Whilst the ongoing global dominance of both the Wii and DS means that Nintendo has little time left to ponder its older formats, it seems that former handheld favourite the Game Boy Advance is still selling in its thousands.
Kotaku reports that in 2008 Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance sold an impressive 420,000 units worldwide. Its biggest successes were in emerging markets and parts of Asia.
The Game Boy Advance first hit the market in 2001. At the time it seemed unlikely that it could ever compare to the successes of its predecessor, the Game Boy. Indeed, the first GBA iteration was the subject of some quite brutal criticism, owing mainly to its lack of an internally lit screen.
However, the release of the Game Boy Advance SP in 2003 saw the handheld truly take off. To date it has sold in excess of 80m units – not a million miles away from the Game Boy’s 120m global lifetime sales.