Indie platformer Goodboy Galaxy will roll onto the Game Boy Advance after smashing its $24,777 Kickstarter goal on the first day, with enhanced versions set for release on the Nintendo Switch and Steam. Conceived by two friends who enjoy the GBA's dynamic library of games, the dog-centric exploration platformer will become the first official Game Boy Advance title in 13 years. Passion projects like ROMS have come and gone for the console in recent years, some of them meeting an abrupt demise upon drawing Nintendo's attention.

Interest in the Game Boy Advance appears to prevail over the years since its discontinuation in 2010, seeing as gamers seeking old classics like The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Metroid Fusion and Mario Kart: Super Circuit have often resorted to Game Boy Advance console emulators. But a similar movement has also resulted from this demand: the rise in GBA fan-games and cartridges. One fan transferred an entire 2-hour-30-minute movie to the console's cartridges this past March, while another reimagined Genshin Impact's Klee in a The-Minish-Cap-style game mock-up.

Related: Nintendo Switch Has Officially Outsold The Game Boy Advance

Rik Nicol (via Eurogamer), one of the creators of Goodboy Galaxy, recently posted an update on the game's Kickstarter page, thanking supporters for helping the project surpass its target goal by 328 percent. Over 1,200 backers and counting have donated to the game, totaling over $87,000. All money raised in the campaign will go towards the creators' stretch goals. The team has reached all but one of its stretch goals (engine release), which means Goodboy Galaxy will have both the digital and boxed versions of the game for Switch and Game Boy Advance. Additional goals for the project include co-op missions, a color comic, and an exclusive GBA console chapter featuring one of the game's side characters.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/penguinrik/goodboy-galaxy-exploration-platform-game-gba-pc-and-switch/description

Goodboy Galaxy's team (via Eurogamer) likened its adventure platformer to classic Game Boy Advance games like Metroid or Cave Story, but "cute." The game follows titular good boy Maxwell, an astronaut dog on a quest to explore the galaxy, as he finds new friends and tries to prevent the ecological collapse of his home planet. Maxwell will trek through levels full of secrets, upgrade his abilities along the way and collect friendship cards from characters he befriends along the way. In the same way that the adorable 16-bit survival game Wanderlost plays with the classic trope of a grim and desolate apocalyptic setting, the trailer for Goodboy Galaxy portrays a wholesome experience amid a global crisis.

At a time when there appears to be a demand for revisiting the Game Boy era, Goodboy Galaxy provides yet another outlet for such gaming. Perhaps this will be the first of a slew of commercial Game Boy Advance releases in the future - especially with recent technology allowing for such games to be played without the console itself.

Next: Ways Nintendo Can Celebrate The Game Boy Advance’s 20th Anniversary

Sources: Goodboy Galaxy/Kickstarter, Eurogamer