Beta Releases in GTA Advance

Before the release of Grand Theft Auto Advance, there were features that were removed from the final product.

At the beginning of its development, GTA Advance was meant to be a portable version of Grand Theft Auto III for Game Boy Advance. This possibly means that the protagonist would be Claude, the story would be the same as that of GTA III missions, characters and vehicles.

In May of 2001, Destination Software obtained the license to develop the Game Boy Advance version of GTA III, in conjunction with other games of Rockstar Games. In November of that year, the Digital Worldwide company confirmed that it would be in charge of the publication and distribution of the game, announcing that the game would be released at the end of 2002, but its launching was delayed several times.

At the end of 2002, Destination Software lost the license and the development was given to Crawfish Interactive. During the development, the game took a drastic change and stopped being only a portable version of GTA III

According to an formely developer of the game, Dave Murphy, explained that this version takes place in a few months before the events of GTA III. The characters was a mix of GTA III's characters and some new ones based on their colleagues of the developer.

During the development, the company closed by economic problems and Rockstar granted the license to Digital Eclipse, changing the game's name to Grand Theft Auto: Advance.

Removed content and changes

 * One of the possibly removed characters, Joey Leone, was reused in one mission in the final game as a mafia member in Staunton Island.
 * The barrel was supposed to appear in the final version of the game. Its function was to throw it and make it roll and crush people and vehicles that crossed in his way. This weapon was removed from the game for being unrealistic.
 * The BF Injection was different and had different colors, but in the final game there are only painted blue. Also the police car and the Borgnine was a bit different.
 * Some GTA III's vehicles names can be found in the game's line codes.