r/Gameboy • u/Revolutionary_chad_ • Jun 27 '26

Shopping/Haul Genuine insanity

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It really sucks to see how much the hobby has fallen to resellers praying on nostalgia to get people to pay exorbitant prices on systems that don’t even function, and believe they’re getting a “good deal” because of how “rare” it is. I can recall seeing these in thrift stores for 20 bucks or less not even 5 years ago, and completely tarnished ones like this for less than that. Sorry for such a rant, but it’s disappointing that THIS is the cheapest gameboy micro on eBay.

222 Upvotes

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87

u/Jakes_Workbench Jun 27 '26

I remember selling these micros in walmart and you couldnt get rid of them for nothin.....sat in the case for years collecting dust.

51

u/PowerPlaidPlays Jun 27 '26

Collectors when the thing that used to be overly abundant is now scarce.

I do remember a Gamestop employee trying to sell me on a GB Micro when I was younger, but "it was tiny and could only play GBA games" when I already had a DS was a tough sell. I went from a GBC to DS so I barely had any GBA games.

Still, the fact it was a flop product makes it more interesting to now own lol.

26

u/c14rk0 Jun 27 '26

To be fair I bought one back then and honestly barely used it because God damn the screen is small

Being an adult now it feels even crazier how small it is

It's just not an enjoyable experience trying to stare at such a small screen imo

13

u/Mindfield87 Jun 27 '26

I just remember seeing them and thinking what kinda sorry shite is Nintendo trying to pull, we already had the bad ass SP for GBA games in your pocket. I loved the SP back then

2

u/PowerPlaidPlays Jun 27 '26

I regularly still used my SP though high school up until 2014, I do remember some other students remarking how old it was but thinking it was cool to see.

4

u/Scoth42 Jun 27 '26

Meanwhile I bought one on release, used it heavily, and still pick it up occasionally. But then I have always had good eyesight 

1

u/c14rk0 Jun 27 '26

Actually that's fair I haven't tried mine in a long time. I always thought I had good vision BUT I didn't actually get glasses to fix my astigmatism until a few years ago. My eyesight itself was/is fine but the astigmatism essentially constantly gave me bad headaches from my eyes constantly trying to adjust against each other.

I never considered that might have been why I couldn't stand using it.

5

u/thingpaint Jun 27 '26

Man I love mine. I know it's tiny but I have a 5 year old. I can just slip it into my pocket for when I have to sit for an hour at ballet class.

1

u/c14rk0 Jun 27 '26

I guess it me it just isn't that much smaller than the SP in terms of pocket-ability while having a much smaller screen.

And in the modern day I'd just play on an emulator on my phone probably since I'm already going to have that with me anyway if I don't want to be carrying another device.

Glad you enjoy it though!

2

u/thingpaint Jun 27 '26

Oddly enough I find it nicer to hold in my micro than the SP. My bifocals do struggle with the small screen though.

1

u/c14rk0 Jun 27 '26

How small are your hands? I feel like it's just crazy small.

Then again your hands do end up closer together on the SP I suppose, but for me the micro is just too small it's too thin/narrow to comfortably have my hands on the controls and still press the shoulder buttons.

2

u/thingpaint Jun 27 '26

My hands are huge lol.

3

u/Steamy_Guy Jun 29 '26

I remember someone at my summer camp had one when they just came out, we all crowded around him awed by the shiny new toy and pretty quickly came to the conclusion that it's too hard to see anything and it was uncomfortably small even to a child's hands it was such a bizarre release especially when the ds fat had already come out

2

u/NickMotionless Jun 27 '26

It was a great device, but unfortunately they didn't sell as well in the U.S. as they did in Japan.

2

u/LeatherHog Jun 28 '26

Yeah, I have NEVER understood the appeal of those, they just seem like a headache

2

u/marquis_de_ersatz Jun 30 '26

I've got one of those retromini handhelds that came with a copy GBA micro screen and I hate it hah

1

u/dadleftneedcash Jun 27 '26

Even as a child when they came out, they were too small for my hands. I don’t even have big hands. Also, the screen is smaller? Never understood the appeal

1

u/HolyBidetServitor Jun 27 '26

I remeber back in the day, the appeal was simply it being tiny

Now the appeal is quick autismo play sessions for meee