About Game Boy Advance

Nintendo Game Boy Advance

Game Boy Advance is a 32-bit portable gaming console by Nintendo.

In Japanese, it is written as: "ゲームボーイアドバンス", and pronounced as "Gēmu Bōi Adobansu".

Trademark:
Game boy advance logo

The development of GBA began immediately after the creation of Game Boy Color. This console was first presented on August 24, 2000, at the Spaceworld exhibition in Tokyo. Notably, images of the console leaked a day before the exhibition and were published by the Japanese magazine Famitsu.

This is the first Nintendo console to have a horizontal form factor, unlike the previous vertical ones.

You can read more about the history and creation of Game Boy Advance in the article: «History of Game Boy Advance»

The console was released on March 21, 2001, in Japan. Subsequently, Nintendo released Game Boy Advance in North America (June 11, 2001), followed by releases in Australia and Europe (June 22, 2001).

At launch, Game Boy Advance was sold for 9800 yen (~$100).

It is worth noting that Nintendo did not allow other companies to produce their consoles under license. However, there was a unique case when Nintendo consoles were released under a different brand by the company iQue. On June 8, 2004, iQue released Game Boy Advance in the Chinese market under its own brand.

You can read more about the history of iQue in the article: «History of Nintendo in China - iQue Company».

This console is fully backward compatible with all Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. This support was not achieved with a few lines of code but required a physical switch and a change in the cartridge shape to teach the console to recognize which cartridge was inserted. Backward compatibility in Game Boy Advance is implemented natively using a second processor, not through emulation.

You can read more about the technical specifications of the console in the article: «Technical Specifications of the Game Boy Advance Family».

Sales of Game Boy Advance were discontinued in 2010. In March 2016, Nintendo published a report showing that Game Boy Advance sales reached 81 million units, although this number includes Game Boy Advance SP and Game Boy Micro. If we exclude them, approximately 35 million consoles were sold.

During its existence, the console was released in a wide variety of colors, and many special editions of the console were also released (they differ only in design).

Pros and Cons of Game Boy Advance

The console has two significant drawbacks:

1. No backlight.

2. No battery.

According to the console developers, this was due to the fact that the technical capabilities of phone manufacturers (their factories) did not allow them to produce components for Game Boy Advance in the required quantity. Additionally, it would significantly reduce the console's battery life.

Pros of the console:

1. Backward compatibility.

2. New form factor.

3. Special system for connecting additional accessories.