GAMEBOOK ADVANCE (Deluxe Edition)

Nintendo's Game Boy hardware absolutely dominated the gaming scene, captivating players across the whole world with many amazing games. Amassing over 100 million consoles sold for the platform in the process, over both the GameBoy and its successor, the GameBoy Color, the 8-bit hardware was really showing its age after 12 long years at the top. In 2001, the time was right for something new.

Packing 32-bit architecture, boasting backwards compatibility with the previous line and sporting a new, sleek, landscape design, the GameBoy Advance would also be home to some truly mesmerising experiences with some of the finest pixel-based visuals ever seen - which still hold up well today, nearly 25 years later. This absolute powerhouse of a handheld only had short lifespan on the market, but left an imprint on many a player, and so it's only right that it gets a coffee table book championing the best of the platform and its games. And that's where GAMEBOOK: ADVANCE comes in.

Having already covered the original GameBoy platform in 2023's GAMEBOOK: The Unofficial DMG Companion, and the Color successor in 2024's GAMEBOOK COLOR,  Paul Murphy is back to complete his GAMEBOOK trilogy with a tome dedicated to the GameBoy Advance. Revisiting many games from the vast repertoire available, what you get here is pure, unadulterated love for the 32-bit successor in the GameBoy line.

Whilst unofficial projects like this can be considered fair use, the use of trademarks is what usually causes trouble. GameBook isn't a trademark. It's just two words put together. Also, the GameBoy Advance model was labeled AGB-001, which stood for Advanced GameBoy. That's why it is The Unofficial AGB Companion. 

As well as a quintessential list of the best GameBoy Advance games, there will be a historical dive into the platform as well as more in-depth retrospectives on many of the titles that defined the handheld. There's a nod to myriad of SNES games which were ported to the hardware, a comprehensive, hand-drawn timeline and the retrospectives will be written  by some outstanding freelance writers which go into more detail about the definitive GameBoy Advance games, with these iconic franchises accompanied by some mesmerising artwork, as also happened in the first two books. If you loved those, then you'll both love this and know what to expect.

GameBook Advance covers the GameBoy Advance era, which runs from 2001 to 2006. Beginning with the original AGB-001 model and all of the redesigned systems launched after. It'll also tackle the Game Boy Player and even a smaller feature on the DS: it did play GBA games after all! We will touch on the competition too, with a small look at the N-Gage. It also covers the Pokemon Mini micro console which launched during the GBA's lifespan too.

As well as some interesting pieces alongside the best games, it's also going to have some brilliant photography inside the book as well. The book will be 21cm x 21cm in size, identical to its predecessors, the GameBook and the GameBook Color. Coming with a hardcover finish, the book will be finished with high-quality, uncoated paper stock and all sorts of cool content across 400 pages - the largest book we've made so far, showing the hardware the respect it deserves.

This deluxe package includes the GAMEBOOK ADVANCE, an "Indigo" enamel AGB badge, a foil bookmark and a foil AGB blueprint, as well as a digital copy too! It's also individually hand numbered and limited to just 100 copies.