59-632: GTAA may refer to: Grand Theft Auto Advance , an alternate name to the Grand Theft Auto game for the Game Boy Advance Georgia Tech Athletic Association , a non-profit organization Global Tactical Asset Allocation , a top-down investment strategy Greater Toronto Airports Authority , an airport operator Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
118-525: A Game Boy Printer . The port used on the Game Boy Color is of a smaller design first introduced on the Game Boy Pocket, and requires an adapter to link with the original Game Boy. The Game Boy Color also offered a "high-speed" mode that could operate up 64 times faster than the original Game Boy. The Game Boy Color added an infrared communications port for wireless data transfer, which was supported by
177-412: A "unique" and "previously unheard of" line of successful third-party games, including Dragon Warrior Monsters , Metal Gear Solid and Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories . Ashley Day of Retro Gamer noted that the handheld had an "overlooked" status, stating "the Game Boy Color (has) an unfair reputation as the one Nintendo handheld with few worthwhile titles, but this simply isn't the case...returning to
236-623: A bartender named Jonnie, who maintains connections with the city's criminal underworld and might help him find the answers he seeks. Jonnie hires Mike for several jobs while they investigate Vinnie's murder together, until the former is suddenly killed midway through the investigation. While searching for the killer, Mike spots some Yardies leaving Jonnie's bar in a rush, and follows them to their leader, King Courtney. Courtney denies involvement in Jonnie's murder, claiming that his men were only sent to collect money Jonnie owed to him, and offers to help find
295-564: A budget-friendly alternative. The last units were reportedly sold by March 2003. The Game Boy Color uses a custom system on a chip (SoC), integrating the CPU and other major components into a single package, named the CPU ;CGB by Nintendo and manufactured by the Sharp Corporation . While the CPU CGB was a new design for the Game Boy Color, the technology inside was largely an evolution of
354-524: A color screen and a powerful 32-bit processor from Sharp. However, the team was not satisfied with the outcome and shelved further development. Despite the lack of color, consumer interest in the Game Boy remained strong. In 1996, Nintendo released the slimmer Game Boy Pocket and the launch of the Pokémon series that same year further boosted sales. But developers were losing interest in creating new games for
413-470: A limited color palette (often dark green) using four to ten colors to enhance games originally intended to be presented in four shades of gray. Many games were programmed to call for a default color palette. For games without a default, users can choose from 12 different palettes using button combinations. A dedicated palette option replicates the original Game Boy's grayscale experience. Color enhanced Game Boy Game Pak (Black Case): These cartridges can use
472-403: A new life with his wealth. Grand Theft Auto Advance received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic . The graphics of the game received mixed to positive commentary from critics, who likened it to other Game Boy Advance games. Craig Harris of IGN said that the game "does a good job of looking like the old GTA games." Loki of Game Chronicles said that
531-533: A quicker launch and maintain compatibility with the existing library of Game Boy games. The Game Boy Color was announced in March 1998 and released in Japan that October. It received an international rollout throughout November (amid the busy Christmas holiday shopping season), reaching North America on the 18th, Europe on the 23rd, and Australasia on the 27th. Launching at a price of US$ 79.95 (equivalent to $ 150 in 2023),
590-431: A small number of games; the infrared port was not included on the later Game Boy Advance line. Games are stored on cartridges called Game Boy Game Paks , using read-only memory (ROM) chips. Initially, due to the limitations of the 8-bit architecture of the device, ROM size was limited to 32 KB. Nintendo overcame this limitation with a Memory Bank Controller (MBC) inside the cartridge. This chip sits between
649-539: A stir, with investors dumping Nintendo stock, forcing a temporary halt on trading at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Yokoi was killed in a roadside accident in 1997 before the WonderSwan's release. Faced with mounting pressure, Okada revisited Project Atlantis. Prioritizing speed to market over processing power, he dropped the 32-bit chip for a faster version of the existing Game Boy's 8-bit processor that would allow for
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#1732847703475708-463: A world of organised crime, gang warfare, and corruption. The game is played from a top-down perspective , similar to the style used in Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2 ; despite this, it is part of the series' "3D universe" canon , sharing continuity with the three-dimensional games of the franchise. It also features most gameplay elements of the 3D Grand Theft Auto games, including
767-480: Is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , released on November 15, 2002. In Europe, the last game released for the system is Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite! , on January 10, 2003. Beyond officially released games for the platform, there is an active online community creating new games for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color through the use of tools like GB Studio. One such example is Dragonhym (originally Dragonborne) which
826-465: Is a 2.3-inch (diagonal) thin-film transistor (TFT) color liquid-crystal display (LCD), measuring 44 millimeters (1.7 in) wide by 40 millimeters (1.6 in) high. The screen aspect ratio and resolution remain identical to the original Game Boy at 160 pixels wide by 144 pixels high in a 10:9 format. Like the original Game Boy and Game Boy Pocket before it and the Game Boy Advance after it,
885-722: Is a 2004 action-adventure game developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Rockstar Games . The eighth entry in the Grand Theft Auto series, it was released for the Game Boy Advance in October 2004. The game takes place in Liberty City (a fictional parody of New York City ), the same setting used for Grand Theft Auto III , to which it serves as a prequel. The story, set one year before Grand Theft Auto III , follows small-time criminal Mike's quest for revenge after his partner's supposed death, which leads him to become entangled in
944-440: Is an 8-bit handheld game console , manufactured by Nintendo , which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and to international markets that November. Compared to the original Game Boy , the Game Boy Color features a color TFT screen rather than monochrome , a processor that can operate twice as fast, and four times as much memory. It retains backward compatibility with games initially developed for its predecessor. While
1003-582: Is an original character named Mike, who in his quest to avenge the supposed death of his partner, Vinnie, crosses paths with several prominent criminals that offer him assistance. These include explosives expert and firearms trader 8-Ball, Yardies leader King Courtney, and yakuza co-leader Asuka Kasen, all previously featured in Grand Theft Auto III , although their characters received significant changes in appearance and lifestyle to reflect who they were one year prior. Small-time criminal Mike works for
1062-507: Is attacked by the Cartel, who mistakenly assumed that he had killed Cisco. Although Mike escapes the attack, 8-Ball is injured during the shootout and subsequently arrested by the police. After dealing with the Cartel's new leader, Mike learns that Courtney is after his money and meets with Asuka one final time to plan an ambush at Courtney's hideout. However, the yakuza fail to show up for the attack, leaving Mike to face Courtney on his own (in one of
1121-522: Is constantly repeated and cannot be changed. These include parts of some familiar Grand Theft Auto , Grand Theft Auto 2 and Grand Theft Auto III tunes, in instrumental versions. Despite this, billboards for the radio stations featured in Grand Theft Auto III can be seen throughout Liberty City. The game is set in 2000 within Liberty City, the same setting used in Grand Theft Auto III . As
1180-494: Is suddenly killed, Mike pursues the murderer, and is shocked to find a still-living Vinnie, who reveals that he faked his own death to flee Liberty City with their money, and killed both Jonnie and Cisco to ensure Mike never learned the truth. Enraged at his former partner's betrayal, Mike kills Vinnie and steals his money, despite Vinnie's warnings that every criminal in the city will now target him for his wealth. While meeting with 8-Ball to tell him how his investigation ended, Mike
1239-506: Is the best-selling game compatible with Game Boy Color, and Pokémon Gold and Silver are the best-selling games developed primarily for it. The best-selling Game Boy Color exclusive game is Pokémon Crystal . The last Game Boy Color game ever released is the Japanese exclusive Doraemon no Study Boy: Kanji Yomikaki Master , on July 18, 2003. The last game released in North America
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#17328477034751298-548: The Audio Processing Unit , a programmable sound generator with four channels: a pulse wave generation channel with frequency and volume variation, a second pulse wave generation channel with only volume variation, a wave channel than can reproduce any waveform recorded in RAM, and a white noise channel with volume variation. The motherboard of the Game Boy Color contains a 32 KB "work" RAM chip, four times more than
1357-700: The best selling-video games of all time . Sales of the Game Boy Color were strong at launch. Nintendo of America reported a sale of one million units from launch to December 1998, and two million by July 1999. Retail chains in the United States reported unexpectedly high demand for the console, with executives of FuncoLand reporting "very pleasant and unpredicted" sales and Electronics Boutique stating "the entire Game Boy Color line just exploded, including accessories" upon release. Faced with high worldwide demand and competitive retail pricing, retailers such as CompUSA sold out of Game Boy Color stock in
1416-478: The best-selling game console of all time . In later years, its sales were surpassed by the Nintendo DS , PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Switch , making it the fourth-best-selling console the second-best-selling handheld of all time, as of 2024 . Sales of the device were in part driven by the success of Pokémon Gold and Silver and Pokémon Crystal , with combined sales of 29.5 million units, making them one of
1475-496: The Color in several case variations. The logo for Game Boy Color spells out the word "COLOR" in the five original colors in which the unit was manufactured: Berry (C), Grape (O), Kiwi (L), Dandelion (O), and Teal (R). Another color released at the same time was "Atomic Purple", made of a translucent purple plastic. Other colors were sold as limited editions or in specific countries. Due to its backward compatibility with Game Boy games,
1534-399: The Game Boy Advance's hardware limitations. As a result, it does not have animated cutscenes , nor does it have Grand Theft Auto III ' s much-lauded pedestrian dialogue. All cutscenes are text-only with hand-drawn pictures of the characters' faces, with a thematic backdrop behind. The art style is consistent with that used for the cover and loading art of the three-dimensional releases in
1593-550: The Game Boy Color could take full advantage of the additional memory to add more effects and display up to 56 colors simultaneously out of a selection of 32,768 colors. When an Original Game Boy Game Pak is inserted into the device, the additional memory is disabled. Certain games such as The Fish Files , The New Addams Family Series and Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare use a programming trick to display more than 2,000 colors on-screen at once. The display itself
1652-406: The Game Boy Color for making the Game Boy library of games "look better than ever – everything is crystal clear, bright and in [color]". Writing for GameSpot , Chris Johnston stated that the display was "crystal clear" and free of motion blur, stating that Tetris DX was the "killer app" of the launch titles on the platform. Milder reviews included those by Arcade , who said that while that
1711-509: The Game Boy Color had a reputation as a "legacy machine" that found success mostly due to its backward compatibility, as "few wanted to lose all the Dr. Mario and Pokémon cartridges they had amassed over the years." Quoted in Retro Gamer , Blitz Games Studios developer Bob Pape acknowledged that although "backwards compatibility more or less defined (the) Game Boy Color", the handheld "ticked all
1770-420: The Game Boy Color launched with a large playable library. The system amassed a library of 576 Game Boy Color games over a four-year period. While the majority of the games are Game Boy Color exclusive, approximately 30% of the games released are compatible with the original Game Boy. Most Game Boy Color games released after 1999 are not compatible with the original Game Boy. Tetris for the original Game Boy
1829-478: The Game Boy Color ultimately outsold the WonderSwan, which went on sale in March 1999. The Game Boy Color had a relatively short lifespan, being on the market for only two and a half years before being succeeded by the Game Boy Advance in 2001. The successor finally brought the 32-bit processing power envisioned in Project Atlantis. Despite the new arrival, the Game Boy Color remained in production, serving as
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1888-430: The Game Boy Color was seen as more of a transitional upgrade of the original Game Boy rather than a completely new device. It would have a relatively brief lifespan, being supplanted by the Game Boy Advance after less than three years on the market. The Game Boy Color is part of the fifth generation of video game consoles . The Game Boy and the Game Boy Color combined have sold 118.69 million units worldwide, making them
1947-562: The aging platform. Additional market pressure for Nintendo came in October 1997 when news broke about Bandai's new handheld, the WonderSwan . The project was led by Gunpei Yokoi , the engineer who led the development of the Game & Watch series and the original Game Boy. Yokoi had left Nintendo in 1996 following the commercial failure of his final project, the Virtual Boy . His departure caused
2006-442: The backlit screen required that the user be in a well lit area. Commentary on the legacy of the Game Boy Color has been shaped by the perception that the handheld was as an incremental and transitional upgrade of the Game Boy rather than a completely new device, and had a relatively brief lifespan, being supplanted by the Game Boy Advance after two years, five months on the market. In a history of Nintendo, author Jeff Ryan noted
2065-536: The colors were "very impressive" they were "not as eyeball-popping as you might have hoped for [...] it's mostly seaweed greens, rusty browns, timid yellows and the like". They concluded that "nothing about [the Game Boy Color] is very radical" but said the device was "Game Boy as it always should have been". Reviewers pointed out other drawbacks including that the system was still using an 8-bit architecture when competitors had moved onto 16-bit handheld systems and that
2124-509: The fourth best-selling system of all time . Its best-selling games are Pokémon Gold and Silver , which shipped 23 million units worldwide. When the original Game Boy was first introduced in 1989, many questioned why Nintendo had chosen to develop a monochrome handheld, considering competitors like the Atari Lynx and Sega Game Gear boasted color screens. However, while these color displays were visually impressive, they led to criticism that
2183-436: The full-color capabilities of the console (56 colors simultaneously out of a palette of 32,768) while remaining compatible with the original Game Boy where they are presented in four shades of gray. This compatibility comes at the expense of not being able to utilize the handheld's increased processing speed and memory. Game Boy Color Game Pak (Clear Case): Designed specifically for the Game Boy Color, these cartridges feature
2242-463: The full-color range (56 colors simultaneously out of a palette of 32,768) and benefit from the increased processing speed and memory of the Game Boy Color. Because of this reliance on newer hardware, these games are incompatible with the older monochrome Game Boy models. Nintendo had seen success selling colored variations of the Play It Loud! Game Boy and the Game Boy Pocket, so the company released
2301-416: The game uses "plenty of tricks" to give it a "3D feel," and that there's a "real sense of depth and perspective as you gaze down upon Liberty City." Conversely, 1UP staff said that the game has "flat visuals" that are a "poor leap" compared to previous games in the Grand Theft Auto series. The game's music received mixed reactions. IGN ' s Craig Harris said that the songs on the radio stations in
2360-476: The handheld is off, real-time clock chips can keep track of time even when the device is off, and Rumble Pak cartridges add vibration feedback to enhance gameplay. The Game Boy Color has backward compatibility with all original Game Boy games. Three main Game Pak cartridge types for the handheld were released: Original Game Boy Game Pak (Gray Case): The classic Game Boy cartridges. The Game Boy Color applies
2419-503: The handheld was slightly thicker, taller and had a smaller screen than its immediate predecessor, the Game Boy Pocket , the Color was significantly smaller than the original Game Boy. As with its predecessors, the Game Boy Color has a custom 8-bit processor made by Sharp . The American English spelling of the system's name, Game Boy Color , remains consistent throughout the world. While it received positive reviews upon its release,
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2478-543: The instances, the yakuza will provide cover for Mike once he confronts King Courtney provided he gets into the hideout within the stipulated time). Mike fends off the waves of Yardie attacks and then gravely injures Courtney but before he can finish him off, the police raid Courtney's hideout, forcing Mike to make his escape. After evading the police, Mike goes to the airport and leaves Liberty City in Cisco's private plane. He reminisces his fallen friends and heads to Colombia to start
2537-607: The more connected criminal Vinnie in hopes of leaving Liberty City with him and retiring from their life of crime. Vinnie convinces Mike to do work for the Mafia to achieve this goal. However, after several jobs, Vinnie is seemingly killed in a car bomb explosion, which also destroys all their money. Mike vows revenge, and quickly falls out with the Mafia as he investigates Vinnie's murder. After carrying out some jobs for 8-Ball, an explosives expert and old acquaintance of Vinnie's, he points Mike to
2596-528: The original Game Boy. The Game Boy features a D-pad (directional pad), four action buttons labeled 'A,' 'B,' 'SELECT,' and 'START,' and a sliding on-off switch on the right side of the device. The volume is adjusted by a potentiometer dial on the left side of the device. The left side offers a Game Link Cable port for connecting to up to four Game Boy devices for multiplayer games or, notably in Pokémon series games, sharing files. This port can be used with
2655-474: The processing power out of the device when creating games exclusively for the Game Boy Color while allowing the hardware to retain backward compatibility with existing games. The CPU CGB incorporates the Picture Processing Unit , a basic GPU that renders visuals using 16 kilobytes (KB) banks of Video RAM , twice as much as the original Game Boy. Games developed exclusively for
2714-524: The processor and the ROM chips. The CPU can only access 32 KB at a time, but the MBC can switch between banks of 32 KB ROM. Using this technology, Nintendo created Game Boy Color games that use up to 8 megabytes of ROM. Game Paks can provide additional functionality to the Game Boy system. Some cartridges include up to 128 KB of RAM to increase performance, which can be battery-backed to save progress when
2773-415: The processor for certain operations related to the way the hardware was arranged. The Sharp SM83 also powered the original Game Boy, where it operates at a clock rate of 4.194304 megahertz (MHz). Games on Game Boy Color exclusive cartridges can command the processor to operate in "dual-speed mode," doubling its frequency to run twice as fast at 8.388608 MHz. This allowed developers to get double
2832-470: The right boxes with regards to size, battery life, reliability and most importantly backwards compatibility". Positive assessments of the legacy of the Game Boy Color has focused on the merits of its game library, particularly for its third-party and import titles. Travis Fahs for IGN noted whilst "the Game Boy Color's life was relatively brief", it "built up a small library of excellent games", including Wario Land 3 and Pokémon Gold and Silver , and
2891-489: The rival devices had poor battery life and were bulky. The Game Boy, in contrast, offered superior portability and longevity, propelling it to immense popularity. Publicly, Nintendo pledged to develop a color Game Boy, but only when technology limitations could be addressed. Internally, a team led by Satoru Okada , who played a key role in the original Game Boy's design, was experimenting with color displays. Their early-1990s prototype, codenamed " Project Atlantis ," featured
2950-403: The screen is passively reflective, with a surface behind the screen that sends light back through the liquid crystal pixel elements to the viewer. Because there is no backlight , the device can be hard to use in dark environments. The SoC contains a 2 KB "bootstrap" ROM which is used to start up the device, 127 B of High RAM that can be accessed faster (similar to a CPU cache ), and
3009-472: The series. Replacing the pedestrian dialogue, some soundbites taken from Grand Theft Auto III are played when the player hits someone's car. Short police radio voiceovers will announce the player's location and vehicle type when the player commits a crime. The game does not feature radio channels. Like the Game Boy Color ports of Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2 , each car has one fixed tune that
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#17328477034753068-511: The setting had to be recreated for the Game Boy Advance, much of it was noticeably changed in its conversion, including elements that were impossible to interpret to from the game's top-view perspective. As a result of these changes, players familiar with the original setting have to explore it afresh in Grand Theft Auto Advance . As a prequel to Grand Theft Auto III , the game features both new and returning characters. The protagonist
3127-635: The then ten-year-old DMG-CPU SoC used inside the original Game Boy. Within the CPU CGB, the main processor is a Sharp SM83 , a hybrid between two other 8-bit processors: the Intel 8080 and the Zilog Z80 . The SM83 has the seven 8-bit registers of the 8080 (lacking the alternate registers of the Z80) but uses the Z80's programming syntax and extra bit manipulation instructions, along with adding new instructions to optimize
3186-519: The title GTAA . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=GTAA&oldid=844167501 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Grand Theft Auto Advance Grand Theft Auto Advance (also marketed as Grand Theft Auto )
3245-435: The true culprit. After carrying out some jobs for him, Courtney points Mike to Colombian Cartel leader Cisco. When Mike confronts Cisco, however, he quickly realizes that the man is innocent, and that Courtney has been using him all along to eliminate his rivals. Mike then begins working separately for the Cartel and their main rivals, the yakuza , led by Asuka Kasen, in hopes either gang will aid his investigation. After Cisco
3304-438: The vehicle-based side-missions, most weapons, the use of safe houses , and the style of the heads-up display . The game received mixed reviews from critics, and was followed by Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories , another Grand Theft Auto III prequel, in 2005. Grand Theft Auto Advance is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a top-down perspective . The game had to be adapted to
3363-439: The vehicles are "pretty repetitive and aren't so great." 1UP.com ' s Scott Sharkey stated that the music is "pretty bad," and named the radio tracks "very short and repetitive." Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot commented on the camera movements while driving, and that it "doesn't zoom out far enough to give you a good view of the road." Game Boy Color The Game Boy Color ( GBC or CGB )
3422-482: The weeks before the 1998 Christmas season. Reception of the Game Boy Color was positive, with critics praising the addition of color and improved clarity of the display. Affiliated publications such as Total Games praised the handheld for its "bright, colorful picture that can be viewed in direct light", backward compatibility features preserving the "vast catalogue of original Game Boy games", and improved technical performance. Computer and Video Games praised
3481-471: Was available for release on a physical cartridge which will be playable on the Game Boy Color. The Game Boy and Game Boy Color were both commercially successful, selling 118.69 million units worldwide: 32.47 million in Japan, 44.06 million in the Americas, and 42.16 million in all other regions. At the time of its discontinuation in 2003, the combined sales of all Game Boy variants made it
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