GameShark SP
Accessory by Mad Catz
Reviewed by GhostBabel
ghostbabel_4@hotmail.com
Released: 2003
Height: 2.5in
Width: Same as average GBA cart
Depth: 7/10in at thickest point
Use with: GameBoy Advance and GameBoy Advance SP

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Opening Snide Remarks: As a kid, I parked my ass in front of the TV and 
stayed there all night playing games like Contra and MegaMan. No matter how 
impossible a level seemed, I would keep at it until I beat it or the fatigue 
from playing for hours got to me. But I find that as I get older, my patience 
runs out a lot quicker than it used to. More and more developers these days 
are getting lazy and instead of working hard to make their games genuinely 
challenging, they just add some sort of restricting aspect like a 
ridiculously low time limit. I've already sold off several GBA games simply 
because they were too frustrating and not worth the headache, and I figured 
it was time to invest $20 in a device that would prevent this from happening 
again. Judging by reviews I've read of the original GameBoy GameShark, it 
doesn't seem like it was a solid piece of hardware, but since ownership of 
the GameShark name has switched from Interact to Mad Catz, we've got an 
entirely different piece of hardware here.

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Impressions: The unit itself - which works in both GBA and GBA SP - is 
relatively small and sleek, and doesn't get in the way of your hands when 
plugged into your GBA. Some old cheat devices like the GameBoy version of 
Game Genie were horribly designed, and this is much better. Turning on a GBA 
with the GameShark SP plugged in (and a game plugged into the GameShark) gets
you the GameShark menu. The interface for entering, editing, and deleting 
codes is awkward at first, but things settle in after a few minutes and it 
starts to seem very intuitive. It comes pre-loaded with over 15,000 cheats 
for over 250 games; this includes some of the more obscure American, 
European, and Japanese versions of games, released up until 2003. I don't 
exactly have a monstrous game collection, but so far I've had a 100% success 
rate with the codes. They always work and have never corrupted a game save.

The device comes loaded about 95% full, so if you want to add a huge amount 
of codes, you're going to have to delete some games. When you first get the 
GameShark it's a good idea to go through the list and delete codes for games 
you know you'll never own. I know past versions of the GameShark included a 
hacking program for creating your own codes, but the GSSP doesn't feature 
one. (But honestly, how many of you actually used it?) There's an on/off 
switch at the top, and if you have the GameShark in your GBA and it's 
switched off, the game inserted in the GameShark will load normally without 
codes. I'm not sure why this was even included; if you're not playing with 
codes, why plug in the GameShark?

Included in the box is a link cable with a GBA link on one end and a computer 
USB port on the other, along with a CD containing a program that's supposed 
to allow you to upload game saves to your hard drive and store them, as well 
as enter codes with your keyboard and download them to your GameShark. This 
is a great idea, especially for games that use big, multi-line codes that 
take forever to enter using the GBA. The problem is, the program doesn't 
work. First of all, it contains a glitch that causes the code lines to be 
entered backwards. For example, let's say you want to enter this code:

916CA551DA17
DB5FE57E8FCA
8AD176385AE0

The program will enter it this way:

8AD176385AE0
DB5FE57E8FCA
916CA551DA17

So the simple solution is to enter the code lines backwards, right? Wrong. 
Doing this only gets you a message from your GameShark when you try starting 
a game telling you the codes are corrupt, even if they're entered the exact 
same way they would be using the GBA interface. The only thing the program is
useful for is deleting a large amount of codes from your GameShark instead of
individually deleting them using the GBA. Simply put, the program doesn't 
work, and why it was even included in the box is beyond me.

Liked: Nice design, intuitive interface, code effectiveness.

Hated: Useless PC software that could have been very handy.

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Improve: It's almost perfect; they just need to actually test their PC 
software before shipping it out the door.

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Final Words: The PC software is useless, but the GameShark itself is a great 
accessory. If you're like me and you find yourself getting more and more 
frustrated at games as time goes on, or you're a Pokémon fan and don't have 
anyone to trade with and want every last Pokéthing, or you think that X level
in X game would be so much better if only that stupid time limit were gone, 
the GameShark SP is for you. Codes are created by hackers regularly and 
updated on GameShark.com and GScentral.com.

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Score: 95%

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Secrets: None