June 11, 2001.

That was the day the Game Boy Advance launched in the United States, continuing the legacy and line of Game Boy systems. The handheld launched with 15 different titles and in three colors: Glacier, Indigo, and White, all for a mere $99. Back then, there was no backlight, GBA games retailed for around $29.99 to $39.99 at most, and the biggest game it launched with was Super Mario Advance--a port of Super Mario Bros. 2. Even with that kind of lineup, it would go on to have one of the most beloved libraries of all time, and would also become the 10th best-selling game system ever.

GBA launch lineup

• Super Mario Advance (Nintendo)
• F-Zero: Maximum Velocity (Nintendo)
• Army Men Advance (3DO)
• High Heat Baseball 2002 (3DO)
• Tony Hawk Pro Skater (Activision)
• Dodge Ball Advance (Atlus)
• Fire Pro Wrestling (BAM)
• Top Gear GT Championship (Kemco)
• Tweety and the Magic Jewel (Kemco)
• Fortress (Majesco)
• Iridion 3D (Majesco)
• Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure (Majesco)
• Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 (Midway)
• ChuChu Rocket! (Sega)
• Rayman (Ubi Soft)

Clearly, the GBA means a lot to people here, given the fact that it's very clearly in the name "GBAtemp"; it's an important part of history, both for gaming and for this site. For many, it was their first handheld, their first experience with video games, their introduction into the world of homebrew, and something that holds many cherished memories. So with this major milestone of an anniversary, let's take some time to remember the GBA and your favorite moments with it.

Top 10 Metacritic GBA game ratings

• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
• Mario Kart Super Circuit
• Advance Wars
• The Super Mario Advance games
• Metroid Fusion
• Final Fantasy VI Advance
• Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
• Metroid: Zero Mission

 

[Glyptofane]

I love my majora's mask sp 3ds with backlight and everdrive. I tried playing my original gba without a backlight, and I couldn't see shit.

Circle of the Moon has to be played literally sitting under a lamp with the original GBA.

 

[godreborn]

Circle of the Moon has to be played literally sitting under a lamp with the original GBA.

I tested that game on my gba sp. I originally bought a gba sp with a faulty I think polarizer, so the screen was really messed up. that was after the original gba. this majora's mask gba sp is perfect. I have the entire gba no intro set, I think. I started playing dkc 3 on it, and I'm a ways. I got the everdrive, because of the save problems with the omega. I never have issues.

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btw, @Glyptofane , do you remember when I brought my gba to a movie theater? I forgot which movie we were going to see, but I definitely don't remember it being that hard to see. haha...must've been used to it.

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@Glyptofane I just took these photos from my sp,

 

[MetoMeto]

Metroid Fusion was in top 10 and yet, they abandoned it...

 

[AsPika2219]

Happy birthday GBA!

 

[raxadian]

The game I played the most on GBA besides Pokemon games was Wario Ware, and it had a fantastic manual too.

 

[SDA]

I love my majora's mask sp 3ds with backlight and everdrive. I tried playing my original gba without a backlight, and I couldn't see shit.

This is the reason several games have their palettes washed out in order to see better on unlit screens. But on emulators the colors are literally terrible due to the presence of backlight, and this is also the reason those "palette restoration" hacks exist.

Same fact goes for the SP model.

 

[SaulFabre]

How I love GBA [2001]. This was my favorite handheld console in that time.
Some of the cool games for GBA:

• Super Mario Advance 1 (SMB2+Mario Bros.)
• Super Mario Advance 2 (SMW-SMB4+Mario Bros.)
• Super Mario Advance 3 (SMW2 Yoshi's Island+Mario Bros.)
• Super Mario Advance 4 (SMB3+Mario Bros.)
• Mario Kart: Super Circuit (Mario Kart Advance)
• Golden Sun
• The Legend Of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES port)
• The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap
  
• Donkey Kong Country (SNES port)
• Pokémon FireRed
• Pokémon Emerald
• Pokémon Ruby
• Pokémon Sapphire
• Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
• Kirby & the Amazing Mirror
• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
• Classic NES Series (SMB1, PAC-MAN, Dr. Mario, ExciteBike, etc...)
• Dr. Mario & Puzzle League
• Mario Tennis: Power Tour (Mario Tennis Advance)
• Mother 1+2 (Earthbound 1+2)
• Mother 3 (Earthbound 3)
• Wario Land 4
• Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!

Good thing that also supports classic Game Boy (GB) [1989] and Game Boy Color (GBC) [1998] games...

saulfabreg

 

[Lucaserf]

Holy shit, as old as me lol. I never owned a proper GBA, since, I mostly sailed in the high seas, but it's thanks to this fucker that I discovered amazing titles on it's library. GBA The Sims games, Pokémon, Castlevania, god what a great childhood

 

[Soldengun]

Crazy. I remember my first GBA - indigo coloured. First game I played was Golden Sun... what an RPG!