History Platform / GameBoyAdvance

** ''VideoGame/SonicAdvanceTrilogy''

The multiplayer aspect of the handheld was pushed more than the past Game Boy systems; as people only ever seemed to use the link cables on the old systems for trading Pokémon, the GBA link cable added an extra port in the middle that, when combined with 2 other link cables, allowed 4-player play (which, while not new, was only supported by a few games and required a whole separate accessory for the link cables) and introduced the idea of single-card play, games with a multi-player mode that only required one player to have a copy, allowing others to load the game into UsefulNotes/{{RA|ndomAccessMemory}}M and play, eliminating one of the bigger boundaries to handheld multi-player.

* 96 KB of UsefulNotes/VideoRAM for bitmaps, sprites and tiles. However, this is still mapped to the [=ARM7TDMI=] CPU memory map, allowing developers to use it for other purposes if IWRAM was insufficient for general use.

* ''VideoGame/SpyHunter''

As mentioned to earlier, the Advance was effectively a portable SNES, though its 32-bit hardware was capable of things like 3D rendering without the use of extra chips and its increased color palette allowed for more detailed sprite art. Nintendo and other companies would take advantage of this to directly port SNES games to the system. ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' -- name a popular SNES title and there's a very good chance that it had a GBA version. A couple games previously exclusive to the Super Famicom in Japan also saw international releases on the GBA, such as ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'' and ''VideoGame/MegaManAndBass''. These ports even came with extra content more often than not to help justify purchasing them.

** ''VideoGame/KidIcarus'' (Japan exclusive)

* ''[[VideoGame/StarWarsEpisodeIJediPowerBattles Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles]]''

* ''VideoGame/BatmanBegins''

* ''Go! Go! Beckham! Adventure on Soccer Island''

Along with this ability to load data into RAM, Nintendo also touted the Game Boy Advance to [[Platform/NintendoGameCube GameCube]] link cable, which allowed players to hook up their GBA to the [=GameCube=] and use it as if it were a controller with a screen; a similar idea had been used before by Creator/{{Sega}}, with the VMU controllers for the Platform/SegaDreamcast, and Sega took heed of the resemblances with the [=GameCube=] ports of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' and ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' substituting the VMU functionalities for link cable ones. Several games used this feature to allow multi-player while keeping important data on the GBA screen and thus private from the other players (selecting a football play, for example). Though this was an innovative idea, games that required this mechanic (''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles'' being the prime example), while fun, had the added drawback of the price of four of these cables making the whole setup really expensive ([[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/08/25 although one would hope everyone would at least bring their own GBA]]). It seems to be this backlash that has prevented Nintendo from jumping right into doing a similar setup with the DS and Platform/{{Wii}}, despite the fact that cables are no longer an issue in that situation.[[note]]That's not to say that the Wii ''didn't'' have DS connectivity. It did, but it was mostly just to download demos or to transfer data between games.[[/note]]

The system also went even further than the Game Boy Color did in making the NES portable; it could emulate the NES outright (albeit with graphics squished to accomodate the differences in resolutions). Nintendo made full use of this capability to make much of its 8-bit back catalog available in various ways (such as through e-Reader cards, the Famicom Mini/Classic NES series and as bonus content for games like ''VideoGame/{{Animal Crossing|2001}}'' and ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission''). The success of NES and SNES games on GBA made Nintendo realize just how lucrative rereleasing its vast library could be, [[UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole which had direct and immediate implications for their future]].

... until Nintendo's AuthorsSavingThrow for potentially disappointed customers who bought the Platform/Nintendo3DS before a price cut came surprisingly early (hence the potential disappointment) revealed that the GBA will soon join the ranks of Nintendo's other portable systems in the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole... for those who purchased said [=3DSs=]. Even later, they announced that the Platform/WiiU's Virtual Console will include GBA titles. In 2023, it was confirmed that Platform/NintendoSwitch will get Game Boy Advance games as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, and unlike the Wii U, local and online multiplayer is available and can be played anywhere, finally giving vindication to those who were baffled and upset at Nintendo for not bringing more GBA games to the 3DS Virtual Console (not even for the New 3DS like how SNES games were.)

* The Nintendo e-Reader (not to be confused with a tablet made for reading digital copies of books), a device that scanned dot codes on special cards to access various features. A lot of them were re-releases of NES titles, which were played directly on the GBA and saved into the e-Reader's memory until another game was scanned in. Some GBA and [=GameCube=] games used the e-Reader for various purposes, such as obtaining special patterns and furniture in ''VideoGame/{{Animal Crossing|2001}}'' or unlocking extra levels in ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3]]''. The biggest flaw to this is that because the e-Reader was inserted in the cartridge slot, you'd need to own two [=GBAs=] plus a Link Cable in order to make the most use of the device; with [=GameCube=] titles, you only needed one GBA, but still had to fork over extra money for a [=GameCube=] Game Boy Advance cable. This necessity is largely credited for the e-Reader's failure outside of Japan, as it made the process of using the cards unnecessarily cumbersome for something as simple as obtaining one extra item (it could've been avoided had Nintendo thought the put a cartridge slot/pass-through into the e-Reader unit). The peripheral was only on the market in North America for a couple years before being discontinued, while plans for a European release were completely scrapped soon after its North American launch. It didn't help that the cards were notoriously tricky to scan, or that players could just [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil scan and print their own copies of e-Reader cards to share free of charge]] (a similar fault would plague the Platform/Nintendo3DS's AR Cards, which were similarly discontinued after only a short period of time). Given that the add-on was hugely popular on domestic shores, the "two [=GBAs=]" aspect may be the victim of ValuesDissonance. Because of the e-Reader's international failure, a large number of GBA games that had e-Reader support planned dropped the feature at a moment's notice. While a few games would rework their e-Reader content so it could be obtainable normally in international releases, most [[NoExportForYou left that content isolated to Japan]] (in the aforementioned case of ''Super Mario Advance 4'', the complete set of e-Reader-exclusive levels were made available by default for the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole and Nintendo Switch Online re-releases). Among other repercussions, a set of cards containing ''UsefulNotes/GameAndWatch'' games was cancelled after the e-Reader bombed (the card for "Manhole" had already seen commercial release). Only two games on both the Game Boy Advance and the [=GameCube=] supported the e-Reader in America: ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 Super Mario Advance 4]]'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire''[[note]][[DummiedOut Not]] ''[[DummiedOut Pokémon Emerald]]'' [[DummiedOut however...]][[/note]] for the former, and ''VideoGame/{{Animal Crossing|2001}}'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonChannel'' for the latter.

* The Game Boy Advance Video was a series of white game paks containing full movies (including ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'', ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'' and ''WesternAnimation/SharkTale'') and television show episodes, compressed to fit the GBA's hardware limitations. Because DigitalPiracyIsEvil, the GBA Video paks are incompatible with the UsefulNotes/GameBoyPlayer, preventing anyone from recording footage from the game pak using a VCR. Even if you get the video paks working on the Game Boy Player via hacking the ROM or using a homebrew replacement program such as the Game Boy Interface, the larger screen does not do any favors for the low video quality.

Just a few years after the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor made the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] portable, the parts to make a portable [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] with the UsefulNotes/GameBoy's design paradigm (size, [[MadeOfIndestructium durability]], cost and battery life) became viable. So rather than waiting, Creator/{{Nintendo}} went ahead with the '''Game Boy Advance'''.

It was Nintendo's last dedicated 2D system, and it definitely went out with a bang. It was the second bestselling system of the 6th generation, which likely led Creator/{{Sony}} to try to get in on the handheld market with the UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable.

Along with this ability to load data into RAM, Nintendo also touted the Game Boy Advance to [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]] link cable, which allowed players to hook up their GBA to the [=GameCube=] and use it as if it were a controller with a screen; a similar idea had been used before by Creator/{{Sega}}, with the VMU controllers for the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast, and Sega took heed of the resemblances with the [=GameCube=] ports of ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' and ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' substituting the VMU functionalities for link cable ones. Several games used this feature to allow multi-player while keeping important data on the GBA screen and thus private from the other players (selecting a football play, for example). Though this was an innovative idea, games that required this mechanic (''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles'' being the prime example), while fun, had the added drawback of the price of four of these cables making the whole setup really expensive ([[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/08/25 although one would hope everyone would at least bring their own GBA]]). It seems to be this backlash that has prevented Nintendo from jumping right into doing a similar setup with the DS and UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}, despite the fact that cables are no longer an issue in that situation.[[note]]That's not to say that the Wii ''didn't'' have DS connectivity. It did, but it was mostly just to download demos or to transfer data between games.[[/note]]

Around the time the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS launched, Nintendo introduced the Game Boy Micro, another [[ProductFacelift major hardware revision]] that made the Advance even smaller and gave it the ability to be customized with removable faceplates. Unfortunately, not only was the small size uncomfortable to many older gamers, the system also had its backwards compatibility with the Game Boy/Game Boy Color library removed, so it wasn't as fully featured as the SP. While this theoretically would have been viable if the system was marketed as a budget alternative to the DS and even SP, the Micro actually sold for the same price as the more desirable SP and required new cables/accessories. Additionally, the SP was finally given a proper backlight at the same time thanks to its own minor hardware revision, so there was little reason to get the Micro. It did manage to sell a few million units purely off the novelty but was quietly discontinued.

... until Nintendo's AuthorsSavingThrow for potentially disappointed customers who bought the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS before a price cut came surprisingly early (hence the potential disappointment) revealed that the GBA will soon join the ranks of Nintendo's other portable systems in the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole... for those who purchased said [=3DSs=]. Even later, they announced that the UsefulNotes/WiiU's Virtual Console will include GBA titles. In 2023, it was confirmed that UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch will get Game Boy Advance games as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, and unlike the Wii U, local and online multiplayer is available and can be played anywhere, finally giving vindication to those who were baffled and upset at Nintendo for not bringing more GBA games to the 3DS Virtual Console (not even for the New 3DS like how SNES games were.)

Because of the simplicity of the system, its carts and how little resource-intensive it is for even the most low-end computers to emulate its games, the GBA gained notoriety for being one of the most pirated systems ever; some even claim it beats out older systems like the SNES and the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis on that front. To give an idea how easy this was even back in the day, working emulators could be played on an [=iPod=] Touch or the UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable in the mid-to-late 2000s to keep the library portable. However, all is not bad, as this also allows for quite a number of GBA [[GameMod ROM Hacks]] and {{Fan Translation}}s of games that [[NoExportForYou never left Japan]], as well as making sure [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes games that never got released for the Virtual Console don't completely disappear forever]].

* The Game Boy Advance is powered by a single SOC (System On A Chip) dubbed the AGB-CPU. Inside the SOC are several processors that drive the Game Boy Advance and would be recycled in the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS and UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS for similar functions and backwards compatibility. Only one of the [=CPUs=] can be active at any time and cannot work together.

* A Custom [=Sharp SM83=] running at either 8.4MHz or 4.2MHz depending if the CPU is set to CGB or DMG mode. This is the same CPU found within the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor and used exclusively for backwards compatibility. A physical switch present in the cartridge slot coupled with a special software call tells the embedded operating system to use the CGB Bootstrap ROM to enable backwards compatibility.

* A Custom Picture Processing Unit or [=PPU=] for displaying graphics. With a similar set up to the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem and it's own dual PPU setup. Unlike the SNES though, it can perform tasks that originally required a math co-processor or a CPU such as the [=SuperFX=] chip.

** Cartridges can also display [=FMVs=] using specialized player software developed by Jaleco & 4Kids Entertainment (Yes, [[Creator/FourKidsEntertainment THAT 4Kids]]), although few games used them due to the high amount of ROM space, RAM and CPU resources they consume. It was mainly used by the Game Boy Advance Video Pak series for compilations of episodes of animated shows and several animated films by Dreamworks that was published by Majesco Marketing in North America. The compression format is barely passable quality, and additionally some shows where heavily edited for time[[note]]The first two episode of the WesternAnimation/StrawberryShortcake released on the format had a substantial amount of scenes as well as two songs cut from each episode on the cartridge[[/note]] but it still showed movie playback had advanced to fitting in affordable carts. A feat that would be instrumental for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS family several years later.

** Bitmap Modes Mode 3 allows a single 8bpp full color frame, Mode 4 provides 2 frames but only at half 4bpp color. Lastly, Mode 5 allows 2 fully colored frames but at the cost of only being at half resolution (160x128). Mode 5 requires the use of page flipping to hide artifacting generated by the system as it draws the next frame to be rendered. This allows developers to create 3D textured polygons entirely in software at the cost of high CPU and VRAM use and susceptible to distortions and snapping much like the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation original PlayStation]].

* Program Multi-boot support. This allows one GBA to send program data to another connected GBA and initialize it. This allows games to have multiplayer modes without requiring multiple copies of the same game. This interface is also used for [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube to GBA Link]] functionality to send program data to the connected GBA on boot for games that support it. Due to this these games also had to ship with a copy of the entire GBA BIOS to facilitate this function. Multiboot functions would become a core feature of Wireless Play and Demo kiosk station for the Nintendo DS.

* The Link Cable, which enabled multiplayer and data-transfer between cartridges. Unlike the UsefulNotes/GameBoy and UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor Link Cables, this cable had an added feature. A [=GBA=] Link Cable still only had two plugs, but there was a port in the middle that allowed users to daisy-chain additional Link Cables for three or four-player play (though some third-party cables had four plugs so that only one cable was required). In the past, a multi-tap would've been required for four-player play (that fewer than fourteen games supported). In addition, all players no longer needed their own copy of the game. One player can own the game and download a limited version to other players' devices on the [=BIOS=] screen. This feature was so popular that it was carried over to the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS and UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS lines[[note]]Unfortunately, less games supported it on the [=3DS=][[/note]]. The [=GBA=] Link Cable had a different plug than the [=GB/GBC=] Link Cables to prevent a [=GBA=] Link Cable from being plugged into a previous iteration of the Game Boy and to prevent [=GBC=] Link Cables from being daisy-chained to a [=GBA=] Link Cable. In addition, the [=GBA=] Link Cable doesn't work with Game Boy or Game Boy Color games. You will need to own a Game Boy Color Link Cable to play multiplayer for those games (though some third-party Link Cables include a "mode" switch to switch the cable from being a [=GBA=] Link Cable to a [=GBC=] link cable and vice-versa).
* The Nintendo e-Reader (not to be confused with a tablet made for reading digital copies of books), a device that scanned dot codes on special cards to access various features. A lot of them were re-releases of NES titles, which were played directly on the GBA and saved into the e-Reader's memory until another game was scanned in. Some GBA and [=GameCube=] games used the e-Reader for various purposes, such as obtaining special patterns and furniture in ''VideoGame/{{Animal Crossing|2001}}'' or unlocking extra levels in ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3]]''. The biggest flaw to this is that because the e-Reader was inserted in the cartridge slot, you'd need to own two [=GBAs=] plus a Link Cable in order to make the most use of the device; with [=GameCube=] titles, you only needed one GBA, but still had to fork over extra money for a [=GameCube=] Game Boy Advance cable. This necessity is largely credited for the e-Reader's failure outside of Japan, as it made the process of using the cards unnecessarily cumbersome for something as simple as obtaining one extra item (it could've been avoided had Nintendo thought the put a cartridge slot/pass-through into the e-Reader unit). The peripheral was only on the market in North America for a couple years before being discontinued, while plans for a European release were completely scrapped soon after its North American launch. It didn't help that the cards were notoriously tricky to scan, or that players could just [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil scan and print their own copies of e-Reader cards to share free of charge]] (a similar fault would plague the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS's AR Cards, which were similarly discontinued after only a short period of time). Given that the add-on was hugely popular on domestic shores, the "two [=GBAs=]" aspect may be the victim of ValuesDissonance. Because of the e-Reader's international failure, a large number of GBA games that had e-Reader support planned dropped the feature at a moment's notice. While a few games would rework their e-Reader content so it could be obtainable normally in international releases, most [[NoExportForYou left that content isolated to Japan]] (in the aforementioned case of ''Super Mario Advance 4'', the complete set of e-Reader-exclusive levels were made available by default for the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole and Nintendo Switch Online re-releases). Among other repercussions, a set of cards containing ''UsefulNotes/GameAndWatch'' games was cancelled after the e-Reader bombed (the card for "Manhole" had already seen commercial release). Only two games on both the Game Boy Advance and the [=GameCube=] supported the e-Reader in America: ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 Super Mario Advance 4]]'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire''[[note]][[DummiedOut Not]] ''[[DummiedOut Pokémon Emerald]]'' [[DummiedOut however...]][[/note]] for the former, and ''VideoGame/{{Animal Crossing|2001}}'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonChannel'' for the latter.

* [[/index]]''Classic [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES/Famicom]] Mini Series'':

* ''The Revenge of VideoGame/{{Shinobi}}'' (a different game from [[VideoGame/TheRevengeOfShinobi the original]] UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis classic)

* ''VideoGame/TetrisWorlds'' (a port of the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, and UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} game, making this the only portable Nintendo system to never receive an exclusive ''Tetris'' game)

* BoringButPractical: [[UsefulNotes/GameBoy Once again]], the ''Game Boy Advance'' focused on practicality instead of being cutting edge. The tech to produce a portable 16-bit system had existed since the original Game Boy, but Nintendo opted to wait until such became practical at an affordable price point, which was taken further with the ''SP'', which included a rechargeable battery instead of needing to go out and purchase more double As, a feature that has become the standard in ''every'' handheld system or device since. This, combined with [[UsefulNotes/GameGear it's competitors]] [[UsefulNotes/AtariLynx trying to get an early lead on the market]] in the 90s failing due to being too ahead of their time, allowed the ''Game Boy Advance'' to hold a complete monopoly on the handheld market until the next generation came in.

** ''VideoGame/YuGiOhTheSacredCards''
** ''VideoGame/YuGiOhReshefOfDestruction''