Heh, yeah, GBA titles definitely get different prices where I live. Pretty much anything A-List (Nintendo, Square, etc) will get top-tier $39.99, and rarely even $44.99 (Canadian dollars!) pricing. Everything else falls under $34.99, $24.99, $17.99 and even $14.99. You can guess which titles fall into the lower price ranges, it's not hard!
However, the point of a password save over a battery save is that it costs the publisher less to produce the cartridges. Example:
Company A produces a password save game, and it costs them $10.00 to produce each cartridge. They sell the produced game for $30 each, resulting in a $20 profit.
Company B produces a battery save game, and it costs them $15.00 to produce each cartridge. They sell the produced game for $30 each, resulting in a $15.00 profit.
See what I mean? That was an oversimplification, but essentially, it doesn't matter what price WE'RE being charged - it matters what it costs them, so that they can drive more profit to their bottom line. We're charged whatever we'll bear as a market whole.
..and on topic, I've tried this game for a bit, and I'm thankful I'm not a kid in this generation.
Whatever happened to good third party GB games, such as Boomer's Adventure in Asmik World, or A Boy and His Blob, or Qwirk, or a ton of others? Kids today get this crap instead, I feel their pain.