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RIP, Game Boy Advance
Written by Philip Jones on Monday, May 14, 2007
Game Boy Advance, we hardly knew ya...
...Continued From Page 1
After a few years of color fun, along comes 2001 and out pops the Game Boy Advance, which has power equivalent to a Super FX chip equipped Super Nintendo. It's a first for Nintendo in that it has a wider body, with the dpad and buttons either side of the screen. It launched with a sweet selection of titles including Super Mario Advance, F-Zero:Maximum Velocity, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, and the decent Mario Kart substitute Konami Krazy Racers. Plenty more greats like Advance Wars, Golden Sun, and Sonic Advance followed within a year of launch.
It wasn't all smooth sailing though. As you may well know, the original Game Boy Advance did have a teensy bit of an issue with its screen -- an issue of the "oh my God it needs DIRECT sunlight or you need a lamp on your FACE" variety. Many of us simply couldn't believe how dull and difficult to see the Game Boy Advance's screen was, but we bravely put up with it. Memories of playing Advance Wars in bed at 2 am with a desk lamp next to the face came flooding back. The screen was much harder to see in average light than the original monochrome Game Boy, playing games in the car or on the train became a game in itself. A game of hunt the sunlight.
There was one solution for die-hard Game Boy Advance owners in the form of the Afterburner modification, released mid 2002. It was a neat homebrew lighting solution that, while not as bright as the Game Boy Advance SP, certainly made a massive difference compared to playing on the unaltered system. The only problem was the price and difficulty of fitting it, not that it was expensive, but paying someone to fit it for you could be quite pricey.
The clouds parted over the Game Boy Advance after two years of darkness in the form of the Game Boy Advance SP, released early 2003. In releasing the SP, Nintendo was pretty much acknowledging that the Game Boy Advance was far from perfect. The clamshell protected the screen, the backlight meant you could SEE the games now, and the built-in battery gave a great amount of play on a single charge. It's what the Game Boy Advance should have been in the first place and it deservedly trounced its older brother in sales. In an interview, the designer of the Game Boy Advance SP acknowledged the existence of the Afterburner modification as one of the inspirations of the design of the SP. So a big thanks to the mod scene for making the Game Boy Advance be the best it could be.
The DS came along at the end of '04 and packed in the ability to play your Advance games on its better screen, also meaning any prospective upgraders would have access to their existing library of games while they waited for the DS games to appear. Then, abruptly, at the Nintendo E3 press conference in May 2005, Nintendo's big man Reggie Fils-Aime, then vice president of sales and marketing, slipped out of his pocket the Game Boy Micro, a Game Boy for the iPod generation, a truly carry-everywhere gaming machine. The Game Boy Micro impressed pretty much everyone who saw it. The only problem was that for most people, their Game Boy Advance SP was compact enough thankyouverymuch! Nintendo themselves have admitted that sales of the Micro have been disappointing and that they failed to promote it to its target market well enough. Maybe if it were launched earlier the poor lil guy might have stood a chance. Instead, it finds itself languishing, unwanted on the shelves. It was too little, at too great a price. The Happy Mario 20th anniversary edition is remarkably nice though, it has to be said!
The appearance of the DS Lite is just the latest in Nintendo's neverending line of improvements to its machines. Still retaining its Game Boy Advance heritage, and with the absolutely excellent screen it has, it's the best way to enjoy all your old Advance games. Nice!
Alas, it does look like it's all over for the Game Boy Advance. Overthrown by its twin screened brethren, it leaves us with many classics, way too many to mention here. Hopefully in the future we'll remember the games with as fond a memory as we do with Super NES titles these days. It's sad that it faded away in the way that it did, but it had reached its apex and the time was right to introduce new blood. Maybe we will see the Game Boy name again in a future machine, some kind of Game Boy Ultra Advance Triple Screen mega machine. For now though, we're quite happy with the fruits that mister DS has stuffed in his basket. Tasty fruits they are indeed!
posted 4 months ago