GBA games...

[Vostok 7]

So, I'm gonna get a GBA SP soon.

What games should I get? I'm going to get F-Zero and probably Metroid, but what else is good? I'm open to nearly anything, as long as it's entertaining and good. I don't mind RPGs as long as they're engauging enough to keep me interested. (y'know, I'm a guy, short attention span... unless there's chicks involved. )

I wouldn't be asking except my usual game advisor is nowhere to be found ( ), and I know what she'd say anyway <_<

Vostok 7

Edited December 3, 2003 by Vostok 7

[VF-19]

Definatley get Metroid Fusion, and perhaps Metroid Zero Mission when it comes out in February. Other games I can reccomend are:

Castlevania, all three of them. Although Circle of the moon is a bit hard to see...

Golden Sun and it's sequels

Advanced Wars 1 and 2

Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced (cheesy title, but it's good I hear)

Mega Man Zero

That's all I can reccomend at the moment...

[Vostok 7]

Yeah, I played Golden Sun the other day and it was pretty fun, but a little wordy at times.

I've always liked Mega Man.

Vostok 7

[yellowlightman]

Zelda: Links Awakening and Link to the Past.

[Britai 7018]

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Sword of Mana

Golden Sun

Harvest Moon (if you're into that kind of game)

Castlevanias

Mario Advance 4

[JB0]

METROID FUSION IS NOT AS GOOD AS YOU'VE HEARD!

The developers seem to have had only a passing familiarty with the metroid series(resulting in a few plot issues, and more importantly, at least one seemingly invincible bosses because it can't be hurt with missiles, which is the exact opposite of what one's instincts tell them).

And the game has some blatant flaws that get ignored all too often. Mainly in it's very heavy-handed method of ensuring you stay on the right path. The ship's computer locks doors on you. All the time. Anything not directly on the way to your objective is almost guaranteed inaccessable.

They took Metroid and ripped it's soul out.

Now then...

Circle of the Moon is great.

Aria of Sorrow less so. I found it boring, personally.

Lady Sia is a fun little platformer.

The retro-gaming compilations(Midway's Greatest Hits, Sega Arcade Gallery, Atari Anniversary, Konami Arcade Advanced) appeal to me. I like the old stuff. Your mileage may vary, but given your admittedly short attention span, they seem right up your alley.

[Zentrandude]

i found ff tactics to be repeative after awhile but i found kirby nightmare in dreamland to be strangly good.

so what color you going for btw?

[Vostok 7]

so what color you going for btw?

I'm thinking silver or blue, but I might go Onyx. Really depends on what they've got.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, keep 'em coming. I might skip Metroid and go for MegaMan.

Vostok 7

[JB0]

so what color you going for btw?

I'm thinking silver or blue, but I might go Onyx. Really depends on what they've got.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, keep 'em coming. I might skip Metroid and go for MegaMan.

Vostok 7

Which ones? Megaman and Bass is more of the same platform action everyone knows and loves, but Battle Network is an RPG.

[Zentrandude]

cool i just got the onyx about a week ago and i just ordered a xg2 flash card set for it recently. my only prob is the buttons seems small and the select and start buttons are bit lower than im used to cuz of the speaker.

[ComicKaze]

Get the EZF Flash 256MBit flash cart. It's the price of 5-6 games but absolutely irreplacable. I don't even use regular GBA games anymore. This thing can fit about 3-4 GBA games or maybe 140 NES roms (or many other emulators for GBA) as well as music and videos and E-Books!

Right now the contents of my Flast Cart are:

Solar Striker

TMNT: Fall of the Foot Clan

Golden Sun

Goldun Sun: FAQ (yes there are text readers)

A bunch of mpeg movie clips I made from American Psycho DVD

Some mp3s and MODs for music

Double Dragon Advance (w/trainer)

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams

And about 20 NES roms.

BUT if you are going to buy regular games, the ones I bought because I couldn't be without are:

IRIDION II - By far the best shooter there is for GBA, awesome music, great graphics, great price ($15 retail).

King of Fighters EX2 - Hasn't been released in the US yet but maybe soon. Best fighter on the GBA. I don't like the ports of the Street Fighter games but the second KOF game is excellent.

Bruce Lee: Return of the Legend - Great platformer, lotsa fun. Many moves.

Stuntman - The 3D graphics are awesome! About on par with early 1995 Playstation 3D graphics. Great driving game.

Mario & Luigi RPG - Just released, great hilarious game.

Golden Sun - Best RPG on GBA and many systems period.

Puzzle Fighter - Who doesn't like puzzle fighter?

GT Advance Racing 3 - Awesome JDM racing game.

BTW, because I just bought a flash cart ($150 yikes!) I am selling cheaply if anybody is interested:

Wario Ware - very fun, hundreds of minigames, wacky style

Zelda: Link to the Past - classic port of SNES rpg with updated graphics and sounds and new multiplayer quest

Edited December 3, 2003 by ComicKaze

[Zentrandude]

from what i been reseaching the xg2 set is comparible to a flash advance 2 realtime card. good guess on the size thats the size i can afford b4 it just wasting too much money in my oppinion.

[ComicKaze]

from what i been reseaching the xg2 set is comparible to a flash advance 2 realtime card. good guess on the size thats the size i can afford b4 it just wasting too much money in my oppinion.

The EZF and EZF-2 (different companies) contain more features than the xg2 or flash advance. Plus they are more compatible and have built-in clocks.

[SkullLeaderVF-X]

Lunar Legend. I just got through playing and it's just as good if not better then Lunar SSC!!!!!

[Max Jenius]

I got a red GBA-SP...

its the best gameboy yet! I can finally play in a dark room!!!!

Hell, the little guy lights the whole room up.

[Vostok 7]

bump. still combing for more ideas.

Vostok 7

[Max Jenius]

Mario & Luigi is awesome... and damn funny. Nintendo fans will love the jokes... plus when you're deciding what you wanna do they DANCE!!! I laughed my ass off when I first saw Luigi doing the monkey(the only dance they do). Healing eachother, party member down, etc... everything about the game is totally cool.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is cool too, you can build a squad up and play with your friends. I've got a badass Assassin goin right now, I love her. Not as much as my Templar though.

[Vostok 7]

Mario & Luigi is awesome... and damn funny. Nintendo fans will love the jokes... plus when you're deciding what you wanna do they DANCE!!! I laughed my ass off when I first saw Luigi doing the monkey(the only dance they do). Healing eachother, party member down, etc... everything about the game is totally cool.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is cool too, you can build a squad up and play with your friends. I've got a badass Assassin goin right now, I love her. Not as much as my Templar though.

haha Max is in love with a game character

I might go down tonight and get everything. I've set a budget of about $150 (what I was going to spend on PS2 games for the month). So I'm looking at FZero and FFTA at the moment.

Vostok 7

[JB0]

Lunar Legend. I just got through playing and it's just as good if not better then Lunar SSC!!!!!

You're missing an S.

And as a long-time Lunar fan, Lunar Legend is my arch-nemesis.

Game Arts doesn't do good remakes. The only versions of the Lunar games I play are the SegaCD ones.

...

I do own the PS ports of the Saturn remakes, and I played through both of them once. Eternal Blue came out far better than Silver Star Story did, despite the fact that The Silver Star was in far more desperate need of a remake(it was a 1st-gen SCD title, and it's age showed at many places).

I borrowed Legend from a friend before I bought it after hearing many bad things about it. One play squished any urge I ever had to buy it forever.

[unsped]

advance wars, is the best handheld game ive played yet.

[Noyhauser]

I just bought a new GBA (not the sp, because I liked to old one's stying and I got around not having a backlit screen for a decade, so no need for one), for the sole reason of Final Fantasy Tactics.I loved the first one so much that I wanted to get this one. FFT for PS1 is consistanty ranked as one of the best RPGs and hands down the best of the Final Fantasy series. (Not to go OT but I believe there hasn't been a good Final fantasy since Tactics(that was truly innovative or had a good story, rather than the formulaic approach the last 5 have had) )

From the 13 hours straight that I played, Id say its a pretty good successor to FFT, but they simplified the game a little too much for my liking. Still its supposed to be a long game, so I'm looking forward to the rest of it. It has a pretty cool side mission feature that they took from FFT and made it integral to the game. Also it uses FF IV's equip weapons to learn abilities system, but the old FFT job point system was far better IHMO. All in all though Im having fun with it.

[Guppy]

I just bought 7 really cheap games from HK. As well as the abovementioned, I got Onimusha Tactics, 007: Nightfire and Tactics Ogre. I'll let you know if they're any good or not!

But from all my review reading, the best GBA games seem to be Advance Wars 1&2, Zelda, Mario 4, Yoshi's Island, Golden Sun, FF tactics, Mario Kart, the Tony Hawk games and the Castlevania games are popular too.

[gerwalk25]

I traded my old GBA and PSone w/ monitor for a Cobalt GBA SP! A really excellent upgrade from the original GBA, it's a keeper. Anyway, here's a few games I suggest.

Sega Arcade Classics

Konami Arcade Advance

Mario Kart: Super Circuit

SMBA 2: Super Mario World

And any Tetris title

~G25

[Isamu Atreides 86]

the two advance wars games rock.

[SkullLeaderVF-X]

Lunar Legend. I just got through playing and it's just as good if not better then Lunar SSC!!!!!    

You're missing an S.

And as a long-time Lunar fan, Lunar Legend is my arch-nemesis.

Game Arts doesn't do good remakes. The only versions of the Lunar games I play are the SegaCD ones.

...

I do own the PS ports of the Saturn remakes, and I played through both of them once. Eternal Blue came out far better than Silver Star Story did, despite the fact that The Silver Star was in far more desperate need of a remake(it was a 1st-gen SCD title, and it's age showed at many places).

I borrowed Legend from a friend before I bought it after hearing many bad things about it. One play squished any urge I ever had to buy it forever.

I don't know. Lunar Legend seems to be pretty good to me.

[JB0]

Lunar Legend. I just got through playing and it's just as good if not better then Lunar SSC!!!!!    

You're missing an S.

And as a long-time Lunar fan, Lunar Legend is my arch-nemesis.

Game Arts doesn't do good remakes. The only versions of the Lunar games I play are the SegaCD ones.

...

I do own the PS ports of the Saturn remakes, and I played through both of them once. Eternal Blue came out far better than Silver Star Story did, despite the fact that The Silver Star was in far more desperate need of a remake(it was a 1st-gen SCD title, and it's age showed at many places).

I borrowed Legend from a friend before I bought it after hearing many bad things about it. One play squished any urge I ever had to buy it forever.

I don't know. Lunar Legend seems to be pretty good to me.

The battle engine was an instant turn-off.

There's no good reason for them to have completely stripped it down like that. I have always liked the more complex battle engine of the Lunar series, in large part because it WASN'T another FF-style "stand there and stab the air"-type engine. You had to take character location into account, which was a big deal back then, and still is today for the most part.

To see it all stripped out for something that was almost literally ripped straight out of FF7(including limit breaks)... It broke my poor little hardcore gamer heart.

The music sucked. I realize this was at least partially due to the severe sound restrictions on the GBA(why are they still using essentially the same sound hadware from the original Gameboy?), but it felt like they didn't even TRY to make something decent.

...

And what was up with using Eternal Blue's theme on the title screen of a Silver Star remake anyways?

Oh, and I still resent the massive liberties taken with the characters in Silver Star Story, upon which Legend is based.

NASH IS NOT A TRAITOR!

DRAGONS ARE NOT DURACELLS!

AND A WHOLE SLEW OF CHANGES TO EVERYONE FROM ALTHENA TO XENOBIA!

Silver Star Story does not fit continuity. Eternal Blue Remix's story doesn't quite line up with what happened in Silver Star Story, because it still assumes events happened as depicted on the SegaCD.

And yes, I take my games too seriously sometimes.

But as I said, I've been a fan of the series for a long time.

I bought a SegaCD and Genesis to play exactly 2 games.

The original version of Eternal Blue has long been my favorite video game of all time, and nothing I've seen stands much of a chance of dethroning it.

I actually bought Silver Star Story before I owned a PlayStation.

When and if Game Arts gets around to making Lunar 3, I'll probably be on the pre-sell list. Assuming they don't completely crush my love of the series with another couple of half-assed remakes.

I take my Lunar very seriously indeed.

[SkullLeaderVF-X]

Lunar Legend. I just got through playing and it's just as good if not better then Lunar SSC!!!!!    

You're missing an S.

And as a long-time Lunar fan, Lunar Legend is my arch-nemesis.

Game Arts doesn't do good remakes. The only versions of the Lunar games I play are the SegaCD ones.

...

I do own the PS ports of the Saturn remakes, and I played through both of them once. Eternal Blue came out far better than Silver Star Story did, despite the fact that The Silver Star was in far more desperate need of a remake(it was a 1st-gen SCD title, and it's age showed at many places).

I borrowed Legend from a friend before I bought it after hearing many bad things about it. One play squished any urge I ever had to buy it forever.

I don't know. Lunar Legend seems to be pretty good to me.

The battle engine was an instant turn-off.

There's no good reason for them to have completely stripped it down like that. I have always liked the more complex battle engine of the Lunar series, in large part because it WASN'T another FF-style "stand there and stab the air"-type engine. You had to take character location into account, which was a big deal back then, and still is today for the most part.

To see it all stripped out for something that was almost literally ripped straight out of FF7(including limit breaks)... It broke my poor little hardcore gamer heart.

The music sucked. I realize this was at least partially due to the severe sound restrictions on the GBA(why are they still using essentially the same sound hadware from the original Gameboy?), but it felt like they didn't even TRY to make something decent.

...

And what was up with using Eternal Blue's theme on the title screen of a Silver Star remake anyways?

Oh, and I still resent the massive liberties taken with the characters in Silver Star Story, upon which Legend is based.

NASH IS NOT A TRAITOR!

DRAGONS ARE NOT DURACELLS!

AND A WHOLE SLEW OF CHANGES TO EVERYONE FROM ALTHENA TO XENOBIA!

Silver Star Story does not fit continuity. Eternal Blue Remix's story doesn't quite line up with what happened in Silver Star Story, because it still assumes events happened as depicted on the SegaCD.

And yes, I take my games too seriously sometimes.

But as I said, I've been a fan of the series for a long time.

I bought a SegaCD and Genesis to play exactly 2 games.

The original version of Eternal Blue has long been my favorite video game of all time, and nothing I've seen stands much of a chance of dethroning it.

I actually bought Silver Star Story before I owned a PlayStation.

When and if Game Arts gets around to making Lunar 3, I'll probably be on the pre-sell list. Assuming they don't completely crush my love of the series with another couple of half-assed remakes.

I take my Lunar very seriously indeed.

I justy got into the series. so I'm still trying to figure everything out. Any help would be greatly appreciated JBO!

[JB0]

Anything in particular you need?

Like a rough summary of The Silver Star, full of nice juicy spoilers?

[David Hingtgen]

Save money. If you just want it for certain games, not because of portability, get a GBA player for your GC. 50 bucks, and as bright and big a screen as you could want. FFTA on TV looks just about as good as the original on PSX. (Though the music is only 1/10 as good). Also, GC controllers are a lot better for some GBA games (Megaman Zero, etc), especially the shoulder buttons. I'm *this* close to selling my GBA (white, HK/Asia version) now that I have the player for my GC.

PS--Assassins are the best thing in FFTA by far. Unless you've got a buff juggler, which are just evil.

[mikeszekely]

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance might be good if you like moving guys around so that they can either attack or not be attacked over and over and over and over... but since I like more to my games than battles, I dare call FFTA over-rated anyway.

I only sort of agree with David. While I think the GBA player is a superb add on for anyone with a Gamecube, I don't think it trumps the GBA SP. I have no issue with control on the GBA, but I wish someone would make a better controller for playing GBA games on the GC. The front-lit screen makes it easy to see even the darkest games, and I like portability.

As far as good games go, these are the ones that I've found to be worth owning:

Megaman Zero

Megaman Zero 2 (these two are probably the best new Megaman games in forever)

Megaman Battle Network (as a Megaman fan, I like everything but Legends, but if you don't like this one, skip the rest of the BN series)

Megaman and Bass (old school Megaman for people like me that started playing Megaman with the original)

Metroid Fusion (Poo on the naysayers. Fusion was the first Metroid game I could get into)

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

Caslevania: Harmony of Dissonance (not as good as CotM, though)

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (too short, but the most like Symphony of the Night)

Pac-Man Collection (Need I say more?)

Wario Ware Inc: Micro Mega Game$ (never thought picking a nose could be so much fun)

Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past/Four Swords (Zelda the way I like it... 2D...)

Yu-Gi-Oh! Word Wide Edition: Stairway to Destined Duel (Behind all that fanatic 10-year old crap and a terrible anime lies a suprisingly simple yet addictive card game)

Breath of Fire II (Forget Golden Sun. This old-school game is my pick for best GBA RPG)

Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland

Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga

As someone that loved Secret of Mana, believe me when I say to skip Sword of Mana. Also, while Mario Kart was mildy fun and Street Fighter Alpha 3 was a good translation, the real appeal of those games was in multiplayer.

Word to the wise: Gamestop is running a buy two used games, get one for free promotion, but Saturday 12-6 is the last day. Might be a good time to stock up.

[Wes]

Why don't you like Sword of Mana? Did you play the Jap. release, or are you going off of the first version. I liked the first one alot, even after playing the SNES one in the series.

[Vostok 7]

I liked the original Mana games. I can't remember which one it was (sword of mana looks/sounds familliar, but it was a long time ago) but I used to play it sometimes on my friends SNES.

My advisor already suggested Breath of Fire II once, so I'll have to look into that too.

And no GC for me, so it's only GBA for me. None of the GC games have been interesting enough to me to warrent buying one. I just like my PS2 too much.

But really, I gotta give it up to the old games... For some odd reason, no matter how cool the latest 3D games are, I still miss those old 2D games... Sidescrollers, topdowns, etc... Just gotta love 'em.

Vostok 7

[Commander McBride]

I need a GBA myself. I had one when they first came out, and it was promptly broken by my little brother. I'm thinking of the red SP. The color is just so perfect for Char Aznable! I'm gonna get one and airbrush an ince yellow Zeon logo on it.

Alternately, I could get the bare metal one and use transparent paint to make it green without obscuring the metal grain and texture. IO could than give it the Zeon Mass Production treatmean. Which do you guys think would be cooler?

[Zentrandude]

I need a GBA myself. I had one when they first came out, and it was promptly broken by my little brother. I'm thinking of the red SP. The color is just so perfect for Char Aznable! I'm gonna get one and airbrush an ince yellow Zeon logo on it.

Alternately, I could get the bare metal one and use transparent paint to make it green without obscuring the metal grain and texture. IO could than give it the Zeon Mass Production treatmean. Which do you guys think would be cooler?

theres a metal one?

[Abombz!!]

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance might be good if you like moving guys around so that they can either attack or not be attacked over and over and over and over... but since I like more to my games than battles, I dare call FFTA over-rated anyway.

And I dare to agree with you. Squares worst offering since The Bouncer. <_<

Metroid Fusion (Poo on the naysayers. Fusion was the first Metroid game I could get into)

Great game... heck.... it even comes with a built in strategy guide.... and they even call it a plot device.

Wario Ware Inc: Micro Mega Game$ (never thought picking a nose could be so much fun)

This is one of the best games to grace this generation.... really. Talk about sleeper hit.

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past/Four Swords (Zelda the way I like it... 2D...)

A must have for any GBA owner.

Caslevania: Harmony of Dissonance (not as good as CotM, though)

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (too short, but the most like Symphony of the Night)

Harmony of Dissonance.... I never imagined I would want to rip out my ears playing a Castlevania game.

Aria of Sorrow.... I think Konami is more worried about coming up with hard to remember/pronounce names then coming up with good original games. Sprites ripped off from SotN.... story set in the future.... but where are my robot Vampires?!?!?

Breath of Fire II (Forget Golden Sun. This old-school game is my pick for best GBA RPG)

Couldn't agree more. One of my favorite SNES game... now portable.

As someone that loved Secret of Mana, believe me when I say to skip Sword of Mana.

Please... state a reason. I loved all Secret of Mana games (including Secret of Evermore), and Sword of Mana is perfectly fine, and its a damn fine remake of the original Secret of Mana.

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3

Worst Mario ever... avoid it like Dracula avoids a cross.

Want suggestions?

-Fire Emblem

-Advance Wars 2

-Super Puzzle Fighters

-Breath of Fire

-Metal Gear Solid (its a Game Boy Color game that works fine on a GBA and is a great game)

-Tactics Ogre (this is how FFTA should've turned out)

-Yoshis Island (best Mario game, hands down)

-Legend of Zelda: A link to the past (look into the previous GB Zelda games if you like this one)

-Megaman Zero (only if you are a fan of Mega Man)

-Pokemon Ruby and Saphire (look beyond Pokemon.... great RPGs)

-F-Zero

-The 3 Castlevania games (only if you are a fan)

-Mega Man EXE Battle Network (only if you are a fan of Mega Man)

-Lunar Legends (very nice RPG)

-Wario Ware

-Mario & Luigi

-Double Dragon Advance (remake of the old Arcade game... fun)

-Street Fighter Alpha 3

-King of Fighters EXE

Edited December 5, 2003 by Abombz!!