Impressions: Game Boy Player

To boot up the GB Player, you need to have the included boot-up disk inside the GameCube, so unfortunately you cannot use any GameCube link-up features with the GB Player. You can however still use Gameboy games from any region. After the GameCube boot-up intro, the Gameboy game will start as normal. Whilst playing a Gameboy game you can press the Z button at any time to open up the GB Player menu to change the numerous settings. Here are the settings you're given:

• Border: There are 20 different borders to choose from. There's basic colors like indigo, orange, black and silver (to match the Gamecube colors) and there are several other themed borders like Tetris blocks, Gamecube/GBA link-up, Gamecube, saphire/ruby Pokémon and a space themed border. A few of the borders look really terrible, almost like something that's been made in Animal Crossing. There's some awful camouflage and striped borders that I for one will never be using.

• Zoom: You can zoom in and almost completely eliminate the border. The screen looks noticeably stretched when zoomed in so I use the zoomed out picture.

• Control Setup: There are two control styles. Style 1: L&R as select and X&Y as L&R. Style 2: L&R as normal and X&Y as select. If you wish you can link-up a GBA to the Gamecube and use it as a controller, but playing GBA games on a TV really hits home how god-awful the GBA-SP is as a Joypad. The original GBA isn't much better, nothing replaces a Gamecube pad for comfort except perhaps a Hori pad.

• Screen Filter: You can choose three graphic modes: sharp, normal and soft. The menus are in Japanese so I can't tell which is which, honestly there is absolutely no noticeable difference between these modes.

• Timer: You can set a parental timer between 1 and 60 minutes.

• Change Game: For some reason you need to select this to change the GBA game, otherwise the GB Player will instruct you to turn your Gamecube off and on again. There is an eject switch on the left side of the GB Player to make changing games a little easier, although perhaps it is a bit too powerful - seeing how far you can shoot the cart across the room is a game by itself.

With the RGB cable (the equivalent of component cables) the picture is extremely sharp and clear, the picture is so hi-rez that I've noticed imperfections caused by the GBA's native lower resolution. There are plenty of anti-aliasing problems, particularly in older games like Mario Kart. Otherwise, the picture is fantastic - I can't get a picture this good from the SNES.

Audio quality is pretty damn good. The games seem to be in Stereo as well, various sounds will play from either the left or right speakers depending on where the action is taking place on-screen. On many games the sound is definitely of SNES quality or even better in Final Fantasy Tactics and Wario Ware's cases. Only with the Gameboy Player have I truly appreciated how fantastic Advance Wars' music is, let's hope for a GameCube version!

From now on I wont be playing Gameboy games away from the GB Player unless I'm away from the house or indeed, on the toilet. There's no reason for you not to enjoy Gameboy games as much as the latest Gamecube titles any longer, the Gameboy Player is a fantastic device for anyone who can appreciate the GBA's old-school charm. I wouldn't want to be putting a black one on my Indigo Gamecube, though...

Andy Robinson
Staff Writer, Kikizo Games