Game Help: Gameboy advance

Hello guys,

I would like to ask for a recommendation about pokemon games. I started to play about two years ago Pokemon Leaf Green on PC emulator and eventually I got my gf into this as well. Since we have only one PC I got it on my phone but now we would like to play together (trades and battles). So we decided to get us gameboy. Now before I make any purchase I was looking for more informations. Could you help me with this, please? I have several questions, and I'd be very happy for any of your answers.
So my questions are:
1. On gameboy advance (SP model is the one we like) there are five official games (FR/LG, S/R/E) so far I know. Can games from gen. 2 (or even gen. 1) be played there as well, or are they different format?
2. I guess the answer is no, but still... can you play newer generations (4, 5,...) on GBA?
3. If we decided to go "higher" and get us Nintentdo DS (or 3DS), can you play generations 1-3 here? (I've read here that for DS are most of Pokemon games created).
4. My last question (so far) is a little more technical (and probably the most stupid one). I was looking at games for GBA and there are super great differences in price. Some of them are called "cartridges" which I suppose is just the regular names for the games, but according to my research some have internal battery. I wouldn't want to buy "dead game", even though they appear to be playable after battery runs out, since it "only" runs some kind of internal clock for some in-game events. So my question is: Are those (link) regular games that can actually be played? They look like (I see there circuits), but I am really not sure, since I've never ever seen gameboy games in my whole life (my only console was Sony's PS 1 and 2).
Link: https://ebay.to/2LQQq34

Thank you for any of your anwers :-)

Hi Isirgath and welcome the forum. I have answers to your questions.

1. The Gameboy Advance Sp can play the Generation 1, 2, and 3 games.
2. You can't play the DS and newer games on any Gameboy Advance.
3. Only the Original DS and and DS Lite can play Generation 3 cartridges. Generation 1 and 2 game cartridges cannot be played on any DS. However virtual versions of Generation 1 and 2 games can be played on the 3DS and 2DS
4. Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald are the Generation 3 games that use a battery to keep a clock running. This is used for timed based events such as berry growing and changing the tide at Shoal Cave. Non timed based events will continue as normal. FireRed and Leaf Green do not have clock based events and therefore do not have a battery. Regarding the Ebay link, they are reproductions and not the original cartridges from Nintendo.

Hi Red,

thank you very much for all your answers. This helped me very much indeed.