which will serve as a tool to help you learn programming in C/C++ through the official website’s Academy. Since I didn't have any formal experience with video game programming, or programming in general for that matter, it felt appropriate for me to gauge how well this so-called Academy could train me.
Before you press start… I mean… before you start your course at the Gamebuino Academy, you’ll have to install the latest Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment).
Once done, the Academy splits game development bite sized in its free, self-paced lessons, allowing you to grasp several programming concepts within minutes while making games and apps in C/C++.
The Gamebuino Academy’s approach is very hands-on, providing the programming enthusiast direct feedback of the knowledge gained from each lesson. The tutorials also explain what every line of code that you’ve written means and what each line does. There's about 9 tutorials, with more to be added, walking you through writing your first line of code to programming your first game to creating your first AI. Depending on the lesson, one can spend from 10-60 minutes on each but the great thing is that the lessons are self-paced and Gamebuino has a helpful community ready to lend a hand should you get stuck somewhere.
Sure, the Gamebuino Academy won’t replace a university-level Computer Science course. But it is not meant to. It aims to help the curious learn about the game development process in a fun and engaging way that can further spark interest in higher level of computer programming.
Game Over… Continue?
From my experience with as a Gamebuinian (I didn’t make it up, that’s the official term!) has been quite unique. After having my Gamebuino Meta print out “hello, world” (and getting more… original) within minutes, I made my first Pong game in less than an hour! And all that was completed by me, a person without prior experience with video game programming! As a DIY experience of sorts, I would recommend it to anyone looking to get into game development but don’t know where to start. I can also easily see it picked up by hobbyists as the adventure does not end with Pong. There are more advanced lessons to make more intricate games which you can share with the expanding community of Gamebuinians for feedback and help.
The number of games being created and updated is ever growing on an almost daily basis with some cool and original titles to kill time like UFO Race, Bumble Bots, Cats and Coins, Meta Hexagon to name a few. There are even demakes of popular titles like Splatoon and Pokemon in the making!
If you have an idea for a game but don't know where to start, the Gamebuino Meta might be the right tool to begin with, thanks to the helpful guides and community. I would say that the device manages to fulfill what it aimed but again I feel like the cost might drive some potential video game producers away. Nevertheless, if you can afford it and have the will to follow the guides and put some time into it, this tool will prove to be a worthwhile investment with its ever-growing free games library.
So wanna join the Gamebuino Academy and make your own games for the Gamebuino Meta? Get your very own via this link!
Verdict
- Educational tool
- Well documented ‘Academy’ to walk you through the process of making your first game and beyond
- Unique experience
- Growing library of free games
- Pocket sized
- Active and supportive community
- Cost
- Screen size
