GBA marks second birthday in Europe

Nintendo's was this week celebrating the second anniversary of the launch of the Game Boy Advance in Europe - with sales of over two million units of the pint sized console and its successor, the GBA SP, in the UK alone.

Over 6.5 million of the consoles have been sold throughout Europe, and the console retains its crown as Europe's fastest selling console, according to Nintendo's figures. Over 20 million units of GBA software have been sold to date in the territory.

That last figure is the downside to all this success - the fact is that software sales for the system in Europe are very poor indeed, even for key titles such as Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past. A tie ratio of just over 3:1 for a two year old console isn't exactly a great figure, especially given that over 300 titles are available for the system.

Nintendo plans to launch an additional 60 titles by the end of 2003, and the launch of Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire next month is bound to drive sales of both software and of the console itself. Super Mario Advance 4 is also set to arrive this year, as is Hamtaro - although whether Nintendo's franchise will have the impact here that it does in Japan is another question. More hardcore gamers will welcome the arrival of titles such as Advance Wars 2, and hopefully Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

"The success of Game Boy Advance in the past two years has been nothing short of phenomenal," according to Nintendo UK general manager Andy Williams. "The console has revolutionised hand held gaming and it's fantastic to see Game Boy Advance still going strong alongside the recently launched Game Boy Advance SP."