page_title: Nintendo Research & Engineering
section_title: 1999-2005: Game Boy Advance
hierarchical_section_title: Nintendo Research & Engineering / History / 1999-2005: Game Boy Advance
caption_attribution_description: The Game Boy Advance (GBA), a 32-bit handheld gaming system made by Nintendo and released in 2001. This is the first model in the GBA line-up, which features a non-backlit color screen and runs off of two AA batteries. This is a "Indigo" model, a purple color that matched the GameCube, that was one of the three colors available for the North American launch.
context_page_description: Nintendo Research & Engineering Department, commonly abbreviated as Nintendo RED, was the hardware development department responsible for developing all of Nintendo's major handheld game consoles, and its associated peripherals, from its inception in 1996 all the way to 2012, when it was disbanded. The department was under Nintendo's manufacturing division, and was led by Satoru Okada. The department was created in 1996 following Nintendo Research & Development 1's general manager and Game & Watch and Game Boy creator, Gunpei Yokoi's departure from Nintendo. Most of the department's team originate from R&D1's hardware engineers.
  The department went on to create some of Nintendo's best-selling handheld game consoles such as the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS. Following the retirement of Okada in early 2012, the department was merged into the Nintendo Integrated Research & Development division, effectively merging Nintendo's handheld and home game console development teams.
context_section_description: After being approximately two years in development, the department launched the Game Boy Color's successor, the Game Boy Advance, in 2001. The development team's first step in designing the new system was determining its central processing unit (CPU) and display resolution, which would eventually determine the handheld's size. The CPU itself took more than one year to design, mainly due to feature requests from both Nintendo and external developers, which required certain functions be implemented directly in the processing unit. One such request was the addition of shoulder buttons (L and R), originally introduced in the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Regardless, only one major CPU redesign occurred during the course the handheld's development As for the display's aspect ratio, in order to facilitate bringing ports to the system's library from home consoles, the team decided on implementing a widescreen, a common feature of televisions at the time. In terms of its external design, the team made a drastic change from the Game Boy Advance's predecessors, opting for an horizontal-oriented system instead. Although the team tested a vertical orientation, it was scrapped as it would make the unit too big. Despite using similar materials as its predecessor, the system is and feels much lighter and smaller due to its more optimized internal layout, such as the position of its batteries in the system's center.
  Masato Kuwahara tested a touchscreen attachment the team had developed for the Game Boy Color on the Game Boy Advance SP, however it suffered the same fate as its predecessor.
caption: Game Boy Advance
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D7100", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2016:07:05 02:19:26", "Image Artist": "Evan Amos", "Image Copyright": "Vanamo Media Public Domain", "Image ExifOffset": "280", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1066", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4003", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "18", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:07:04 02:11:27", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:07:04 02:11:27", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "995723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "166797/20000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "17/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "60", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "1", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "10", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4200", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2900", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "83841555/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "83841555/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[2, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "90", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "2557295", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[60, 60, 14/5, 14/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "60.0 mm f/2.8"}