Happy 15th anniversary, GameBoy Advance!

On Mar. 21, 2001, Nintendo released its second handheld game system--or third, if you count the GameBoy Color--in Japan.

The system in question, of course, was the GameBoy Advance.

North America, Europe and Australia didn't get the 32-bit console until three months later, in early and late June, respectively.

The GameBoy Advance garnered a lot of attention early on thanks to its 32-bit processor, its backward compatibility with the GameBoy and GameBoy Color and its impressively long list of launch-day titles--including Super Mario Advance, Kuru Kuru Kururin and ChuChu Rocket!

Speaking of Super Mario Advance, another feather in the GameBoy Advance's oddly shaped cap was the fact that it eventually housed a slew of Famicom and Super Famicom (or NES and SNES, depending on your perspective) ports.

Despite all of the above, I didn't join the GBA club until fairly late in the game. In fact, I waited until after the laptop-esque GameBoy Advance SP was released in 2003 to make that move.



Actually, I waited until sometime in 2005, as I remember buying both a black GBA SP and a copy of Pokémon Emerald at a local Toys R Us to keep me entertained during an upcoming work trip.

Although I was slow to warm up to this particular portable, I now consider myself to be a pretty big fan of it thanks to the number of must-play games that were made for it during its too-brief existence.

Some of my favorite GBA carts: Final Fantasy V Advance, Guru Logi Champ, Mother 3, Rhythm Tengoku, Slime Mori Mori Dragon Quest and Zooo (aka Zoo Keeper).

Of course, I've yet to experience a bunch of the system's most intriguing titles, like Magical Vacation, Screw Breaker (aka Drill Dozer), Sennen Kazoku and Tomato Adventure.

How about all of you? Do you have fond memories of the GBA and its impressive catalog of games? If so, please share them in the comments section that follows.

See also: 'Happy 4th anniversary, Vita!' 'Seven ways you can celebrate the 27th anniversary of the PC Engine's release' and '15 memories in honor of the Sega Dreamcast's 15th anniversary'

Which GameBoy Advance is your favorite?

In news that is sure to shock absolutely no one, I currently have GameBoy Advance on the brain. That's especially true since I suggested as much on Twitter last week. (You can follow me here if you'd like, by the way.)

Because I firmly believe in the phrase "misery loves company," I thought I'd rope all of you into obsessing about Nintendo's 32-bit handheld (don't you miss the days when we could refer to systems based on the number of bits associated with them?), too, by asking which of the company's three GameBoy Advance designs you liked best.

Me, I've always preferred the GameBoy Advance SP--in particular, the almost disgustingly cute Pikachu-branded systems (one of which can be seen below) that earned a release in 2005 and 2006.

Photo by diversionmary

As much as I like the Pikachu SP, though, I like the run-of-the-mill SPs nearly as much--thanks in large part to their pre-DS clamshell construction.

Photo by Arturo Martin

Don't take the commentary above to mean that I dislike the GameBoy Micro's design. On the contrary, I love it--especially when it's made to look like a mini Famicom or given a Mother-esque paint job.

Photo by Francois Houste

As for the first GameBoy Advance the folks at Nintendo bestowed upon the masses: I can't say I've ever been a fan of it. I'm not even sure why that is, to tell you the truth.

My first thought it to blame it on the system's toy-like appearance, but the same could be said of the original GameBoy and of the original DS, in particular, yet I consider both of those to be top of the line in terms of design (the former, especially).

What are all of your opinions on this most pointless of matters? Do you have a favorite when it comes to Nintendo's trio of GameBoy Advance designs, or would you just as well forget any of them ever existed?