The Unofficial GBA Pixel Book
Pure Nostalgia
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Today’s post is a little different—no TTRPGs, no rulebooks—just pure video-game nostalgia. For my birthday, I received an absolutely gorgeous book from Bitmap Books, and I’ve been dying to share it with you.
If you’re not familiar with them, Bitmap Books specializes in high-quality anthologies that celebrate retro gaming: consoles like the Nintendo 64, the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color, the Sega Genesis, and even genre-focused collections like Japanese RPGs or first-person shooters.
But today, we’re talking about something very close to my heart:
The unofficial Game Boy Advance Pixel Book.
A Love Letter to the Game Boy Advance
The GBA is easily one of my favorite consoles of all time. I played Advance Wars, Golden Sun, Tony Hawk, Pokémon, and so many others to absolute death. This book is basically a curated stroll through my childhood—a beautifully assembled collection of pixel art, screenshots, maps, and memories.
The book is organized by genre:
Adventure & Strategy
Dungeon Crawlers
Pocket RPGs
Platformers
Action Games
Miscellaneous Titles
Each section is packed with full-page spreads, crisp pixel art, and layouts that feel like flipping through an art gallery of your youth. If you love pixel art or grew up with a GBA in your hands, it’s hard not to smile while turning every page.
A Coffee-Table Treasure
This is the kind of book that lives perfectly on a coffee table. Friends who come over will instinctively start flipping through it, pointing at games they forgot existed:
“Oh my god, Metroid Fusion!”
“I remember this Castlevania!”
“Wait—Sonic was on GBA?”
I even found myself rediscovering games I had completely forgotten I played. The book even includes full maps of certain titles, which brought back that feeling of spending hours trying to find one NPC, or that secret room in Golden Sun, without guides, mods, or YouTube walkthroughs.
Honestly, just sitting with this book feels like being 12 again, playing in the backseat of the car with that tiny attachable GBA lamp because the screen didn’t have a backlight. Bliss.
Some Personal Highlights
Pokémon (of course)
Who doesn’t love Pokémon? Magikarp and Snorlax still have a special place in my heart.
Metroid Fusion
Still one of the coolest suits in the whole series—such stylish art direction.
Castlevania
I’m not a Castlevania expert, but the GBA title where you collected cards to combine powers? Loved it. Never finished it—it was way too hard—but I remember how unique it felt.
Advance Wars
A major turning point for me. It was my first turn-based strategy game after years of real-time strategy on PC (Age of Empires, Age of Mythology). It’s honestly where my love for the genre really started.
Metal Slug
Funny enough, the first time I played Metal Slug wasn’t even on GBA—it was on Xbox. My best friend and I spent entire weekends trying to beat it and never managed to finish the final boss. We knew the levels by heart. If either of us lost even one life too early, we’d restart the whole run. Brutal, but unforgettable.
A Few Games I Never Expected to See
Sonic on GBA?
Sports games I barely remember?
Dragon Ball titles I somehow never touched despite being obsessed with the manga?
The book reminded me just how wild and varied the GBA library actually was.
Why This Book Is So Special
It’s a pure feel-good object.
A nostalgia machine.
A time capsule for anyone who grew up mashing buttons before school or spending Saturdays playing Tony Hawk with a bowl of cereal.
Bitmap Books really outdid themselves here—the quality is incredible. Thick pages, vibrant printing, and even a protective slipcase. For some of their other books—like the Nintendo 64 anthology or the Japanese RPG book—I might genuinely need to make room on my shelf soon.
Share Your Nostalgia With Me
If you grew up in the GBA era, I’d love to know:
What was your favorite Game Boy Advance game?
What console defined your childhood?
Which game in this book sparked the strongest memory for you?
Whether you were a Pokémon kid, a Golden Sun fanatic, a Metroid loyalist, or someone who lived for sports titles, I’d love to hear your stories.
Thanks for reading—and if you ever get your hands on this Pixel Book, prepare for one heck of a nostalgia blast.