Game Boy Advance

Game Boy Advance

Processor: ARM ARM7TDMI (32-bit)
Processor Speed: 16.8 MHz
Memory: 128 KB VRAM, 256 KB DRAM
Co-Processor: Zilog Z80 (8-bit, used for GameBoy emulation)
Co-Processor Speed: 4 MHz or 8 MHz
Audio Processor: Dual 8-bit DAC
Audio Output: Built-in speaker (mono), or headphone socket (stero)
Video Resolution 240 x 160 pixels
Colors Available: 32,768 (15-bit)
Colors on Screen: 512 in "character mode" | 32,768 in "bitmap mode"

The Game Boy Advance, often abbreviated to GBA is the successor to the Game Boy Color. The hand held console managed to hold on to Nintendo’s reign as being the top hand held console seller. This is in part due to the Game Boy Advance selling over 81.51 million units.

Much like its predecessor, the Game Boy Advance retained backwards compatibility support, this allowed the console to support both Game Boy Color and Game Boy games. This gave the Game Boy Advance a superb library of high quality and well made games right off the bat. Making it an easy choice for those who have yet to buy a hand held or are thinking of replacing their Game Boy Colour they can still retain their library of games.

The Game Boy Advance saw two redesigns, the first of these was the Game Boy Advance SP. This saw the console move to using the clamshell design that is now present in the Nintendo DS. It also introduced a backlight to the consoles design allowing it to be played much better under different lighting conditions and also allow the colours to appear more vibrant.

The second of these was the Game Boy Micro. This was essentially a much smaller version of the Game Boy Advance. It however also meant that it lacked a major feature of the Game Boy Advance. This being its backwards compatibility. It however still had some of the feature improvements that the SP introduced such as the backlight.

The Game Boy Advance truly set Nintendo as the company to beat in the handheld console market, and has managed to remain king of the market ever since.

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GBA Emulators

Visual Boy Advance Thumbnail

Visual Boy Advance is an open source emulator for the Game Boy, Game Boy Color and the Game Boy Advance. The emulator even goes as far to also offer emulation for the Super Game Boy and the Super Game Boy 2.

mGBA Thumbnail

mGBA while being a new GBA emulator to hit the web is one of the best, built with portability, speed and accuracy in mind its quickly propped itself up as a GBA emulator to look out for.

higan Thumbnail

higan is a relatively new emulator on the GBA scene, but like all projects run by Byuu the emulator aims to be as accurate as possible in its emulation of the GBA system.

no$gba Thumbnail

no$gba is the first GBA Emulator to offer support for multiplayer link. It is regarded as a highly capable emulator for the GBA while also being one of the best Nintendo DS Emulators around.

GBE+ Thumbnail

GBE+ is one of the newer emulators to the GBA and GBC emulation scene, however is offering fantastic potential as a GBA emulator, sporting some features that arent traditionally found in GBA emulators such as the ability to import custom graphics.

BoycottAdvance Thumbnail

BoycottAdvance has now ceased active development, but was at one point regarded as one of the best Nintendo 64 Emulators around, making use of an extremely fast recompiler core that gave it an edge in performance.

RascalBoy Advance Thumbnail

RascalBoy Advance was one of the more promising emulators for the GBA, it challenged Visual Boy advance a time for the top spot but development sadly ceased.

BatGBA Thumbnail

BatGBA is a once promising emulator that has sadly been long put to rest, it required the GBA Bios to be able to emulate some games but had begun work on trying to emulate all required functions within BatGBA itself.

DreamGBA Thumbnail

DreamGBA is a now dated GBA Emulator that required the GBA Bios to be able to run, it was at the time a promising emulator that was successfully able to emulate several GBA games.

GBA Homebrew Roms