The Game Boy Advance was a major leap forward for portable gaming. The Game Boy Advance (GBA) was a 32-bit handheld gaming system developed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on March 21, 2001, as the successor to the Game Boy Color (GBC). It was a huge success, selling over 84 million units worldwide. The GBA paved the way for the success of Nintendo's next generation of handheld consoles, such as the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Switch.