Every accessory company has a product that promises great lighting for the Game Boy Advance, but the products don’t always deliver. The Light Shield Advance is Pelican’s light and screen protector for the GBA. And although it is a good peripheral, its light leaves something to be desired.

The Light Shield’s elegant design is both aesthetically pleasing and practical. It fits snuggly onto the GBA and has a thick, 90º hinge utilizing metal screws for its screen protector and light. Meanwhile, a thin rubber strip prevents the protector from scratching the GBA itself. A fairly compact item, it sticks out of the communications port (which it uses for power) about 1.5 cm and 1 cm away from the screen when closed. Matching the three original GBA colors perfectly, this stylish item creates the illusion of looking like part of the GBA itself by almost completely covering the plastic screen protector (only hair-thin slivers at the sides remain). By completely encapsulating the screen, the barrier insures no scratches and can absorb minor impact to the face of the GBA. And although difficult to take off, the pass-through port and ON-OFF switch will make doing so unnecessary unless awkward lighting (a sunrise/sunset in front of you) makes the shield cast a shadow on the screen.

The Light Shield makes an exceptional screen protector, but it should not be heavily relied on as a light source. Though there is a contrast dial, it is impossible to play a GBA game when not at full power; as with most lights for the GBA, it just isn’t powerful enough. The light is dispersed quite evenly for the top 2/3 of the screen, where it then trails off to around half strength. Actually, it trails off at around half way unless you fold the light down a little—but that isn’t a big deal. Fortunately, its design allows some compromise. Like the Worm Light, the light creates a reflection, but it only appears if you fold down the light too much. As it isn’t distracting like with the worm light’s, it is possible to sacrifice the top few lines for a clear picture at the bottom of the screen. In fact, Mario Advance poses no problem in the dark with the Light Shield Advance. Meanwhile, Castlevania leaves you guessing as to what’s on the bottom of the screen. Fortunately, with GB(C) games there is no problem near full power. “So, what’s the big problem,” you say? Besides the slightly yellow-tinted lighting, this light sucks up so much juice that it is almost comparable to the Game Gear! Game time is no more than half of what it would be with the light off! Of course, that is at full power, but it’ll almost always be at full power anyway. Unless the batteries are new, the LED power light dips significantly once the light is turned on. And if the battery runs dead with the light on full power, it is possible to turn the system back on play for another hour or so with the light off!

Though the power consumption makes this light something to only be used once in a while, the protector makes the Light Shield Advance highly worth considering in the pool of GBA accessories. For screen protection, this is definitely the item to get.