No, The Game Boy Advance Is Not Dead

Why's everyone acting so surprised?
Best Nintendo ever. Of course people still want one, if mine broke I'd replace it straight away.

Andy Selby

Yeah, this info is correct. Nintendo has NOT issued an official press release or anything of the sort declaring GBA dead.

I still maintain that the SP is the most aesthetically pleasing handheld ever made.

I'm actually looking for a GBA SP (I have a micro) so I can start collecting GBC games. I would love to walk into a Gamestop or something and pick up a new one. All of the used ones they have are all scratched up

Steph2Def

It's not dead, I play it every day on my Nokia e71. And how about you iPhone users? Oh, you have no buttons...

Good to know. GBA > DS. Heck, even GC > Wii.

I hate this new pretentious Nintendo with the weak attempt at innovation with their re-release of the GC but with lame, annoying motion remotes and the craptastic DS with the touch screen.

The Wii is a joke, plain and simple. I don't care for the motion controls but even if I did it's nothing more than a gimmick as it works like sh1t. As for the DS, I personally just don't care for touch screens. I wouldn't go so far as to say the DS is a gimmick but certainly not something that I ever found to enjoy, in fact, every game I bought for it turned out to be a waste of money.

Luke Shiffer

@KsprayDad (I've lost my balls. Seen them?): so?

Vidunder

The GBA (specifically the SP) is my favourite handheld console ever. Mario Kart, F-Zero, Metroid Fusion, Final Fantasy Tactics, Street Fighter II... Loved it. So far the DS just hasn't really done anything for me.

Most every GBA I've seen nowadays is in the hands of a child, most likely bought used by a thrifty parent. I imagine that's where the majority of sales are coming from.

@bird1988: Used to be my brother's.

GBA T_T

@KsprayDad (I've lost my balls. Seen them?): THis is like the SNK neo geo pocket, selling in better where cheap.

It's a simple matter of the DS (which stands for developers system NOT dual screen) which was supposed to be a "test" system selling far better than they expected. It doesn't make financial sense to make a gba game anymore when there are so many DSes out there.

I have fault with the naming of the devices though. The DSI should really be re-dubbed the "GameBoy DS" to keep the name alive. Neglecting such a recognizable brand name doesn't make any sense. Every home console is a "nintendo" right? (Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Nintendo Gamecube, Nintendo Wii) So shouldn't every handheld be a "gameboy"???

HowardC

Uh, the list of games that are going to be released for the GBA right now might have something to say about that.

shoutanenjeru

Remember when the GBA SP outsold the PS3?

Fun times.

Also, I still have the original Advance "Phat" lying around somewhere that I still play Fire Red on because I still can't afford a DS. ;_;

I still have mine, though I'm missing its charger.

I have a GBA-Player on my Gamecube, but I did trade my GBA-slim for a DS-lite(still own more gba games then ds games)... Sorry guys.

they're still selling new GBAs? WherE? I would buy one if I could find one.

@Ad-hominem: The Game Boy Micro is perfectly sized for playing during boring lecture classes when a DS would be too attention-drawing. I've gotten good mileage out of Fire Emblem and a GBM.

Bullshit, the system is dying and Nintendo is all but singing it's swan song (or funeral dirge if you will). Systems that don't sell in the US (anymore) don't last very long afterwards. And it's funny, because they killed the system off in the US not long after they released it with a better backlight than the DS Lite had.

AlucardsQuest

An appropriate literary quote (Hemingway?) on Kotaku? I can't get over how awesome this site is.

@grayfox9996: I just posted this in another reply, but try Target (they had them last year - haven't check recently).

@HDShadow: Alive in the sense Nintendo still sells new ones. I noticed Target was still selling games and consoles last year (probably still are, but I haven't gone out of my way to check recently).

Where can I find one of these? I'd love to have one so I can play my old GB games with the new screen. They aren't in stores around here, and I don't use eBay.

Mightion

@Zeidust: I love my micro too, I only find extremely frustrating that I can't connect it to the gamecube, as nintendo never released a cable. I should never have sold my SP to buy the micro.

I'm aware that hacking a cable is possible, but the overall cost to do it is too much

@Zeikcied:
I thought we all agreed by now that the "three pillar approach" thing was to cover their behinds if the DS failed. Which it didn't.

The gba is a seriously underrated system by today's standards. it basically carried the the legacy of the SNES and made it mobile. i, for one, am all for the classic gaming. right now my NES is getting as much playtime as any of my other gaming platforms.

Back when the DS was announced, Nintendo said they would have a three pillar approach to gaming. The Revolution (Wii), Nintendo DS, and the Game Boy. They said the DS was not a new Game Boy and not a replacement for the GBA, and they further hinted that they would have a GBA successor soon.

I want to know where the next Game Boy is, Nintendo. Your three pillar approach seems to be missing one key facet. Or did you just not expect the DS to catch on like it did, and you just set the Game Boy label aside?

As someone who had the original grey box that was the original Game Boy, it is with great sadness that I see the Game Boy series of handhelds neglected. Yeah, Nintendo can claim they still sell a lot of GBAs, but no one makes GBA games anymore. Nintendo has more or less abandoned the Game Boy line.

@InconspicuouslyConspicuous: I was wondering if he was talking about GBA's or not.

@Kenny: They really need to reinstate that law. :(

[ZTF]214A, 2A, 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 214B, 214D

The last game I GBA game I got was Kingdom Hearts:Chain of Memories, and it was a few months after my original crystal blue GBA died so I only played it on the original ds. I always say "I'm going to get a SP" but now I might really have to because I'm giving my younger sibling my original ds and getting a dsi

@InconspicuouslyConspicuous: front*

@KsprayDad (I've lost my balls. Seen them?): Wow this comment on the first page... taking your comment out of context is very contradicting...

you lost your balls but still have two of em?

umm... anyway, Gameboy Color was the next best thing for me. I lost track before diving back into the consoles (N64), again.

@KsprayDad (I've lost my balls. Seen them?):
HA! I beat all of you. I have a golden Gameboy Advance New York Pikachu edition! :P (though I've always wanted a Micro ): I hope it's rare :D

@Last Face: Well this was back in the day before most families had the internets. It was also back when most kids didn't talk about games in public for fear of being beaten violently.

@Crippl3: Oh, and the Pokemon Yellow GBC and an original Game Boy, still working other than the speaker.

@KsprayDad (I've lost my balls. Seen them?): I've got an original GBA (clear blue) and the NES edition SP (The outer shell is grey with the black stripes, and the inside looks just like an NES controller.) I use the SP to play older GB games and ones that require an expansion port, the original GBA is just for memories.

"when was the last time you saw a Game Boy Advance on a shelf?"

You mean besides every single time I go to Walmart?

@Bialia: Ya there's a zellers in my home town that still has a bunch of copies of Drill Dozer that I've been waiting for years to put on clearance but they just leave it there on the shelf at full price to this day sticking out amidst all sorts of DS games

@Ad-hominem: Forget that... its still alive as long as my ds lite is alive. I have every iteration except the micro. Just seemed pointless to get it since it had a smaller screen than the SP.

It was probably the system that got the most playtime ever for me. Just the re-releases of games like Super Mario World, Link to the Past, and newer games like Metroid Fusion. It was amazing.

@Milton Allemand:
Give it GBC compatability and Nintendo can sign me up for 2 of them.

Strife Fox †

@Luke Plunkett:
There's an obvious answer to this.

If it's still in production? Then yes, it's alive.

If Nintendo have pulled all production of GameBoy Advance cosoles and it's merely selling off the remains? Then it's on its way out.

I was actually thinking of buying an SP off eBay recently because the Micro doesn't play GBC games, but then I just said fuck it and decided to use my PSP as my GBC/GBA instead, though I'd still love to have that special edition Zelda SP...

Strife Fox †

@Milton Allemand: If only I could find Minish Cap in a store. I'll find a decent copy online, but then it gets to the point where I'd be paying more for it than if it were brand new.

The one Zelda I don't have!

Atomsk88

Amazingly enough my mother uses my old GBA SP, though all she plays on it is the Tetris that was bundled with my original GameBoy.

Still, don't think I've bought anything for GameBoy in years. Actually the last game I bought to play on my SP before I passed to my mom was Metroid Zero Mission. Holy cow, that was four years ago!

@blue bed: YOUR BED MAY BE BLUE BUT IT APPEARS ITS STUFFING IS RED!!!!!!

hoboninjapirate

I still have my Game Boy brick!! The OG GB!! That I used to play NOTHING BUT Zelda:Link's Awakening. Oh man did I play that game way too much. I didn't dare travel without Link! Too bad all the recent ones are the SUX. @#$% YOU MINISH CAP!!!!

hoboninjapirate

\@KsprayDad (I've lost my balls. Seen them?): I had the original GBA, and more recently (actually only two weeks ago) I got a Graphite (brighter screen) GBA SP from eBay.

It's kind of funny to see this article here on Kotaku while whipping out a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons.

@Ad-hominem: You'd think the people bitching about the DSi would be a hint.

BubbleF**kingBuddy

@Polzin: Your Friendly Neighborhood Bagel Farmer: Sorry, there's just so many of them and so few of me.

@XtaLarge:

I always keep old systems, it actually works out when I need to trade pokemon across games or something like that.

Xaevier

@HDShadow: In the DSi... You can play GBA games on the DS Lite.

@DarkLinkinfinite: Oh and they also need to redesign those stupid kinks, i.e. make it compatible with the DSlite and/or DSi charger and package it with a link cable that can connect to a standard GBA\SP and to another micro

@Kenny: For your kid to be totally unaware, they'd have to be either really young, or have no friends nor a television.

I love mine, just fired it up last week actually and played it for quite a while.

ChillyBilly

@Ad-hominem: ♥♥♥♥ my micro!

Zeidust

@MrStorm: The Dreamcast will always be alive ... it's thinking ...

Gortexfogg

My Russian friend bought a NES yesterday.

@Milton Allemand: You know, I think you're on to something there. Maybe Nintendo just tried releasing the Micro at the wrong time and at the wrong price.

Now that Nintendo's captured the non-gamer audience, the small and unassuming look of the Micro might be perfect. $100 was too much for it at the time, but I'm sure Nintendo could produce and sell the thing dirt cheap now with games in the $20 range.

LONG LIFE THE GREAT GBA!!!

@MrStorm: 420,000 sold in a year does though

@KsprayDad (I've lost my balls. Seen them?): Same, in that case, the 2 sps I mentioned, an advance, three colors (including a pokemon one), a pocket, a micro, and an original.

rpgking4

@Milton Allemand: Yep, bought mine new for $39 and love it for quick gaming.

Some systems just wont die.

It took until 1992 to kill off the Intellevision...

Poor people need games too you know.

About now is when the last generation's consoles start trickling down to the white trash and overly penny pinching parents.

A neighbor of mine once told me "Make your kids totally unaware of the latest gaming system, then buy them the previous one 'as new' for a much cheaper price".

I've seen stacks of crappy GBA games at some best buys, but i havent seen any hardware in years.

otis123

Great! The perfect opportunity to release Mother3 (Earthbound2). [Crap. I real thought they would fall for that one. I guess I should just pirate it since they are never goning to let me buy it.]

There's a Zellers (ugh) near where I live that is still selling both the GBA and the Gamecube.

Bialia

@XtaLarge: Didn't know we were counting all GBs!

Have original, 2 color, 1 advance, 2 sp and one micro.

Micro is my fav.

The micro makes a great keychain!

@grayfox9996: Track down a Micro if you can. No gb support is a bummer but the screen is surprisingly great and is definitely the best way to portably play GBA games.

XtaLarge

Well yeah, they still sell the Genesis in Brazil.

here's the thing luke, think back to jan '04, Nintendo announced a "third pillar" machine. something separate to the gamecube and GBA (now known as the DS). It was never meant to replace the GBA in the first place. and at E3 '04 i saw a video (gamespot?) where they asked a lady about the GBA and she said they were still making the a proper successor to the GBA. which was why i never compared the DS to the PSP when they launched, becaused they didn't fall under the same "pillar". right?

A... Gameboy?? What?
I thought that was only a myth!

I'd love to see Nintendo re-release the Game Boy Micro at a budget price and a handful of the top tier Games.

There are alot of people out there that'd pick up a Micro at $40 and a few games like Super Mario World & The Minish Cap if they were priced between $15 and $20.

Milton Allemand

@KsprayDad (I've lost my balls. Seen them?): Seven here. Two old thickies, three regular SPs and two bright SPs.

I don't believe in getting rid of consoles, but my friends and neighbors do, meaning I have a lot of 'repeats'.

XtaLarge

Sega Genesis was still being sold in 2002.

Just 'cause they're selling doesn't necessarily mean it's alive.

Is there an aftermarket for these relics? What about a Gameboy Color?

randlsa

I still sell sealed GBA games at work. I kinda don't get it.

@KsprayDad (I've lost my balls. Seen them?): Same. A navy blue colored one and the shrek bundle one.

rpgking4

I really wish I could still find new GBA SPs on shelves. It would be rather nice to have one now.

grayfox9996

Yep, folks. The GBA is still as alive as the Game Boy Micro. Don't you forget it!

Ad-hominem

I have one! And it's pink! (it's my daughter's technically)

Looks like the Merc I hired failed...

Hmm...

Unless I see some new games for it, and the fact that that there is no GBA functionality in the DSi, I don't see how it is alive.

HDShadow

Still have 2 of em.

I love the GBA. Have two and 15-20 games. But then, I'm more of an "old school" gamer. I just picked up a 360 in Feb, and it's been around for how long?

My kids have one and my wife has hers. Gamestop still sells GBA games...both mine work...I'm good.

@FatalChaos: Don't blame yourself. You at least tried, brother.

No money for you, tho.

@theclaw: They don't sell and support developers systems anymore. That's just about as dead as it goes.

Kotakufan777

@Kenny:

For my hypothetical future children I just wouldn't buy them a console. I'd buy myself the console and let them play it every now and then.

Powerlurker

@aurahack: Got any Final Fantasy 6 Advance there? Been looking for it for ages.

@bloggerX:

I had the retro NES one as well! They were awesome! But, I traded mine in for the DS when it was first released.

@TRT-X: There are still GOOD games coming out for the PS2, which is not generally something you attribute to the end of a console's life. For the PS1 at least, it's dying agonies resulted in hundreds of cheap, 10 dollar titles.

@TestType:

I think you're probably right. Although I believed it at the time, I think all that talk about not killing off the Game Boy line was actually just to silence the sceptics who thought that touch control was a stupid idea for a handheld console. Now they've been proved wrong, I'd imagine it'll be DS all the way. Although they might bring back the Game Boy branding. Like the way Sony brand all their portable music players Walkman, even though they don't play tapes. I mean "Game Boy" is kind of iconic. Must have sold more than any other line of consoles in history. Be a shame to see it go.

dd528

So, the same deal as the PS2.

tobz1000

@aurahack:

It has an awesome library.

dd528

@HDShadow: If the GBA is dead...then isn't the PS2 pretty much dead as well?

Sure, a game comes out for it occasionally (that ISN'T a multiplatform title)...but is that really "life"?

It bugs the heck out of me that they took the GBA slot out of the DSi. Not every game needs a motion sensing or touch screen gimmick....GBA just had good games. I loved what Nintendo was doing with the GB platform...each GB played all the previous cartridges, fully backwards compatible, resulting in a game library that stretched over multiple decades. Then the GB micro and original DS came out and ended that by only playing GBA carts...but I was still okay with it, I had my GBA SP and my GB player for the Cube, I was covered. Now the DSi just ends the GB legacy all together....ouch. I like the DS, but I don't like it as much as the GBA....one of the best systems ever.

jcb231

Gotta love the SP. The perfect portable.

I would still prefer my GBA over DS anyday.
Yes, DS may have better graphics and the gimmicky touch screen.... But there are thousands alon thousands of GBA games, 80% 0f which are good, even for kids games. Ed,Edd, And eddy?? one of the hardest damn games I have ever played.

All the castlevanias, the warios lands, I was working at gamestop when thre SP was released..... I had to take 1 and hide it just so there would be one left for my preorder lol.

I miss my gba, Looks like its time for a craigslist search... Ive still got my Supercard tee hee

Crypysmoker

@ヨシダさん 25: I have the retro NES one! I need to find a charger for it, though...

bloggerX

If they are still shipping them, then why can't I find one? I even contacted Nintendo directly and they said they weren't selling them anymore :|

hippoeater

@ArAcHnAdZ:
Yes, but that was before the phenomenal success of the DS.
Before it was mostly because of the strong brand name and user base of the Game Boy that they had that plan, which has since pretty much been stomped all over by the massive DS success.

Make no mistake, Nintendo is moving forward with a DS successor, not a GBA one. They'd be crazy not to.

TestType

@Strife Fox †: Dragon Quest III GB Color anyone?

@mr.leman:
Ebay. I bought one for my girlfriend for £20 last month.

Awesome. I recently dusted off my gameboy case and plugged in my GBA to let it charge. Of course, the only game I have for it anymore is Pokemon:Saphire...

whiteflea

@Ad-hominem: yes, but where would one find a gameboy micro? cant find any in stores which is a real bummer because it would have been a great hit if it hadn't been released after the DS

I still own my classic NES GBASP with 127 gameboy games(counting GB, GBC, and GBA)

I thought the only reason Mother 3 wasn't brought here was because the GBA was dead...?

father-mckenzie

"...with the vast majority of those sales being made in the Asian and developing markets."

A few people in Thailand and Vietnam buying GBAs doesn't mean the system's not dead, Nintendo. When was the last time you released a GAME for it?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

H_Chinaski

So long as it's still making money for Nintendo, it's alive. It's on life support, but it's alive.

GravityBoots

@Lunargent: your kidding right?? Have you seen the size of some pc's the cool asian kids use? They are literally like 4 inches big. Not to mention that the ds looks like some spangled new t-mobile sidekickish phone.

Just because they are making systems doesnt mean its not dead.

As you pointed out in your comments, its been years since I saw one at a retailers shelves, been along time since I saw a new GBA game come out and nintendo never talks about it. So yeah, its dead. Shame to, it had by far better stock of games than the ds.

@RoboMudokon:
yes,yes, long life it!

I've got 3, one of each gen. Suprisingly enough, the micro is my most played console. Buy one, an EFA linker (or similar flashcart) and play BACKUPS (Sneaky Panda does not condone piracy) or all of your favorite games, and even some that you wouldn't try conventionally. For instance, my two favorite GBA games are pokemon mystery dungeon (all the diablo like fun of the ds game, in 1/4 the size!) and MOTHER 3, made possible due to the excellent fan translation patch. Pick up MOTHER 1+2 if you've played the originals in english too!

SneakyPanda