Game Boy Advance specifications revealed

[08.22.00] » Detailed, accurate, and exclusive impressions of the GBA's capabilities.

    With Nintendo's Space World 2000 right around the corner, the GIA is proud to be the first to present the true specifications for the Game Boy Advance. Nintendo has been less secretive about the Game Boy Advance than the Dolphin, even releasing a list of confirmed titles, and many gamers are anticipating the new handheld more than any other attraction at Space World.

    So what do the raw numbers below mean? As far as graphics go, the GBA is indeed capable of a fair amount of 3D graphics; there's no built-in 3D support, but the speed of its RISC chip allows developers to push more polygons than the SNES Super FX chip could. A good analogy would be the way the Saturn was designed for sprites, but was no slouch when it came to 3D.

   The sound processor is also fairly impressive for a handheld, but has only 2 hardware channels. Factor 5's MusyX software tools should be up to the job of mixing, but the actual sound hardware is less impressive than the SNES's chip.

   Most impressive is the way that the graphics processor and sound processor are each contained, along with the RAM and CPU, in a single chip. Said CPU is an ARM7 which takes up very little power, enabling the GBA to run for 20 hours on just two AA batteries. The ARM7 is also easy to develop for, and shouldn't give developers any trouble. Some companies have been working with the dev kit since April, which should be enough for them to get a good working knowledge for the CPU.

   Though the screen size is limited and the resolution isn't the highest, Nintendo has crafted an impressive little handheld here. The Neo Geo Pocket Color may be gone, but 2D and handheld enthusiasts should find a lot to love in the Game Boy Advance.

• CPU: 32bit ARM7 Custom @16.7Mhz, with reduced Z80 core for Game Boy and Game Boy Color emulation. RAM: 32Kbit work
• RAM (may not be final), 96Kbytes VRAM (may not be final), 16Kbytes sound RAM (may not be final)
• GPU: Nintendo Custom. Supported functions:
  1. - Hardware sprite scaling, rotation, distortion.
  2. - XY scroll, rotation scroll.
  3. - Multi layers.
  4. - 4096 maximum (may not be final) hardware sprites, with maximum of 256 sprites on a single line.
  5. - No dedicated 3D acceleration.
• SPU: Nintendo Custom:
  1. - 2 hardware sound channels.
  2. - Maximum sampling rate @44.1KHz.
• Resolution: 244x160, half the resolution of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, although in a reversed aspect ratio.
• Color depth: Multi color depth, maximum of 65,536 colors from a palette of 16 million. Supports alpha channel.
• Screen: Sharp reflect color LCD screen.
• Media: Game Boy cartridge, Game boy Color cartridge, Game Boy Advance cartridge.
• Max Catridge size: 512Mbit.
• Interface: Nintendo custom
  1. - Game Boy / Game Boy Color compatible cartridge interface.
  2. - Custom Dolphin communications interface.
  3. - 3.5mm earphone jack.
• Input: 4-directional D-Pad, Select, Start, A, B, L, R
• Speaker: Thin Membrane speaker (the same speaker found in the Game Boy and Game Boy Color).
• Power Rating: 3V.
• Battery: 2x AA battery, 20 hours continuous play time.