At long last, no more GBA rehashes

After four rehashes of the Game Boy Advance (only one of them really necessary), and millions of units sold later, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has finally revealed that the worldwide portable phenomenon will not see any more updates.

"The Japanese game market is now evolving around DS. We don't need to do something that will pour cold water on the situation." said Iwata in an interview Reuters.com.

Well, so it looks like the Micro will be the last unnecessary GBA update. But that doesn’t mean Nintendo wont milk a whole new generation of cows – I’d expect a few DS rehashes by the end of the system’s life span.

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A look at all four iterations of the Gameboy Advance:

Gameboy Advance (released 2001) - Although the Gameboy Color sold like hotcakes, it was a pretty disappointing portable when it was all said and done. The Gameboy Advance blew the Gameboy Color away with stunning graphics (for its time on a portable system), a great line-up of game titles, backward compatibility, and a solid sound design. However, the system’s overall design was quite unattractive looking, and the dark screen was a huge nuisance.

Gameboy Advance SP (released 2003) - Fixing the problems of the original version of the GBA, the SP featured a nice-looking backlit screen, a rechargeable battery pack, and a new, fresh, pleasing design. Gamers quickly sold off their troublesome originals and upgraded to the awesome new SP by the millions.


Gameboy Advance SP2 (released 2005) – Few people complained about the original SP’s screen, but Nintendo decided to repackage the Gameboy Advance and upgrade it once again with a new, brighter screen.

Gameboy Micro (released 2005) – While the Gameboy Micro was smaller and sported a great new screen akin to that of the Gameboy Advance SP2, it sacrificed the ability to play classic Gameboy and Gameboy Color titles in doing so.

Also released in 2003 was the Gameboy Player. This let you play Gameboy, Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance titles in the comfort of your living room on a normal sized television. It required a Nintendo Gamecube to use as it connected to the bottom of it. The Gameboy Player retailed for $49.99.