Review Sterl500's GBA Clone Review

[Sterling]

I just received my much anticipated Deal Extreme GBA Clone (Original

). I have to say it's a pretty good one too. It comes with everything you need:

USB Link Cable
Charger
Unit
(Pics are in the spoiler)

Spoiler

Sorry for the Half-assed pics, but I had to use my DSi.

When I first put it in my hands, I noticed that it has a great feel to it. Very good build quality. A couple of differences I noticed between the Original, and the clone is the fact the buttons click, and the plastic feels different. Also there is the fact that it will not boot GB/GBC games (Cartridge or otherwise) only GBA cartridges, and I haven't been able to boot any gba home brew either. When you first boot it up, you'll get a laggy GBA start up screen. Then it will go to a complete menu of the games stored on it. I have to hand it to the Chinese, they have an image of every game I can throw at it. (A screen Shot) All the games I have tested, have worked. The only one that seems to lose playability is Golden Sun 1 & 2 (That's what I wanted to play. :/), and that's only on the world map. It also allows you to use saves for games you have played before (like backups), just make sure the save is the EXACT name of the rom. The speaker is good, and plays sounds pretty loud.



Presentability: Has great feel, and build quality. Buttons play nice, and has a rechargeable battery... 9/10

Game loading: Almost all games are run from internal flash, but you can still run GBA game carts. With lack of GB/GBC cart loading... 6/10

Rom Compatibility: Most GBA games work great. A few not so much. 9/10

Overall: Not only is it a great GBA clone, it's an Original GBA clone. 8/10
​

Here is a poster that confirms what I experienced with this clone.

Thaddius, has clarified a few things I was unable to test.

Links to buy: (if you don't need/want to then don't read the spoiler.)

Spoiler

Black
Blue
See through purple
See through pink

 

[airpirate545]

Nice review. Might buy this, but a couple of questions. How does the Mother 3 translation work and what is exactly wrong with GS 1+2?

 

[Sterling]

Nice review. Might buy this, but a couple of questions. How does the Mother 3 translation work and what is exactly wrong with GS 1+2?

I'll try that in a sec.
GS 1&2 both have a severe slowdown problem on the world map. If you turn the sound down, and play it that way on the world map it's playable.

EDIT: Looks like it works fine.

 

[arielp]

actually i'm planning to get one (purple), i do have the original purple,

since you already got it?

there is some question, '
- is there any slowdown? mario kart for example?
- frame rate? are they steady and fluid like the original?
(cause my dsiplayer gba emulator does not have fluid motion like the original)
- as the screen is 320x240, i need your own opinion, whether the image stretching really noticeable or not.
- battery life? adv for 3 hour, is it longer/shorter?
- battery seems removeable, is it? nokia compatible battery (lot of chinese product use Nokia BL type batteries)

Thank You.

 

[Sterling]

actually i'm planning to get one (purple), i do have the original purple,

since you already got it?

there is some question, '
- is there any slowdown? mario kart for example? -I'll check mario kart, and get back to you on that. Some games have minor slowdowns when a lot of sprites come on screen at one time (lord of the rings for example).-
- frame rate? are they steady and fluid like the original? -Most games play like the original. (At least the way I remember it)-
(cause my dsiplayer gba emulator does not have fluid motion like the original)
- as the screen is 320x240, i need your own opinion, whether the image stretching really noticeable or not. -Nope, it really doesn't bother me-
- battery life? adv for 3 hour, is it longer/shorter? -From my experience, it does seem to have a short battery life 3-4 is my estimation-
- battery seems removeable, is it? nokia compatible battery (lot of chinese product use Nokia BL type batteries) -I would not know that, but if you do get one, you may be able to shed some light on it-

Thank You.

Answers to questions in bold.

 

[prowler]

Wow. Nice review

I just might get one myself. I've been looking to get a GBA expansion (or whatever they are called) for my NDS but this looks better than that.

 

[arielp]

actually i'm planning to get one (purple), i do have the original purple,

since you already got it?

there is some question, '
- is there any slowdown? mario kart for example? -I'll check mario kart, and get back to you on that. Some games have minor slowdowns when a lot of sprites come on screen at one time (lord of the rings for example).-
- frame rate? are they steady and fluid like the original? -Most games play like the original. (At least the way I remember it)-
(cause my dsiplayer gba emulator does not have fluid motion like the original)
- as the screen is 320x240, i need your own opinion, whether the image stretching really noticeable or not. -Nope, it really doesn't bother me-
- battery life? adv for 3 hour, is it longer/shorter? -From my experience, it does seem to have a short battery life 3-4 is my estimation-
- battery seems removeable, is it? nokia compatible battery (lot of chinese product use Nokia BL type batteries) -I would not know that, but if you do get one, you may be able to shed some light on it-

Thank You.

Answers to questions in bold.

Thanks for the answer

, ordered just now (purple) from DX, looking forward to receive it within next week (to Indonesia, DX shipment only takes about a week)
i found this quite worthed, rather than buying SP and another SUpercard + 2GB minisd.
also i love the design of the original

 

[Jaems]

Is this backlit?

 

[arielp]

Is this backlit?

definitely,

video review:
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsjnCYoiFqc
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYENUz-Uin0

 

[o0ICE0o]

Compared to an SP's backlight, how bright is it?

 

[MarkDarkness]

Great buy and review, man!

 

[trans am]

Nice review, if the buttons make a click I imagine it's because they use micro-switches instead of contacts. Seems like a nice clone.

 

[kalmis]

Compared to an SP's backlight, how bright is it?

And how about AGS-101 if you know?

Good review btw. Tad dear for a clone though.

 

[Overlord Nadrian]

Compared to an SP's backlight, how bright is it?

And how about AGS-101 if you know?

Good review btw. Tad dear for a clone though.

Expensive? No, essentially you get a brand new system AND games for only $50, which is nothing.

 

[Arm73]

Compared to an SP's backlight, how bright is it?

And how about AGS-101 if you know?

Good review btw. Tad dear for a clone though.

Expensive? No, essentially you get a brand new system AND games for only $50, which is nothing.

And internal memory to put the games into, not bad, this way you don't need an expensive GBA flashcart.
I'm worried about the streaching of the screen though, not having a native resolution 1:1 with the real thing it's bound to look not as pixel perfect, but I guess I will have to hold one on my hands to judge.
Also I would love to hold it and see how the color saturation/ response time / backlite is compared to the GBA SP2.
The sites says that is compatible with GB and GB colors games, but i guess only in emulated form , not the real cartridge ( after all the first 100 games are GBA games, the rest NES converted games as I understand ).
Like I said, I will have to hold one and see if it feels right for myself, but yeah, for less then $50 bucks you really can't go wrong !

 

[arielp]

Compared to an SP's backlight, how bright is it?

And how about AGS-101 if you know?

Good review btw. Tad dear for a clone though.

Expensive? No, essentially you get a brand new system AND games for only $50, which is nothing.

And internal memory to put the games into, not bad, this way you don't need an expensive GBA flashcart.
I'm worried about the streaching of the screen though, not having a native resolution 1:1 with the real thing it's bound to look not as pixel perfect, but I guess I will have to hold one on my hands to judge.
Also I would love to hold it and see how the color saturation/ response time / backlite is compared to the GBA SP2.
The sites says that is compatible with GB and GB colors games, but i guess only in emulated form , not the real cartridge ( after all the first 100 games are GBA games, the rest NES converted games as I understand ).
Like I said, I will have to hold one and see if it feels right for myself, but yeah, for less then $50 bucks you really can't go wrong !

that also my concern, buying another GBA slot-2 solution + 2GB will cost more than 20US, that is why i consider the price is reasonable.

the screen resolution also my concern as not 1:1, but mine will arrive within 6 days (today just shipped from DX), i will post a macro shot of the screen here. so everybody can compare/judge how bad/good the scaling.

rumors said that it does read real GBA catridge, but doesn't read / write the save file from the catridge but from the internal flash..seems weird.

can't wait mine to arrive

 

[Jaems]

Does the connector at the top allow for GBA-GCN link?
And how is the framerate compared to original games?

Thanks.

 

[thaddius]

It'd be pretty sweet if the battery cover is removable. I think I remember reading (maybe on DX?) that it's glued shut but I might be wrong. If you can remove it, I have like 15 GBA SP batteries lying around. Not that I'd bring 15 with me but having 1 or 2 charged up and ready to swap when the battery dies is better than only having only 3 hours of play time.

This looks like a sweet gadget though. I think at least one of my GBA flash carts cost more than $50, and this not only replaces one but is a functional system too!

To me the GC\GBA connector working seems dubious. These GBA communication port looking plugs have been floating around China bootleg factories for a while now. I own a NES clone that looks like a GBA and has two of those so you can add extra controllers (damned if I could find controllers that you could connect to it though).

The point is that the port might look like a regular GBA comm port but it could be something completely different. When mine arrives I'll try it out (I have a spare ereader lying around) but I'm sure someone else will find out for reals by then.

 

[Sterling]

that also my concern, buying another GBA slot-2 solution + 2GB will cost more than 20US, that is why i consider the price is reasonable.

the screen resolution also my concern as not 1:1, but mine will arrive within 6 days (today just shipped from DX), i will post a macro shot of the screen here. so everybody can compare/judge how bad/good the scaling.

rumors said that it does read real GBA catridge, but doesn't read / write the save file from the catridge but from the internal flash..seems weird.

can't wait mine to arrive

I don't know about that (I read it in one of DX's reviews though), but it will read GBA carts.

QUOTE(Jaems @ Mar 20 2010, 12:07 PM) Does the connector at the top allow for GBA-GCN link?
And how is the framerate compared to original games?

Thanks.

If I still had that GC -> GBA link and Pokemon box GC utility, I could test it... but alas I do not. :/

 

[Jamstruth]

Does the connector at the top allow for GBA-GCN link?
And how is the framerate compared to original games?

Thanks.

If I still had that GC -> GBA link and Pokemon box GC utility, I could test it... but alas I do not. :/

Does it perform normal link cable functions with a real GBA? If it does it will probably to the GC-GBA link