Last week I shared the 3 GBA games I took with me during my holiday to Croatia.

I promised an honest verdict on these 3 games once I got back.

Did I sit by a pool and play these games for hours?

Not even close.

Between driving the rental car, moving between different Airbnbs and hotels all over the country, exploring caves, hiking national parks and visiting cities and towns, my holiday was pretty busy.

Total playtime across 10 days?

Maybe 4 to 5 hours.

Still, those few hours were great! Here is how the games actually held up:

Without a doubt, this was the MVP of the trip.

Each race takes about 2 to 3 minutes. Five stages and you're done in 10 to 15 minutes. 

When my flight got hit with a 3-hour delay, this game got me through the first hour of that delay.

The coolest moment happened by accident. I was sitting outside in our Airbnb garden, wanted to pause the game, and accidentally hit Select instead of Start.

Suddenly, the game switched to a first-person view.

I didn’t know this game had a first-person option, but it’s the only way I play this game now. It’s a bit harder, but it looks awesome (by GBA standards, of course).

Like I said last week, while packing my bag I tested out a few games to see which ones I wanted to take with me.

One of these games was a combo cartridge with Sonic Advance and ChuChu Rocket.

I bought the Sonic Advance / ChuChu Rocket combo cartridge mainly for Sonic at first. But I barely touched Sonic compared to other GBA games I own.

I had never played ChuChu Rocket before, but it hooked me instantly while I sat on the floor testing some games.

So I already had a feeling this would be a great game during my trip, and it was!

It is literally a perfect game for just 2 minutes. I mainly played this game while travelling to and from the airport on the bus and in the train.

But it was also perfect if I had just a few minutes of time to kill. It’s easy to pick up, zero commitment, and very addictive.

I had high hopes for this one, mainly as my flight-killer.

Especially since this is the game I played the most at home the past few months.

However…

I played maybe 15 to 20 minutes on the plane, got exhausted from the airport delay, and simply fell asleep.

Advance Wars is incredible, but it demands that your brain is switched on more than the other games.

Also, the levels/missions take some time. I might be slow, but the levels usually take me between 30-60 minutes. Technically you can save during your level and just pick it up for a few minutes, make some turn-based moves, save the game and pick it up at a later moment again to continue.

But this just doesn't really work for me personally.

Once I start a level I want to finish it instead of coming back to it a day later and having to understand again what I was doing and what my plan was before making my next move. 

So a great game, but the wrong setting.

I always used to play on my childhood AGS-001 (front-lit).

Playing this trip with the AGS-101 backlit screen was a revelation. 

It didn’t matter if I was sitting outside in the bright sun or in the dark in the evening, I could easily see everything on the screen.

The colors, brightness and pixel grid make it feel “modern” without losing the nostalgic early-2000s charm that I love about this handheld.

Best upgrade ever!

I had an amazing holiday, and it felt great to just disconnect and enjoy some old games for a change instead of scrolling on my phone during these moments.

This week's edition is really late, but the plan is to send my newsletters on Thursday again from here on out!

That’s it for now, talk to you next week.