= Game_Boy_Advance =

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= Game_Boy_Advance =
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Introduction
======================================================================
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by
Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to
international markets that 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.

The GBA is part of the sixth generation of video game consoles,
competing against Nokia's N-Gage and Bandai's WonderSwan. The original
model was followed in 2003 by the Game Boy Advance SP, a redesigned
model with a frontlit screen and clamshell form factor. A newer
revision of the SP with a backlit screen was released in 2005. A
miniaturized redesign, the Game Boy Micro, was released in September
2005.

By June 2010, the Game Boy Advance series including revisions, had
sold 81.51 million units worldwide, massively outselling its
competitors. Its successor, the Nintendo DS, launched in November
2004, was backward compatible with GBA games. The GBA was officially
discontinued by the end of 2010.

Project Atlantis
==================
When the original Game Boy launched in 1989, many questioned
Nintendo’s decision to release a monochrome handheld console, when
competitors like the Lynx and Game Gear had color screens. However,
the rivals' color displays were criticized for their poor battery life
and bulky size, while the Game Boy’s better portability and battery
longevity increased its popularity.

Nintendo publicly pledged to develop a color version of the Game Boy
only when the technology overcame the limitations of existing color
handhelds. Internally, however, a team led by Satoru Okada--who had
worked on the original Game Boy--was already experimenting with color
screens. Their early 1990s prototype, codenamed "Project Atlantis,"
featured a color display and a 32-bit processor designed by ARM.
Despite the promising technology, the team was not satisfied with the
outcome and the project was shelved by 1997.

However, as competitors such as the Neo Geo Pocket and WonderSwan
entered the market, Nintendo decided to create a color version of the
Game Boy by combining the color screen they had been testing for
Project Atlantis with a faster version of the existing Game Boy's
8-bit processor. The Game Boy Color launched in 1998.

Game Boy Advance
==================
Still under pressure from its competitors' handhelds, Nintendo started
developing a successor to the Game Boy Color. The project, codenamed
Advanced Game Boy (AGB), would utilize the 32-bit processing power
from Project Atlantis. Details about the GBA emerged at the Space
World 1999 trade show in late August.

Nintendo officially announced the Game Boy Advance on September 1,
1999, revealing details about the system's specifications and 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. On August 21, 2000, IGN showed images of a GBA development
kit running a demonstrational port of 'Yoshi's Story', and on August
22, pre-production images of the GBA were revealed in 'Famitsu'
magazine in Japan.

The GBA’s design featured a landscape form factor, diverging from the
portrait layout of the previous Game Boy models. The design put the
buttons to the sides of the device instead of below the screen. The
shift was the work of French designer Gwénaël Nicolas and his
Tokyo-based studio, Curiosity Inc.

In a August 24, 2000, announcement, Nintendo revealed the final design
of the GBA to the public, announced its Japan and North America launch
dates, and revealed the ten launch games. At Space World 2000,
Nintendo also showcased several peripherals, including the GBA link
cable, the GameCube - GBA link cable, a rechargeable battery pack, and
an infrared communication adaptor. By March 2001, Nintendo confirmed
the $99.99 price and announced 15 launch games for the system, with
over 60 expected by the end of the year.

All Game Boy Advance models were discontinued in the Americas in 2008,
and globally by the end of 2010.

Hardware
======================================================================
The Game Boy Advance uses a custom system on a chip (SoC), integrating
the CPU and other major components into a single package, named the
'CPU AGB' by Nintendo. Manufactured by the Sharp Corporation, the SoC
contains two processors: the 'ARM7TDMI' running at a clock rate of
16.776 megahertz (MHz) for GBA games, and the 'Sharp SM83' running at
4.194 MHz or 8.389 MHz for backward compatibility with Game Boy and
Game Boy Color games. The system operates in two modes: GBA mode using
the ARM7TDMI, and the backward-compatible CGB mode using the SM83.

The ARM7TDMI is a hybrid 16-bit and 32-bit RISC processor based on the
ARM architecture, designed to maximize performance under power and
storage constraints, making it more suitable for use in a handheld
device. It features sixteen 32-bit registers and a 32-bit bus
connected to 32 kilobytes (KB) of "working" RAM on the SoC, and 16-bit
buses interfacing with the 256 KB of "working" RAM on the motherboard
and the Game Pak. In addition to the 32-bit ARM instruction set, the
CPU supports the 16-bit THUMB instruction set, which is used when
executing instructions over the 16-bit buses.

The SM83 is a hybrid between two other 8-bit processors: the Intel
8080 and the Zilog Z80. The SM83 has the seven 8-bit registers of the
8080 (lacking the alternate registers of the Z80) but uses the Z80's
programming syntax and extra bit manipulation instructions, along with
adding new instructions to optimize the processor for certain
operations related to the way the hardware was arranged. Like the Game
Boy Color, the SM83 in the Advance could be commanded to operate at
either 4.194 MHz when playing games compatible with the original Game
Boy or at 8.389 MHz when playing games designed for the Game Boy
Color. The SoC also contains a 2 KB "bootstrap" ROM which is used to
start up the device in CGB mode.

The CPU CGB incorporates an updated version of Nintendo's venerable
'Picture Processing Unit' (PPU), which was used in the Game Boy, Game
Boy Color, and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The PPU is
essentially a basic GPU that renders visuals using 96 KB of Video RAM
located inside the CPU CGB. Inside the PPU itself is 1 KB of object
attribute memory and 1 KB of palette RAM, which are optimized for fast
rendering. The display itself is a 2.9-inch (diagonal) thin-film
transistor (TFT) color liquid-crystal display (LCD), measuring wide
by high. The screen is 240 pixels wide by 160 pixels high in a 3:2
aspect ratio.

Foreground objects are sprites with up to 128 per frame, sized from
8×8 to 64×64 pixels, and with 16 or 256 colors. Backgrounds can be
rendered in one of six different modes. The first three are the
"character modes," which use traditional tile map graphics: Mode 0
offers four static layers, Mode 1 has three layers with one affine
transformation layer (which can be rotated and/or scaled), and Mode 2
has two affine layers. The other three are the "bitmap modes" which
allow for rendering 3D geometry: Mode 3 has a single full-sized,
fully-colored (32,768 colors) frame, Mode 4 provides two full-sized
frames with 256 colors each, and Mode 5 provides two half-sized
(160×128 pixels), fully-colored frames. Having two bitmaps allows
"page-flipping" to avoid the artifacts that can sometimes appear when
re-drawing a bitmap. While the bitmap modes were considered
cutting-edge, most games avoided using them because they cost a lot of
CPU resources.

For sound, the Game Boy Advance features two PCM sample player
channels, which work in combination with the 'Audio Processing Unit'
(APU), a programmable sound generator first used by the legacy Game
Boy. The APU has four channels: a pulse wave generation channel with
frequency and volume variation, a second pulse wave generation channel
with only volume variation, a wave channel that can reproduce any
waveform recorded in RAM, and a white noise channel with volume
variation.

The Game Boy Advance features a D-pad (directional pad) and six action
buttons labeled 'A,' 'B,' 'L,' 'R,' 'SELECT,' and 'START.' The top of
the console has a link port that allows it to be connected to other
Game Boy devices using a Game Link Cable or a Wireless Adapter, or the
GameCube home console with a special GameCube - Game Boy Advance link
cable.

Technical specifications
==========================
! Game Boy Advance
Height
Width
Depth
Weight
Display 2.9-inch (diagonal) reflective thin-film transistor (TFT)
color liquid-crystal display (LCD), 40.8 x
Resolution 240 (w) × 160 (h) pixels (3:2 aspect ratio)
Frame rate 59.727500569606 Hz
Color support 32,768 colors, up to 511 simultaneously in character
mode, all may display simultaneously in Bitmap mode
System on a chip (SoC) Nintendo CPU AGB
Processors
| **On SoC:** 32 KB RAM, 98 KB Video RAM (includes 1 KB of object
attribute memory and 1 KB of palette RAM)
| **Internal:** 256 KB RAM
!Memory
| **Internal:** 2 × AA batteries
|
!Power
Battery life Up to 15 hours
| **Channels:** Dual 8-bit DAC for stereo sound (called Direct
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.
| **Outputs:** Built-in mono speaker, stereo 3.5mm headphone jack
Sound
!I/O |
!Controls |

Color variants
================
The Game Boy Advance was available in numerous colors and limited
editions throughout its production. It was initially available in
Arctic, Black, Orange (Japan Only), Fuchsia (translucent pink),
Glacier (translucent blue), and Indigo. Later in the system's
lifespan, additional colors and special editions were released,
including: Red, Clear Orange/Black, Platinum, White, Gold (Japan
Only), Hello Kitty edition (pink with Hello Kitty and logo on bezel),
'The King of Fighters' edition (black with images on bezel and
buttons), 'Chobits' edition (translucent light blue, with images on
bezel and buttons), 'Battle Network Rockman EXE 2' (light blue with
images on bezel), 'Mario Bros.' edition (Glacier with Mario and Luigi
on bezel), and Yomiuri Giants edition (Glacier with images on bezel).

Several 'Pokémon'-themed limited-edition systems were made available
in Pokémon Center stores in Japan. These editions include: Gold
Pokémon edition (Gold with Pikachu and Pichu on bezel), Suicune
edition (blue/grey with greyscale Pikachu and Pichu on bezel, and a
Pokémon Center sticker on the back), Celebi edition (olive green with
Celebi images on bezel), and Latias/Latios edition (pink/red and
purple, with images of Latias and Latios on bezel).

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, and the system's backward
compatibility with all earlier Game Boy titles. Though most GBA games
primarily 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', racing games like
'V-Rally 3', and even platformers, like 'Asterix & Obelix XXL'.

Some cartridges are colored to resemble the game (usually for the
'Pokémon' series; 'Pokémon Emerald', for example, being a clear
emerald green). Others have special built-in features, including
rumble features ('Drill Dozer'), tilt sensors ('WarioWare: Twisted!',
'Yoshi's Universal Gravitation'), and solar sensors ('Boktai').

In Japan, the final game to be released on the system was 'Final
Fantasy VI Advance' on November 30, 2006, which was also the final
game published by Nintendo on the system. In North America, the last
game for the system was 'Samurai Deeper Kyo', released on February 12,
2008. In Europe, the last game for the system is 'The Legend of Spyro:
The Eternal Night', released on November 2, 2007. 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.

While those games were the last to be released at the time, a new one
is expected to release in 2025. Titled 'Shantae Advance: Risky
Revolution', it was originally in development until 2004, when work
halted due to the lack of a publisher. Development resumed in 2023,
using the same code and hardware.

Launch games
==============
In Japan there were 25 launch games, 17 in North America and 15 in
Europe.
Title JP NA EU Notes
'Army Men Advance' Top-down shooter
'Boku wa Koukuu Kanseikan' Simulation game
'Castlevania: Circle of the Moon' Platform game in the
'Castlevania' series
'ChuChu Rocket!' Port of the 1999 Dreamcast game
'Earthworm Jim' Port of the 1994 platform game
'EZ-Talk Shokyuuhen 1-6 Kan Set' One of the first games developed
by NDcube
'Fire Pro Wrestling' Top-down wrestler
'F-Zero Maximum Velocity' Racing game, first 'F-Zero' game to be
released on a handheld game console, one of the first games developed
by NDcube
'Golf Master: Japan Golf Tour' Sports game
'GT Advance Championship Racing' Racing game
'Iridion 3D' Quasi-3D rail shooter game
'J. League Pocket' Soccer game
'Konami Krazy Racers' Kart racing game
'Kuru Kuru Kururin' Puzzle game
'Mega Man Battle Network' Real-time tactical RPG
'Momotaru Matsuri' Role-playing game
'Monster Guardians' Role-playing game
'Mr. Driller 2' Port of the 2000 arcade game
'Namco Museum' Compilation consisting of 'Ms. Pac-Man', 'Galaga',
'Galaxian', 'Pole Position', and 'Dig Dug'
'Napoleon' Real-time strategy game
'Pinobee: Wings of Adventure' First game developed by 'Artoon'
'Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure' Port of the 1994 platform game
'Play Novel: Silent Hill' Visual novel based on the 1998 horror
game
'Power Pro Kun Pocket 3' Baseball game
'Rayman Advance' Port of the 1995 platform game
'Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2' Portable version of the 2000
boxing game
'Super Dodge Ball Advance' Sports game
'Super Mario Advance' Remake of 'Super Mario Bros. 2' (1988) and
'Mario Bros.' (1983)
'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2' Portable version of the 2000
skateboarding video game
'Top Gear GT Championship' Racing game
'Total Soccer Manager' Soccer manager
'Tweety and the Magic Gems' Last 'Looney Tunes' game published by
Kemco
'Winning Point' Horse racing game
'Yu-Gi-Oh! Dungeon Dice Monsters' Dice-driven tactics game

Compatibility with other systems
==================================
An add-on 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. This add-on allows Game Boy
Advance, 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 instance, 'WarioWare:
Twisted!' would require the console to be rotated manually due to its
nature as a tilt sensor game.

The GBA is the last Nintendo handheld system 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." Conversely, games
designed for older Game Boy systems are compatible with the Game Boy
Advance, with options to play such games on either their standard
aspect ratios or a stretched fullscreen using the shoulder buttons.

Game Boy Advance cartridges are compatible with Nintendo DS models
that support them with a dedicated GBA cartridge slot beneath the
touch screen (specifically the original model and the Nintendo DS
Lite), although they do not support multiplayer or features involving
the use of GBA accessories due to the absence of the GBA's external
peripheral port on the DS. They can also be used to unlock original
content found in Nintendo DS games. The Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DSi
XL lack a GBA cartridge slot, and therefore do not support backward
compatibility with the GBA.

Digital re-releases
=====================
Since the Game Boy Advance was discontinued, many of its games have
been re-released via digital distribution on later Nintendo consoles,
mainly in the form of emulation. As part of an Ambassador Program for
early adopters of the Nintendo 3DS system, ten GBA games, along with
ten Nintendo Entertainment System games, were made available free for
players who bought a 3DS system before the price drop on August 12,
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 via emulation. In January 2014, Nintendo
President Satoru Iwata announced that Game Boy Advance games would be
released on the Wii U's Virtual Console in April 2014. The first set
of GBA games, including 'Advance Wars', 'Metroid Fusion', and 'Mario
& Luigi: Superstar Saga', were released on April 3, 2014. All
Virtual Console releases are single-player only, as they do not
emulate multiplayer features enabled by Game Link cables.

In February 2023, Nintendo added Game Boy Advance games to the
Nintendo Classics library for its Nintendo Switch Online service,
exclusively to those with the 'Expansion Pack' tier. For the first
time, players are able to play multiplayer games in their emulated
form, online. This application emulates the Game Boy Player, meaning
that games that support GameCube controller rumble work with the
vibration of the Switch controllers.

Official
==========
Nintendo released several add-ons for the Game Boy Advance, including:
* Advance Movie: A SmartMedia player released only in Japan featuring
select films and animated series.
* e-Reader: A scanning device released in Japan (2001) and North
America (2002) that read specialized cards allowing classic games to
be played (like 'Donkey Kong' and 'Excitebike') or unlocked in-game
content in Game Boy Advance (like 'Super Mario Advance 4' and 'Pokémon
Ruby' and 'Sapphire') and GameCube titles (like 'Animal Crossing').
* Game Boy Advance Video: Special cartridges featuring select feature
films (like 'Shrek' and 'Shark Tale') or two episodes of an animated
series (like 'Pokémon' and 'SpongeBob SquarePants').
* GameCube - Game Boy Advance link cable: Enabled connectivity between
the Game Boy Advance and GameCube for select games. It also allowed
the Game Boy Advance to function as a controller for some titles.
* Mobile Adapter GB: Connects the console to a mobile phone, utilizing
its cellular network for online interactions via the Mobile System GB
service. Limited game support and high costs led to low adoption. The
service ended on December 18, 2002, and it was never released outside
Japan.
* Play-Yan: A MP3 (audio) and MPEG4 (video) player featuring a
headphone jack and SD card slot for media playback. Initially released
in Japan, it later launched in Europe as the Nintendo MP3 Player
(minus video functionality) but never in North America.
* Wireless Adapter: Attached to the back of the Game Boy Advance,
replacing the Game Link Cable for multiplayer connectivity. It was
priced at and was bundled with 'Pokémon FireRed' and 'LeafGreen'. Due
to its late release, fewer than 20 games support it.

Unofficial
============
Other accessories for the Game Boy Advance include:
* Afterburner: An internal front-lighting system by Triton Labs,
requiring disassembly, case modification, and soldering for
installation. It resembled the Game Boy Advance SP's original
front-lit display. Despite voiding the system's warranty, the
Afterburner was highly popular, with demand exceeding supply during
the 2002 holiday season.
* Glucoboy: A blood glucose monitor with integrated games, released in
Australia to support children with diabetes.
* WormCam: A Nyko-manufactured camera that attached to the top of the
Game Boy Advance and connected via the link port. Images could be
transferred to a computer using a USB cable and software.

Game Boy Advance SP
=====================
In early 2003, Nintendo introduced a new form-factor for the handheld,
known as the Game Boy Advance SP (model AGS-001). The redesigned unit
features a clamshell design that resembles a pocket-size laptop
computer, including a folding case approximately one-half the size of
the original unit. It has 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
a dark screen.

Backlit model (AGS-101)
=========================
On September 19, 2005, Nintendo released a new version of the SP,
model AGS-101, that features a brighter backlit display. The switch
that controls the backlight now toggles between two brightness levels.

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 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 the
Nintendo DS, which also played Game Boy Advance games through the GBA
cartridge slot.

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 an "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 backward 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 recommended the sleeker and
backlit Game Boy Advance SP instead, despite noting that the cheaper
price of the original model 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
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. , 81.51 million units of the Game Boy Advance series
have been sold worldwide, 43.57 million of which are Game Boy Advance
SP units and 2.42 million of which are Game Boy Micro units.

See also
======================================================================
* Visteon Dockable Entertainment

External links
======================================================================
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110128120244/http://www.gameboy.com/
Official website] (archived)
* [https://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/gameboyadvance/faq.jsp
Game Boy Advance] at Nintendo.com
([https://web.archive.org/web/20070810144102/http://www.nintendo.com/systemsgba
archived versions] at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
*
[https://fs-prod-cdn.nintendo-europe.com/media/downloads/support_1/game_boy_advance_4/GBA_Manual_UK_DE_FR.pdf
Game Boy Advance Manual (UK, DE, FR)]

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=========
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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Boy_Advance