Game Boy Advance


The is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001, and in mainland China on June 8, 2004 as iQue Game Boy Advance. The GBA is part of the sixth generation of video game consoles. The original model does not have an illuminated screen; Nintendo addressed that with the release of a redesigned model with a frontlit screen, the Game Boy Advance SP, in 2003. A newer revision of the redesign was released in 2005, with a backlit screen. The final redesign, the Game Boy Micro, was released in 2005.
As of June 30, 2010, the Game Boy Advance series has sold 81.51 million units worldwide. Its successor, the Nintendo DS, was released in November 2004 and is also compatible with Game Boy Advance software.

History

Contrary to the previous Game Boy models, which have the "portrait" form factor of the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Advance was designed in a "landscape" form factor, putting the buttons to the sides of the device instead of below the screen. The Game Boy Advance was designed by the French designer Gwénaël Nicolas and his Tokyo-based design studio Curiosity Inc.
News of a successor to the Game Boy Color first emerged at the Nintendo Space World trade show in late August 1999, where it was reported that two new handheld systems were in development. An improved version of the GBC with wireless online connectivity was codenamed the Advanced Game Boy, and a brand-new 32-bit system was not set for release until the following year. On September 1, 1999, Nintendo officially announced the Game Boy Advance, revealing details about the system's specifications including online connectivity through a cellular device and an improved model of the Game Boy Camera. Nintendo teased that the handheld would first be released in Japan in August 2000, with the North American and European launch dates slated for the end of the same year. Simultaneously, Nintendo announced a partnership with Konami to form Mobile 21, a development studio that would focus on creating technology for the GBA to interact with the GameCube, Nintendo's home console which was also in development at the time under the name "Dolphin". On August 21, 2000, IGN showed off images of a GBA development kit running a demonstrational port of Yoshi Story, and on August 22, pre-production images of the GBA were revealed in an issue of Famitsu magazine in Japan. On August 24, Nintendo officially revealed the console to the public in a presentation, revealing the Japanese and North American launch dates, in addition to revealing that 10 games would be available as launch titles for the system. The GBA was then featured at Nintendo Space World 2000 from August 24 to 26 alongside several peripherals for the system, including the GBA Link cable, the GameCube - Game Boy Advance link cable, a rechargeable battery pack for the system, and an infrared communications adaptor which would allow systems to exchange data with each other. In March 2001, Nintendo revealed details about the system's North American launch, including the suggested price of $99.99 and the 15 launch games. Nintendo estimated that around 60 games would be made available for the system by the end of 2001.

Project Atlantis

In 1996, magazines including Electronic Gaming Monthly, Next Generation, issues 53 and 54 of Total! and the July 1996 issue of Game Informer featured reports of a new Game Boy, codenamed Project Atlantis. Although Nintendo's expectations of releasing the system in at least one territory by the end of 1996 would make that machine seem to be the Game Boy Color, it was described as having a 32-bit RISC processor, a 3-by-2-inch color LCD screen, and a link port—a description that more closely matches the Game Boy Advance. It also may have referred to the unnamed, unreleased Game Boy Color successor prototype that was revealed at 2009's Game Developers Conference. It was announced that Nintendo of Japan was working on a game for the system called Mario's Castle, ultimately unreleased. Nintendo suspended the project in 1997, since the original Game Boy's 80% of the handheld market share was too high to merit the release of a successor.

Hardware

Technical specifications

The technical specifications of the original Game Boy Advance are, as provided by Nintendo:
Sizeapproximately x x
Weightapproximately
Screen2.9 inch reflective thin-film transistor color liquid-crystal display
Display size by
Framerate59.727500569606 Hz
Power2× AA batteries
Battery lifeapproximately 15 hours on average while playing Game Boy Advance games
CPU16.8 MHz 32-bit ARM7TDMI with embedded memory; 8.4 or 4.2 MHz Sharp LR35902 coprocessor for Game Boy and Game Boy Color backward compatibility
Memory32 kilobyte + 96 kilobyte VRAM ; 256 kilobyte DRAM
Resolution240 × 160 pixels
Color support15-bit RGB, capable of displaying 512 simultaneous colors in "character mode" and 32,768 simultaneous colors in "bitmap mode"
SoundDual 8-bit DAC for stereo sound, plus all legacy channels from Game Boy. The DACs can be used to play back streams of wave data, or used to output multiple wave samples processed or mixed in software by the CPU.
Input

Backward compatibility for Game Boy and Game Boy Color games is provided by a custom 4.194/8.388 MHz 8080-based coprocessor, while a link port at the top of the unit allows it to be connected to other devices using a Game Link cable or GameCube link cable. When playing Game Boy or Game Boy Color games on the Game Boy Advance, the L and R buttons can be used to toggle between a stretched widescreen format and the original screen ratio of the Game Boy. Game Boy games can be played using the same selectable color palettes as on the Game Boy Color.
Every Nintendo handheld system following the release of the Game Boy Advance SP has included a built-in light and rechargeable battery.
The Game Boy Advance 2D graphics hardware has scaling and rotation for traditional tiled backgrounds in its modes 1 and 2 and scaling and rotation for bitmaps in modes 3 through 5. On each machine supporting this effect, it is possible to change the scaling and rotation values during the horizontal blanking period of each scanline to draw a flat plane in a perspective projection. More complex effects such as fuzz are possible by using other equations for the position, scaling, and rotation of each line. The "character mode" supports up to 4 tile map background layers per frame, with each tile being 8x8 pixels in size and having 16 or 256 colors. The "character mode" also supports up to 128 hardware sprites per frame, with any sprite size from 8x8 to 64x64 pixels and with 16 or 256 colors per sprite.

Color variants

The Game Boy Advance has been available in numerous colors and limited editions throughout its production. It was initially available in Arctic, Black, Orange, Fuchsia, Glacier and Indigo. Later in the system's availability, additional colors and special editions were released, including: Red, Clear Orange/Black, Platinum, White, Gold, Hello Kitty edition, The King of Fighters edition, Chobits edition, Battle Network Rockman EXE 2, Mario Bros. edition and Yomiuri Giants edition.
A number of Pokémon-themed limited-edition systems were made available in Pokémon Center stores in Japan. These editions include: Gold Pokémon edition, Suicune edition, Celebi edition, and Latias/Latios edition.

Games

With hardware performance comparable to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Game Boy Advance represents progress for sprite-based technology. The system's library includes platformers, SNES-like role-playing video games, and games ported from various 8-bit and 16-bit systems of the previous generations. This includes the Super Mario Advance series, as well as the system's backward compatibility with all earlier Game Boy titles. While most GBA games employ 2D graphics, developers have ambitiously designed some 3D GBA games that push the limits of the hardware, including first-person shooters like a port of Doom and racing games like GT Advance Championship Racing.
In Japan, the final game to have been released on the system is Final Fantasy VI Advance on November 30, 2006, which is also the final game published by Nintendo on the system. In North America, the last game for the system is Samurai Deeper Kyo, released on February 12, 2008. Lastly, in Europe, 2 Games in 1: Columns Crown & ChuChu Rocket! is the last game for the system, released on November 28, 2008. The Japan-only Rhythm Tengoku, the first game in what would eventually become known outside Japan as the Rhythm Heaven/Rhythm Paradise series, is the final first-party-developed game for the system, released on August 3, 2006.

Compatibility with other systems

An accessory for the GameCube, known as the Game Boy Player, was released in 2003 as the successor to the Super Game Boy peripheral for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The accessory allows Game Boy Advance games, as well as Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, to be played on the GameCube. However, some games may have compatibility issues due to certain features requiring extra hardware. For example, games with built-in motion sensors would require players to manipulate the console itself.
The GBA is the last of the three Nintendo handheld systems to bear the Game Boy name, games developed for it are incompatible with older Game Boy systems, and each game's box carries a label indicating that the game is "not compatible with other Game Boy systems". However, games designed for older Game Boy systems are conversely compatible with the Game Boy Advance, with options to play such games on either their standard aspect ratios or a stretched fullscreen.
Game Boy Advance games are compatible with Nintendo DS models that support them with a dedicated GBA cartridge slot beneath the touch screen,, although they cannot support multiplayer or features involving the use of GBA accessories because they do not have the GBA's external peripheral port that these features require to function. The Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DSi XL do not have backwards compatibility with the GBA.

Virtual Console

As part of an Ambassador Program for early adopters of the Nintendo 3DS system, ten Game Boy Advance games were made available free for players who bought a system before August 2011. Unlike other Virtual Console games for the system, features such as the Home menu or save states are missing, since the games are running natively instead of in emulation. 3DS systems that have custom firmware installed can also install the ten available games available to Ambassador Program members. Many other Game Boy Advance games can also be played via custom firmware by injecting a different game into one of the released Game Boy Advance games. Satoru Iwata stated Game Boy Advance games will be available on the Wii U Virtual Console sometime during April 2014. On April 3, 2014, the first of the announced GBA games, Advance Wars, Metroid Fusion, and , were released for the Wii U Virtual Console. A Virtual Console library of Game Boy Advance games was launched for the Wii U console. All of the Virtual Console releases are single player only, as they do not emulate multiplayer features enabled by Game Link cables.

Accessories

Official

Nintendo released various addons for the Game Boy Advance, which include:
Other accessories for the Game Boy Advance include:

Game Boy Advance SP

In early 2003, Nintendo introduced a new form-factor for the handheld, known as the Game Boy Advance SP. The redesigned unit resembles a pocket-size laptop computer, including a folding case approximately one-half the size of the original unit. It also supports a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, a significantly brighter LCD screen, and an internal front-light that can be toggled on and off. The redesign was intended to address some common complaints about the original Game Boy Advance, which had been criticized for being somewhat uncomfortable to use, especially due to an overly dark screen.

Backlight model (AGS-101)

Around the same time as the release of the Game Boy Micro, Nintendo released a new backlit version of the SP. The switch that controls the light now toggles between "normal", and "bright", an intense brightness level similar to an LCD television.

Game Boy Micro

In September 2005, Nintendo released a second redesign of the Game Boy Advance. This model, dubbed the Game Boy Micro, is similar in style to the original Game Boy Advance's horizontal orientation, but is much smaller and sleeker. The Game Boy Micro also allows the user to switch between several colored faceplates to allow customization, a feature which Nintendo advertised heavily around the Game Boy Micro's launch. Nintendo also hoped that this "fashion" feature would help target audiences outside of typical video game players. Unlike the previous Game Boy Advance models, the Game Boy Micro is unable to support Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles. The Game Boy Micro did not make much of an impact in the video game market as it was overshadowed by Nintendo's other portable, the Nintendo DS, which also played Game Boy Advance cartridges.

Reception

Upon its North American release, IGN praised the Game Boy Advance's graphical capabilities and battery life, but criticized the system's shoulder button placement and noted the system's high price tag which "may be a tad bit too high to swallow," ultimately scoring the system with in "8.0" out of 10. They also pointed out the system's lack of a backlight which occasionally got in the way of playing games.
ABC News praised the Game Boy Advance's graphics, grip and larger screen, stating that "You've never had as much fun playing old games."
Reviewing for CNET, Darren Gladstone scored the system with a 7.0 out of 10, praising its graphical performance and backwards compatibility, but being considerably critical of the system's lack of a backlit screen, noting that it makes it "nearly impossible" to play in normal lighting conditions. Gladstone ultimately suggested the sleeker and backlit Game Boy Advance SP over the system despite noting that its cheaper price may "appeal to gamers on a lower budget."

Sales

Nintendo hoped to sell 1.1 million Game Boy Advance units by the end of March with the system's Japanese debut, and anticipated sales of 24 million units before the end of 2001; many marketing analysts believed for this to be a realistic goal due to the company's lack of major competition in the handheld video game market. Within the first week of its North American launch in June, the Game Boy Advance sold 500,000 units, making it the fastest-selling video game console in the United States at the time. In response to strong sales, Nintendo ordered 100,000 units to ship to retail stores, hoping to ship another half million of them by the end of June. The Game Boy Advance also became the fastest-selling system in the United Kingdom, selling 81,000 units in its first week of release and beating the PlayStation 2's previous record of 20,000 units. In 2004, the system's sales in the United Kingdom surpassed one million units.
On December 1, 2006, Nintendo of America released launch-to-date information indicating that the company had sold 33.6 million units of the Game Boy Advance series in the United States. In a Kotaku article published on January 18, 2008, Nintendo revealed that the Game Boy Advance series had sold 36.2 million units in the United States, as of January 1, 2008. As of December 31, 2009, the Game Boy Advance series has sold 81.51 million units worldwide, 43.57 million of which are Game Boy Advance SP units and 2.42 million of which are Game Boy Micro units.
After the Game Boy Advance's support lessened, the most popular software became mostly games oriented to younger gamers.