About The Nintendo Game Boy Advance (GBA) Handheld

The Nintendo Game Game Boy Advance, otherwise known as the GBA, is a 32 bit handheld device that was released in the 6th generation of gaming consoles. It was the successor to the Game Boy Color handheld and was released in early 2001. The Game Boy Advance was initially revealed by Nintendo in 1999 in Japan and in 2000 in the United States.

Backwards Compatibility

The GBA has backwards compatibility with both the Game Boy and the Game Boy color handheld cartridges. When originally introduced, the GBA did not have a backlit screen, but eventually Nintendo decided to put remedy this by adding one in later models in 2005.

Technical Specs

The Screen, Colors, and Resolution

The Game Boy Advance screen has a resolution of 240 x 160 px and was a step up from the Game Boy and Game Boy Color handhelds. The design of the handheld was groundbreaking for the time, with L and R shoulder buttons and a sleek look. The Game Boy Advance was designed to essentially be a handheld version of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System which also was a 32 bit system.

Because the GBA had more color palette options available to it and allowed for better sprites than the SNES, many developers began to port their Super Nintendo games to the handheld, especially seeing how widely successful it was.

Poor Sound Quality

While the GBA was groundbreaking in terms of colors and graphical display, it was notably lacking in its quality of sound. The GBA used a hybrid sound chip instead of directly attempting to replicate the SNES’s SPC chip. This ultimately led to some negativity surrounding the GBA’s sound quality and music for games that were ported to the GBA from the SNES.

Sales Numbers

The GBA sold over 81.5 million units worldwide, including 43.5 million units for the Game Boy Advance SP and an additional 2.42 million units of the Game Boy Micro. Nintendo discontinued sales of the Game Boy Advance in November of 2008 and eventually placed on the Nintendo DS handheld system.

How To Emulate The Game Boy Advance

The best GBA emulator is hands down the mGBA emulator. It’s available for Windows PC, macOS, Linux, and can even allow you to play GBA games on your New 3DS handheld and the Wii! The mGBA emulator can either be run standalone or can be installed as a core on the popular emulation frontend RetroArch.

Be sure to check out this tutorial to learn how to setup the RetroArch GBA core mGBA.