In Japan, on March 21, 2001, Nintendo released a significant upgrade to the Game Boy line. The Game Boy Advance featured a 32 bit 16.8 MHzARM. It included a Z80 processor and a switch activated by inserting a Game Boy or Game Boy Color game into the slot for backward compatibility, and had a larger, higher resolution screen. Controls were slightly modified with the addition of "L" and "R" shoulder buttons. The system was technically likened to the SNES and showed its power with successful ports of SNES titles such as Super Mario World, ', and. There were also new titles that you will only find on GBA, such as ' and , and more. A widely criticized drawback of the Game Boy Advance is that the screen is not backlit, making viewing difficult in some conditions, but this can be solved via modding. The Game Paks for the GBA are roughly half the length of original Game Boy cartridges, and so older Game Paks would stick out of the top of the unit. When playing older games, the GBA provides the option to play the game at the standard equal square resolution of the original screen or the option to stretch it over the wider GBA screen. The only Game Boy Color games known to be incompatible with the system are Pocket Music and Chee-Chai Alien.
First released in Japan February 14, 2003, the Game Boy Advance SP—Nintendo model AGS-001—resolved several problems with the original Game Boy Advance model. It featured a new smaller clamshell design with a flip-up screen, a switchable internal frontlight, a rechargeable battery, and the only problem is the omission of the headphone jack, which requires a special adapter, purchased separately. In mid September 2005, Nintendo released a significantly improved Game Boy Advance SP model known as Nintendo model number AGS-101, that featured a high quality backlit screen instead of a frontlit, similar to the Game Boy Micro screen but larger.
Game Boy Micro
The third form of Game Boy Advance system, the Game Boy Micro is four and a half inches wide, two inches tall, and weighs 2.8 ounces. By far the smallest Game Boy created, it has approximately the same dimensions as an original NES controller pad. Its screen is approximately 2/3 the size of the SP and GBA screens while maintaining the same resolution but now has a higher quality backlit display with adjustable brightness. Included with the system are two additional faceplates which can be swapped to give the system a new look; Nintendo of America used to sell additional faceplates on its online store. In Europe, the Game Boy Micro comes with a single faceplate. In Japan, a special Mother 3 limited edition Game Boy Micro was released with the game in the Mother 3 Deluxe Box. The Game Boy Micro is unable to play any original Game Boy or Game Boy Color games, only playing Game Boy Advance titles.
Comparison
Game Paks
Game Boy Advance cartridges used a physical lock-out feature. Notches were located at the base of the cartridge's two back corners. One of these notches was placed as to avoid pressing a switch inside the cartridge slot. When an older Game Boy or Game Boy Color game was inserted into the cartridge slot, the switch would be pressed down and the Game Boy Advance would start in Game Boy Color mode, while a Game Boy Advance cartridge would not touch the switch and the system would start in Game Boy Advance mode. The Nintendo DS replaced the switch with a solid piece of plastic that would allow Game Boy Advance cartridges to be inserted into Slot 2, but would prevent an older Game Boy cartridge from being inserted fully into the slot. Advance cartridges are half the size of all earlier cartridges and are compatible with Game Boy Advance and later systems including the Nintendo DS. Some cartridges are colored to resemble the game. They are also compatible with Nintendo DS and DS Lite. Some Advance cartridges have built-in features, including rumble features, tilt sensors and solar sensors. The product ID of games on advance cartridges starts with "AGB".
Accessories
The Game Boy Advance, as with many other consoles, has had a number of releases from both first-party and unlicensed third-party accessories.
The Game Boy Player is a device released in 2003 by Nintendo for the GameCube which enables Game Boy, Game Boy Color, or Game Boy Advance cartridges to be played on a television. It connects via the high speed parallel port at the bottom of the GameCube and requires use of a boot disc to access the hardware. Unlike devices such as Datel's Advance Game Port, the Game Boy Player does not use software emulation, but instead uses physical hardware nearly identical to that of a Game Boy Advance.
Legacy
The Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite are able to play the large library of Game Boy Advance games. However, the DS consoles do not have a GBA game link connector, and so cannot play multiplayer GBA games or link to the GameCube. Certain games released for the various Game Boy Advance are available via the Virtual Console service on the Nintendo 3DS. Ten Game Boy Advance games were released to Nintendo 3DS ambassadors, as in Nintendo 3DS owners who logged into the 3DS eShop before the major August 2011 price drop. The Virtual Console GBA features of releases are limited, and there are no plans to release them to the public. However, starting from April 2014, Nintendo has been releasing Game Boy Advance games as Virtual Console titles via the Nintendo eShop for the Wii U.
