What's your favorite Gameboy, Color, Advance games of the past?

[Tanooki]

I for some reason didn't think to make this earlier but the Nintendo console and Sega console stuff seemed pretty popular and given Gameboy was NIntendo's longest standing most popular handheld, I think it deserves its own post.

Last Sunday despite swearing off the thing, someone (adult only owned) posted one over the river for $20, a GBC purple, not a scuff scratch or nick on it or the screen anywhere in a pouch with Tetris and Killer Instinct(bleh traded it.) I got it just for a random desk toy thing, but you never know how things go. Also I hit ebay looking for the arcade conversion of Dragon's Lair on GBC, found it for $5 shipped (was ignored) so that's in the mail.

I was surprised doing some research to have noticed the prices on the game only games have gone down since just about 5 years ago when I last cared, not a lot, but a bit which is nice to see as more people appear to have lost interest. I went around just after that found Cannon Fodder and Radar Mission for $10 at one store, Mario Golf for $4 at another. Today after being held up for a few days I went and tried the formerly cheap ma & pa chain ruined by half price and was surprised. Their GB/GBC stuff is cheap, no one cares. Stuff, a good bit of it was marked at $3-5, not much over. I took in a couple dumper dollar NES games and that stupid KI cart and along with a few extra dollars came away with Kirby's Pinball Land, Revenge of the Gator, Game & Watch Gallery and a mismarked Tetris Attack for 99 cents. :) The second store was 3 for $10, got Lemmings and Aladdin GBC versions and Mole Mania too.

The hunt was intended to find the original Mario Land, sadly it didn't happen. :\ I doubt I'll buy up much of what I once owned, the quicker stuff probably, but I want fast in and out stuff to mess with, nothing boring, nothing too shallow, and nothing deep either.

What all are your favorites from the black and white and low color days?

[Emperor Megas]

Honestly, I haven't played many GameBoy or GameBoy Color games. I didn't really get into the GameBoy until the GBA SP.

My favorite GBA game is probably Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire. It's my most played GBA game anyway. I suppose the runner up would be the Phantasy Star Collection.

[8-Bit Archeology]

That's why I like my local Play N Trade. Which is now all private owned since the corp went out. They sell gameboy games really cheap. They don't jack up the prices on Mario's and stuff.

My favorite games would be hard to name. I am a huge gameboy nerd. I even modded a bunch of Sp's and advances to have the brighter screen.

I have over 200 GB GBC and advance games in total. Not a ton but all ones I love.

The only 2 I don't have that I previously had played are Shantae for color and Trip World for the GB.

Simple list.
Doom 2 - GBA - great take along classic.
Metroid 2 - GB - my favorite Metroid.
Zelda Minish Cap-GBA-Best Zelda IMO
Wordtris - GB - great classic to take with you
Alice in Wonderland-GBC-mini games galore.
Pocky and Rocky w/Becky-GBA- bullet hell
R-Type 3-GBA- great difficult bullet hell
DND Eye of the Beholder-great rogue and cheap
Contra the alien wars EX- GBA - clean contra 3

There's just too many to list. Even with all the revamps and ports like Earthworm Jim and Defender. I just love these consoles and games. Its like having a classic collection on the road. Plus as busy as it gets as an adult I find it easier to pick up one of my gameboys and playing games bit by bit instead of dedicating hours to a console.

Oh and no matter what anyone tells you. Nightmare in Dreamland IS the best Kirby game. Lol it's true.

[Tanooki]

DOOM2 on GBA is stunning. They did everything they could aside from NOA's lame ass need for green blood=T rating to make it perfect. All the stages are in, they just had to dice one too big for the memory in half. Shame the first one is a Jaguar port but it's still good.

If you want a real jaw dropper, try Wing Commander Prophecy. They converted the PC game fully to the GBA just removing all the FMV/animation sequences when not flying down to stills. In flight, all full 3D models, even some basic pilot comm chatter too. It's just nuts they fit that and annoyingly so overlooked.

[celerystalker]

Black & White: Metroid II, Gargoyle's Quest, Milon's Secret Castle (just like the NES game, but with password continue), Kid Icarus

Color: Survival Kids, Robopon, Metal Gear Solid

GBA: Mother 3, Metroid Fusion & Zero Mission, the Castlevanias (Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, Aria of Sorrow), the NES Classics series, Mother 1 & 2, Drill Dozer

[retroman]

Gameboy game I would say TMNT Fall of the Foot Clan, or Metroid II. GameBoy Color game I would say Metal Gear Solid all day long. GBA game I would say one of the Fire Emblem games, but I cant choose which one.

[Gameguy]

It's been awhile since I've played any Gameboy games but I still remember some of my favourites. Duck Tales, Qix, Elevator Action, Space Invaders, Q-Bert, Babs' Big Break, Crazy Castle 2, and Mario's Picross are all excellent. I'd really have to go through all my games again to remember more titles that haven't already been mentioned.

EDIT: Had to mention Link's Awakening. Can't believe I forgot about it and that nobody else mentioned it either.

[FieryReign]

Advance Wars 2 was the cart I played the most on the GBA. That game was crack.

Mario's Picross on the original b&w.

Nothing really memorable on the GBC. Most of the good games were ports or enhanced colorized versions of GB games.

[Tanooki]

Oh there are some really notable GBC games that aren't ports or downgradable to the old GB.

Off the top of my head there's Warlocked, Mario Golf, MGS, Mega Man Xtreme 1 and 2 (they're like MM on GB, mixes of 2 MMX games bosses and stages remixed), Bionic Commando(it's not the NES game), Wario Land 3, Duke Nukem/Jazz Jackrabbit/Commander Keen which are all new not old PC ports, Top Gear Pocket 2, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine (same story, all new stages since it's overhead), the Zelda games ages/seasons which I hate but lots others do not, Kirby Tilt n Tumble, Mario Tennis, Project S11, Pokemon Crystal, Shantae, Wendy Every Witch Way, and there's more I'm sure which could be found using this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Game_Boy_Color_games (and sorting by not backwards compatible.)

I did notice some gems on there that were ports -- Aladdin(genesis port), Lemmings/OhNoMoreLemmings, Mr Driller, Toki Tori, Street Fighter Alpha, SF Rush 2049, etc.

I have a sliver of hope that the New3DS gets somewhat of the GBC treatment to stand alone and not a pussed out 4 game release of things for it on a game card like DSi floundered to death on.

[retroguy]

Sword of Hope is a great one. Very underrated. Also, Pokémon Red is probably my second favorite in the series behind Black 2. Sure it's primitive compared to the later entries, but it's still tons of fun.

On the GBA, I would recommend One Piece and DragonBall Advanced Adventure as two of the best beat-em-ups I've played. Then again, I'm a big fan of Banpresto so that could just be personal bias.

[Nebagram]

Surprised no love for the original Warioware. That game was gameplay in its purest form, I must've spent hours unlocking everything on that cart.

[FrankSerpico]

^I absolutely love WarioWare. It's a default take along on any vacation

[Koa Zo]

Advance Guardian Heroes and Shining Soul II are a couple of my favorite GBA games.

I particuilarly think that Advance Guardian Heroes is fantastic. Criticisms of AGH were almost always qualified by making comparisons with the first game. Excluding any personal expectations for what a Guardian Heroes sequal should be, AGH taken on it's on terms will prove to be one of the best beat-em-up games on the GBA platform, and one of the most enjoyably replayable games as well. It's one of the few games of the past decade I've replayed again and again, and through the Hard difficultly level as well.

[Daria]

Link's Awakening is great, but I also love the Zelda Oracle titles. The Dragon Quest ports were pretty sweet as well, as a kid I loved the original DW but missed out on the rest of the series up to 7. So when I got my original GBA I also got both GBC DW cartridges.

Of course there's also the Dragon Warrior: Monster games, and for good Pokemon clones you can't go wrong with Revelations.

[Tanooki]

I actually loathe those two oracle games a lot, turned me off to handheld Zelda. Capcom made them so f'ng linear in places it was a snore and annoying at the same time and the backtracking involved went above and beyond. I'll never forget that dungeon where you use the mining cars. You have to repeatedly go over the same rooms repeatedly back and forward to get an item, use an item, get another, and so on---infuriating, and the game kept doing stuff like that. Or you'll have spots in the wild where you literally can walk a 1 link wide area swiping one by one at grass to do the path. Just hated them, but Links Awakening DX was pure magic, that one was like the SNES game in your pocket which made those other two feel like a cheap knockoff even in quality not just content.

Now DW1+2 and 3, those are stunning, ports of the earlier SFC remake titles we never got with some solid upgrades across the board totally worth enjoying. I'm not sure I'd buy them again, if I did, probably just DW1+2 for DW1 as it's small and a joy to play (2 sucks.)

Yesterday I had Dragon's Lair and 1942 GBC show up in the mail off of ebay (warlocked is outstanding) and at the flea markets I found Tomb Raider, Street Fighter Alpha, Mario Picross, and Game & Watch Gallery 3.

[calthaer]

Link's Awakening is easily my favorite GB/C game, and IMO the best GB/C game of them all. Oracle of Ages / Seasons gets an honorable mention, I guess.

Pokemon Gold and Silver are also incredible games...that Pikachu handheld IR thing was a fun add-on, too. IMO these are better than Ruby / Sapphire, Diamond / Pearl, Black / White, and any of the other ones that came out. It's hard to describe just why these games are so great...but Red / Blue were fairly unpolished and a bit of a mess...there was a kernel of genius in there, but it wasn't quite polished. Gold / Silver took all that and improved on it. These games are not enjoyable any more these days...I think the entire series needs a reboot...but that's a topic for another thread, really. Gold / Silver were great on the GBC.

The Mario Land / Wario Land series is really good, too. Super Mario Land 2 and Wario Land were good, Wario Land 2 was pretty good, and IMO Wario Land 3 is perhaps one of the best handheld platformers of all time (certainly better than Warioland 4 for GBA).

Other honorable mentions: Tetris, Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge, Metroid II, and the first Kirby game.

Lots of good GBA games (although I think the DS is slightly better). Metroid Fusion, Minish Cap, Advance Wars, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (the other two can't hold a candle to this one), WarioWare, and that doesn't even begin to cover the remakes / re-releases (SM World / SMB3, Metroid Zero Mission, River City Ransom, Final Fantasy games, etc.). I would really have to go through my collection; I'm sure I'm missing some great games here.

There are some off-the-beaten-path games for these systems that are worth playing for their uniqueness but wouldn't make my "best" list, like Sigma Star Saga, Wizards & Warriors X, maybe a few others.

[Nebagram]

Another couple no one's mentioned yet- Golden Sun 1 & 2. If any GBA games could be described as forgotten gems, it's those two.

[Tanooki]

Supposedly the third in the series was so terrible maybe that put it out of peoples minds, possibly the company too from doing a fourth.

[Tanooki]

Woot, Warlocked came in the mail today! :D Pocket warcraft here I come.

[calthaer]

Another couple no one's mentioned yet- Golden Sun 1 & 2. If any GBA games could be described as forgotten gems, it's those two.

I am currently playing through Golden Sun 2: The Lost Age, so it's not that I forgot about it - I purposefully left these games off the list. I'm just not a huge fan. While they may in some respects be considered a high-point in JRPGs (due to the dungeon-puzzle elements introduced in the game), they're still only JRPGs, and are encumbered by all the pitfalls of the sub-genre. You're constantly hindered from proceeding in GS2 by the lack of particular psy / magic moves that complete puzzles, but are given no real indication of where to quest for these "spells." You can acquire special summons, but then can't see which ones you've acquired in any list.

With no quest log, direction markers or dungeon mapping, and with some of the best items available only through convoluted manipulation of the random number generator, I find the game difficult to play properly without some sort of guide - not a hallmark of a great game, in my book. I suppose I could play through the game with a notebook and write down everything I do and maps to all the dungeons, but this seems really tedious and unnecessary. After all, if I'm going to be forced to use a pen & paper, I might as well be playing a real RPG (D&D or something).

[turboexpress]

Fish Dude - Original Gameboy

[Alianger]

I still have a bunch of games I'd like to play for the GBC and GBA, but I'm pretty knowledgable about the original's library at this point.

Top List:
Link's Awakening
SML 2-3
Nemesis II
Donkey Kong '94
Mole Mania
Castlevania II
Bionic Commando GB
Gargoyle's Quest
Kirby's Dreamland 1-2
Rolan's Curse 2
Mega Man 4-5
Catrap
Final Fantasy Adventure/Seiken Densetsu
Ninja Gaiden Shadow
Wario Land 2
Kwirk/Puzzle Boy
Revenge of the 'Gator
Looney Tunes

[buzz_n64]

My favorite Gameboy game is Super Mario Land. The game plays like a quirky cute Super Mario Bros. I prefer the music in the game over the music in Super Mario Bros. and love the level where you can pilot the ship.

[Tanooki]

Not sure I mentioned it but last weekend and since I've picked up a good many GB/GBC games all on the cheap pretty much, very thankful for that. A few I've never owned before, the big one being Mario's Picross which I've kept in the system so far. I'm beyond terrible at nonograms, I tend to just miss stuff and take a lot of penalties, but it's still fun.

Currently in my possession I've got: 1942, Bionic Commando, Cannon Fodder, Disney's Aladdin GBC (new to me), Dragon's Lair GBC, Game & Watch Gallery 1 and 3, Kirby's Pinball, Lemmings, Mario Golf, Mario's Picross (new), Mole Mania (new), Radar Mission, Revenge of the Gator, Street Fighter Alpha, Tetris, Tetris Attack, Tomb Raider, and Warlocked.

All those were mostly local, Warlocked and Dragon's Lair were online. I've got Super Mario Land (the one I originally wanted anyway for desk toy fun), and TMNT1 in the mail for some bs reason the sellers sat on and delayed (will down rate them for it.) I also have Project S-11 and the JP-Samurai Shodown 3 (new) conversion on the way from Japan. I also spotted King of the Fighters 96 (new) and Super Dodgeball both Japanese, both coming from Japan too from elsewhere.

One thing I never knew was that there are a few Japanese games that more take advantage of the Super Gameboy feature like KOF96 (KOF Heat of Battle) in that the sound effects are replaced with SNES samples in SGB mode which is cool. I don't expect to see any of the JP stuff for 2-3 weeks. It's weird as I really didn't intend to snap up all that junk, but the prices locally at a few retail spots were so cheap ($1-6) I just went for it. The most down on any game at this rate is I think just $10. I miss seeing deals on Nintendo branded cartridges where they're not shoved through the roof, and given how long there has been an opportunity to turn the GB/C stuff into scalper hell it's probably a safe bet at this rate it just won't be.


Now I just need to find a broken SP for someone give me free/cheap so I can harvest the front light out of it and mod my GBC to work away from a stupid lamp.

[Gentlegamer]

I don't have much experience in the Game Boy family of games. Every time I look into the 'usual suspects' of Zelda or Pokemon games, everything is too expensive for my interest.

I do have Link's Awakening DX, that game is fantastic and may actually be the real secret best Zelda. I also enjoyed playing the GBA Final Fantasy conversions of FF IV and V.

[Tanooki]

Certain games do cost more than $10, but not too many if you're not really impatient about it. I imagine though value depends on the person because of what Gameboy (pre-gba) is I could see someone thinking $10 was too much. There's no denying though the insane amount of good games mixed in with the turds you can buy in the $1-5 range that it feels like a portable version of how the NES was treated little more than about five years ago.

[wizardofwor1975]

For the Gameboy color I like Donkey Kong Country and Bubble Bobble.

[Gentlegamer]

I don't know if I can do original Game Boy games, but I definitely would like to find some GBC games to try.

[Tanooki]

Well some of the old GB games are pretty crusty and basic, but there are some that are very well advanced looking and playing given the hardware. I'd do at the least a cursory look over any NES franchise title of the era slapped onto the old Gameboy or spinoffs and in particular the stuff that Capcom and Konami pushed as you'll be surprised. Some of their earlier ones like the first Castlevania, Gradius, or Mega Man are ok but not great, but they learned with those and the sequels are damn good enhancements worthy of anyone's time.

The GBC though really upped the ante depending what your tastes are or not. Both franchise titles and not too. Take some of the off the wall stuff I've listed already like Warlocked and take a peek, or even the genesis version of Aladdin stuffed on the GBC with surprising quality.

[jammajup]

Huge number of good games for the Gameboys but a quick think raises a few titles -
Super Mario Land
Rayman
Doom
R-Type/DX
Frogger
Mr Nuts
Pacman
Afrerburst
Donkey Kong
Castelian

[Tanooki]

Good selection, try Doom 2 out you'll be surprised as they unlike the one you listed (Jaguar port) converted the PC entirely except 1 stage was so huge they had to dice it into 2 stages with an entrance/exit in the middle of it.

Yesterday I went looking and found some nice ones too.
Bomberman GB (sgb)
Commander Keen (gbc only)
Contra the Alien Wars (sgb)
Pokemon Pinball (gbc hybrid)

...and the original gb cleaning kit too. They were except contra at $15 all $5 each and in amazing shape.

The week before I got when out of town on vacation, Tetris Advance for $3. JP only GBA game, stunning title I've wanted nearly a decade but never could find it. Due to the turd license of Tetris Worlds THQ had here in the non-JP region we got denied the game, and it's rated on top 10 tetris games of all times lists as a must. It has the normal marathon, but also timed junk, really screwball challenges, multiplayer, and other stuff and it saves high scores too. A few days ago I totally destroyed it with like 300~lines and around 600000pts. I had that game going a long time, speed maxed out at 20 and I just kept nailing it, bailing out of jams, and getting good pieces. I doubt I'd repeat it, but man it's a gem.