Game Boy Advance Video Wiki



Founded on April 18th, 2017, this wiki was made to simply go over everything related to the short-lived GBA Video series of GBA cartridges in detail. Hope you can enjoy this piece of GBA history.

GBA Video
Game Boy Advance Video was a format for putting full color, full-motion videos onto Game Boy Advance cartridges. These videos are playable using the GBA system's screen and sound hardware. These video cartridges were manufactured by Majesco, except for the Pokémon Game Boy Advance Video cartridges, which were published by Nintendo. The cartridges themselves were developed by 4Kids Entertainment's subsidiary, 4Kids Technology, Inc. The video cartridges are colored white for easy identification. The GBA Video Paks offer the same 240x160 resolution as standard Game Boy Advance games.

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 and Mr. Whiskers, Kim Possible, Lilo and Stitch: The Series, and The Proud Family. In late 2005, Majesco began to sell GBA Video Paks featuring the full-length animated movies Shrek, Shrek 2, and Shark Tale by DreamWorks Animation. A special GBA Video Pak containing the movies Shrek and Shark Tale combined into one cartridge was released later, costing approximately $29.99 MSRP as of April 2007. As of April 2007, the retail price of original GBA Video Paks was lowered to $9.95.

​Copy Protection Methods
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 tapes or DVD's. 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 couldn't 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.

Disadvantages
Because of the low capacity of Game Boy Advance cartridges (ranging from 4 to 32) 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.

GBA Video Movie Paks

 * GBA Video Movie Pak Vol. 1 (Shrek)


 * GBA Video Movie Pak Vol. 2 (Shrek 2)


 * GBA Video Movie Pak Vol. 3 (Shark Tale)
 * GBA Video Movie Pak: Shrek & Shrek 2
 * GBA Video Movie Pak: Shrek & Shark Tale

Cartoon Network GBA Video Paks

 * Cartoon Network Collection Vol. 1
 * Cartoon Network Collection Vol. 2
 * Cartoon Network Collection Limited Edition
 * Cartoon Network Collection Platinum Edition
 * Cartoon Network Collection Premium Edition
 * Cartoon Network Collection Special Edition
 * Codename: Kids Next Door Vol. 1
 * Dragon Ball GT Vol. 1

Disney Channel/ABC Kids GBA Video Paks

 * Disney Channel Collection Vol. 1
 * Disney Channel Collection Vol. 2
 * The Proud Family Vol. 1
 * Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go! Vol. 1

Nickelodeon GBA Video Paks

 * The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron Vol. 1


 * All Grown Up! Vol. 1


 * Dora the Explorer Vol. 1


 * The Fairly OddParents Vol. 1


 * The Fairly OddParents Vol. 2


 * Nicktoons Collection Vol. 1


 * Nicktoons Collection Vol. 2


 * Nicktoons Collection Vol. 3
 * SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 1
 * SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 2
 * SpongeBob SquarePants Vol. 3

4Kids Entertainment GBA Video Paks

 * Pokémon Vol. 1


 * Pokémon Vol. 2


 * Pokémon Vol. 3


 * Pokémon Vol. 4


 * Sonic X: A Super Sonic Hero, Vol. 1


 * Sonic X: Chaos Emerald Chaos, Vol. 2 (Cancelled)


 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Things Change, Vol. 1


 * Yu-Gi-Oh!: Yugi vs. Joey, Vol. 1

DiC Entertainment GBA Video Paks

 * Strawberry Shortcake Vol. 1