Awesome system, but beware of model number !

The GBA was a huge improvment over the previous portable systems. It featured graphics as good as a super nintendo, sometimes even better, all in a small package. But the screen was dark and barely readable under low light environment. To address that issue, Nintendo turned the GBA into the GBA SP. Awesome. Twice as small, with a lit screen, what more could we ask for ? There are two versions of the GBA SP, model AGS-001, and model AGS-101. The label on the back of the unit will display those numbers. The first and most common one uses a frontlight technology. Even though it's way better than nothing at all, that causes the colors to we washed out, the contrast to be pretty weak, and some blue-ish reflections are visible at certain angles. On the positive side, it can be turned off if the surrounding lights allow it to increase the battery life of the unit. AGS-101 however, more rare, is using a backlight technology, that provides rich colors, great contrast, and no reflections whatsoever. On the negative side, it can't be turned off, just dimmed a little, but once you tried it, you won't want it off anyway... Also the battery is a little stronger on those units so you won't notice much of a difference in battery life anyway. Both units provide the same great catalog of awesome games and are definitively worth it, but if image quality is essential to you, pay the extra bucks and go for a AGS-101. Things to pay attention to when buying a second hand unit : - battery life, make sure the unit can hold a charge. - dead pixel, altough rare, can happen especialy on AGS-101. - L and R buttons can go dead or unresponsive, especialy if the unit felt. - volume slider can be unresponsive. - On/off switch can be busted or working only 1 out of 10 times. - speaker can go mute or can generate pops and cracks (easily fixable though)Read full review