”Is this really the successor to that Game Boy?”—that kind of change was the first impression of the Game Boy Advance. Released in 2001, this hardware instantly expanded the common sense of handheld consoles up to that point, and the evolution in performance was obvious to everyone. The leap in processing power from 8-bit to 32-bit had an impact that cannot be described simply as a spec upgrade, and the memory of being amazed that ”a handheld can do this much” remains vivid today.

When first seeing the console, some might have been a bit puzzled by the ”horizontal orientation,” but the reason becomes clear as soon as you touch it. The landscape design fits snugly in the hands, and the addition of the L and R buttons instantly broadened the range of controls. Operations that were difficult on previous handhelds could now be performed naturally, significantly changing the play experience itself. It was a point of admiration to see how much a change in shape could influence the way we play.

The moment I saw the images on the screen, the vividness was enough to make me stare, wondering, ”Can it really produce this many colors?” The color expression, which was vastly expanded compared to previous models, transformed game worlds into something richer and more lifelike. The landscapes and characters appearing on the 2.9-inch wide LCD created a sense of immersion that couldn't be experienced on earlier handhelds, giving real weight to the phrase ”a gaming world you can carry with you.”

Despite being new hardware, the fact that you could play existing Game Boy and Game Boy Color software as-is cannot be overlooked. It was a design that naturally fulfilled the greedy wish of ”wanting to play old games while enjoying new ones.” I believe it was precisely because of this backward compatibility that it was accepted by many not as a mere replacement, but as an ”evolution that carries over accumulated gaming experiences.”

Quite fresh for the time was the system that allowed sharing a single software title for play. Although it used the somewhat cumbersome method of a communication cable, the experience of multiple people enjoying a game simultaneously was special. Especially with competitive games, the time spent gathering in the same place and getting excited became the value itself, and I feel it gradually changed the perception that ”games are something you play alone.”

The fact that a vast number of titles were available right from the launch was also a major factor supporting the momentum of this hardware. In particular, the emergence of new popular series like ”Mega Man Battle Network” strongly fostered expectations of ”what will be born on this hardware from now on.” It wasn't just the large number of games; the breadth of their content was the power that drew in a variety of users.

Looking back now, I think the Game Boy Advance was an entity that evolved ”the way we play” itself, not just performance. By providing new experiences while valuing portability, depth, and the connection to the past, this hardware has solid reasons for remaining in the memories of many. When remembering those times, it has a charm that hasn't faded, making you naturally want to pick it up again.