Best GBA Games

Mystic Terrapin

Hey guys. I'm on a GBA kick, lately and I always considered it like a second coming of the SNES. I'll be putting my DSFat towards a 3DS, so eventually I will lose GBA compatibility and I wanna invest in the special FFIV GBMicro.

What are recommended titles?

I currently have:

Zelda: ALTtP/FS
Zelda: The Minish Cap
Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis
Tales of Phantasia
Final Fantasy I&II: Dawn of Souls
Final Fantasy IV (Going to find V and VI)
MegaMan Battle Network 1-4
Shining Soul II
Yoshi's Island

My friend gave me one of the Castlevanias, I haven't checked which one.

EddieDean

Golden Sun I & II.

LewieP

Both Metroids are lovely.

Chen

Advance Wars
Advance Wars: Black Hole Rising
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Golden Sun
Golden Sun: The Lost Age
Metroid Fusion
Wario Ware Inc.: Mega Microgames

DekuStick

Harvest Moon : Friends of Mineral Town
Super Mario World
Advance Wars/2
Metroid Fusion
Super Ghouls n Ghosts

THEPAIN73

Warioland is fun.

Also any Mario classics on there, looks like you already own number 3 of the 4.

I would also second Golden Sun 1 and 2.

Gilder

I see you have Megaman in the list, so I'll go ahead and say to NOT buy Megaman Zero. You can just get the Zero collection on DS and save yourself a bunch of cash. You can get the collection new for as much as it would cost to get one boxed copy of Zero 1.

I really liked Riviera for an actual recommendation. Now they did port it over to PSP with voices, however the load times I think REALLY hurt it. There's a lot of times where you'll go "Oh shit, I shouldn't have used my points to explore that section." and on GBA you can just soft-reset. On PSP it's not that easy. So if you don't have a PSP go with the GBA version. Yggdra Union is by the same team and is on GBA/PSP as well, but again the load times. Yggdra Union is balls hard though, so if you want a really tough strategy game on GBA then that's your best bet.

Ah_Pook

mario and luigi superstar saga
drill dozer
advance wars
rebelstar tactical command
pinball of the dead
the NES version of castlevania 1

theres a bunch more im not thinking of at the moment, i'll look through my sack of gba games later

Mystic Terrapin

Looks like I need to play Golden Sun & GSII. I just never picked them up. I don't know why.

Mitten

Seconding the Megaman Zero series. They're great if you don't mind the difficulty and you're a fan of the SNES-era MMX games (or similar stuff).

I haven't played the Zero collection, but if what Gilder says is true then that might be a good idea.


edit: then/than

Xenogears of Bore

There are some real quality answers in this thread.

I got to give a shout out to Drill Dozer though, and for an import title the original Rhythm Tengoku game.

Mystic Terrapin

I actually borrowed MMZ from a friend a while ago and beat it. It was really good. I figured if I wanted them I'd get the DS collection. I sorta wish they'd make a MMBattleNetwork collection. On the topic, is Megaman & Bass any good? I liked Rockman & Forte so if its just a port, I'll pick it up.

Xenogears of Bore

Mystic Terrapin wrote: »

I actually borrowed MMZ from a friend a while ago and beat it. It was really good. I figured if I wanted them I'd get the DS collection. I sorta wish they'd make a MMBattleNetwork collection. On the topic, is Megaman & Bass any good? I liked Rockman & Forte so if its just a port, I'll pick it up.

Its a port with the same screen crunch issue that most SNES ports have. It's playable, but a lot harder as Rock because of the less precise jumping.

Mystic Terrapin

Xenogears of Bore wrote: »

Mystic Terrapin wrote: »

I actually borrowed MMZ from a friend a while ago and beat it. It was really good. I figured if I wanted them I'd get the DS collection. I sorta wish they'd make a MMBattleNetwork collection. On the topic, is Megaman & Bass any good? I liked Rockman & Forte so if its just a port, I'll pick it up.

Its a port with the same screen crunch issue that most SNES ports have. It's playable, but a lot harder as Rock because of the less precise jumping.

Crap. I thought Rock was already harder to use in the original (unless I just sucked back then). Thanks for the input!

Xenogears of Bore

Also Mother 3 is the best original game on the system and one of the best games ever released.

Graviija

Metroid: Zero Mission is really, really, really good. Play it now.

Chen

Metroid Fusion is better.

Then again, I am an Intelligent Systems whore.

mntorankusu

Mother 3 and Rhythm Tengoku are the best games on the system. The language barrier isn't too bad in Rhythm Tengoku, if you don't mind importing. Mother 3 is amazing but you'd need to get the English patch and it's difficult to discuss that stuff here.

Cantido

Astro Boy - Made by Treasure, it's suprisingly rapetastic. The story reads like an ambitious fan-fiction.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - Soma's first game.
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - First GBA CV
Metroid Zero Mission - Yeah.
Advance Wars 1 and 2

UncleSporky

Are you buying these for collection purposes, or simply to play them? There's a good chance that GBA games will come to the 3DS shop someday, though you might be waiting an indeterminately long amount of time. Six months to a year before they start, and another year before many of the best games are available...

Also watch out for counterfeit/pirate GBA games with poor construction that kills your save files. It's a fairly common problem that's hard to avoid unless you've educated yourself online and know what to look for.

Mystic Terrapin

Well I didn't think GBA games would be on the 3DS. I'm doing it for play purposes.

PaperLuigi44

Gonna put my vote behind Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, I love that game.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit is also fun, even if the AI is a bit irritating.

UncleSporky

Mystic Terrapin wrote: »

Well I didn't think GBA games would be on the 3DS. I'm doing it for play purposes.

I don't want to give the wrong impression, it's hasn't been announced, but they've made reference to it before and it seems a likely addition. Just something for the future.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to get your hands on a number of GBA games now, and don't worry too much about the ones you can't find, because you might get another shot at them on 3DS.

This was the last reference to GBA as of Jan. 19:

Trinen says Game Boy Advance support isn't part of this announcement. "Basically we're focusing on Game Boy and Game Boy Color. If we decide to introduce [GBA games] at a later date, we'd announce later if we did."

Baka_Shade

If you were able to stomach MMBN4 and still like the series, 5 and 6 are both way better than it.

Thetheroo

Riviera: The Promised Land was actually pretty good. Definitely get it on the GBA though.

EvilBadman

THE SLASH SIGNAL, really are we quick to forget this existed?

Moioink

I love the GBA Micro but you'll want an SP too so you can swap between the two based on your situation.

Wario Land 4, Wario Ware and Wario Ware Twisted are fantastic. So are both Metroids.

If you have a hacked PSP that's a great way to play the translated Mother 3 ROM.

Mystic Terrapin

Baka_Shade wrote: »

If you were able to stomach MMBN4 and still like the series, 5 and 6 are both way better than it.

Yeah 4 may have been the one to stop me from picking up the others. I like the series as a whole and I hear I should at least try 6. My absolute fav will always be 2.

@Moioink: What situation would that be?

Moioink

Two examples from this week: I had a dentist appointment and wanted something to play in the waiting room so I quickly grabbed my Micro and SMB1. It also has a headphone jack which the SP lacks (I've lost my adaptor ). Later in the week I wanted to play some Fire Emblem in bed and the SP is more comfortable for that and it has a bigger screen for more legible text.

Mumblyfish

I am astounded that Golden Sun was mentioned so early, and so often. It's an absolutely wretched game that was only well-received because it was the only RPG on the GameBoy Advance for a very long time. If you wanted a portable RPG, it was Golden Sun or nothing.

Golden Sun is notable for having an entire cast of interchangeable, forgettable characters and one of the worst words-to-content ratios of the medium. If your sole criteria for a good RPG is that its script dwarfs War and Peace, then you might enjoy it.

CygnusZ

Rhythm Tengoku
Mother 3
Super Robot Wars D

Baka_Shade

Mumblyfish wrote: »

I am astounded that Golden Sun was mentioned so early, and so often. It's an absolutely wretched game that was only well-received because it was the only RPG on the GameBoy Advance for a very long time. If you wanted a portable RPG, it was Golden Sun or nothing.

Golden Sun is notable for having an entire cast of interchangeable, forgettable characters and one of the worst words-to-content ratios of the medium. If your sole criteria for a good RPG is that its script dwarfs War and Peace, then you might enjoy it.

It also had a god that was a giant snow cone machine. That alone doesn't make it any good, but damn if I don't wish more games could say that.

DeMoN

CygnusZ wrote: »

Mother 3

Someone should just start a little online store.

You pay like, 50 bucks, and they send you the japanese version, and a gba flash card with the translated version on it.

I really want to play this game on my gba, but it seems like there's just no quick and easy way to do it.

mntorankusu

Mumblyfish wrote: »

I am astounded that Golden Sun was mentioned so early, and so often. It's an absolutely wretched game that was only well-received because it was the only RPG on the GameBoy Advance for a very long time. If you wanted a portable RPG, it was Golden Sun or nothing.

Golden Sun is notable for having an entire cast of interchangeable, forgettable characters and one of the worst words-to-content ratios of the medium. If your sole criteria for a good RPG is that its script dwarfs War and Peace, then you might enjoy it.

You're wrong.

I liked the story well enough, but I don't care about that. The gameplay in Golden Sun kicks ass. The Lost Age has some of the best Zelda-style puzzles I've ever seen.

UncleSporky

The puzzles are pretty fun, the music is pretty good, it's pretty to look at. It's solid.

AbsoluteZero

LewieP wrote: »

Both Metroids are lovely.

Zero Mission is more lovelier.

EdS25

mntorankusu wrote: »

Mumblyfish wrote: »

I am astounded that Golden Sun was mentioned so early, and so often. It's an absolutely wretched game that was only well-received because it was the only RPG on the GameBoy Advance for a very long time. If you wanted a portable RPG, it was Golden Sun or nothing.

Golden Sun is notable for having an entire cast of interchangeable, forgettable characters and one of the worst words-to-content ratios of the medium. If your sole criteria for a good RPG is that its script dwarfs War and Peace, then you might enjoy it.

You're wrong.

I liked the story well enough, but I don't care about that. The gameplay in Golden Sun kicks ass. The Lost Age has some of the best Zelda-style puzzles I've ever seen.

It's weird that I somehow agree with both of these posts. But seriously, Superstar Saga. Best game on the system (or any system).

Mystic Terrapin

Well I want a Micro because I think it looks pretty sexy plus the headphone jack and the fact that it only takes up as much space as a phone in my pocket rather than the same space as my wallet.

And: I actually have Superstar Saga. Don't ask me how I forgot it on my list. Really great game.

mntorankusu

DeMoN wrote: »

CygnusZ wrote: »

Mother 3

Someone should just start a little online store.

You pay like, 50 bucks, and they send you the japanese version, and a gba flash card with the translated version on it.

I really want to play this game on my gba, but it seems like there's just no quick and easy way to do it.

You wouldn't be able to do it for that price these days, unfortunately. Both Mother 3 and old-style GBA flash carts are getting harder and harder to find. You're lucky to find a used copy of Mother 3 for $50, and I can't find the regular flash carts at all now.

I did this for myself back when the patch came out, though, and it's great to have an actual cartridge with the translation on it.

mntorankusu

EdS25 wrote: »

It's weird that I somehow agree with both of these posts. But seriously, Superstar Saga. Best game on the system (or any system).

I love the battle system in Superstar Saga, and the story and dialogue are awesome and hilarious, but the out-of-battle gameplay is preeeeetty boring to me. That's what I like about Golden Sun!

Cucco Leader

If you have a nostalgic bone in your body I'd get some of the Classic NES series games. Especially: Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Ice Climber, and Metroid. They are nice to have around if you ever get the itch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_NES_Series

The only one I can say not to get is Xevious. It does not hold up well.

And if you like shumps, there is Gradius Galaxies.