Wow, has it really been 10 years? Seems like just yesterday I was opening a birthday present containing a shiny new Game Boy Advance.
To be clear, the Game Boy Advance was released on March 21, 2001 in Japan. The GBA didn’t come out in North America until June 11, 2001. The GBA was quite a handheld, featuring some of my favorite handheld games. In my opinion, the original design of the Game Boy Advance was a bit of a dud (no backlight, strange design comparatively), but then came some seriously awesome revisions.
Nintendo introduced the Game Boy Advance SP in 2003 with a clam shell design. For me, this was a welcome change considering it’s better for portability, especially the fact that the screen is mostly protected. Some units (known as Game Boy Advance SP+) featured backlights for our poor eyes. These are the most sought after versions of the GBA SP. In 2004, Nintendo would release their next handheld with a similar form factor of the GBA SP, but with two screens. But Nintendo wasn’t quite done with the GBA just yet.
In 2005, the Game Boy Micro was released to a market that seemed hesitant to go back to the Game Boy Advance. With the Nintendo DS already out, the Game Boy Micro didn’t make much of a splash in the market. It’s too bad, as this is my favorite version of the Game Boy Advance. It’s tiny, hence the “Micro” name, and it featured replaceable faceplates. In addition, the screen was really bright, and, for me, just felt and looked great. Unfortunately, Nintendo dropped original Game Boy and Game Boy Color support, along with the “Advance” in the name which seems like a strange move.
So there’s a bit of history about the Game Boy Advance. Now bring out your favorite GBA games, and let the nostalgia set in!
