Grand Theft Auto Advance

Updated 28 October 2026 · Fan site. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.

Grand Theft Auto Advance is a 2004 Game Boy Advance game developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Rockstar Games. It came out in North America on 26 October 2004. Set in Liberty City in 2000, one year before GTA III, it follows a small-time criminal named Mike who seeks revenge for the apparent murder of his partner.

What is GTA Advance?

Grand Theft Auto Advance is a handheld spin-off made for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. Rockstar did not build it in-house. The studio Digital Eclipse developed it, with Michael Mika Sr. as director and James Stanley as writer. Stanley produced it with William S. Schmitt. Cathryn Mataga handled programming, and Boyd Burggrabe and Daniel Shallock did the art. On the box it is simply called Grand Theft Auto. It is counted as the eighth entry in the series.

It came out in the same week as San Andreas, which reached PlayStation 2 in North America on the same day, 26 October 2004. The two games share a release date but very different hardware.

When is GTA Advance set?

The game takes place in Liberty City in 2000, one year before the events of Grand Theft Auto III. That makes it a prequel, and several familiar faces appear, including the bomb maker 8-Ball and the Yakuza boss Asuka Kasen. Both go on to give jobs to Claude a year later in GTA III, so the handheld story fills in a little of their background.

Who is the main character in GTA Advance?

The player controls Mike, a low-level criminal. He and his partner Vinnie plan to leave Liberty City for good. Then Vinnie appears to be killed, and Mike sets out to find who did it. His search leads him through the city's gangs, from the Colombian Cartel to the Yardies led by King Courtney.

Story

The twist is that Vinnie is alive. He faked his own death, and along the way he killed a man named Jonnie as well as Cisco. Mike kills Vinnie and takes his money. With help from the Yakuza, he raids King Courtney's hideout. At the end he escapes Liberty City on a private jet bound for Colombia.

How does GTA Advance play?

The camera is top-down, like the first game and GTA 2, but the structure is closer to the 3D games. You save at safe houses, most of the series' weapons are present, and vehicle side missions return. The on-screen display is styled after the 3D games.

The handheld's limits show in places. Cutscenes are text boxes with hand-drawn character portraits rather than animated scenes. There is no radio. Instead each car plays a single fixed tune.

Reception

Reviews were mixed to positive. Metacritic lists it at 68 out of 100, meaning mixed or average reviews. IGN gave it 8.5 out of 10, Game Informer 7.5 and GameSpot 6.5. Wikipedia gives no sales figures for the game.

Legacy

A year later Rockstar released another GTA III prequel, Liberty City Stories, on the PlayStation Portable, this time in full 3D.