Game Boy Advance

The Game Boy Advance (abbreviated to GBA) family line is a series of handheld gaming consoles produced by Nintendo. It succeeded the Game Boy Color and was succeeded by the Nintendo DS.

The Game Boy Advance is part of the Game Boy product family with its own sub-family consisting of four members. The GBA line is most known for its collection of sprite-work games including 32-bit games which is what the Kirby games for the GBA are comprised of. The Game Boy Advance and the Game Boy Advance SP are backwards compatible with nearly every Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, even playing Game Boy games with the same selectable color palettes as the Game Boy Color.

Variants[]

Name	Image	Release Date		Summary
Name	Image			Summary
Game Boy Advance		June 11, 2001	March 21, 2001	The first iteration of the console.
Game Boy Advance SP		March 23, 2003	February 14, 2003	A foldable version of the console. Has a brighter LCD screen with a frontlight that can be toggled on/off.
Game Boy Advance SP (Model AGS-101)		September 2005	N/A	An upgraded version of the SP with a frontlight and backlight which cannot be toggled off, only having a high/low setting instead.
Game Boy Micro		September 15, 2005	September 13, 2005	A smaller and thinner version of the console. Is not backwards compatible with Game Boy and Game Boy Color games.

Controls[]

In every member of the GBA family, there is a directional pad on its left with A and B buttons on its right and L and R shoulder buttons on its back and Start and Select buttons near its front bottom.

In the GBA Kirby games, the A button is mapped to jumping and hovering whereas the B button is used for inhaling and using Copy Abilities. The L and R buttons only have function in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror where holding the L button brings Kirby back to the start area with the Dimension Mirror and holding the R button uses the Cell Phone.

Features[]

Game Pak Multiplayer[]

The GBA line is able to be compatible with two different kinds of multiplayer depending on whether or not joining parties own the same Game Pak game. If only one player has a Game Pak, the console will allow all players to play multiplayer but with limiting features; this is called Single Game Pak play. If all players have the same Game Pak, the console will allow all players to utilize the game's main multiplayer feature; this is called Multi Game Pak play. This feature would be revamped for Download Play on the DS and 3DS systems except wireless.

For the GBA Kirby games, Single Game Pak play only allows players to play sub-games whereas Multi Game Pak play allows players to play sub-games and the main story.

Games[]

Below is a list of every Kirby game released for the Game Boy Advance family.

Title	Box Art/Logo	Release Date
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land		Dec 2, 2002
Kirby Slide		Late 2003
Kirby & The Amazing Mirror		Oct 18, 2004

Related Accessories[]

Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable[]

The Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable is a cable that connects to other GBA family members to utilize multiplayer play. A cable is connected to another one of itself to be compatible with three systems and must be connected to another one of itself again to be compatible with four systems. This cable is required to play multiplayer for the GBA Kirby games whether it may be Single or Multi Game Pak play.

Nintendo eReader[]

The Nintendo eReader is a device that plugs into any member of the GBA family. It scans eReader cards that allow the system to either play games or unlock certain features for certain games. By scanning a special Kirby: Right Back at Ya! eReader card with the eReader, players can play the eReader-exclusive game Kirby Slide released only in North America. This device is also compatible for the Game Boy Player for the GameCube and the Nintendo DS Lite.

2002_E3_Kirby_eReader_Card_Winner_Verification — 2002 E3 Kirby eReader Card Winner Verification

First place winner screen and jingle

In 2002, during E3 just before the North American release of the Nintendo eReader, Nintendo representatives handed out a pack of eReader cards. Among them was a Kirby: Right Back at Ya! contest card which if swiped in one of the display eReaders and GBAs would reveal if the player was a winner or not. Only 10 of these winner cards were ever produced; cards that were winners were torn up by the Nintendo representative before being given a prize. There were also 100 second place winner cards during the event.^[1] On the bottom left corner of these cards were small black symbols representing which type of card it is: nothing for loser cards, a triangle for second place cards, and a circle for first place cards.

Accessories for Game Boy backwards compatibility[]

Wide-Boy64[]

Main article: Nintendo 64#Wide-Boy64

The Wide-Boy64 AGB is an accessory for the Nintendo 64 that allows it to play Game Boy Advance games.

Game Boy Player[]

Main article: Nintendo GameCube#Game Boy Player

The Game Boy Player is a large accessory for the Nintendo GameCube that allows it to play Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games.

GameCube-Game Boy Advance Cable[]

This cable allows the Game Boy Advance to be used as a controller for the GameCube. While this cable can also turn the GBA into a secondary screen and even transfer content between devices, no Kirby-related game uses these features. This cable also works with the Game Boy Player.

Trivia[]

In the Japanese version of Kirby's History in Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition, there are five Game Boy Micros instead of just two in the North American version.
To date, there is only one surviving first place Kirby eReader lottery card coming from an ex-Nintendo employee, Rob Anderson. In an interview with NintendoLife, he explains that he asked to keep some old boxes executives asked him to throw out during a remodel of one of the Nintendo of America buildings.^[2] In December 2021, he opened one of these boxes and found unopened packs of the 2002 E3 giveaway packs. To his surprise, one of those card was a first place winner card. Presumably the only person to have seen and heard the jingle of the first place winner screen in 20 years, he decided to sell the card on eBay starting at $1,000 on July 15, 2021 which ended midnight on July 22 with a final bid of $10,600 (including $82 in shipping).