I got the GBA player for the Game Cube yesterday, and spent a couple hours playing around with it. The device itself is easy to install and has some nice features, like the lever that pops a game out for you. Installation does involve removing a door from the bottom of the machine and tightening two screws, so I would not recommend unsupervised installation by young children. But, if you are reasonably coordinated, and over age 9, it should be easy.

I played MRA and MRA2 on the system, along with a couple other GBA games. I have not tested and GBC or GB games yet. (Apparently a few GB games won't play well on the system, and none of those tilt games will work at all, if plugged into the system proper.)

The screen has a frame around it, and you can choose one of 19 colored frames or, my favorite, #20 all black. You can also expand the size of the game screen to almost fill your TV set, but the picture quality is greatly reduced.

There are options to sharpen or soften the picture, and change controller layout, too.

As to be expected, tossing video images that were designed for a limited number of pixels on a small screen onto a big TV set isn't an ideal setup. You will see small jaggies, particularly on the monster models. The backgrounds, and conversation boxes look fine. The larger size really helps you notice all the details!

MRA has limited music, and fairly simple sounds that become tiresome quickly. (But, many players turn the sound off on other MR games, too!) The game looks good, very much like a SNES game. One flaw in the MRA game that the GBA player cures is that the monthly food menus with the orange and green boxes for like and nutrition is now very easy to discern, whereas on a GBA it's very hard to tell them apart. (I don't have anyone with color-blindness to test it, but to someone with fairly normal vision, the orange and green popped out from the wooden background nicely.)

MRA2 really shows its high-quality workmanship when played on the player. The increased number of songs, and better sound effects really stand out after playing MRA first. The backgrounds look great, the character models are a bit jaggy, but acceptable, and the controls are very good.

Overall, my impression was that the experience is a lot like playing SNES games, but very, very good SNES games. (Go re-play some old SNES games for comparison.) MRA2 seemed like the best SNES game ever made, after just a few minutes of play. For people who have eyesight problems, or manual dexterity problems, this player will allow you to experience a whole new world of games. For those of us without a physical need, it's fun to not worry about batteries, lights, or get cramped hands holding a small machine. Sitting on the couch, and seeing the games on a large screen is really worth the price of admission. (I have not tested 2P mode yet, but this should also be a LOT of fun!)

I was about to post the same thing.

Yes! Now who to mug for the money...

isnt Torey rich?

filthily so

Hm... I guess it's probably time for me to nab one of these. I get major hand cramps trying to play my GBA, to the point that I've basically abandoned it 'til now. Good stuff. There's a bunch of games I've been thinking about getting. Woo.

The next generation Super Gameboy...

then ultra gameboy...
and maybe even a mega-gameboy.. ;)

dont forget Super Ultimate Gameboy XL

Awesome! I'm going to buy one tomorrow :)
w0oT! I can't wait to try metroid fusion and golden sun 2 out on this baby.

Oh yeah and isn't Chrono Trigger best snes game?
I doubt MRA2 is better.

I have mine and I have to say I like it.....
I played MRA and I agree with Lisa it made the food menu a lot nicer....
my son has been playing pokemon on it and the function to change the picture from soft to normal or sharp was a nice touch as the game blurred a bit when walking or running but changing from soft to normal fixed that right away...
plus from pre-ordering it months ago I was able to buy it at $10 less then it is selling for in the stores....

Wow, I got one and I can't believe how cool it is :) Golden Sun 2 looked and sounded so sweet I could have cried. Metroid Fusion looks 10 times better on the GB Player than on GB Advance - You can't even see the pixels! Plus now I can link it with my GB Advance and play 2 player with my sister or upgrade Golden Sun 2 saves with data from Golden Sun 1. Aaahhh, sweetness. It's practically like having another GB advance.

Gah, now I'm being tempted. But... but... don't need to spend more money! And I already just picked up a GBA-SP recently.... ^^;;

Poor Trickster! Now GBA-SPs are for kids.

:p

Actually I'm liking the GBA-SP quite a bit. I thought I'd regret throwing down the money for it when I already had a GBA, but it's sooo much nicer!