Game Boy Advance Video

Game Boy Advance Video is a format for putting full color, full-motion videos onto Game Boy Advance cartridges. These videos are playable using the Game Boy Advance system's screen and sound hardware. These video cartridges were developed and manufactured by Majesco Sales, except for the Pokémon Game Boy Advance Video cartridges, which were published by Nintendo. The video cartridges are colored white for easy identification and are sold as Game Boy Advance Video Paks. The Game Boy Advance Video game paks offer the same 240x160 resolution as standard Game Boy Advance games.^[1]

History

Game Boy Advance Video Paks first became available in North America in May 2004. In June 2004, Majesco had expanded its Game Boy Advance Video licenses into other categories. In November 2004, Majesco started to sell GBA Video Paks featuring several Disney Channel animated series, including Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, Kim Possible, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, and The Proud Family. In November 2005, Majesco began to sell GBA Video Paks featuring full-length animated movies like Shrek 2 and Shark Tale. A special GBA Video Pak containing the movies Shrek and Shark Tale combined into one cartridge was released later, costing approximately US$29.99 MSRP as of April 2007. As of April 2007, the retail price of original GBA Video Paks was lowered to US$9.95.

Copyright protection

Game Boy Advance Video Paks are viewable only on Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP, Game Boy Micro, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo DS Lite systems, as the owners of copyright in the television shows requested that Majesco prevent people from using the Nintendo GameCube's Game Boy Player accessory to play and record the shows onto VHS or DVDs. However, the low resolution and mono sound would result in a low-quality video output on a TV regardless. Unlike Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox video game consoles, the Nintendo GameCube cannot output Macrovision gain-control copy distortion signals. The GBA Video Paks perform a check when inserted into the Game Boy Player, using the same logo authentication method used by Game Boy Advance games that support controller rumble, and will freeze with the message "Not designed for Game Boy Player" if they detect the Game Boy Player in use.

Criticism

Because of the low capacity of Game Boy Advance cartridges (ranging from 4 to 32 MB) and the length of the video content (generally feature-length movies and episodes), GBA Video Paks are heavily compressed, with visual artifacts marring nearly every frame. The image quality has a similar appearance to early Cinepak compression, and the "quilting" and color bleeding effect found in other compressed video formats is also present. Also, in cases where certain videos are available both as a 45-minute two-part episodes or a 22-minute edited version, the 22-minute version is used.

Additional information

Game Boy Advance 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 Game Boy Advance SP and twenty GBA Video Paks. Most GBA Video Paks cost US$9.95 and feature 40 to 45 minutes of video content. GBA Video Movie Paks cost US$19.99 and feature up to a 90-minute movie. Some GBA Video Movie Paks came packaged with headphones.

List of titles

The following titles and episodes were released in the Game Boy Advance Video:^[2]

GBA Video Movie Pak vol. 1

• Shrek

GBA Video Movie Pak vol. 2

• Shrek 2

GBA Video Movie Pak vol. 3

• Shark Tale

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron vol. 1

• "Brobot"
• "The Big Pinch"
• "Granny Baby"
• "Time is Money"

All Grown Up! vol. 1

• "Susie Sings the Blues"
• "Coup de Ville"

Cartoon Network Collection vol. 1

• Ed, Edd 'n Eddy:" Stop, Look and Ed"
• Courage the Cowardly Dog: "Magic Tree of Nowhere"
• Johnny Bravo: "The Perfect Gift"
• The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: "Crawling Niceness"

Cartoon Network Collection vol. 2

• Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation T.U.R.N.I.P."
• Courage the Cowardly Dog: Courage the Fly"
• Johnny Bravo: Balloon Platoon"
• The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Mandy the Merciless"

Cartoon Network Collection Limited Edition

• Ed, Edd 'n Eddy: "Key to My Ed"
• Courage the Cowardly Dog: "The Queen of the Black Puddle"
• Codename: Kids Next Door: "Operation M.I.N.I.G.O.L.F."
• Dexter's Laboratory: "Big Sister"

Cartoon Network Collection Platinum Edition

• Codename: Kids Next Door: "Operation T.O.M.M.Y."
• The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: "A Grim Surprise"
• Courage the Cowardly Dog: "Cowboy Courage"
• Ed, Edd 'n Eddy: "The Luck of the Ed"

Cartoon Network Collection Premium Edition

• Dexter's Laboratory: "Double Trouble"
• Courage the Cowardly Dog: "The Shadow of Courage"
• Johnny Bravo: "Cookie Crisis"
• Ed, Edd 'n Eddy: "A Glass of Warm Ed"

Cartoon Network Collection Special Edition

• Ed, Edd 'n Eddy: "Oath to an Ed"
• Johnny Bravo: "Beach Blanket Bravo"
• The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: "Billy and the Bully"
• Dexter's Laboratory: "Dexter's Rival"

Codename: Kids Next Door vol. 1

• "Operation R.E.P.O.R.T."
• "Operation N.O.-P.O.W.A.H."
• "Operation B.R.I.E.F."
• "Operation D.O.G.F.I.G.H.T."

Disney Channel Collection vol. 1

• Lilo & Stitch: "Slushy"
• Kim Possible: "Ron the Man"

Disney Channel Collection vol. 2

• Lilo & Stitch: "Poxy"
• Kim Possible: "Rufus in Show"
• Brandy & Mr. Whiskers: "To The Moon Mr. Whiskers"

Dora the Explorer vol. 1

• "3 Little Piggies"
• "The Big River"

Dragon Ball GT vol. 1

• "A Grand Problem"
• "Pan's Gambit"

The Fairly OddParents vol. 1

• "Foul Balled"
• "The Boy Who Would Be Queen"
• "The Information Stupor Highway"

The Fairly OddParents vol. 2

• "Father Time"
• "Apartnership"
• "Ruled Out"
• "That's Life"

Nicktoons Collection vol. 1

• All Grown Up!: "Chuckie's In Love"
• SpongeBob SquarePants: "Pizza Delivery"
• The Fairly OddParents: "The Big Problem"

Nicktoons Collection vol. 2

• SpongeBob SquarePants: "Nature Pants"
• SpongeBob SquarePants: "Opposite Day"
• Nickelodeon Rocket Power: "The Big Air Dare"
• The Fairly OddParents: "Odd Ball"

Nicktoons Collection vol. 3

• SpongeBob SquarePants: "Squeaky Boots"
• The Fairly OddParents: "Tim Visible"
• Danny Phantom: "Attack of the Killer Garage Sale"

Pokémon vol. 1

• "Pokémon, I Choose You!"
• "Here Comes the Squirtle Squad"

Pokémon vol. 2

• "Beach Blank-Out Blastoise"
• "Go West Young Meowth"

Pokémon vol. 3

• "For Ho Oh The Bell Toll"
• "A Hot Water Battle"

Pokémon vol. 4

• "Johto Photo Finish"
• "Playing with Fire"

The Proud Family vol. 1

• "Twins to Teens"
• "Tween Town"

Sonic X vol. 1

• "Chaos Control Freaks"
• "Sonic to the Rescue"

SpongeBob SquarePants vol. 1

• "Bubblestand"
• "Ripped Pants"
• "Jellyfishing"
• "Plankton"

SpongeBob SquarePants vol. 2

• "Mermaidman & Barnacleboy"
• "Pickles"
• "Hall Monitor"
• "Jellyfish Jam"

SpongeBob SquarePants vol. 3

• "Walking Small"
• "Texas"
• "Hooky"
• "Mermaidman & Barnacleboy II"

Strawberry Shortcake vol. 1

• "Meet Strawberry Shortcake"
• "Spring for Strawberry Shortcake"

Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go! vol. 1

• "Depths of Fear"
• "Plantetoid Q"

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vol. 1

• "Things Change"
• "A Better Moustrap"

Yu-Gi-Oh! vol. 1

• "Friends Until the End part 3"
• "Friends Until the End part 4"

See also

• Game Boy Advance
• Nintendo DS
• Nintendo Video

References

1. ↑ Cole, Michael (2004-04-28). "Hip Interactive Brings GBA Video to Canada". Nintendo World Report. Retrieved 2010-01-11. 
2. ↑ http://www.gba-video.com/

External links

• Official website
• Majesco GBA Video website