The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA)
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap carried on the trend of giving Link a talking piece of equipment to accompany him on his quest. This time around, it was the Minish Cap — a hat named Ezlo that could shrink Link to microscopic proportions so he can locate the Kinstone fragments and save the Minish people, or 'Picori'.
Another Flagship-developed entry after the company proved itself with the excellent Oracles pair, this was a traditional Zelda adventure that still looks and sounds wonderful, even if it didn't do an awful lot to shake up the formula. It introduced a few new items, though – Mole Mitts, Gust Jar, and Cane of Pacci – and allowed Link to learn new sword techniques throughout the game, as well as gain the ability to fuse elements to his sword. All-in-all, a brilliant bite-sized adventure.
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising (GBA)
Coming a couple of years after the original GBA entry in Intelligent Systems' Wars series, Advance Wars 2 might not have shaken things up a whole lot, but it offered a slew of nice additions, as well as a fun new campaign to work your way through. Certain COs were tweaked to be less overpowered (Max, anyone?) making this a more balanced game than its predecessor. It's arguably more of the same, but when the first course was so delicious, who wouldn't want a second helping?
Mother 3 (GBA)
Mother 3 began life as a Nintendo 64 title before eventually transferring to the Game Boy Advance. In the West it's become something of a cult — a near-mythical Japan-only release that fans of Earthbound have been desperate to play in an official capacity since 2006. That fervent fanbase has taken matters into its own hands with unofficial translations, but beyond the Lucas Smash Bros. amiibo there's been no indication we'll see it any time soon.
Or has there? We've seen games like NES game Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light come to the West with a belated official localisation. Then there was the Wii U release of the original NES Mother, renamed Earthbound Beginnings, and more recently the Western debut of the Famicom Disk System Famicom Detective Club duo boasting a brand new localisation...
If we had to put money on it, we'd say that we will see this given an official English release at some point. Goodness knows there's an appetite for it!
Golden Sun (GBA)
Golden Sun is a fine RPG, perfecting the classic formula whilst introducing unique mechanics of its own. An intriguing setting, likeable characters, and gripping story are the bread-and-butter of any good RPG, and Golden Sun doesn't disappoint on those fronts. The first few hours are a slog, but stick with it and you'll be rewarded with a rich, deep RPG that desperately deserves a modern day instalment.
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (GBA)
The microgames on offer in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! may be simple affairs, but the frantic, fast–paced and challenging experience that results from knitting them together in quick succession is incredibly addictive, and Wario's patented brand of mania is well suited to a handheld. It isn’t the longest game, and beyond the single-player mode there isn’t much else to do, but it’s stuffed full of magical, creative moments, not to mention an abundance of that classic Nintendo nostalgia and charm.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA)
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga's lengthy main adventure felt pretty unique back in 2003. It was only the third RPG-style Mario adventure, but developer AlphaDream's Mario debut hit the jackpot right away with its addictive battle systems and dual brother gameplay. With plenty of side quests to seek out and minigames to replay for high-score chasers, Mario and Luigi's amusing animations and "voice acting" played into the game's great sense of humour and it hasn't lost its ability to raise an ear-to-ear smile.
Mario Tennis: Power Tour (GBA)
Veteran developer Camelot proved it was still top seed with this one. With a comprehensive story mode, tight and entertaining tennis gameplay mechanics and a surprising amount of depth, Mario Tennis: Power Tour (or Mario Power Tennis as it's known in Europe) is a winning on-court return for the plumber (and his pals). It's pretty dialogue-heavy, but there’s a deep, rewarding experience to be found underneath all the waffle, with the story mode serving up a satisfying sense of progression from the very beginning to the Game-Set-Match.
Pokémon Emerald (GBA)
Pokémon Emerald is the upgraded version of Ruby and Sapphire, and — as you might expect — it was more evolution than revolution. It included some new story elements in the Hoenn region, updated the locations where you could nab certain Pokémon, allowed you to catch a greater pool of Pokémon than in its predecessors and added the Battle Frontier — a competition island you can visit after beating the Elite Four to earn badges, buy items and get new moves to teach your 'mon.
Perhaps a little lacking in 'wow' factor for Poké Fans who had been there from the beginning, Emerald was nonetheless solid entry in the Pokémon canon.
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (GBA)
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land is a worthy remake of the pink puffball's first home console adventure. While what it offers is a tad basic compared to what more modern Kirby titles offer, it's still very playable, and there are little creative moments where game occasionally shines. As with practically every other game featuring the Kirbster, its delightful, colourful visuals make it a supremely charming experience, and one which will be most appreciated by players looking for only a very light challenge.
Wario Land 4 (GBA)
Wario Land 4 is a testament to quality over quantity, with the clever nonlinear level structures that lend themselves to multiple playthroughs and further exploration to unlock all the extras. It's a platformer for platforming veterans, full of impeccable level design and a quirky audiovisual presentation that would go on to set the precedent for the WarioWare series. If you're a fan of platformers — which will probably be the majority of you if you're Nintendo aficionados — Wario Land 4 is an absolute must-play.
Astro Boy: The Omega Factor (GBA)
This Treasure-developed take on Osamu Tezuka's classic character was a real looker in the GBA's library — fitting given the prestige of the property and the adoration of manga and anime fans around the world. As opposed to Treasure's usual output, Astro Boy: The Omega Factor is more platforming beat 'em up than run-and-gunner (with a few shmup-style stages thrown in for good measure). It successfully blends traditional manga-style presentation of the characters in dialogue portraits with more rounded 3D-esque sprites and backgrounds for the action. It's a real winner; a licensed game that lives up to the source material.
F-Zero Maximum Velocity (GBA)
As a strictly single-player experience, F-Zero: Maximum Velocity still holds up today as a result of its smooth, skill-based gameplay. There may only be four cups in which to compete, but the varied difficulty and surprisingly steep learning curve when it comes to mastering the vehicles and tracks make this a game you want to keep coming back to. This is an enjoyable dose of the franchise that also highlights what the last Game Boy could really do.
Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town (GBA)
What's better than some friends? More friends, of course! Silly title aside, Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town may be very quaint by modern standards but it has the same charm as its predecessor with just a bit of icing added on the cake. Those who have already played the original Friends of Mineral Town wouldn't be missing much by passing on this version, although this one does enable you to play as a female and take on a new set of potential mates.
For those who have yet to play or own either title, however, More Friends of Mineral Town has the edge with more suitors and the ability to increase funds quicker by flogging them to travelling merchant Won. When all's been tilled and it's time to bring the chickens home to roost, it's hard to go wrong with either of the classic Harvest Moon experiences — this one just has a tad more.
Actually, maybe it was a good title after all.
What was the best Game Boy Advance model?
Most fans tend to agree that the best GBA model is the GBA SP AGS-101, which has a clamshell design (so the screen is protected during transit), a back-lit screen (which is better than the front-lit version on the GBA SP AGS-001) and a rechargeable battery.
However, even this model has its drawbacks; there's no 3.5mm headphone socket, so you have to purchase an additional adapter to use headphones.
Did the GBA have gyro?
No, but certain GBA games have a gyro sensor built into the cartridge itself.
What games can you play on the Game Boy Advance?
The GBA is backwards compatible with all existing Game Boy and Game Boy Color software.
Comments 23
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is a materpiece. The best GBA game ever.
Dang TE, Mario Golf can’t make the cut for best of on either GBC or GBA? Personally, I think Camelot’s golf RPGs were better than their tennis RPGs.
Any love for Ninja Five-O/Ninja Cop? Been playing a fair bit of that lately - love it!
The GBA was such an incredible console it's hard to argue with anything here, but easy to suggest even more. I feel like this could have gone on for another few pages without much depreciation in quality.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong is the most glaring omission for me. It might be my favorite puzzle-platformer of all time, and was a great pick-up-and-play game for this format.
And just to quibble, I'd also suggest FF5 over FF6 for inclusion here if we're only going to list one of them. Not because it's the better game (although it is one of my favorites), but because it feels more indispensible. FF6 is just a straight-up better experience on the SNES, while the GBA version of FF5 was hands-down the best possible way to play it at the time.
I really loved the GBA, despite the issues with the original screen(and methods to compensate), and audio output. GBA sales numbers are pretty good, especially considering it had a compressed lifespan compared to the Game Boy/Color. Aria of Sorrow truly was a wonderful upgrade over the previous two, which were great at the time. I played both the GBA Metroids six months ago and had a great time. Fusion remains my preferred GBA version of the franchise.
Games mentioned in previous comments like Mario vs. Donkey Kong, and Ninja Five-0 were great. I was lucky enough to pick up Ninja Five-0 when it was new as I was keeping up with reviews. Gunstar Super Heroes was really good. The Mega Man Zero games were excellent as well. Also, I'd include Double Dragon Advance, which is another fantastic game for the system.
Another not very good list, missing most of my top games. Warioware Twisted, Ninja Five O, and Yoshi's Island stand out as omissions here.
Games I would add to the list include....
The first Advance Wars.
It was perfect. The sequels had to change the perfect formula in order to make a different game.
Medal of Honor: Infiltrator.
Completely different to the other Medal of Honor games. A top down run & gun game with the best graphics I've seen on the GBA.
Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade/The Sword of Seals.
The first Fire Emblem on the GBA. Bootleg translated version.
My personal faves that are not highly rated are Defender of the Crown and Tiger Woods PGA Tour.
clear GBA is beautiful! 😍
Megaman Zero though…
Metroid Fusion and Aria of Sorrow are peak gaming
The felt linearity in Fusion is more of less an illusion; narratively, finding you cannot go somewhere and must find some other route to keep probing the gameworld is different from being expressly told where to go, but in terms of play, it amounts to the same. Super Metroid might not be "linear" in the false dichotomy people usually use, but has a clear intention regarding progression (not only that, most of the time, you can still explore to find upgrades in other Sectors before heading to the mandatory ones in MF).
Further, it did something to distinguish itself from other Metroids by virtue of the remarkable tension the SA-X brought. A voracious, interesting enemy that also succeeded in being a fantastic exploration of the potential of Samus' darkness; fundamentally, it was Samus without a conscience, only instinct. One could suggest that it finds an analogue in Metroid Prime 2's Dark Samus but by comparison, MP2's take on it felt like an overused, boring enemy that had nothing to say for itself.
It also brilliantly subverts a handful of expectations, things players would take for granted in other games of the series, like: save stations (and the relative safety they bring) being momentarily shut down due to the SA-X's tampering, enemies that mimicked Energy Tanks, or even how weapon upgrades are incremental yet still distinct enough to not need extra inputs through a menu toggle
I'd add Super Dodge Ball. Loved that game.
I can agree with pretty much all of these. I owned most of these and still have them. the GBA SP is my favorite handheld of all time by a large margin. Top three game machines with the Switch and PS2.
Not many played it but one of my cult favorite is Riveria: The Promised Land. It was such a different rpg. I am really glad I kept it.
If I was on a desert island and had some sort of solar charger for a GBA SP then Advance Wars skirmish mode is the only game I would need.
Isn't amazing the amount of great games the system had in such a short lifespan? I remember the 2001 launch like it was yesterday - suddenly it's 2004 and the DS is announced!
The only thing that's missing is a full, exclusive Mario platform. To this day I don't undertand why they didn't make one. Hmm... yes, the GBC had a similar lifespan and also had none. 🤔
@JoeYabuki
Nintendo were having issues developing a GameCube Mario game at the time. They never had the time to work on a GBA game.
@JoeYabuki I know it's not the same but Mario vs Donkey Kong is kind of like a mario game. Too bad it never got a real sequel. Oh yeah they also forgot that somehow.
Not really big on GB(A) games, but I did do some research and bought Justice League Heroes: The Flash and I think it's really cool (although I haven't played that much).
It's a WayForward game btw.
@Damo Game Boy Color was a modest improvement on the original Game Boy because it WAS a stopgap to withhold its brand recognition against the WonderSwan and NeoGeo Pocket.
Nintendo was actually working on the GBA before the GBC. As I'm certain it was rumored in EGM in 1996 as "Project Atlantis" (a "32-bit color console with four buttons" or something) before the GBC was announced in early 1998 (and released by the end of the year).
Also, the GBA SP-101 and the Game Boy Micro were launched SIMULTANEOUSLY in 2005. I can remember the forum posts when the 101 was released (with the NEW BRIGHTER SCREEN indication on the box) and people were like "so why would I want to buy the Micro?").
@killroy10 Fusion frequently locks you into forward progression, and locks you out of places.
Miss some of the hidden powerups around the first encounter with the Security Robot in Sector 3? Too bad, you can't get back up there until you get the Screw Attack at the end of the game.
Nightmare in Sector 5 lived up to its name because I was way too underpowered for a first time casual play. GIT GUD, BRO I guess is what the game was saying.
Also how it locks you into the Main Deck once you enter there after defeating Ridley. I hear it doesn't do that if you are a "New Game+" save. So you can only get back into the Sector areas through the secret Sector 2 back door. I have to wonder if that entrance was intentional or an oversight. Either way is a pretty crappy and out of place design choice.
Inexplicably, the European GBA version of A Link to the Past is one of the only games I have heard of to go to the localization effort of changing floor numbers to use UK counting.
@KingMike Very true: locking Samus into the main Sector seems arbitrary, but the core issue remains: unless we're talking about those very specific situations (such as the meltdown in PYR, which places the entire station at risk) players are free to explore other sectors before moving onto mission objectives. I guess it's easy to dismiss these as "forced linearity"; I just think that, given the pressing issue(s) (the crescendo of the station's decay, the multiple SA-X's that Adam warns about, the X growing increasingly adaptive until that final form), they fit the narrative well. It's really Metroid trying to do something different while keeping the core themes and I think it mostly succeeds.
Hey, I'd almost forgotten Nightmare. That's a pretty singular boss in the series although I think Fusion's version has a pretty demanding hitbox, though.
That's actually an interesting point. I don't think I ever invested much play time in the NewGame; 'll try to load up Fusion as soon as possible and see how it handles that scenario in particular.
Aside from the Pokemon games (which I only replayed so much so I could transfer certain monsters to my Pearl save file), my most played GBA games were Sword of Mana, Shining Soul 2, and Puzzle League.
I quite enjoyed Lufia - Ruins of Lore. Not sure if I'd ever replay it, though.
Magical Vacation is another nice RPG. I've thought about replaying it with the English patch. The sequel on the DS is one of the funniest RPGs I've ever played.
Oriental Blue - Ao no Tengai seems quite promising. I just need to find the time to actually play it. Same goes for Summon Night - Craft Sword Monogatari 3.
Tales of the World - Narikiri Dungeon 2 was alright, I guess. Not really a Tales fan.
Klonoa - Empire of Dreams and Dream Champ Tournament are quite fun, as are Gunstar Super Heroes and Advance Guardian Heroes.
Altered Beast - Guardian of the Realms is much, much better than the original Mega Drive game. Definitely worth checking out.
Samurai Jack - Amulet of Time is a decent Metroid-esque game that has some really nice visuals if you're into the cartoon.
Bomberman Story and Bomberman Jetters - Densetsu no Bomberman are basically Bomberman meets Zelda. Good stuff.
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