best GBA games? I need recommendations

Wahots , 3 hours ago

Red rescue team, if you haven’t played a pokemon mystery dungeon game before. I played the DS version (blue rescue team) and loved it.

Gh_stt , 3 hours ago

Those were the GBA games I played and liked.

• TMNT (from the movie)
• Shining Soul I & II
• Castlevania - Aria of Sorrow

deegeese , 3 hours ago

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

SnotFlickerman , 3 hours ago

I’m weird and I have a real soft spot for the original PlayStation 1 Final Fantasy Tactics as well. Both solid games, imho.

Coelacanth , 3 hours ago

Weird? Isn’t FFT widely considered one of the best games of all time?

SnotFlickerman , 3 hours ago

I honestly only ever see people talking about FFTA, I almost never see people mention FFT for playstation.

Could just be me, but I don’t exactly run into lots of folks who are even aware it exists.

Coelacanth , 3 hours ago

The lack of a modern port makes availability an issue, so it’s definitely more in cult classic territory, but it is definitely a critics’ darling and is often thrown around among the group of best games of all time. It’s not uncommon for it to rank nr. 1 on “Best Final Fantasy Games” lists either.

SnotFlickerman , 2 hours ago (edited 2 hours ago)

I have never read much of game reviews and game news nor “top” listicles, so maybe that’s why I’m less aware of the critical acclaim.

EDIT: and to be clear, it’s nice to know my opinion is in good company and not weird.

Coelacanth , 3 hours ago

This is the correct answer.

SnotFlickerman , 3 hours ago

Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission

heygooberman , 3 hours ago

• Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire
• Pokemon LeafGreen and FireRed
• Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
• Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
• Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons & Oracle of Ages (initially released for Game Boy Color, but it works just the same on the Advanced)

WatDabney , 3 hours ago

Most similar to Advance Wars:

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis

Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation

Shining Force:Resurrection of the Dark Dragon

Just in general:

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 1 and 2

Drill Dozer

Golden Sun 1 and 2

Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town

Guru Logic Champ

Metroid Fusion

Metroid Zero Mission

Medabots RPG

Klonoa: Empire of Dreams

missingno , 3 hours ago

• Boktai series: Hideo Kojima's most unusual work, and I mean that in the best way. These games were so near and dear to my childhood, especially 2. Really though you want the Solar Sensor hardware for the full experience, but I love these games too much not to plug them anyway. Emulating them is worth it over not playing them at all. And for the third game, you'd have to pick between original hardware or the translation patch anyway.
• Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow: It's Castlevania. It's good. Also check out Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance, but AoS was by far the best of the GBA entries.
• Golden Sun 1/2: These games were way ahead of their time for how they designed a combat system that encourages you to use all of your tools and not just click basic Attack as if you gotta hoard your MP for a rainy day. Fantastic puzzles too.
• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga: If you've played any of the other Mario RPGs, this one's great too. Has a 3DS remake but I haven't played that version so I can't tell you how it compares.
• Metroid: Zero Mission: The original Metroid has aged rather poorly if you ask me, but this remake does a perfect job modernizing it into one of the best games in the series. Fusion is good too, but some fans have opinions on that one.
• Mother 3: Surely you have already heard of this game and do not need me to tell you to go play it. Have you not played it by now? Why not? Well, okay, if you haven't played Earthbound first, go do so, then play this.
• Rhythm Tengoku: A wonderful game about pressing the A button. Sometimes you press the d-pad too. Translation patch.
• Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 1/2: If you've ever played the classic 2D Tales games, these are excellent spiritual successors to those. There's a third game that's JP-only, translation patch is being worked on but it's been stuck in development hell for years...
• The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap: Zelda.

toxicbubble420 , 3 hours ago

mega man battle network 1-6

kratoz29 , 2 hours ago

Jeez… I want to play them, but I am foreseeing hundreds of hours in those games lol… Also I didn’t know there was a sixth game for GBA.

Xoriff , 2 hours ago

Came to the comments to say this. Love that series. Wish they hadn’t moved to that follow-up series Star Force. Wasn’t as good, imo.

Exec , 2 hours ago

Wasn’t as good, imo.

The first one was maybe weird because it was still setting itself up. The second one was indeed a filler and the worst of the series (but nowhere near MMBN4-level bad). The third one on the other hand is easily a masterpiece beating MMBN6.

Sami , 3 hours ago

I’ve curated a list based on my own preferences. A couple caveats are that I haven’t played most of them, some stuff like DBZ and Yugioh are whatever if you’re not into those franchises and some stuff has better ports elsewhere and isnt included: pastebin.com/Fv2RtN61

Kolanaki , 3 hours ago

Boktai!

Die4Ever , 2 hours ago

Zelda: Minish Cap, and Castlevania are my favorites

Sickday , 2 hours ago

Here's my top 8 in no particular order

• Golden Sun / The Lost Age
• Drill Dozer
• Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland
• Summon Night Swordcraft Story 1/2
• Mega Man Battle Network 3, 5, and 6 (either flavor of each is good)
• Mother 3
• Astro Boy Omega Factor
• Sonic Battle

SloppilyFloss , 1 hour ago

Yoshi’s Island!

Brosplosion , 1 hour ago

Might sound odd, but I loved Dark Arena. Basically a Quake-esque FPS but for the GBA.

ProdigalFrog , 8 minutes ago

Rock’n’roll racing got a pretty solid GBA port, it’s a fantastic little isometric battle racer from the 90’s