GBA SP celebrates first anniversary in North America

Nintendo's Game Boy Advance SP passed the first anniversary of its launch in North America this week, with the diminutive handheld officially the fastest-selling console ever in the territory.

Since its introduction twelve months ago, the GBA SP has sold some 6.5 million units in North America, the highest first year sales figure for any console - either handheld or home - ever launched there.

It's an impressive accomplishment for the SP, not least because it had so much to live up to - with the clamshell cased wonder now officially the most successful product in the Game Boy family, which has sold some 160 million units in total in the past 14 years.

In total, over 20 million Game Boy Advance and GBA SP systems have been sold in the United States, and over 500 games are available for the system. Far from the general perception of the Game Boy as a kids' system, though, Nintendo claims that over 35 per cent of GBA SPs are owned by people over the age of 18.

The GBA SP retails for $99.99 in the USA, and comes in four different colours - Platinum, Onyx, Cobalt and Flame (that's silver, black, blue and red to the rest of us).