Sound has always taken a back seat to reviews. It has never been the main focus of scoring a game, and in many ways, for good reason. Sound is not what gives the player entertainment. That is the job of the gameplay. Sound does something entirely different. Sound is what can be called the icing on the cake. It affects another major aspect of a video game, and that is what we call a game's atmosphere. The atmosphere of a game is what affects the mood of a gamer. It can make then full of laughter or it can make then soil their clothes in supreme fear of what is behind the next corridor of a creepy mansion. Sound comes in two-forms. They would be sound effects and music. Each one is important in its own special way. If a game had no sound, it simply would not be the type of game that people are used to. In fact, it may not even be considered a game by many, because without that factor, it loses one of the main ingredients of positive game making.

               In this article, we will cover the many important impacts of sound on the video gaming world over the years and then finally compare the beginning of game sound, to our present time.In the early days of video game technology, sound could be described as one of the smallest things on the mind of a developer of that time. The main focus then, was on showing off their new form of entertainment and that translated mainly into gameplay. In the time in which I call the Atari age, there were a plethora of games released and some were rushed while the others, were worked on vigilantly by a hardworking team of developers. There were however a few developing teams that cared more about the games, than they did about cashing in on the new trend. Those people tended to concentrate on every aspect of the game that they possibly could. That included making the sound as believable ass possible, as long as the technology permitted it. During the days of the early consoles, there was little to no traces of music in practically any game. The main contribution of sound at that time was in the area of sound effects. While today, those sounds are considered as simple, corny and tinny little bleeps of noise, back then, they were highly praised for simply existing in that type of technology. Some sounds are still considered innovative today, but mainly under the circumstances that they have never been used since (some with good reason). In the years that would follow, sound would evolve into a much more complicated process and it would never really show it's potential until the 16-Bit console generation when technology took a giant leap towards being a viable form of competition to books, television and even comic books.

               The 16-Bit era was the time where the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo ruled supreme. Even though the Genesis eventually became the winner, both systems proved they had an equal share of contributions to give to the public. The Super Nintendo was marginally superior in power to the Sega Genesis but both had nearly the same sound capabilities. The Genesis had its fair share of success in the sound department mainly in it's action games, while the Super Nintendo was highly known for it's sweeping RPG soundtracks (the Sega Genesis was never acclaimed much for RPG's although the system did have a few hits in that category). Some of the more known games that had great great soundtracks were, the Donkey Kong Country series and the highly successful Final Fantasy saga. Many developers tried hard to pretend or hide the fact that they were using low quality sound synthesizers. They did a great job of doing so, until the novelty of 16-Bit gaming began to wear off. Towards the end of that era, there were a few more notable games that had contributions in sound and most notably would be Yoshi's Island: Super Mario World 2. Sound would then lift off into unexplored territory as sound would have to make 3D worlds believable as the 32-Bit era took off. We will not go that far unfortunately as the Game Boy Advance cannot be compared in any positive way to 32-Bit gaming as doing so would be completely unfair.

               We now will look at how the sound of the original Game Boy made impacts on the world. It was a relatively small step when looked to now, but the Game Boy was one big achievement when it was first released. It was the most advance portable handheld device of it's time and to this date there has not been one single leap as great as the Game Boy considering that the closest thing to it at the time of its release was a calculator or a tape cassette player. The Game Boy had graphics inferior to that of the 16-Bit and 32-Bit era's but its sound (although also inferior when compared) was put to the test just as much and possibly even more than it's more powerful counterparts. That system also had the challenge of creating realistic sound track and bytes for the games it had, enough so that the gamer would believe their surroundings at least a little bit more than they would have without it. This time Zelda takes the crown for being the most imaginative and innovative sound achievement the system ever had. Now the detractors who say that the Game Boy was a worthless pile of garbage should take note that the Game Boy is one of the most highest selling video game systems ever and that it has been the favorite choice of millions of gamers for years. So taking that in mind, people will have to realize that a small system can achieve a lot in the time it exists. The Game Boy was the best example of classic video game sound quality even beating out the games of the Atari and Original Nintendo time periods.

               So now how did the Game Boy and the various video game eras affect the Game Boy Advance? Well, in every way possible of course. Each individual system had at least one trial and error component that in some way affected the outcome of the Game Boy Advance's final product. In many ways it is what wasn't available to the developers then, that made it into the system now. Developers often complained about limited ability's to synch the sound and a bank load of other nit picks. The Game Boy Advance features enhanced sound support and plenty of new features to make the sound even more true to life. In the end, sound has affected the Game Boy Advance in every single way possible and that is a perfect example of why you kids should pay attention in history class. Why? Mainly because everything has an effect on the future in some way. Always remember that.