Systems

Game Boy Advance

SNES in your pocket

Nintendo's Game Boy Advance brought 32-bit power to handhelds, delivering SNES-quality gaming on the go with impressive battery life.

GBA handheldnintendo32-bit 2001–present

Overview

The Game Boy Advance represented Nintendo’s leap to 32-bit handheld gaming. The ARM7TDMI processor and improved graphics capabilities enabled ports and original games that rivalled the SNES. Backwards compatibility with Game Boy and Game Boy Color games protected existing libraries. The GBA dominated handheld gaming until Nintendo’s own DS superseded it.

Fast facts

  • Manufacturer: Nintendo.
  • CPU: ARM7TDMI at 16.78MHz.
  • Screen: 240x160 pixels, 32,768 colours.
  • Memory: 256KB WRAM, 96KB VRAM.
  • Backwards compatible: Game Boy, Game Boy Color.
  • Variants: GBA, GBA SP (lit screen), Game Boy Micro.

Capabilities

What GBA could do:

  • Mode 7-style effects: rotation and scaling.
  • Sprite capabilities: 128 sprites, various sizes.
  • Sound: 6 channels (4 PSG + 2 PCM).
  • Link cable: multiplayer connectivity.

Library highlights

Notable GBA games:

  • Metroid Fusion / Zero Mission: 2D Metroid excellence.
  • Fire Emblem: series came West.
  • Golden Sun: portable RPG epic.
  • Advance Wars: tactical strategy.
  • Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire: third generation.

See also