Game Boy Advance Video is a format for putting video onto Game Boy Advance cartridges. The video is played using the game system's screen and sound hardware. These video cartridges are from Majesco Sales, but the Pokémon video cartridges were published by Nintendo. The video cartridges are colored white for easy identification and are sold as Game Boy Advance Video Paks. Videos contained within GBA Video Paks are of the same 240x160 resolution as GBA games.[1]
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GBA Video Paks became available in North America in May 2004. In June 2004, Majesco had expanded its GBA Video categories. In November 2004, Majesco started to sell GBA Video Paks featuring Disney Channel animated series like: Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, Kim Possible, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, and The Proud Family. Then in November 2005, Majesco started to sell GBA video paks with full length movies like Shrek 2 and Shark Tale. A special GBA Video Pak features the movies Shrek and Shark Tale combined in one cartridge, this Video Pak costs US$29.99 as of April 2007. As of April 2007, the retail price of original GBA Video Paks lowered to US$9.95.
GBA Video Paks are viewable only on Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP, Game Boy Micro, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite, as the owners of copyright in the television shows have requested that Majesco prevent people from using the GameCube's Game Boy Player accessory to record the shows onto VHS or DVD (Unlike Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox video game console, the GameCube cannot output Macrovision gain-control copy distortion signals). The Paks check for the Game Boy Player, using the same logo authentication method used by GBA games that support controller rumble, and freeze with the message "Not designed for Game Boy Player" if they detect the Game Boy Player.
Because of the low capacity of GBA cartridges (ranging from 4 to 32 MB) and the length of the video content (feature length movies), video is heavily compressed, with visual artifacts marring nearly every frame. The image quality has the appearance similar to early Cinepak compression, and the "quilting" and color bleeding effect found in other compressed video formats is also present. Also, in cases where the episode is available both as a 45-minute two parter or a 22-minute edited version, the 22-minute version is used.
Some reviewers have criticized GBA Video as being inferior to DVDs of the shows in several ways. However, defenders of the format note that GBA Video was never meant to be a serious competitor to the DVD format, and since the videos are generally targeted at young children, their lower video quality may be considered adequate.
GBA Video Paks were the feature prize in Vol. 183 of Nintendo Power Magazine, as part of its players poll sweepstakes, in which five grand prize winners would receive a GBA SP and twenty GBA Video Paks. Most GBA Video Paks cost US$9.95 and feature 40 to 45 minutes of video content. Movie GBA Video Paks cost US$19.99 and feature a 90 minute movie.