The Gameboy Advance SP initially came out back in the Spring of this year; it has been a massive success thus far (shipping over a million units across Europe) and two new coloured versions have just been launched.

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We decided to get one of these chaps in and give it a thorough road test to check out just how sophisticated handheld gaming has got these days. As well as putting the hardware under the microscope, there are a few mini-reviews of games later on. After all, a console is only as strong as its cartridge line up...

The beast we got to play with was the new flame-red model and as you can see it's aesthetically striking and very stylish looking. The other new colour is an ice-cool, light arctic blue. We liked the colour a lot - but not quite as much as the size of the SP! It's incredibly portable with a flip-top screen. When closed, it's about one and a half times the size of a credit card and about 2cm thick. The flip-top screen also means that the display is protected when the unit is closed and it's a durable little handheld.