May 17, 2005 - Nintendo Executive Vice-President of Sales and Marketing Reggie Fils-Aime surprised an engaged audience by slipping his hand into his jacket pocket and revealing...a tiny device he calls the Game Boy Micro. Though we've heard rumors that Nintendo was once again retooling the Game Boy Advance to be sleeker and brighter, what Reggie whipped out was the first revelation of the unit, and not exactly what we were expecting. But after seeing it in-hand, I want one.
After the press conference, I was given the opportunity to hold the unit in my own hand. The Game Boy Micro is indeed a tiny device. The dimensions are very wee -- four inches wide, two inches tall, and not even an inch thick. It abandons the cool and clever clamshell design of the Game Boy Advance SP in favor of a much more minimal gaming presentation. The unit's more like a cellphone in size and weight, and it just looks so damn cool.
The cartridges plug into the bottom of the unit, much like the GBA SP does. The cartridge port is slightly off-set to the left side of the unit, making room for the headphone port on the right. That's another big deal: instead of the proprietary headphone port of the GBA SP, the Game Boy Micro uses standard 1/8" headphones. On the top of the unit between the L and R buttons, the system has an EXT port that will be used for charging the internal battery as well as provide a plug-in for the link cable dongle that will be made for the unit. The EXT port is proprietary to the Game Boy Micro, looking similar to plug-in ports for a cellphone.
The start and select buttons are on the bottom edge of the unit, and they will light up a cool blue when powering on the system. The A and B action buttons, as well as the D-pad, are no longer the "clicky" style of the GBA SP, instead going back to a more softer feeling of standard D-pad and action button feedback.
Along with the small size comes a smaller screen than the Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Advance SP system. The LCD screen is far, far more bright and vibrant than the GBA SP system, more in line with the backlight technology of the Nintendo DS system. GBA games are definitely much more vivid in light and color on the device, and text is completely legible even at the slightly smaller size.
The system is surprisingly comfortable to hold, though it's made more for portability than it is for ergonomics. It goes back to the days of the original Game Boy Advance design that allows for players hands to spread out a little more than the GBA SP's more "cramped" configuration.
Nintendo did not reveal price or specific release date beyond the "Fall 2005" window, nor did it reveal possible features such as wireless or GameCube connectivity. We were expecting the possible announcement of the ability to play MP3 files, but this wasn't mentioned or commented on by Nintendo.
We'll have more on the Game Boy Micro as the show progresses.
