Milestone: Nintendo DS passes Game Boy Advance
Thursday, October 30th, 2008 at 8:16am by Jack
Just a quick hit for you Nintendophiles this morning. The torch has officially been passed.
The venerable Game Boy Advance stepped aside sometime in the last few months and allowed the Nintendo DS to take a seat on the portable throne. During the April 2008 to September 2008 period, the Nintendo DS shipped 84.33 million units worldwide. The GBA, to date, has shipped 81.36 million units.
Game Boy Advance, hold your head high! It was a magnificent run, and without your success, the DS would still be a twinkle in some Nintendo R&D grunt’s eye.
October 30th, 2008 at 9:34 am
I thought the DS had passed the Game Boy Advance a long time ago. Oh well, the more you know
October 30th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Ah I mourn the loss of the GBA. 90 percent of the time I spend on my Lite nowadays is spent replaying old GBA titles. Just beat Fire Emblem, working on Final Fantasy Tactics now, it’s great.
October 30th, 2008 at 11:05 am
The Game Boy Advance had a great run and left a big mark on the gaming industry.
October 30th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Well, the GBA hasn’t exactly “stepped aside”, Jack: it sold 180,000 units worlwide last year, not counting used hardware (which you can only find in the U.S.!):
http://kotaku.com/5030824/the-gba-and-gamecubestillfunction
Sure, the DS has finally passed the GBA on sales, but only because Nintendo has stopped manufacturing the device! I wonder, if they were still stocking stores with GBA SPs and micros this year, would the DS still have been able to surpass the GBA on sales?
October 30th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Sorry, I meant to write that in the U.S. you can only buy GBAs as “used”, so they don’t count for the number I quoted above! Impressive!
October 30th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
@benthedorklord
Seriously, why don’t you buy a GBA Micro to carry with you? They are incredibly convenient when playing GBA games!
On a related note, am I the only one who finds playing GBA games on a DS Lite awkward? The way the cartridge sticks out. The wasted space when a whole screen isn’t used. Having to keep track of your plastic spacer to use again when the game is done. And somehow the screen doesn’t look quite right… like it’s the wrong ratio or something.
Long live the GBA Micro! It’s a little system that never saw much love (and earned more than it’s share of ridicule) but one I wouldn’t want to live without.
October 30th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
The king is dead. Long live the King!
October 31st, 2008 at 4:57 am
Considering that Gameboy and Gameboy Color sales were combined together; I would say DS has also surpassed the original Gameboy in sales as well.
How ironic that it took Nintendo creating a system with two screens and one touch screen to slay the entire Gameboy brand after nearly 15 or so competitors couldn’t do the same; even the “I may not be a joke but DS is sure making me look like one” PSP?!
Good riddance I say to Gameboy; it’s been holding Nintendo back for way too long and without DS; Wii wouldn’t be enjoying the vast success it is having right now.