This page will contain external links about Fiero, as they become available.Pontiac FieroThe Pontiac Fiero was a mid-engine sports car built by the Pontiac Motor Division of General Motors from 1984 to 1988. Brief history1988 Pontiac Fiero GTThe Fiero was designed by Hulki Aldikacti as a Pontiac sports car. Due to a "cool" reception by GM mangement and accountants, it was finally sold to GM as a fuel-efficient commuter car. The public, however, had other ideas for the only mid-engined car ever mass produced in North America. The Fiero was also the first and only two seater Pontiac ever made, until the 2006 introduction of the Pontiac Solstice. The Fiero was modified slightly, borrowing many parts, into a performance vehicle. The sports car potential of this car was greatly reduced due to cost-cutting however, and came under fire from critics—its publicity did not match its initial performance. By the end of production, the Fiero had received updated suspension and body styling, but kept a limited offering of engines—the use of turbochargers or the newer DOHC straight-4 engines never made it to production. Officially, production ended due to insufficient profits. Budget constraints on Pontiac forced them to borrow parts from other product lines. For example, some of the front suspension was taken from the Chevrolet Chevette[1] (the rear being partially from the GM X-body cars). GM technicians blamed these borrowed parts for the engine fires (which was not entirely true) that resulted from a number of mechanical design flaws. The fires in the 2.5 L engine were due mostly to poorly made connecting rods. They were purchased by GM by the ton, not by quality. However, the vehicles left today have most certainly been serviced by GM during the recall. The Fiero has a strong following of owners and customizers today. Due to an abundance of replacement parts available from other General Motors vehicles, there are many upgrades that can be done to improve performance and reliability of the cars. Additionally, a multitude of different General Motors engines have been installed by enthusiasts, from the Quad-4 engine to the Chevrolet small-block V8. The Fiero 2M4 was on Car and Driver magazine's Ten Best list for 1984. The 1984 Fiero was the Official Pace Car of the Indianapolis 500 for 1984, beating out the new 1984 Corvette for the honor. A large following of owners still exists with many web pages, groups, and clubs devoted to the car. TransmissionsAutomaticsFiero's mid-mounted V6All automatic-equipped Fieros were equipped with the TH125 three-speed with torque converter lockup. Automatic Transmission Final Drive Ratios:
4-speedAll 4-speed manual transmissions were built at the Muncie, Indiana Allison plant. The 1984 production line saw two transmissions, a performance 4-speed with a final drive ratio of 4.10, and an economy 4-speed with a final drive ratio of 3.32. The V6 on the 1985 model and part of the 1986 production year came with a 4-speed with a final drive ratio of 3.65. 5-speedIsuzu and Getrag-produced 5-speed transmissions were available, depending on model and equipment. The Getrag is generally accepted to be the stronger one, but both are used without failure on high torque V8 engine swaps. Manual transmission gear ratiosProduction years19841984 was the first production year for the Pontiac Fiero, which began production in August 1983 for the 1984 model year. The year was also critically condemned for producing underpowered commuter cars. In an effort to sell the car as being economically sensible, GM equipped and sold the Fiero as a commuter car but the marketing build up leading to initial release indicated anything but a regular commuter car. The car also proved uncomfortable for some drivers due to the lack of power steering. The 1984 was the only year in which the Limited "Indy 500" edition, consisting of an Indianapolis 500-themed option package on SE-model vehicles, was offered. Approximately 2,000 of these vehicles were sold. 1985In 1985, the problem with insufficient power was first addressed, much to the satisfaction of the general public. A Chevrolet 2.8 L 140 hp (104 kW) V6 engine was put into the car, satisfying most critics of the base power plant. The V6 was paired with a modified Muncie 4-speed transmission. The 4-cylinder engine (known as the "Iron Duke") was now paired with the Japanese designed Isuzu 5-speed (also produced at the Muncie, Indiana plant). Further on, the exterior design of the Indy Fiero would be incorporated into the production line as the new GT. 19861986 Fiero SE1986 was the first year the fastback was offered. Also offered late in the production year, was a 5-speed Getrag transmission (coupled only to the V6 engines). Models equipped with the 4-cylinder engine remained largely unchanged. 19871987 had minor modifications to the front fascia on the "base coupe" (the same nose also to be found the following year on the new Formula model), with the SE & GT models keeping the same "Aero" nose. The 4-cylinder's power rating increased to 98 hp (73 kW) with some major modifications which included a roller cam. The car was offered in blue but was otherwise externally unchanged from the preceding three models. Improved headlight motors appeared in 1987. 19881988 Pontiac Fiero GTThe 1988 Fiero brought a new suspension design, thought by many to strikingly resemble the soon to be acquired Lotus Corp's. The chassis was never a Lotus design though - it was all Pontiac. The 4-cylinder and more powerful V6 were standard fare and the car largely escaped recall issues. 1988 was the final model year for the Fiero. This page about Fiero includes information from a Wikipedia article. Additional articles about Fiero News stories about Fiero External links for Fiero Videos for Fiero Wikis about Fiero Discussion Groups about Fiero Blogs about Fiero Images of Fiero |
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1988 was the final model year for the Fiero. Standout original titles include:. The 4-cylinder and more powerful V6 were standard fare and the car largely escaped recall issues. Through the use of flash cartridges and emulators the Game Boy Advance can even play NES and PC Engine games, as well as AGI-based Sierra On-Line PC adventure games. The chassis was never a Lotus design though - it was all Pontiac. It has also become a popular system for old-school gamers due to the increasing amount of games ported from various 8-bit and 16-bit systems of the previous era. The 1988 Fiero brought a new suspension design, thought by many to strikingly resemble the soon to be acquired Lotus Corp's. The Game Boy Advance not only has one's typical platformers, but also a huge collection of SNES-style RPGs. Improved headlight motors appeared in 1987. With hardware superior to the Super NES it has proven that sprite-based technology could improve and live side by side with the 3D games of today's consoles. The car was offered in blue but was otherwise externally unchanged from the preceding three models. The Game Boy Advance has become the modern flagship of sprite-based games. The 4-cylinder's power rating increased to 98 hp (73 kW) with some major modifications which included a roller cam. As of September 2005, the Game Boy Advance series has sold 70.04 million units worldwide.[1]. 1987 had minor modifications to the front fascia on the "base coupe" (the same nose also to be found the following year on the new Formula model), with the SE & GT models keeping the same "Aero" nose. The Game Boy Advance, along with the Game Boy Advance SP and the Game Boy micro, has sold well. Models equipped with the 4-cylinder engine remained largely unchanged. While they enable the distribution of homebrew applications and content, they may also facilitate the illegal distribution of copyrighted games. Also offered late in the production year, was a 5-speed Getrag transmission (coupled only to the V6 engines). Unofficial Game Boy Advance flash cartridges are also available. 1986 was the first year the fastback was offered. It will most likely be what is being sold now on the Game Boy Advance, and that is to make the portable system into a portable television. Further on, the exterior design of the Indy Fiero would be incorporated into the production line as the new GT. TV Tuner - Not much is known as of yet, but it does what it implies. The 4-cylinder engine (known as the "Iron Duke") was now paired with the Japanese designed Isuzu 5-speed (also produced at the Muncie, Indiana plant). MPEGs), see .txt files, hear sound clips, etc. The V6 was paired with a modified Muncie 4-speed transmission. GBA Movie Player - The GBAMP is a versatile gaming cartridge that allows people to play NES/Famicom games, watch movies (e.g. A Chevrolet 2.8 L 140 hp (104 kW) V6 engine was put into the car, satisfying most critics of the base power plant. Unfortunately, these cartridges display an error when inserted into a GameCube via a Game Boy Player. In 1985, the problem with insufficient power was first addressed, much to the satisfaction of the general public. The movies Shrek, Shrek 2, and Shark Tale are also available for GBA Video and all three movies are in full. Approximately 2,000 of these vehicles were sold. First released in America in May of 2004, they cost $19.99 and included cartoons such as Pokémon, SpongeBob SquarePants, Sonic X, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The 1984 was the only year in which the Limited "Indy 500" edition, consisting of an Indianapolis 500-themed option package on SE-model vehicles, was offered. Game Boy Advance Video - These highly popular cartridges contain two episodes of 30 minute cartoon programs. The car also proved uncomfortable for some drivers due to the lack of power steering. It was not released in Europe. In an effort to sell the car as being economically sensible, GM equipped and sold the Fiero as a commuter car but the marketing build up leading to initial release indicated anything but a regular commuter car. It was discontinued in America in early 2004, but is still quite popular in Japan. The year was also critically condemned for producing underpowered commuter cars. The e-Reader works with the Game Boy Player as well as the Game Boy Advance SP, but cannot fit into the Nintendo DS's Game Boy slot. 1984 was the first production year for the Pontiac Fiero, which began production in August 1983 for the 1984 model year. GameCube games like Animal Crossing had cards with unlockable content as well, and the Pokémon Trading Card Game playing cards also adopted the e-Reader codes. Isuzu and Getrag-produced 5-speed transmissions were available, depending on model and equipment. e-Reader - The e-Reader is a rather bulky scanning device that plugs into the game cartridge slot of the Game Boy Advance. The V6 on the 1985 model and part of the 1986 production year came with a 4-speed with a final drive ratio of 3.65. release to coincide with Game Boy micro as rumored, an American release has been speculated for 2006 as well. The 1984 production line saw two transmissions, a performance 4-speed with a final drive ratio of 4.10, and an economy 4-speed with a final drive ratio of 3.32. Since Play-Yan did not have a U.S. All 4-speed manual transmissions were built at the Muncie, Indiana Allison plant. The Play-Yan is currently available in Japan only, but a European release has been confirmed for early 2006. Automatic Transmission Final Drive Ratios:. Nintendo has released several mini games for the Play-Yan that can be downloaded from their website, although Nintendo later removed all mini-game functionality through a firmware update. All automatic-equipped Fieros were equipped with the TH125 three-speed with torque converter lockup. Music or videos that users have downloaded from the Internet can be transferred onto an SD Card and slotted into the Play-Yan device. A large following of owners still exists with many web pages, groups, and clubs devoted to the car. The cartridge is slightly bigger than normal GBA cartridge and includes a built-in headphone port as well as an SD Card slot. The 1984 Fiero was the Official Pace Car of the Indianapolis 500 for 1984, beating out the new 1984 Corvette for the honor. Play-Yan - The Play-Yan is an MP3/MPEG4 player for the GBA and Nintendo DS. The Fiero 2M4 was on Car and Driver magazine's Ten Best list for 1984. A Game Boy micro version has also been released - it can interact fully with both models of the Wireless Adapter. Additionally, a multitude of different General Motors engines have been installed by enthusiasts, from the Quad-4 engine to the Chevrolet small-block V8. The adapter itself was not backward compatible, leading to criticism that this accessory was more novel than useful, only available on a few games. Due to an abundance of replacement parts available from other General Motors vehicles, there are many upgrades that can be done to improve performance and reliability of the cars. The adapter's usefulness is most evident in Pokémon; FireRed/LeafGreen feature a "Union Room" where up to forty people can enter to battle or trade Pokémon. The Fiero has a strong following of owners and customizers today. Because it was released so late in the GBA's life, less than 20 games support this hardware. However, the vehicles left today have most certainly been serviced by GM during the recall. It markets for $20 and came included with Pokémon FireRed and Pokémon LeafGreen. They were purchased by GM by the ton, not by quality. It replaces link cables and allows many people to link up to each other. The fires in the 2.5 L engine were due mostly to poorly made connecting rods. Wireless Adapter - Released in 2004, this adapter hooks up to the back of the Game Boy Advance. GM technicians blamed these borrowed parts for the engine fires (which was not entirely true) that resulted from a number of mechanical design flaws. These include:. For example, some of the front suspension was taken from the Chevrolet Chevette[1] (the rear being partially from the GM X-body cars). Nintendo has released many add-ons for the Game Boy Advance (GBA). Budget constraints on Pontiac forced them to borrow parts from other product lines. Unlike the previous models it does not support Game Boy or Game Boy Color titles. Officially, production ended due to insufficient profits. The Game Boy micro also offers the user to switch between several colored faceplates to allow customization, a feature which Nintendo advertised heavily around the micro's launch. By the end of production, the Fiero had received updated suspension and body styling, but kept a limited offering of engines—the use of turbochargers or the newer DOHC straight-4 engines never made it to production. This model again goes back to the Game Boy Advance horizontal orientation, is much smaller and sleeker, and was the first Game Boy model to feature a backlight. The sports car potential of this car was greatly reduced due to cost-cutting however, and came under fire from critics—its publicity did not match its initial performance. In September 2005, Nintendo released a second redesign of the Game Boy Advance. The Fiero was modified slightly, borrowing many parts, into a performance vehicle. This new screen makes the old front-Lit GBA SP screens look dark and washed-out. The Fiero was also the first and only two seater Pontiac ever made, until the 2006 introduction of the Pontiac Solstice. They did, however, label the new boxes with large text reading "Now with a Brighter Backlit Screen". The public, however, had other ideas for the only mid-engined car ever mass produced in North America. Nintendo quietly released these new screens so as not to confuse customers. Due to a "cool" reception by GM mangement and accountants, it was finally sold to GM as a fuel-efficient commuter car. This new backlit model was originally available in two colors, Graphite and Pearl Blue. The Fiero was designed by Hulki Aldikacti as a Pontiac sports car. Battery life was actually improved in this new model. . The light cannot be turned off completely while the system is on. The Pontiac Fiero was a mid-engine sports car built by the Pontiac Motor Division of General Motors from 1984 to 1988. The switch that controls the light now toggles between "normal" (which itself is already brighter than a Nintendo DS's screen), and "bright", an intense brightness level similar to LCD television sets. 1987-1988: 3.33. Around the same time as the release of the Game Boy micro, an improved version of the SP that (finally) utilized a proper backlit LCD screen was released. 1984-1986: 3.06. This Front-light turned out to be almost identical to Nintendo's solution to lighting the GBA SP. V6
1984-1986: 3.18. Interestingly, complaints about the original GBA screen being hard to see prompted a cottage industry of lighting solutions. L4
Despite its success, many criticized the original Game Boy Advance for still not adopting a lighted screen, which Nintendo would rectify with later models. Prior to the release of the Game Boy Advance SP, the GBA was the fastest-selling game console in history. The Game Boy Advance sold at a base price of $100 USD when it was released in North America. However, a game has to be designed with the wireless adapter in mind, and there are only a few such games. It came bundled with Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. It allows GBAs to be linked without cords, and with more than four players at a time. A wireless adapter was released on September 7, 2004 in the U.S. To link regular GB or GB Color games, the older GB link cable is required, even if you're using two GBAs. To link GBA games, a GBA link cable is required. The serial port can (with a suitable cable) also connect to a standard RS-232 serial port for debugging purposes and (hypothetically) Internet play, although a TCP/IP stack has yet to be implemented in a GBA game. This is used for multiplayer GBA connections, where multiple GBAs can play with only one cartridge; one GBA with a cartridge sends boot code to the other cartridge-less GBAs. A GBA can also receive up to 256 KiB of bootstrap code through the port, even when no cartridge is present (sometimes known as multiboot or netboot). The GBA also has a serial port for connecting to other GBA units in a setup similar to a token ring network over a bus physical topology. Previous lawsuits had banned the importation of similar devices for the 8-bit Game Boy. In February of 2002, Nintendo began sending threatening letters to some United States resellers of such devices. Nintendo, however, has a history of viewing such devices as nothing more than piracy tools, since they can be used to copy cartridges containing copyrighted software. Because of this, a homebrew software development community has sprung up (see gbadev.org). By April 2003, the prices had come down to under $100 for the flash cartridge and writer and $30 for the boot cable. For example, in December 2001, a flash memory cartridge plus writing hardware could be had for less than $200 U.S., and a $50 device emulates a netbooting master. By early 2002, hardware became readily available for moving user code onto the GBA. (It would possibly have to retail for $39.99 to $49.99). Still, as of 2005, no published GBA titles have even executed such bankswitching hardware because 32 MiB of ROM is still too expensive for the price point at which most GBA games are sold. (Mattel's Intellivision console had previously used a multiplexed bus.) This setup limits the directly addressable memory to 16 binary megawords (that is, 256 binary megabits or 32 binary megabytes), but bankswitching hardware on the cartridge can extend this by controlling the ROM's upper address lines from software, effectively switching other parts of the ROM into the GBA's address space. The interface from the GBA unit to the ROM cartridge includes only a 24-bit address bus multiplexed with a 16-bit data bus. With the release of the DS, future 3D games for the GBA will most likely be limited. Some feel that such 3D games are a logical and welcome step for the GBA, while others feel that they are overly ambitious and beyond the capabilities of the system. Utilizing 2D sprites for objects and 3D graphics for architecture, these games usually achieve a passable framerate, although sometimes in large environments or with many objects onscreen the framerate will drop to a very noticeable level. These games include Wolfenstein 3D, Duke Nukem Advance, and Doom and Doom 2. Later games pushed the GBA to its limits with simple 3D graphics. Each sprite can be drawn using either direct pixel mapping or affine mapping; it's possible to fit more direct sprites on a scanline. In all modes, it can show up to 128 sprites (individually controllable small moving objects) of 8×8 up to 64×64 pixels in either 4-bit or 8-bit indexed color. In bitmap modes, it can display one large 16-bit bitmap, two 8-bit bitmaps (with page flipping), or one small 16-bit bitmap (with page flipping), and it uses 80 KiB of RAM for bitmap data and 16 KiB for sprite cel data. In tiled display modes, the system can manage four pixel-to-pixel layers, two pixel-to-pixel layers and one affine layer, or two affine layers, and it uses 64 KiB of RAM for tile and map data and 32 KiB for sprite cel data. The GBA's picture generator has six display modes (three tiled and three bitmap) and 96 KiB of dedicated RAM. It can scale, rotate, sum-blend, and alpha-blend sprites against a background (with one alpha value for the whole screen, not the alpha-blending of image edges seen in the PNG format), and it can change the scaling and rotation of sprites and the background on each scanline to give a pseudo-3D effect. The GBA has hardware support for simple 2D operations using graphical elements called sprites. An aftermarket internal lighting kit known as the Afterburner was briefly popular before the introduction of the Game Boy Advance SP, and influenced the development of the new model. Users quickly learned to tilt the device to take advantage of window or overhead illumination. If the color LCD has a fault, it is that the Game Boy Advance is lit by ambient light. Newer titles use gamma correction in their palettes. Early games had very dark color palettes because the display in the development kits was much brighter than the one in the production units; the production display has a gamma value of 4. This display includes more pixels than Game Boy's 160×144; when playing legacy games, the user can press the "L" or "R" button to switch the display between 160×144 with a black border and scaling to 240×144 pixels. The 2.9" LCD is capable of a maximum of 240×160 pixels in 15-bit color (32,768 colors). The system also contains an 8.4-MHz Z80-like processor to provide support for legacy GB software; however, both processors cannot be active at the same time. The ARM processor can run both 32-bit ARM and 16-bit "Thumb" instruction set encodings. The GBA has a custom 32-bit 16.8-MHz ARM processor (ARM7TDMI) based on a RISC architecture, which is much more suited to the C programming language than the 8-bit Z80-like processor used in older Game Boy models. It is powered by two AA batteries, which give about 15–30 hours of play time, as well as an optional power supply that plugs directly into the GBA's battery bracket. The Game Boy Advance is backward compatible with most games previously released for the Game Boy or the Game Boy Color, as well as new software developed to take advantage of the new technical capabilities of the system. . Its codename during development was Project Atlantis. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in Europe on June 22, 2001, and in China on June 8, 2004(Not including Hong Kong). It is one of the latest in the Game Boy series of consoles, and the successor to the popular Game Boy Color. The Game Boy Advance (GBA) is a handheld video game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo. WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$. Pokémon Ruby / Sapphire. Mother 3. Metroid: Zero Mission. Metroid Fusion. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. Fire Emblem. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Golden Sun. Boktai. Advance Wars. |