Nobody appears to have discussed this...

Why is it still selling so well in America?  What is that the GBA can do that the DS can't? 

Yeah it's only 80 bucks... but in Japan GBA is practically dead.

 Any insights?  Anecdotes?

Umm I have discussed this I had a whole topic dedicated to the GBA and how it is still a viable competitor with the PSP. Just scroll down a little.

As for why is GBA so succesful despite it's lack of first party support. Simple the GBA has a massive library of games and a newer model (GBA:Micro). Many of Nintendo's first party titles are now selling as Players Choice games at prices of 29.99CDN and the console can go as cheap as 35$ CDN I have seen it on sale but averages like 69.99-89.99CDN in some cases.

However with many retailers actually dropping the GBA's price to far below the standard 80 or so dollars. I've seen them going for very cheap and people continue to buy them. A parent can buy all 4 of her children GBA's and games for about the price of a single PSP with a game or so.

Also third parties continue to support GBA to a degree not that many origional IP's or origional works but the GBA is still recieving new software. These new games are an incentive on top of the cheap price! Another major factor is likely Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire , FireRed/LeafGreen are all Players Choice at 29.99CDN many gamers are buying GBA's just for them.

If Nintendo continues to cut the hardware price by about 10CDN annually I could see it continuing to sell on a minor scale well into the 2010's. If Nintendo was to renew small support of the platform giving it one or two first party games a year, maybe make it open source drop all of their liscensing requirement's you would see a rebirth. The GBA could see growth again and could even compete against the likes of PSP.

Imagine if at E3 this year Nintendo announced a port of EarthBound 2 (Mother3) and that all liscensing restrictions were officially being lifted much like what happened to Intellivision on its dying days or DreamCast. This would drive third party developers nuts suddenly dozens of new titles could be announced. Smaller publishers who couldn't afford the liscensing fees could suddenly be producing new software on the GBA and Nintendo could see a renewal in hardware sales.

The GBA could live on for years to come, look at it this way we all remember and still can walk into a store and buy one of those crappy portable games. Lets say the portable Monopoly and stuff that sells for about 19.99CDN or 9.99USD. If Nintendo could be profitable selling GBA at the 9.99$ price anybody could simply go pick one up. This would ensure the GBA's survival for a very long time! 

ah, that makes sense.  it really is cheap.  and yeah, if it's like $30... why get one of those cheap-ass portable game machines.

but what's happening in japan?  it's practically dead.

i'll go check out the other post. 

Japan is a different market, a market that cares alot about technology in a country that's economy is sustained through such technology. Japan is a much more difficult market to sell some cheaper obsolete device. Also most of the GBA games being released aren't targetting the Japanese audience. The last true push with the Japanese audience was the remakes of FinalFantasy series and the release of Mother 3 (EarthBound2).

Both EarthBound and the FF re-releases did very well in Japan as far as I know. EarthBound sold more then 3-million copies (correct me if I'm wrong) which is a huge deal considering GBA was on the verge of extinction. Look at the games being released on GBA today and you'll notice RPG's/RTS really don't make up much of the list if any of the list.

Along with the lack of Japanese targeted software their is a lack of solid franchises. With no first party Nintendo support the Japanese market is far more inclined to support a different platform. Also the Japanese user base has in most cases prefered titles created in Japan, their isn't that many Japanese developers still supporting GBA.

In the end the GBA is fairing better in North America due to the targets of the software (North American's) also I'm betting Nintendo Of America is also putting more effort into selling GBA then Nintendo LTD is in Japan. The DS is trumping GBA in Japan but here in North America the GBA is a verycheap alternative and tons of great games so people continue buying it!

I didn't think the GBA Micro did well...I thought people were still getting SPs...