Game Boy Micro goes retro

Tom Loftus Columnist • E-mail

Stuck on a bus in traffic, I reached into my pocket for my new Game Boy Micro and instinctively held the slender device to my ear. Nintendo’s newest handheld device is not a cell phone, but its diminutive size reminds me of one.

Measuring four inches wide, two inches long and a half-inch thick, the $100 Game Boy Micro is a slimmer, sleeker Game Boy Advance that weighs in at only three ounces — small and light enough for a shirt pocket. The Micro comes in two flavors: black and silver. In both cases, black directional buttons and the black “a” and “b” buttons — lower case for that retro feel — lend the device a vaguely 1970s springtime in Dusseldorf flavor.

The look is completed with silver “Select” and “Start” buttons that glow a fluorescent red against the black plastic fronting.

Not interested in Kraftwerk-inspired electronics? Flashier gamers can opt for the camouflage faceplate or one of the other interchangeable flaceplates that come with the device.

The Micro plays every game in the Game Boy Advance library — roughly 700 games. The Micro’s two-inch screen delivers crisp graphics, better than anything the Game Boy Advance produced. There’s a built-in headphone jack so fellow commuters won’t need to hear you battle the “Dynasty Warriors.” 

Beyond its size and style, the Micro doesn't offer anything new. It won't play games made for the Nintendo DS. Wireless play is possible, however, although it requires the purchase of an adaptor. 

But the re-sizing is a welcome reprieve from the recent “SUV-ing” trend in handheld gaming, with the Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable bulging pockets to the breaking point.

Maybe we should regard the Game Boy Micro as this generation's version of the metal lighters that swells once pulled from their coat pockets to impress the ladies. Sophisticated, stylish and ultimately, frivolous.

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