GBA SP on-screen color problem

[The Coop]

Hey all.

So it's been a little while since I last used my GBA. Upon acquiring the Spyro 'Season of Ice/Season of Fire' twin pack, I fired it up. Well, here's what I saw...

The top image is what it's supposed to look like (purple dragon after all). The bottom image is my adjusted version to look virtually identical to what's on my GBA SP screen.

My first thought was, "Fuck. I got a bad cartridge?" Then it dawned on my that I've never had a cart on my cart based systems display the wrong colors like this. So I popped in my copy of Sonic Advance...

Again, top pic is normal, bottom pic is what I see on my GBA SP. The part that got me concerned about my system was that both adjusted images required the same settings in Photoshop to match what I saw.

Any ideas what's wrong? Is my GBA SP on its way out? Is this a common problem that can be easily fixed (without having to by a new system)?

Thanks for any input.

[Moseph]

I don't know about the SP, but the original GBA had a screen adjustment screw hidden under the back label. Do some googling and see what you come up with.

EDIT: Most relevant thing I found with a quick search:

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080403121540AAQQUPa

[The Coop]

Seems that's just a positive/negative voltage control for the LCD crystals, if what I've read is correct. It's not something that affects the color.

[The Damned]

GBA SPs are getting on in the years. You may very well have a screen that is starting to die. After all, LCD screens aren't going to last forever, and depending upon various factors (rate of use, namely hours active at a time and total, storage conditions like temperature, charging cycles, etc) could have helped the screen along t its eventual end.

Luckily, Nintendo still does repairs on GBA SPs, and even if they cant or won't fix it, you can still pick them up for fairly cheap.

Or get a DS or DS Lite.