Game Boy Advance
- Manufacturer
- Nintendo
- Production
- 2001–2010
- Generation
- Gen 6
- Type
- Handheld
- Region
- JP / PAL / AU
- Launch price
- $99
- Media
- Cartridge
- Units sold
- 81.5M
About Game Boy Advance
The Game Boy Advance (GBA) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and in other regions in June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advance. Compared to the Game Boy Color it succeeded, the console offered a significantly more powerful ARM7 processor and improved graphics, while retaining backward compatibility with games initially developed for its predecessor.
Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0).
Lifetime sales
Official manufacturer-reported figures.
81.5Munits
377.4Mgames
4.6games / console
Worldwide Game Boy Advance family (incl. SP, Micro).
Source: Nintendo Co., Ltd. IR — Dedicated Video Game Sales Units, as of June 30, 2026.
Library & collector facts
1,538licensed games
- North America: 733
- Japan: 773
Lineage
Release timeline
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- March 21, 2001
- 🇪🇺 Europe / PAL
- June 22, 2001
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- August 23, 2000
- Lifespan
- 9 years on market
Pricing
Launch price (2001)
- 🇺🇸 USD
- $99
Launch titles & exclusives
Super Mario Advance · F-Zero: Maximum Velocity · Castlevania: Circle of the Moon · Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 · Rayman Advance · Pinobee: Wings of Adventure · GT Advance Championship Racing · Tweety and the Magic Gems
None standard; various retailer-specific Super Mario Advance bundles
Metroid Fusion · Metroid: Zero Mission · Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow · Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance · Fire Emblem (NA debut of the series) · Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones · Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga · Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald/FireRed/LeafGreen · Mother 3 (JP-only) · Drill Dozer · WarioWare series · Golden Sun 1 & 2 · Advance Wars 1 & 2 · Sonic Advance trilogy
Final Fantasy VI Advance (2006/2007) was among the last major releases; production continued into 2008
Drill Dozer CIB (~$200+); Lufia: The Ruins of Lore CIB (~$200+); JP-only Mother 3 sealed; Pokemon Box GameCube tie-ins; Nintendo Power-distributed cartridge variants
Variants of Game Boy Advance
Hardware specs
- Cpu
- ARM7TDMI @ 16.8 MHz, Sharp SM83 @ 4.2 / 8.4 MHz
- Ram
- 288 KB RAM, 98 KB Video RAM
- Power
- 2 × AA batteries
- Weight
- 140 g
- Dimensions
- 144.5 × 82 × 24.5 mm
- Display Output
- Reflective TFT LCD, 240 × 160 px
Hardware revisions
- Original GBA AGB-001(2001)
horizontal form factor, non-backlit reflective TFT (the platform's signature flaw — terrible visibility without external light)
- Game Boy Advance SP AGB-101 (NA late) / AGB-001 (frontlit early)(2003)
clamshell, rechargeable battery
⚠ AGB-001 had a frontlit screen (dim), AGB-101 had a backlit screen (gold standard for the platform)
- Game Boy Micro OXY-001(2005)
compact final revision, drops backward compatibility with original GB/GBC titles
Launch colorways & special editions
- Pokemon Center JP variants
- Hello Kitty Edition (JP)
- Tribal Edition
- Spice Orange (JP)
- GBA SP NES Classic (red/gold)
- GBA SP Famicom Classic (JP)
- GBA SP Pikachu Edition
- Mario vs Donkey Kong Edition
- Tribal SP
Modding scene
- Difficulty
- soft-mod
- Custom firmware
- N/A (ROM-based); flashcarts: EZ-Flash Omega Definitive Edition, Everdrive GBA X5
Reception & legacy
Strong — finally delivered SNES-class hardware in a handheld; criticized for terrible non-backlit launch screen, addressed years later with the AGS-101
Original AGB-001 screen visibility was so poor that third-party 'Afterburner' frontlight kits became a cottage industry — Nintendo addressed it only with the AGS-101 backlit SP
Defining handheld of the early 2000s; the GBA library is widely considered one of the strongest in handheld history; backward compatibility preserved GB/GBC playability through 2005
References
More from Nintendo
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Game Boy Advance in the news
Recent coverage mentioning the Game Boy Advance, gathered from 80+ gaming-news sources.
Taki Udon Shares Footage Of FPGA SP Handheld Console That Plays Original Game Boy Advance Carts
'I'm still trying to make this work for around $100'. It's a day ending in "y", and so RetroRemake founder Taki Udon is excitedly sharing updates from their big batch of hardware dev projects. This time around, it's in-game footage pulled from the FPGA SP - a handheld emulation console capable of...
Fire Emblem: Three Houses, One Choice
Fire Emblem is a series that, like for many US Fire Emblem fans, first came to my attention with the 2003 Game Boy Advance release. I’ve played several entries in the series since then, but Fire Emblem: Three Houses continues to be one of my favorite entries, owed in large part to the character of…...
GB-Link USB v2
Lon Seidman recently reviewed the second version of GB-Link, a homebrew device that connects to the Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance’s link port. Lon demoed it’s netplay feature, which allows you to connect to another GB over the internet, as if you were in the same room with a link...
![ModRetro Chromatic [Transparent Plastic] Review: $149 FPGA Game Boy Perfection](https://storage.ghost.io/c/58/fd/58fdc82a-ad84-44e2-ad58-166d1b419bc4/content/images/2026/10/mrc-t-inhand-1.webp)
ModRetro Chromatic [Transparent Plastic] Review: $149 FPGA Game Boy Perfection
🤝 Don't want to see ads? Become a premium member for $3 a month and support an independent publication today! ModRetro's new Chromatic handheld is here, and no, it's unfortunately not a Game Boy Advance version. It is, however, a transparent plastic version
Pokemon Home Just Added Support for 2 Classic Pokemon Games
The latest Pokemon Home update is now live, adding support for a pair of classic Game Boy Advance Pokemon games on the Nintendo Switch.
Summon Night Swordcraft Story 3 for Game Boy Advance Fan-Translated After 10+ Years Of Work
'I had a blast working on this project'. A dedicated team of coders and translators has finally completed a 10-year-plus project to translate Atlus' RPG sequel Summon Night Swordcraft Story: Stone of Beginnings, originally released on the Game Boy Advance back in 2005, into English. The third title...