Got a GBA SP!

[Tempest]

After years of using my Lynx for my portable gaming needs I finally broke down and bought a GBA SP (too bad the black one isn't out in the US yet). I picked up a e-card reader and a few games:

Tactics Ogre
WarioWare
Golden Sun
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Robotech: Macross (Yeah I know it sucks, but I'm a sucker for Robotech)

I also picked up these e-cards:

Mario Bros
Tennis
Baseball
Clu Clu Land
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong 3
Golf
Pinball
Balloon Fight
Excite Bike

What other e-cards are there? I think I'm missing DK jr, Ice Climber, and Urban Champion.

I'm still looking for a copy of Advance Wars, but it's damn hard to find for some reason. I also plan on getting the other two Castlevania games once I beat the first one. I thought about getting Phantasy Star Collection, but I beat the first two games already and the third one sucks.

What other games should I be looking at? Is that Lunar game any good?

Tempest

[Raedon]

Golden Sun is the best made for portable RPG ever.

[Starcade]

Tempest, I totally recommend Advance Wars 2, it is a fun, decently hard game, and will keep you busy for awile, with a few unlockables, also Pokemon R/S are awesome RPG's! :)

[Tempest]

I don't want to play AW2 until I play the first one (I like to do things in order), same deal with the Castlevania games.

Are the GBC Zelda games worth playing or are they majorly dated now? I also need to pick up Metroid Fusion some day.

Pokemon? ICK!

Tempest

[nildem]

My favorites:

Boxing Fever
Columns Crown
Ecks vs. Sever
F-14 Tomact
F-Zero: Maximum Velocity
Game & Watch Gallery 4
Gradius Galaxies
Hot Potato!
Karnaaj Rally
Klonoa: Empire of Dreams
Konami Krazy Racers
Kuru Kuru Kururin (IMPORT)
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
Mech Platoon
Mr. Driller 2 (IMPORT)
Puyo Pop
Rayman 3
Super Dodge Ball Advance
Tekken Advance
Turok: Evolution
Wario Land 4

Buy them all. NOW. :-D

[Drexel923]

The ones already posted are good games, also make sure you pick up Golden Sun: The Lost Age after you beat the first one. The GBC zelda oracle games are really good, so definitely get those.

[SoulBlazer]

The Lunar game is quite good. Translation is not great, but if you enjoyed Silver Star, this is fun also. Story was changed some, but some stuff was added also, and good graphics take the place of the FMV's. Plus the music is here as well!

If you like old games, Konami's Arcade Classics is a joy to play as well.

Metroid Fusion also rocks.

I'm going to get Wing Commander: Privatear, since my friends said it's almost perfectly ported from the PC version.

The remake of Link to the Past is also worth picking up, as is the Metal Gear Solid game (GBC) and Microgames.

[calthaer]

Golden Sun may be the best portable RPG so far, but that's not saying much as there really haven't been too many portable RPGs at all. It certainly looks nice - in fact it looks incredible - but the dialogue was flat and boring and the story just wasn't all that great.

It's more of a stat-building game than anything else, and graphics aside it's just about the same as the Phantasy Star collection.

Now those Zelda Oracle games - THOSE are quality gaming. You must pick those up.

[jaybird]

My local Target has the original Advance Wars for $14.99, so you may want to try a Target in your area to see if they have it.

[Starcade]

If your into "extreme sports"
THPS 3 and 4 are cool

Zelda: Four Swords is good also
And who can forget the newly released Donkey Kong Kountry, which I havent yet bought, but played the in store game at Wal Mart, and it seemed to be another SNES quality perfect port. :)

[Daniel Thomas]

Obviously, Advance Wars should be in your collection. That should typically be the first or second game and GBA owner picks up. The sequel seems to be more of the same, which is fine by me (for now).

I really dig Lunar. It's an impressive translation of the classic that fits perfectly on the small screen. And I like the characters a lot. I can't say I'm as impressed with the Golden Sun games, because it's just the same as every RPG ever made over the last 20 years. Lunar is a retro trip, you see; with Golden Sun, I expect a little more innovation.

I've found a lot of great games on the Advance that seem be just under the radar, and I've written about them on my website. Here are the links so you can read them -- hope this helps.


http://www.danielthomas.org/pop/videogames.htm


There are a couple import titles among my reviews, but I'll include them if I think they're worth buying -- thank goodness for the Internet, eh?

[buttasuperb]

I.I also need to pick up Metroid Fusion some day.

Actually you need to pick up Metroid Fusion as soon as possible. Best GBA game, IMO.

And Golden Sun is a damn fun game (so far) and I don't really like RPG's all that much.

You could also get Mega Man & Bass if you don't already have Rockman & Forte for the SFC. Mega Man Zero is also pretty good, but also tough.

You should be able to find Pinball of the Dead pretty cheap these days, definately a great game for some quick fun.

[Tempest]

Do stores still sell those classic NES e-cards? I haven't seen any. I'm still missing Urban Champion, DK Jr., and Ice Climber.

Tempest

[Starcade]

Yes they do, I saw some at Gamestop 3 days ago.

[NE146]

Are you getting the NES E-Cards for playing or collecting? If it's for 'playing', you might want to consider a flashcart (like the XG-Flash) and the PocketNES emulator.. That way you can play all the NES games like Urban Champion you want on the go, and save your E-Cards and keep them nice and sealed. ;)

I showed this guy my collection of NES games on my GBA SP over the weekend while I was in L.A... and he pretty much FLIPPED OUT when he saw Contra / Super Tecmo Bowl come on screen LOL

[Tempest]

Ok now you've got my attention. XG-Flash?

Tempest

[hezeuschrist]

I'm gonna be picking up a Gameboy player soon, I can't resist some of the completely awesome GBA games out now. One question I have is, what is the Lufia game for GBA? Is it a remake of the first or second, or a completely new quest?

Other than that, I think all the absolute must haves have been listed... but hey, most games are only $20, no harm in trying some out. I played the shit outta Super Dodgeball Advance when I first got VBA.

[Starcade]

I think the name is Lufia: Runes of Lore, or somethign close to that, and I think it is a brand new quest, not a remake.

[Cafeman]

I don't have the GBA SP yet, instead I just bought the GameBoy Player and regular GBA. The one game which I have bought for myself (other than my kids' games) is Metroid Fusion, and I must say that I am loving it. Excellent game, I actually sit on the couch and chuckle at each new screen, I love playing a new 2D game so much.

[Ed Oscuro]

Don't forget Makaimura Gaiden, or Gargoyle's Quest, rather. Old game, but great fun. Sort of a quasi-RPG/platformer.

What I would like would be one of those GBA SP stands that they've got in stores, sort of a miniature kiosk for a tabletop. I saw one and I really...really...want one.

[calthaer]

XG-Flash or EZ-Cart or any of those Flashlinker things are essentially blank GBA carts that are re-writable. You can hook them up to your PC (older ones use parallel / serial port, newer ones are USB) and transfer ROM files or whatever. You can load all sorts of stuff on there - I've never played with PocketNES myself but I'd assume it's an NES emulator for GBA. You can load commercial ROMs, too, although I wouldn't recommend it as that's illegal when you don't actually own the cart (and if you own the cart, then why play it on a Flashlinker?).

Incidentally, these sorts of devices were the things that recently got the Hong-Kong-based Lik-Sang company in trouble with Nintendo.

EDIT: I suppose I should also mention that the thing generally costs upwards of $100 if you want to get one that's around 16MB.

I'll have to check out that PocketNES...

[Tempest]

I wonder if a port of MAME could be done on a GBA? I'd by one of those flash thingies in a heartbeat if that ever happened.

Tempest

[AB Positive]

reserve FFTactics: Advance now. Trust me. Reserve it now. I've been waiting almost a year for this nugget of goodness.

-AG

[NE146]

I'll have to check out that PocketNES...

http://www.pocketnes.org/

Don't know if there's a Mame for the GBA.. I don't think there is. But I usually check www.gbaemu.com

[bargora]

Just want to amplify the above suggestions for Advance Wars, Gradius Galaxies, and The Pinball of the Dead.

Since I also bought a used SP last week, now I have two GBAs (already had an original GBA), so I'm going to get a link cable and then scour ebay for second copies of Doom and Doom II as well.

(I HAD to get the GBA SP because I removed the scratched screen from my original GBA, thinking I had a replacement screen in my box o' Nintendo parts. Nope. Wrong. And I discovered this about two hours before I was leaving on an 8-hour road trip...)

[Daniel Thomas]

Well, hooray for me. I finally pulled out the money for an SP today. This is where working part-time for a crumbling campus burger store pays off (at least, until we literally run out of money!).

I grabbed a copy of Advance Wars 2, and I'm sure everyone is singing its praises, so you know what to expect. I also grabbed a copy of Lunar for $20 (Gamestop), and plan to get Pinball of the Dead ($15 at Gamestop) and Pac-Man Arrangement ($15 at Target) tomorrow.

There are a lot of great games to be found for cheap if you dig around a little.