Game Boy Advance SP
Clamshell redesign with rechargeable battery and integrated screen light.
The Game Boy Advance SP—the "SP" stands for "Special"—is a handheld console from Nintendo that launched in Japan on February 14, 2003, and hit other markets the following March. It’s a refined take on the original Game Boy Advance, swapping the old slab shape for a smaller, clamshell design. This model introduced a rechargeable battery to the Game Boy line and was the first widely sold version to include a built-in screen light, initially using frontlighting before later switching to backlighting, making it much easier to play in dim settings than earlier reflective-screen models. The SP was succeeded by the Game Boy Micro in 2005.
The SP’s development was driven by Satoru Okada, who had also led work on the original Game Boy Advance. When Okada first proposed a slim, rechargeable Game Boy Advance to Nintendo’s leadership, the response was almost entirely negative. Undeterred, he instructed a hardware engineer to build a concept model as small and thin as possible, ignoring manufacturing feasibility. That prototype ended up with the clamshell form that became the SP. When Okada showed it to the same leadership group, they quickly approved it.
Beyond its smaller size and rechargeable battery, the SP fixed a major flaw of the original Game Boy Advance: its reflective color screen was nearly unreadable in low light. The first SP models used a frontlight that shone on the display, with a reflective layer behind the screen bouncing light back through the liquid crystal pixels. A later revision swapped the frontlight and reflector for a backlight that lit the pixels from behind.
All Game Boy Advance SP models were discontinued worldwide by the end of 2010, outlasting the Game Boy Micro by two years and marking the end of the Game Boy hardware line.
Nintendo removed the 3.5 mm headphone jack from the SP—a feature present on every prior Game Boy. You can buy headphones made specifically for the GBA SP, or use a standard pair with an optional adapter that plugs into the same port as the AC adapter. Because both the charger and headphones share that single port, you can’t charge the SP and listen through headphones at the same time with Nintendo’s official adapter, though third-party adapters exist that split the connection into separate power and headphone jacks.
Quick Facts
- Also known as
- Frontlit: AGS-001; Backlit: AGS-101
- Developer
- Nintendo Research & Engineering
- Manufacturer
- Nintendo
- Family
- Game Boy
- Generation
- Sixth
- Media
- Game Boy Game Pak
- Game Boy Color Game Pak
- Game Boy Advance Game Pak
- System on chip
- Nintendo CPU AGB
- Cpu
- ARM7TDMI @ 16.78 MHz
- Sharp SM83 @ 4
- 8 MHz
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The Game Boy Advance SP was championed by Satoru Okada, who led the development of the original Game Boy Advance. When Okada first pitched to Nintendo leadership the idea of a small and thin Game Boy Advance that used a rechargeable battery, the feedback was almost entirely negative. Not deterred, Okada told one of his hardware engineers to build a conceptual model as small and thin as possible without regard to the feasibility of manufacturing the device. What resulted was the clamshell design of the Game Boy Advance SP. When Okada took this conceptual model to the same leadership group that rejected his initial pitch, they were quickly won over.
The first Game Boy Advance SP had a frontlight that illuminated the front of the display and a reflective surface behind the screen that sent light back through the liquid crystal pixel elements to the viewer. A later revision replaced the frontlight and reflective surface with a backlight that also illuminated the liquid crystal pixel elements. Nintendo removed the 3.5 mm headphone jack from the SP, which had been included on all previous Game Boy models. Headphones designed specifically for the GBA SP can be purchased, or standard headphones can be attached with an optional adapter that plugs into the same port as the AC adapter. As both the AC adapter and headphones use the same port, it is not possible to charge the SP and listen to headphones at the same time with the Nintendo-brand adapter.
On September 19, 2005 — shortly after the release of the Game Boy Micro and about a year after the launch of the Nintendo DS — Nintendo released an updated Game Boy Advance SP in North America, featuring a brighter backlit screen in place of the earlier model's frontlit display. It was Nintendo's first handheld system released worldwide with an integrated backlight, although the Japan-only Game Boy Light had used an electroluminescent backlit display several years earlier. The AGS-101 revision was not officially released in Japan, and the frontlit AGS-001 model remained on sale until production ended.
Reader's Guide
The Game Boy Advance SP addressed a key shortcoming of the original Game Boy Advance: the reflective color display that was hard to see in dark conditions. Its clamshell design, rechargeable battery, and integrated screen light made it a significant hardware revision. The SP was followed by the Game Boy Micro in 2005. All Game Boy Advance SP models were discontinued globally by the end of 2010, outlasting the Game Boy Micro by two years and marking the end of the Game Boy hardware series. The AGS-101 Game Boy Advance SP was the final Nintendo handheld to have backward compatibility with Game Boy and Game Boy Color games in North America and Europe. As of June 30, 2009, the Game Boy Advance series has sold 81.48 million units worldwide, of which 43.52 million are Game Boy Advance SP units.
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