Although the Game Boy certainly wasn't Nintendo's first venture into portable gaming thanks to the Game & Watch series from the early 1980s, the system was a breakout hit in 1989, completely revolutionizing handled gaming for good. With the success of the system, many iterations followed, such as the Game Boy Color, the Game Boy Pocket, and most importantly, the Game Boy Advance in 2001.
The Game Boy Advance was impressive for its time, making the jump from the 8-bit Game Boy Color over to packing a 32-bit processor into a small, compact casing. With its own iterations that followed such as the Game Boy Advance SP, the system went on to sell over 80 million units, being home to fan-favorite games like Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, Metroid Fusion, Mother 3 in Japan, and more. Now, it appears that an unreleased version of the Game Boy Advance has been revealed.
Over on Twitter, video game conservationist Developer Jeff posted images of a never-before-seen prototype Game Boy Advance system donning an unreleased "Lemon Yellow" color scheme. The system features an eye-catching yellow color, a set of bright yellow buttons including the d-pad, L, and R buttons, as well as green Start and Select buttons.
The prototype Game Boy Advance system can be seen with wires coming from its battery pack, as well as a protruding game pack in another photo, as the system is capable of being used as a controller with the "IS CGB/AGB Emulator Box Ver.01," Developer Jeff notes. Although a yellow "Dandelion" Game Boy Color was released back in 1998, this Lemon Yellow Game Boy Advance never made it to store shelves, despite the system receiving nearly 30 different-colored and themed variations over the years. Developer Jeff also tweeted that more pictures and an in-depth teardown of the prototype system will be released soon.
Nintendo has created Pikachu yellow-colored versions of many of its systems throughout the years, but every officially released limited edition Pokemon Game Boy Advance system surprisingly featured other colors. Although the classic handheld has been out of the limelight for quite some time, it has seen a bit of attention recently, such as the resurfacing of another prototype system from Nintendo's Space World 2002 trade show.
With all of the attention that the Game Boy Advance has been getting lately, many fans are hoping that some fan-favorite Game Boy Advance games will make their way over to Nintendo Switch Online's library of classic games soon. Regardless, the resurfacing of this prototype Lemon Yellow system serves as an interesting look into the Game Boy Advance's development phases.