Will Nintendo finally make a real upgrade its handheld Game Boy system?

Yes, it had to happen eventually, and Game Boy Advance is a true upgrade to the 10 year-old Game Boy platform. Game Boy Pocket and which other than being smaller was otherwise identical to the original Game Boy. The GBC added a colour screen as well as upping the power of the CPU, but still could be considered only a minor upgrade. The Game Boy Advance on the other hand will be an entirely new system. GBA will have a much more advanced processor and superior capabilities all around (see comparison chart) and will take handheld gaming to another level.

What will this new handheld be called?

The original project name was Atlantis and was as deeply submerged in mystery as the legendary sunken city it took the name from. The system then tentatively became known as Game Boy Advance according to reports from the 2000 Nintendo Gamers’ Summit. The GBA moniker caught on fairly well with the press and public and also included the highly recognizable Game Boy name in its title and thus Game Boy Advance became the final title.

Game Boy Advance is often abbreviated as AGB in development communities but is generally referred to as GBA by the press, general public and this FAQ. Don’t get confused both have been used.

When will Game Boy Advance be released?

Originally, Game Boy Advance was going to be released by the end of 2000 in Japan and the U.S. Unfortunately, due to the continued success of Game Boy Color, U.S. retailers requested a delay so that Game Boy Color could have one more holiday season to itself. There has also reportedly been a shortage of LCD screens, which has slowed production of Game Boy Color and potentially GBA. If this is the case, a delay would allow for a larger supply to be ready by launch.

The offical launch dates (barring any unforseen changes) are as follows: March 21, 2001 for Japan; in the U.S., the handheld will launch on June 11, 2001; European and Australian launches do not have solid dates, but Nintendo has stated its intent to launch Game Boy Advance worldwide by the end of June 2001, so gamers there shouldn't have a long wait.

How much will GBA cost?

The GBA will be sold for 9800 ¥ at the Japanese launch. For the U.S., Game Boy Advance carries a $99.95 MSRP. Prices for Europe and Australia have not been officially announced as of 3/7/01.

How hard will it be to find a Game Boy Advance?

NCL plans to ship over 24 million units by the end of March 2002. Nintendo will ship 1 million units during the initial 10 days of the Japanese launch. Another 1.5 million units per month are expected for April and May 2001. From June 2001 on, 2 million GBAs should be produced per month. Due to the overwhelming popularity of Game Boy and Game Boy Color, it sounds like Nintendo is making sure there are enough GBAs to go around. However, keep in mind that these units will go all around the world.

What’s more, the Game Boy Advance is shaping up to be a very, very highly anticipated console release for both Japan (2.7 million pre-orders by March 2001 alone) and the U.S. indicating that pre-ordering would be a very wise move. It may be tough getting a GBA on launch day, but there should be a steady supply of them in the months following.

When was the GBA be unveiled to the public?

GBA was unveiled at Space World 2000 where the actual unit was presented along with playable software. The GBA made its European debut at ECTS in October 2000. The U.S. will certainly see GBA at E3 2001, but the American public may get to try it out as early as April 2001 when select retailers may receive demo units for their customers to sample.

What the will the actual Game Boy Advance system look like?

In general, the GBA is about the same size as the Game Boy Color. However, unlike its predecessor the GBA does not have a vertical orientation and instead features a horizontal orientation, similar to Neo Geo Pocket.

How many buttons will Game Boy Advance have?

Game Boy Advance will have a d-pad, 2 face buttons (A and B), a start button, a select button and 2 shoulder buttons (L and R).

Will GBA have a back-lit screen so I can finally play without a light source?

This is a definitive no. Nintendo opted not to use a back-lit screen because it causes a considerable drain on battery power. Reduced cost to the system and increased durability are additional advantages of utilizing an LCD screen instead of a back-lit monitor for GBA

What Colors will GBA be Available in?

The Japanese launch will see the GBA available in 3 colors: White, Purple, and Milky Blue. The U.S. launch will have the same colors but with different names (Arctic for White, Indigo for Purple, and Glacier for Milky Blue). Given the fact that Nintendo will be mass producing the GBA as quickly as it can, it seems reasonable to surmise that European and Australian GBAs will have the same colour scheme for the time being.

Nintendo is allowing U.S. consumers to vote on the three Japanese launch colors on its Game Boy Advance website. If Nintendo want our opinion, we’re hoping the U.S. will get some snazzier colors for GBA, because there were different setups available at Spaceworld.

How successful will Game Boy Advance be?

While it’s always dubious to predict a console’s success before it launches, there are no real competitors in the next-generation handheld market in the U.S. With the Neo Geo Pocket Color dead, Bandai’s WonderSwan and Sony’s PocketStation remaining Japanese exclusives, and no word whatsoever from Microsoft (save for maybe an “Xboy” in the distant future) or Sony about another handheld console, Game Boy Advance is fully poised to inherit the crown from its wildly successful predecessors. Hail to the king, baby.

Ironically, the GBA’s main competition may lie with its older sibling, the Game Boy Color. While being an inferior system, Game Boy Color is likely to be a good deal cheaper after GBA is released. However, the games for Game Boy Advance are vastly improved over Game Boy Color’s and the difference between the two should be enough for even parents and casual gamers to adopt the newer GBA -especially since GBC games will work just fine on it.

But I heard that Sony will be coming out with an awesome new portable Playstation!

While Sony may be working on some sort of “Game Man” or “Playstation Dash”, it remains a deeply shrouded mystery and any information on the internet is probably rumor if not total fiction. At this point in time, Sony’s only portable console is the PSOne, the redesigned PSX, but this does not have a screen of its own (though one can be attached) and needs to be plugged into a power outlet so it is not really a handheld console at all. Other than that, Sony has the PocketStation in Japan, but its capabilities are more comparable to a Dreamcast VMU, hardly a handheld console. It is almost inevitable that another company will try to grab a piece of the lucrative handheld gaming market, but given Nintendo’s sheer dominance of the market for over 10 years, any effort to take a large share of the pie will require considerable resources. At this point in time, there are no indications of any company pooling those resources towards an assault on the Game Boy juggernaut. Many competing handhelds have challenged Game Boy over the years… All have failed. Other potential rivals such as the ill-fated Red Jade were either cancelled before launch or still do not have the ability to do battle with the might GBA.

XBoy rluz!!! Gaem B0y Addwsd3 sux, itz jsut a stoopid kiddz syst3m!1!

Uh...this really doesn’t deserve a response, but the Xboy is simply a rumor right now. Microsoft will have enough on its hands trying to break into the console market for now. Even if they have a handheld in the works, it isn’t likely to come out for another year or 2 after the Xbox launches. At that point, Nintendo will likely have entrenched the GBA into 20+ million hands worldwide, making things quite tough for Mr. Gates and company to “rule”. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to find a nice big Oxford English dictionary with which I’ll bash this guy’s head.