Legacy & History
Released in 2001, the GBA was a massive leap forward. It became the home for ports of SNES classics and new masterpieces like Metroid Fusion and Advance Wars.
Cultural Impact
The GBA became the final bastion of high-budget 2D pixel art gaming as home consoles moved fully to 3D. It preserved and evolved the "Metroidvania" genre.
Modern Legacy
Its form factor (landscape) set the standard for all future handhelds (PSP, DS, Switch). The ARM architecture it used is the ancestor of the chips in nearly every modern smartphone.
Under the Hood
The GBA used an ARM7TDMI processor, a 32-bit RISC chip that was vastly more powerful than its predecessors. It also included a Z80 coprocessor purely for backward compatibility with GB/GBC games. Its hardware sprite scaling and rotation capabilities allowed for "Mode 7" style effects on a handheld.