Game Boy Advance Background

March 22nd, 2008 by Mitch

The Game Boy Advance is a handheld video game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the popular Game Boy Color, and is the first handheld Nintendo game system to use widescreen on all games. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China on June 8, 2004 (excluding Hong Kong). In 1996, magazines including issues 53 and 54 of Total! and the July 1996 issue of GameInformer featured reports of a new Game Boy, codenamed Project Atlantis. Although the expected release date of "early 1997" would make this machine seem to be the Game Boy Color, it was described as having "a 32-bit RISC processor" and "allowing similar to SNES standard games-playing to be played in the palm of your hand" - a description that more closely matches the Game Boy Advance.

The technical specifications of the original Game Boy Advance are, as provided by Nintendo:

- Size: Approximately 3.2 x 5.69 x 0.97 inches.

- Weight: Approximately 140 grams (5 ounces).

- Screen: 2.9 inches reflective thin-film transistor (TFT) color LCD.

- Power: 2 AA batteries.

- Battery Life: Approximately 20 hours (using alkaline batteries).

- CPU: 16.8 MHz 32-bit ARM7TDMI with embedded memory.

- Memory: 32 kilobyte + 96 kilobyte VRAM (internal to the CPU), 256 kilobyte WRAM (external to the CPU).

- Resolution: 240 x 160 pixels.

- Color support: 15 bit RGB (16 bit color space using 5 bits depth per channel), capable of displaying 512 simultaneous colors in "character mode" and 32,768 simultaneous colors in "bitmap mode".

In early 2003, Nintendo upgraded the Game Boy Advance giving it an internal front-light that can be turned on or off, a rechargeable lithium ion battery, as well as a folding case approximately half the original size. It was designed to address some common complaints with the original Game Boy Advance which was criticized for being very uncomfortable. The Game Boy Advance SP also came with a new and much brighter LCD screen for improved playability.

Around the same time as the release of the Game Boy Micro, Nintendo released a new backlit version of the SP in North America (commonly referred to as the "GBA SP+"). The switch that controls the light now toggles between "normal" (which itself is already brighter than the original Game Boy Advance SP's screen), and "bright," an intense brightness level similar to LCD television set.

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 also offers the user to switch between several colored faceplates to allow customization, a feature which Nintendo advertised heavily around the Game Boy Micro's launch. Unlike the previous Game Boy Advance models, Game Boy Micro is unable to support Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles.