DS Daily: Bummed about the GBA

by David Hinkle { Oct 7th 2008 at 8:00AM }

Yesterday, we presented a feature that said goodbye to all of the great things the GBA slot can be used for on the DS Lite. As you all know, the new DSi says sayonara to the GBA slot. What we're wondering is, what will be the most missed aspect of that GBA slot for yourself? Will you miss not being able to play Guitar Hero: On Tour on your DSi? Are you sad to see your gigantic library of GBA games is not supported by the new device? What will you miss most about the GBA slot?

Gallery: Goodbye, GBA slot

Tags: dsi, gba, gba-slot, nintendo-dsi

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Peter Duggan @ Oct 7th 2008 8:26AM

The only thing I'll miss about the GBA slot is using the RumblePak but not many games use it so it wont be a problem for me...

Avi @ Oct 7th 2008 8:29AM

I don't think they will completely get rid of it. Perhaps they will just combine the two slots. An advance cartridge put in with a DS card plugged into that (for those games that require the two)? They can't keep getting rid of compatibility for all of the old games... w/e...

KaBob799 @ Oct 7th 2008 8:58AM

What? That would be a design nightmare.

Ross @ Oct 7th 2008 10:13AM

Nop, that's the only way it's thinner is cause they got rid of it, so i'm pretty sure it's completely gone. Even though i'm not buying this until the a newer verison comes out of it cause right now it looks really ugly.

TheOverlord#2 @ Oct 7th 2008 8:41AM

I won't. I have a GBC, GBA, GBASP, and a DS Phat so I'll just use one of those.

Zealot @ Oct 7th 2008 10:37AM

Same here. It helps that I'm not getting a DSi, but even if I were, I'd still have three different GBAs and my Phat to fall back on.

Ibinixer @ Oct 7th 2008 8:45AM

I'm not going to miss it at all because I'd need a bloody good reason to dump my ds lite and thus far I've not received one.

Venom @ Oct 7th 2008 3:15PM

Seconded.

Gewurz Man just wasted 200 Wii points @ Oct 7th 2008 6:11PM

Thirded

horp @ Oct 8th 2008 11:13AM

My reason? WPA. They could strip away even more functionality if they wanted to and I'd still get it for that reason alone.

TJF588 @ Oct 7th 2008 8:46AM

Heh, yeah, maybe an adaptor. What I'd miss most would be DS games that interact with GBA games. The Pokemon transfers are a big one, since you can re-do that time and again, but the one-time unlocks are affected, too (in the case of Dawn of Sorrow, it's an unlock per new game, am I right?). Rumble Pack (heh, would have to import to get DSl version) and Guitar Hero things are there, too, but... Eh, I don't care as much 'bout those things.

Gaucho @ Oct 7th 2008 8:52AM

nothing. I'm keeping my DS lite. I can't find any justification for getting the DSi. To me it seems like a downgrade.

kalpesh @ Oct 7th 2008 9:35AM

I personally think that they got rid of the gba slot to allow for sale of gba games via the online Nintendo market.

Its a business, but charging us again for games that we probably own is bad. Unless they allow a way to register the games we own that are available for download so we can dl them for free (which i doubt).

Michael @ Oct 7th 2008 10:09AM

to kalpesh
it wouldn't be that hard, if they were to link dsi accounts with nintendo.com accounts they would be able to read from your account which games you have registered. my only concern on this would be games not made by nintendo itself, i dont recall if you can register say games made and produced by say capcom or konami.

MechaBouncer @ Oct 8th 2008 5:52PM

There's another problem. That only works if the customer is honest and doesn't sell the GBA game afterward. Nintendo has no way of knowing whether they kept the game. (And in all honesty, who would really keep a useless game around that they can't play?) Going further, who's to say someone didn't get the code off the Internet or from someone else? There's just too many potential pitfalls there. I seriously doubt Nintendo would be generous enough to do this, especially when they are out to make money. If they did, they should do the same thing for the Virtual Console. That isn't happening.

WalkingCarpet @ Oct 7th 2008 9:07AM

Well it's a good thing I don't have like... any of that stuff. I was considering getting GH:OT at one point but passed so I could save up for all the stuff in GH:WT. I'm glad I did. All in all, I'm probably going to buy a DSi and still keep my Lite. I broke the hinge on it anyway, so I don't think that I'll get much for it if i were to trade it in anyway.

Michael @ Oct 7th 2008 9:38AM

I just shelled out ~70$ after shipping and taxes and customs for a slot 2 home brew device... that will render itself useless once i upgrade, which probably wont be for a year or two after release... but still ... thats money that could have payed off credit.

0xtob @ Oct 7th 2008 9:44AM

As a homebrew developer, this: http://www.tobw.net/dswiki/index.php?title=Hardware#GBA_flash_cards_and_CF.2FSD_adapters

Brendon @ Oct 7th 2008 9:45AM

Rumble.

(*grumble*)

dec7m2 @ Oct 7th 2008 9:53AM

the GBA slot remind me of my old advance that the d-pad,right bumper, and the "A" all died because i played so long and so hard... i promised that i would not cry

Igor @ Oct 7th 2008 9:59AM

Clearly not being to get the libra clan ability in FFTA2....

ShukuenShinobi @ Oct 7th 2008 12:21PM

I won't miss a thing. I play all my GBA games on my SP. The only thing I'd miss is GH:OT, but seeing as how my DS is the Pok�mon edition, I never plan on getting rid of it.

Creciente @ Oct 7th 2008 10:32AM

If I will ever need another DS, it will be a second DS Lite, but not DSi by any means. The fact that GBA slot has been dropped from the system is one of the main reasons I will not buy DSi. I have a significantly large collection of GBA games that I play regularly, and everywhere.

m-p{3} @ Oct 7th 2008 10:57AM

Looks like my RAM expansion from the Nintendo DS Browser is useless now.

BlackDS @ Oct 7th 2008 11:32AM

I completely forgot about the DS Browser.

In practice, the DS Browser is pretty useless. I could only use it at "some" McDonalds (it didn't work at a lot of local McDonalds that had Wifi, because McDonalds fails), and I was able to pickup someone's Wifi at the airport.

The DS Browser cannot authenticate properly, so even paying I couldn't use it at coffee shops/Starbucks.

I will miss using my Japanese DS Lite Rumble Pak. It rumbles when it's my turn to move/play on Clubhouse Games.

Peace.

Kam @ Oct 7th 2008 11:47AM

I don't see the big deal..
I mean, if someone wants to play their GBA games, can't they use their DS or GBA?
I mean, it's not like if you buy a DSi Nintendo is going to come to your house and stomp on all of your GBA games!

Thunderbird @ Oct 7th 2008 12:06PM

I'm more bummed by the region lock. If they make a sequel to JUS for the DSi I won't be able to play it.

Sonic_13 @ Oct 7th 2008 12:12PM

I feel like I'll miss the GBA slot on the DS because without it you lose some functionality. However, when I really think about it, I have almost never used the GBA slot AND I have my GBA in the same drawer as my DS, so in the end I'm not really missing out on anything afterall.

The only time I used it for something other than GBA game playing was when I had both Advance Wars 2 and Advance Wars DS in at the same time and I got a special background.

xcdjy @ Oct 7th 2008 12:19PM

In terms of actually playing GBA games, who says we can't?

If it has a web-browser built in, it probly has built in ram. All it takes is for some dude to create an emu for GBA on DS, and all is swell :D

Unless, of course, it uses your SD card for the web-browser.

Gonzo @ Oct 7th 2008 2:17PM

No GBAMP love?
Am I the only one who uses a gba slot to read ebooks and listen to music at the same time during my commute?

Maybe I am.

TryToGuess @ Oct 7th 2008 8:01PM

I do the same things, only I use MoonShell instead.

Gonzo @ Oct 8th 2008 12:42PM

Is there a moonshell that just plugs into the ds-card slot?
That's what we're going to need.
I've been checking out the Cyclo Evolution.
I expect that soon after the launch we're going to see a whole lot more similar devises that take advantage of the DSi's memory card slot.

chibi_wings @ Oct 7th 2008 2:36PM

if I were to get a DSi, I would miss being able to play GBA games and the Pal Park for Pokemon. I think I'll probably wait for the DS's true successor.

obis666 @ Oct 16th 2008 12:48AM

I have bought gameboys from the start partially because of backward compatibility. I have a lot of peripherals and carts from my GB and GBA that I don't want to write off. I wont get it unless it has something more to offer... maybe an accelerometer or motion sensors or something. something to really change the gaming experience. If not I'll stay with the more affordable DS or the overall better PSP.

Dred242+forums @ Oct 7th 2008 5:29PM

For me it's the RumblePak as well. My RumblePak inserts flush with my DS Lite....it's awesome. It would be nice if Nintendo some how integrated a rumble feature into the new DSi, but thats just wishful thinking, eh? I have no plans to buy the DSi as of yet. I want to wait at least 6 months to a full year after the U.S. release. This gives me plenty of time to see if game developers cozy-up to the new design...I guess they have no choice, eh? I also can't wait to hear from early adopters and what they think of the game-play with older/current DS titles on the new DSi. As far as the new hardware, I'm excited about downloadable games/content via wifi, the SD card support, and the wider screens on the new DSi. Maybe Nintendo should "Pull-A-Zune" and let the older DS, and DS Lite access downloadable games/content and save it to a storage card built for the GBA slot...once again, wishful thinking.

Garst @ Oct 7th 2008 8:18PM

The inability to us the e-Reader, if I were ever to decide that I want one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_e-Reader

jrabin93 @ Oct 7th 2008 10:14PM

I don't really care that they are getting rid of it. As of now I have no plans to purchase a DSi, I just recently this summer bought myself a DS Lite, and am very happy with it. If for some reason though I had to switch from my DS Lite to the DSi, I would be disappointed because there are many great GBA games such as Mega Man Battle Network.

manaman @ Oct 7th 2008 10:20PM

To me, the saddest part of this is that it's the end of a legendary era in handheld gaming. The name of Game Boy is disappearing with no signs of it ever returning. Also, this will be the first time that the main portable console from Nintendo will not feature backwards compatibility. Now that Nintendo has offered backwards compatibility for the first time on their consoles, it's unfortunate that they are moving backwards in handhelds.

I may be very interested in the new features of the DSi--probably enough to buy one--but I am not giving up my lite.

RachelKat @ Oct 8th 2008 1:16AM

I'd miss nothing because I plan to keep my Lite running until the end of time, and I'll probably get a black and cobalt before they discontinue them. My big problem with the DSi is the region locking. I /need/ my Kanji Sonomama card!

I only use the GBA slot M3 for Moonshell anyhow.

Ry Guy @ Oct 8th 2008 10:15PM

I'm not, I'm either going to keep my DS Lite and not upgrade to the DSi because there are no essential updates, or I'm going to get a GBASP, at least then I won't have to worry about that bulge in my DS that makes it less pocket friendly.

Either way, no GBA, no deal. I need at least some method of playing my old school games.