The unofficial GBA PIXEL BOOK

Today, retro has long been considered good gamer etiquette - but 20 years ago, enthusiasm for pixel graphics as we know them from the 8- and 16-bit era was by no means a given. The early 3D generation had a firm grip on the world of video games: what had started in 1995 with the first PlayStation had long since displaced our beloved bitmap buddies - the pixel seemed to be giving way to the polygon. With one exception: in the handheld domain, classic 2D graphics are still very much alive! Fueled by the early success of "Pokémon", the Game Boy, which had almost been forgotten, is experiencing a second spring and is even experiencing further hardware iterations. First, the pocket game was given a long overdue color makeover - and after the success of the Game Boy Color, it was even given a real successor in 2001: the "Game Boy Advance" became a technically advanced arcade and console cosmos for the pocket, specializing in modern 2D pixel graphics. It breathed new, portable life into many of our favorite Super Nintendo games - but above all, it gave us a whole host of its own classics: two "Advance Wars" strategic games, several "Castlevania" and "Metroid" episodes, perhaps the most beautiful 2D "Zelda", two unforgettable "Golden Sun" role-playing games, wonderful monster tournaments in its own "Pokémon" generation and pixel shooters firing on all cylinders like "Gunstar Future Heroes" impressively prove that pixel graphics are still viable. And they make the small GBA the first genuine retro memory console in the world: Without it, the retro boom of the last few years would probably have looked very different - or it would never have happened at all.

No wonder that Nintendo's handy pixel grab bag is the declared favorite pocket game of the two game journalists Robert Bannert and Thomas Nickel: After having already described and illustrated the 16-bit universe with retro books on Super Nintendo and Mega Drive, they are now devoting their third PIXEL BOOK to the Game Boy Advance. Their "unofficial GBA PIXEL BOOK " describes over 300 pages what perhaps the best handheld generation felt like. They illustrate the most beautiful and important classics of this mobile gaming era with the help of a number of images and level maps specially created for this book - even more numerous, detailed and larger than in the first two PIXEL BOOKS. The concentrated pixel splendor is accompanied by numerous classifications, analyses, background reports and a foreword by the well-known German game journalist Heinrich Lenhardt.

More than 300 pages with maps, articles, analyses, classifications, essays, countless screenshots and large-format images of perhaps the most beautiful handheld era ever: After the success of the unofficial SNES and MEGA DRIVE PIXEL BOOK, the two well-known retro experts Robert Bannert and Thomas Nickel are devoting themselves to their favourite mini console. Unforgettable pocket hits such as "Advance Wars", "Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance", "Metroid Fusion" and "Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga" impressively demonstrate how the GBA rekindled the desire for pixel graphics after years of 3D hype - which is why the classics in the "unofficial GBA PIXEL BOOK " are laid out before you even more lovingly, magnificently and in more detail than in the two previous works. In keeping with this, a humorous foreword by the well-known German games journalist and retro expert Heinrich Lenhardt will get you in the mood for your retro reading.

Like its predecessors, “The Unofficial GBA PIXEL BOOK” is printed on chlorine-free bleached 150-gram paper and has a high-quality thread binding. The book measures 21.5 by 21.5 centimeters including the hardcover cover.