New six-button/backlit GBA?

[Tagrineth]

Yes this could be the reason, after all isn't someone planning on introducing a handheld using a PowerVR MBX chip + SH5 processor? That thing could pump out DC quality visuals on a small screen!

Is this confirmed that this is a dedicated gaming handheld? Otherwise the price alone may push it out of competition with the GBA. In addition, bleeding edge technology never really mattered much in the handheld area imo; looking at Gameboy vs. Lynx vs. Game Gear, it just seems that technology played a minor role.

Correct.

Lynx was amazing, played well... but it had the Atari brand which nobody wanted to trust

Game Gear has a horrendous screen - last time I used one (a week ago), I had to keep my finger on the brightness dial so I could adjust it CONSTANTLY. And for reference, I have almost no problem with my GBA's screen at all

Game Boy won out because it had a very high-quality black and white LCD for its time, it was about a third of the size of a Game Gear, and got more play time out of four batteries than Game Gear got out of six Hooray for back lights...

 

[zurich]

TurboExpress owned them all

Even though it guzzled 8 AA batteries in a matter of hours and cost $400, it was waaaaay before its time. In some cases, its graphics rival that of the GBA now.

zurich

 

[PC-Engine]

TurboExpress owned them all

Even though it guzzled 8 AA batteries in a matter of hours and cost $400, it was waaaaay before its time. In some cases, its graphics rival that of the GBA now.

zurich

Yep, way before it's time. High res active TFT LCD! I still remember playing the Japanese version of SFII CE on that thing way back then too, and that version was even better than the SNES version! It ran in non-compressed graphics mode unlike the SNES. It only used 6 AA batteries though and if you had rechargables...

 

[zurich]

It was Military Madness that made me fall in love with the Turbo Express (I still think its a much much better game than Advance Wars). Even with rechargables it gobbled batteries like mad, but thats the price to pay for a handheld a decade before its time

zurich

 

[Ty]

TurboExpress owned them all

zurich

Agreed. It was an awesome handheld not just because of the relative 'power' of the handheld itself but rather imo due to the great library of titles you instantly had at your disposal upon the launch of it.