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[HotHamBoy]

And it only reigned from 2001-2004!

Of course, it had legs after the DS was released, but it only had 3 years in the spotlight.

Released globally between March-June of 2001 for $99 (same for SP, Micro), it was a SNES in your pocket. Better, even. 32-bits and capable of true 3D, polygonal (albeit crued) renderings. The SP hardware revision was a landmark one. It introduced the first portable with a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery, a backlight (okay, frontlight until the AGS-101 model. But a first for Nintendo!) and the clamshell design that would dominate their handheld hardware for the next 15 years.

That SP was damn portable. Then the Micro, GBA's last breathe, showed us True Portable Power. Adorable, unnecessary and awesome. It could easily pass as a novelty keychain. No one bought one, now everybody wants one. It fixes the SP's one glaring flaw by bringing back a native headphones jack. The screen is shockingly good, even today. Good luck getting replacement faceplates!

The highlights:

A straight port of Super Mario Bros, enhanced ports of Super Mario Bros 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island.

The return of quality 2D Sonic games in the Sonic Advance trilogy.

3 solid Castlevania games, of which Aria of Sorrow is among the best in the franchise.

Advance Wars 1 and 2 bring the series to the West for the first time

Fire Emblem comes west with two of the three GBA games, too!

Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga begins a whole new Mario RPG series full of wit and charm (and I still think this is the best one)

Another new RPG series from Nintendo, Golden Sun, brings two games delivering bold graphics and light adventures

Amazingly fun and robust versions of Super Mario Kart, Mario Golf and Mario Tennis.

Wario Land 4!

Warioware Inc becomes a great new IP and Warioware Twisted remains the pinnacle of the series.

Enhanced port of The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past (bundled with the utterly compelling Four Swords Adventure) AND the excellent, original Minish Cap.

Metroid Fusion, the first 2D Metroid since Super and a worthy sequel. Metroid Zero Mission is a fantastic remake of the original and also THE LAST 2D Metroid

Two excellent F-Zero games

Tactics Ogre: Knights of Lodis!

Improved localizations for ports of Final Fantasy IV, V and VI. Improved version of FF 1 and 2.

A spiritual and beautiful (if not quite as good) sequel to Final Fantasy Tactics, FF Advance.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater surprises everyone by actually being really good on GBA.

Pokemon continues its death grip on the world's youth

In Japan, the Phoenix Wright series is born, as is Rhythm Tengoku, the expiramental and wonderful BitGenerations series and Mother 3 is one of the greatest sequels ever made.

In addition to these stellar games, there was strong support from the following ports, spin offs and new series:

DKC Trilogy, Super Monkey Ball Jr., Mario vs Donkey Konh, DK Jungle Climber, Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland, Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, Ninja Five-O, Harvest Moon: FoMT, Astro Boy: Omega Factor, Pokemon Pinball, Boktai, Doom 1 & 2, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Street Fighter Alpha 3 (miraculous port!), King of Fighters EX Neo Blood, Tekken Advance, Summin Night, Riviera: The Promised Land, Knights In The Nightmare, Yggdra Union, Mega Man Zero, Mega Man Battle Network, Gunstar Super Heroes, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Tales of Phantasia, Drill Dozer, TMNT, Gradius Galaxies, Kururin Paradise, Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart, Final Fight One, River City Ransom, Contra Advance, Rayman Advance, Mr. Driller, Zone of Enders: Fist of Mars, Super Robot Taisen, Demi Kids, Klonoa... so much more

The only glaring, notable omission is no completely original Mario game. I think it's the only Nintendo system (outside the Virtual Boy) that doesn't have one.

Remember when Nintendo used to make stupid/cool shit like the e-Reader?

Or the awesome Game Boy Advance Player?

Did you know there was one for the N64!?

Beautiful

The spirit of the e-Reader lives on!

And how could I forget Game Boy Advance Video!? Who wouldn't want to pay $20 a pop for an hour of highly-compressed MPEG video running at a stunning 240x160 resolution? All that Sponge Bob and Johnny Bravo, yours to watch endlessly! Eat your heart out, UMD.

Never leave home without Yugi vs Joey again!

I love the GBA. First console I bought on launch day, first console I paid for with my own money. Got me through high school.

 

[DylanEno]

Truly the SNES of portables

 

[Rongolian]

Brought Fire Emblem to the West, quite an achievement in itself.

 

[TheDanimal]

The GBA will always be my favorite system. From Super Mario to Mega Man Zero, this little system had it all.

 

[VendettaRed07]

If only it had a lit screen from the beginning. Shipping the GBA as it was with the screen that dark was one of the worst decisions they ever made

 

[RoninChaos]

My favorite portable of all time. It's crazy how short it's life was.

 

[Sora the Cat]

I wish I knew how to backlit my old vanilla GBA.

 

[rulerk1]

my system was a Pokemon/ device with Warioware. man i missed so much ugh

 

[HotHamBoy]

my system was a Pokemon/ device with Warioware. man i missed so much ugh

The games hold up! Go get a GBA!

 

[MisterHero]

The original form was terrible to hold. I don't own either but SP+ and GBmicro look way better.

Too bad the games can't come to 3DS. Buying them on Wii U just feels weird

 

[Apoleptica]

Gamewise it's the greatest portable system of all time imo. A lot claim that the DS is better, but I feel like the DS mostly had shovelware and the best games on the DS are nothing compared to the best on the GBA.

 

[humansarehorses]

My second favorite handheld, mostly because of FE7. Minish Cap is also one of the better handheld Zelda's, I still find Tactics Advance charming and Aria of Sorrow is good even though it's not as grand as SotN. I still buy games for it. This year I bought a cart with a fan translation of FE6 and a modified FFVI that looks like the SNES version.

It's such a shame that the DS and 3DS followed the GBA.

 

[dead souls]

Great system. I truly loved it.

 

[Bernbaum]

Played Minish Cap recently and the presentation is excellent.

 

[JC Sera]

Two of my favourite childhood games that I spent hours upon hours on were on the gba, FF Tactics Advance and Astroboy Omega Force

 

[Phantom Liber]

Well I remember it as my GBA/GBC machine. Pokemon Gold, Sapphire, Emerald, Firered back in the old days of link cables and multiplayer in the same room, that was fun.

Also, the GBA got me into Fire Emblem through Sacred Stones and Battle Network via Blue Moon, Protoman and Falzar. I liked Battle Network 5 enough to get a copy of Double Team recently so I have a dose of it on 3DS.

As for Mario games, bless Super Mario Kart...it was a Christmas gift with my console and I was hooked on trying to exploit the mushroom-boost strip trick on Rainbow Road for a time. Also, since I was rather young when the SNES was a thing, Yoshi's Island came my way as a birthday gift. I still remember that precious music box intro theme *tears*

 

[Sora the Cat]

The original form was terrible to hold. I don't own either but SP+ and GBmicro look way better.

Too bad the games can't come to 3DS. Buying them on Wii U just feels weird

The original is actually considered the best one to hold. (Worst screen tho)

 

[DiscoNaldo]

Three pillars for life.

 

[Hydrus]

GBA was definitely a beast. Played the hell out of the DBZ legacy of Goku games and Golden Sun. Shame it had the weakest pokemon games. As good as GBA was, the DS is still the GOAT.

 

[Caffeine]

megaman battle network 1-6 were my favorite on it, I met my best friend playing the first one.

 

[LeleSocho]

Did you know there was one for the N64!?

What the heck?????????
Intelligent Systems???????????? Does that mean that is a legitimate peripheral??????????????

 

[Phantom Liber]

Actually I forgot a couple...

The Medabots Metabee game that wasn't a fighter but was basically a turn based RPG, Bomberman Max 2.

Also, Lord of the Rings: Two Towers. I fondly remember romping through that game while with a friend in the country aboard his boat. The GBA days fondly remind me of a time before my uncle's cancer and life becoming more complicated, I think that's why it resonates with me.

 

[HotHamBoy]

What the heck?????????
Intelligent Systems???????????? Does that mean that is a legitimate peripheral??????????????

It is.

 

[Opa-Pa]

I wouldn't consider individual ports of the All Star Mario remakes that big of a deal, especially with those awful voice clips and washed out colors, but the GBA was still pretty great. Hardware was not that impressive to me and the amount of ports was ridiculous, but it still had a great number of fantastic games, including hidden gems like Astro Boy.

I mean it had the best Nintendo game of all time, Mother 3! And secretly the best modern Castlevania too, Aria of Sorrow, and holy hell, two Metroid games.

I still prefer the NDS and 3DS libraries, but the GBA is pretty damn solid inded.

 

[Phantom Liber]

What the heck?????????
Intelligent Systems???????????? Does that mean that is a legitimate peripheral??????????????

Looks like yes...in Japan. Certain Youtube videos I just found confirm it.

 

[JoeyJungle]

Great system with great games, but jesus christ what a terrible sound chip.

 

[squall23]

Has there been any other system launch JRPG with as much content as Battle Network?

 

[Leynos]

What the heck?????????
Intelligent Systems???????????? Does that mean that is a legitimate peripheral??????????????

Don't get too excited as it was never released to the public, and was intended only for press, and developers. I am sure that they can be had, but for exorbitant prices.

 

[Fantastapotamus]

Is the GBA the only major Nintendo platform that never got a mainline Mario game? That's kinda crazy right?

 

[jackal27]

Such a wonderful little console that still has a TON of pull today thanks to some true classics and of course, emulation. Even kids today still love the thing.

It also proves just how unstoppable Nintendo's libraries can be with some 3rd party support.

Miss you GBA.

 

[RooMHM]

You put rhythm tengoku the true master of them all.
Good.

 

[Lionel Richie]

Two of my favourite childhood games that I spent hours upon hours on were on the gba, FF Tactics Advance and Astroboy Omega Force

That game is really fucking excellent.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

It was alright. Had a couple good games.

 

[sixteen-bit]

such a cool system

 

[Whiteblade999]

Fire Emblem 7 and 8, a Shining Force port, and Tactics Ogre make it one of the best SRPG systems. Shame Final Fantasy Tactics never received a sequel.

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

I hate the GBA's cardboard box's, so glad no one uses them anymore. Nightmare for collectors.

 

[Glass Rebel]

Best system of that generation. Even better than PS2.

Spoiler

jk

Spoiler

or am I?

 

[Borman]

Don't get too excited as it was never released to the public, and was intended only for press, and developers. I am sure that they can be had, but for exorbitant prices.

Yeah, prices have shot up even higher for them lately.

I have this for my needs:

 

[kuYuri]

Warioware is that true shit. Best new thing Nintendo has ever made in years.

 

[bounchfx]

absolutely loved mine. Especially once the SP came out. God tier.

I still use my Micro to play ff6 and shit on. It's wonderful.

 

[Skeletos311]

I was never a huge fan of the GB and GBC, but the GBA made me a Nintendo handheld fan. The GBA was my favorite system in the XB, PS2, and GC gen.

 

[Grief.exe]

What the heck?????????
Intelligent Systems???????????? Does that mean that is a legitimate peripheral??????????????

Don't get too excited as it was never released to the public, and was intended only for press, and developers. I am sure that they can be had, but for exorbitant prices.

Apparently the image quality is also garbage.

 

[Cramoss]

My favorite portable

 

[Bending_Unit_22]

If only it had X and Y buttons.

Fun fact, Advance Wars is my most played Wii U game and I'm pretty sure I've spent more time playing GBA games than Wii U games. Then again after I bought the GBA player for my GCN I spent a lot of time playing GBA games.

 

[woopWOOP]

That Gamecube adapter was the shit. Weeks worth of hours of Pokemon and FFTA were played on the big(ger) screen. Also made local Advance Wars VS much easier and fun. Only downside was that it made Dual Strike on the tiny NDS screen feel like a downgrade in comparison

 

[KAL2006]

It's nice and all but ports is something that doesn't take interest me. So if you take out the port's it's not as stellar. Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire I felt like were the downfall of the Pokemon train until recently. Though 2 2D Metroid were nice, Fusion is a shell of its predecessor. No new Mario platformer is a huge ommision. Minish Cap was no Links Awakening. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was like some lame baby spin off of the original. It is still a stellar system but I prefer DS and the original Gameboy.

 

[TronLight]

Just 3 years? I swear it felt like I had it for the longest times.

 

[Sponge]

The GBA is still the only console you can play games from Mario, Sonic, Banjo-Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot and Spyro on.

That alone is still mindblowing to me.

 

[inky]

Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced. That is all.

 

[rulerk1]

The games hold up! Go get a GBA!

I have several lol. Guess I'll start up a collection