Is my old Game Boy worth money?

Every Game Boy, from the 1989 original to the Game Boy Micro, is collected. The model matters: a screen you can see without a lamp, and a clean battery compartment, make most of the difference.

Which Game Boy do you have?

Model	Years	How to tell
Game Boy (original)	1989	Four AA batteries.
Game Boy Pocket	1996	Smaller; two AAA batteries.
Game Boy Color	1998	Color screen; two AA batteries; plays original Game Boy games too.
Game Boy Advance, AGB-001	2001	Screen without any light.
Game Boy Advance SP, AGS-001	2003	Folds shut; front-lit screen you can turn off; no headphone jack.
Game Boy Advance SP, AGS-101	2005	Backlit screen, much brighter: the SP people want.
Game Boy Micro, OXY-001	2005	Tiny, backlit; plays Game Boy Advance games only.

The model number is on the label at the back. On a Game Boy Advance SP it is the one to read: AGS-101 is the backlit model.

What adds value

Tick what applies to yours:

A clear screen with no dead lines, and on an SP the AGS-101 backlit model.
A clean battery compartment, without the white or green crust of old leaking batteries.
The original box, and special editions in less common colors.

Red flags

Lines or missing rows of pixels on the screen.
Corrosion on the battery contacts.
A replaced screen or shell sold as original: fine to play, worth less to collectors.

Good to know about the Game Boy

Batteries: the original Game Boy runs up to about 30 hours on four AA batteries; the Pocket up to about 10 hours on two AAA.
The Game Boy Color plays original Game Boy games. The Game Boy Micro plays Game Boy Advance games only.
The Game Boy Advance SP has no headphone jack: headphones plug in through an adapter in the charging port.
The Game Boy Light was sold in Japan only (1998).

Live listings on eBay

A few Game Boy consoles listed now, United States, from $30. Asking prices, not sold prices: the price a console actually sells for can be lower.

Game Boy is a product name of Nintendo. We are not affiliated with Nintendo, and we do not appraise anything.

Sources: Wikipedia, Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance SP; ConsoleMods, GBA Model Differences; NinDB, GBA hardware; all read October 15, 2026.