Must-have GBA games

[johno590]

So my girlfriend wants to buy me a SP2 and some games for christmas and she wants me to get a list of games that she might buy. I know a few games for sure I would like to get are: Gunstar Super Heros, Pokemon Firered, and possibly Donkey Kong Country 3.

What are some must-have games for this portable? (Ones that she could buy say at Wal-mart) I just need some recommendations for games to check out and see if it would be something I would like, but I don't really know where to start.

Sorry if there is another post similar to this...

[davepesc]

Advance Wars series and Fire emblem series if you're into turn-based strategy.

Phantasy Star Collection
Wario Ware
Metroid

I don't have a lot of GB games, but I enjoyed all of these.

[DTJAAAAMJSLM]

Astro Boy: Omega Factor is great if you're a fan of 2D action games.

[MegaDrive20XX]

Wario Ware Inc
Wario Ware Twisted
CastleVania Harmony of Disonnance
CastleVania Aria of Sorrow
Castlevania Circle of the Moon
Mega Man Zero 4
Zelda Minish Cap
Super SF2 Turbo Revival
Sonic Advance
Chu Chu Rocket
Final Fantasy 1&2
FF Tactics Advance
Onimusha Tactics
Double Dragon Advance
Bubble Bobble Old & New
River City Ransom
Advance Wars 1 & 2
Metroid Zero Mission (nice two in 1 deal here)
Metal Slug Advance

[intvsama]

In addition to the ones listed above:

Any Classic NES Series game
Metroid Zero Mission
Metroid Fusion
Metal Slug Advance
Konami Arcade Advanced (gotta love Yie Ar Kung Fu)
Super Mario Bros Advance (SMB2)
Super Mario Bros Advance 2 (SMW)
Super Mario Bros Advance 3 (SMW2)
Super Mario Bros Advance 4 (SMB3)
Iridion 2
Guilty Gear
Mario vs Donkey Kong

[roushimsx]

Stuff I always recommend but no one listens to me:
Banjo Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge is an awesome action/adventure/platformer (like Zelda or some such)
Ninja Five-0 is like Shinobi + Umihara Kawase (or Bionic Commando if that's your only frame of reference, but if that's the case then you need to play Umihara Kawase on SFami post fucking haste)
Medal of Honor Infiltrator is like Commando/Ikari Warriors. It's quite awesome and there's even some Operation Wolf-like scenes in it where you fuck shit up.
if you liked Wario Ware Inc then you simply must pick up Wario Ware Twisted
Max Payne is a surprise. It's pretty damn good, though it could have been a lot better if instead of using up all of that space for really terrible sounding voices during the cutscenes they had done a few more of the levels from the PC version. Pretty faithful, pretty badass.
CT Special Forces 2. The first game's control was a bit too stiff, but they really fixed it up for this one. If you feel froggy, import the third game as well.
Hikaru no Go 1 and 2. Ok, these aren't out in the US....but i just feel the need to recommend them because they're so damn badass . Great games that really ease you into the game of Go. Slight language barrier (no english!), but still manageable. And fun!
While it's no Shining Force 2, Shining Force - Resurrection of the Dark Dragon is a nice portable remake of the first game in the series.

Stuff people generally agree on:
The Castlevania games are good fun. Circle of the Moon has a fucked up difficulty curve and gets way too hard midway through, but once you level up and get through it the rest of the game is cake. Harmony of Dissonance is too fucking easy, but otherwise fun. Aria of Sorrow is a nice middle ground.
Astroboy is a great action game
Chu Chu Rocket is a fun as all get out puzzle game.
Metal Slug Advance. Yea, they added a health bar. The game is still fun.
Fire Emblem and Fire Emblem - The Sacred Stones. SRPG love.
Grand Theft Auto Advance. Framerate issues aside, it IS a fun game.
Mr Driller 2 is fucking addictive.
Mario and Luigi: The Superstar Saga. Fun adventure/rpg
Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre. Both strong SRPGs but both have some glaring flaws that may detract from your enjoyment of them. Still worth checking out and forming your own opinion!
Metroid Zero Mission is a fantastic remake of Metroid and really brings it up to snuff with Super Metroid. I initially didn't enjoy it much because I was burnt out and pissed off about how bad Metroid Fusion was, but upon a recent playthrough I had a great deal of fun.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong. If you've ever played the SuperGameboy Donkey Kong game then you have a general idea of the awesomeness that you're in for in this fucking gem.
Final Fantasy I & II Dawn of Souls is a remake of the first two games and actually manages to make them enjoyable/fun
Advance Wars I and II. I made the mistake of playing through them back to back and got burnt out towards the end of the second game...so give yourself some time between the two games.

Stuff I don't like:
Golden Sun I and II. Jesus unholy christ were these dull.
Lunar. Didn't like the SegaCD/Playstation versions and pretty much everyone agrees that the GBA version is the worst one. Even Lunar fans shit on it. Ouch.
Breath of Fire I and II never caught on with me. I tried to find the love in them, but holy hell are they unfun.
Metroid Fusion was a flaming piece of shit. Overly linear with dull level design and some of the most horrible dialogue you'll ever be forced to read. One of the biggest disappointments on the GBA.

Stuff I haven't played but really really really want to:
Rebelstar Tactical Command
Riviera
Zone of the Enders - The Fist of Mars

Maybe you won't like all of these, but i'm sure there's a few you'll really dig

[DigitalSpace]

Gotta throw in The Pinball Of The Dead. While you're unlikely to find a copy at Wal-Mart, it's a must-own if you ever come across a copy.

If you're looking for good racers, Racing Gears Advance is a fun 2D racer similar to Rock N' Roll Racing (which I might add is also available on the GBA), and Need For Speed Underground 2 is the best 3D racer I've played on the system.

[Enixis]

I think that the Yu-gi-oh card game is pretty good. Not exactly a fan of the series but i loved the gameplay.

[squidblatt]

I've always wondered where people find older GBA titles. Do you just pick up loose carts used at the store or do you rely on Ebay? There's always the community here, too. But are there any retailers still selling new copies of games like Advance Wars or Fire Emblem?

[Oobgarm]

If you're into puzzlers (and can find them), Bookworm and It's Mr. Pants are stupendous.

Although they've been mentioned previously in this thread, I'll give hearty recommendations to the following:

Advance Wars 1 and 2
Castlevania (all 3)
Double Dragon Advance
Karnaaj Rally
Mario Golf Advance Tour
Mario vs. Donkey Kong
All Super Mario Advance games, particularly 4
either Wario Ware title

[Oobgarm]

I've always wondered where people find older GBA titles. Do you just pick up loose carts used at the store or do you rely on Ebay? There's always the community here, too. But are there any retailers still selling new copies of games like Advance Wars or Fire Emblem?

Used shops are the best bet. eBay might be a bit overinflated depending on the title. Local deaprtment stores are a good place to check for new copies of older titles. My local Bigg's store has copies of the first F-Zero GBA game, along with plenty of other older titles.

But sadly, the popular games sell out, and used is the only route to take in acquiring them.

[jajaja]

Totaly depends on what games you like. I would like to add Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.
I love this game. Im not really into RPG's and that says alot that its good

[Kid Fenris]

There really isn't much I can add, so I'll just voice more support for the following.

Metroid Zero Mission
Metroid Fusion
Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga
Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis
Advance Wars
Fire Emblem
Gunstar Super Heroes
Wario Ware
Astro Boy

If you like Treasure games, give Advance Guardian Heroes a shot. It's somewhat unpolished, but the inventive gameplay and level design make up for that.

Sigma Star Saga is interesting, though frequently tedious. It's worth checking out if you happen to find it on the cheap.

As for the Castlevania games, the word is that Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow will be reissued on one cartridge early next year, so you might want to hold off on buying either one right now.

Stuff I always recommend but no one listens to me:

Perhaps that's because of this:

Metroid Fusion was a flaming piece of shit. Overly linear with dull level design and some of the most horrible dialogue you'll ever be forced to read. One of the biggest disappointments on the GBA.

This is a sad, stupid lie. While some don't care for Fusion's focused approach to Metroid-style design, it takes an odd sort of delusion to call it a bad game.

[jajaja]

Metroid Fusion was a flaming piece of shit. Overly linear with dull level design and some of the most horrible dialogue you'll ever be forced to read. One of the biggest disappointments on the GBA.

This is a sad, stupid lie. While some don't care for Fusion's focused approach to Metroid-style design, it takes an odd sort of delusion to call it a bad game.

Technicaly it isnt a lie, its just one guys opinion. Personaly I played through both Metroid games on GBA and I never really been into Metroid. I have played the NES and SNES version maybe for 15 min.

[roushimsx]

Metroid Fusion was a flaming piece of shit. Overly linear with dull level design and some of the most horrible dialogue you'll ever be forced to read. One of the biggest disappointments on the GBA.

This is a sad, stupid lie. While some don't care for Fusion's focused approach to Metroid-style design, it takes an odd sort of delusion to call it a bad game.

It takes an incredibly low standard of quality to be able to call it anything higher than subpar. It's the same low bar that's responsible for people's high ratings on Tales of Symphonia (tales of generica) on gamecube and the Golden Sun games on GBA.

[Kid Fenris]

It takes an incredibly low standard of quality to be able to call it anything higher than subpar. It's the same low bar that's responsible for people's high ratings on Tales of Symphonia (tales of generica) on gamecube and the Golden Sun games on GBA.

Would these be the same low standards that caused you to recommend CT Special Forces 2, Max Payne, and Medal of Honor Infiltrator? Those are pretty much the action-game equivalents of Golden Sun.

To go into detail, your complaints regarding Metroid Fusion make little sense. The level design, while not as labyrinthine as earlier Metroids, is essential to creating the game's consistent level of suspense, which I found far more memorable than the vague claustrophobia of other Metroid games.

Moreover, Fusion’s level layouts follow much the same style as Zero Mission, which you liked. In both games, you're directed where to go, and there's often one effective way of getting there, with some distractions along the way. The only difference is that Zero Mission has no driving plot.

I also don't know what to make of your remarks about Fusion's dialogue. It's not David Mamet, but like most Nintendo-translated titles, it's competently written and hardly the sort of thing that merits cringing. It's fair to say that 90 percent of GBA games have dialogue considerably worse than Fusion, so I must wonder why you singled Fusion out and made no similar complaints regarding, say, the Castlevania games, some of which have localizations and plotting of lesser quality.

[snes_collector]

One Piece. Awesome side scroller/beat 'em up. And I too recommed the CT Special Forces games. Even though I've only played to first, it's good. And I think the 3rd is coming out this month or next, so it will be easier to find it than the other two.

[roushimsx]

Would these be the same low standards that caused you to recommend CT Special Forces 2, Max Payne, and Medal of Honor Infiltrator? Those are pretty much the action-game equivalents of Golden Sun.

Let's break 'em down in detail!

CT Special Forces 2 is a fun side scrolling game that imrpoves on virtually all aspects of the first game, from the graphics (which are now more detailed) to the control to the variety (minigames, levels, weapons, etc) to the pacing. Sure, it's no Metal Slug 3, but it's still a damn fun run n gun / exploration hybrid.

Max Payne isn't all it could be, but it's still a remarkable port. The main draw back to the design is that they focused too much on bringing over the cinemas with voices intact in lieu of including all of the levels, so if you've played the PC version before then you'll notice some goatse-holes in the game progression. Even then, the control and presentation is spot on excellent and does a great job of bringing the gameplay of the PC version to the GBA. A lot of people pass it up because they're worried it'd be like many other cross-platform games that hit the GBA (like Medal of Honor Underground GBA, which manages to be worse than Rising Sun, Breakthrough, and Spearhead combined), unaware of just how well it was really done. Seriously, drop the low quality voice recordings and slap in more levels and you have the perfect portable action game.

I have no idea how anyone could hate on Medal of Honor Infiltrator. They listened when people shat all over Underground and they understood they had to build something from the ground up that catered towards the GBA. They went back to the roots and decided on a Commando/MERCS type gameplay fused with concepts and ideas from the Medal of Honor games. The only parts I can see someone not enjoying throughly are the Operation Wolf-like segments which aren't dynamic enough and a are a hair too easy.

Golden Sun, on the other hand, is generic RPG #4999200101. The only reason it sold at all was because when it came out there wasn't much in the way of options for people that wanted a GBA RPG.

Moreover, Fusion’s level layouts follow much the same style as Zero Mission, which you liked. In both games, you're directed where to go, and there's often one effective way of getting there, with some distractions along the way. The only difference is that Zero Mission has no driving plot.

The driving plot of Fusion got in the way of the gameplay and the game offered very little in the realm of exploration. You were always locked into a single path which was far more limiting than what Zero Mission offered.

Also, the dialogue of Fusion is exactally like Doom: Hell on Earth's. It was so similar that the driving force that propelled me to finish the game was that I wanted to see if the author had contributed at all to the writing of the game.

...On a tangent, I checked out some of the reviews of the book on amazon and had a good laugh. I can't believe people enjoyed that series...

The cutscenes were forced on the player and again, one of the driving things I always loved about the Metroid series, the exploration, was severly cut down and you were simply told "Hay, go here, do this. btw, u can't go n e where else lolz".

Also, Konami's Castlevania translations have been the source of much comedy gold for years. Nintendo's translation of Fusion was memorable only for being so alarmingly bland (though I've never played the Japanese version, so it's entirely possible that the original version was just as poor). Maybe if they mixed things up a bit then it'd be on par with the raw brilliance of Symphony of the Night or Castle Shikigami 2, but as it is it's just boring drivel. Even that, that wouldn't correct the uninteresting structure of the game.

Anyway, let's quit fagging up the thread. We could always continue this elsewhere (like in a Metroid Fusion thread). I think we're driving this one too far off topic and might cloud out some other peoples' posts.

[Kid Fenris]

CT Special Forces 2 is a fun side scrolling game that imrpoves on virtually all aspects of the first game...

It's generic in style, design, and gameplay. It's also fun in spite of all that, but so is Golden Sun.

Max Payne blah blah blah

My problem with the GBA port is that it doesn't have the cinematic push of the full-fledged Max Payne games. Without that edge, the gameplay feels like any other kill-fest.

I have no idea how anyone could hate on Medal of Honor Infiltrator.

It's not a bad game, but it gets praise mostly because there aren't many MERCS-style action games on the GBA. Sounds like the same thing that happened to Golden Sun.

The driving plot of Fusion got in the way of the gameplay and the game offered very little in the realm of exploration. You were always locked into a single path which was far more limiting than what Zero Mission offered.

Zero Mission doesn't offer much more exploration than Fusion. Zero Mission simply feels more open because there's no sense of urgency for most of the game. You're still confined to certain areas and given little reason to wander. Exploration is important to Metroid games, but it's only satisfying when tied to a purpose. Zero Mission eroded that purpose by always telling you where to go and offering nothing to ratchet up the tension.

And as for the Doom-Metroid comparison, you are aware that both draw heavily from the Alien films, aren't you?

Nintendo's translation of Fusion was memorable only for being so alarmingly bland (though I've never played the Japanese version, so it's entirely possible that the original version was just as poor).

I found it faithful to the series. Metroid isn't a game where one could apply the purple prose of Max Payne, the Ren-Faire speeches of Vagrant Story, or the humor of Anachronox. For a story in which only three characters ever spoke, Fusion did a surprisingly good job of maintaining suspense.

Anyway, let's quit fagging up the thread

It's funny how people always say this AFTER they've ranted. I guess I'm no different, so I'll stop posting about this now.

[Ed Oscuro]

If you have to limit your choice of the GBA Castlevanias, go with Aria of Sorrow. Circle of the Moon is easy to find. The three games aren't dependent on each others' stories (in fact there's a lot of background politics about that; CotM isn't now considered to be part of the CV storyline). CotM is great, but dark and stuff is quite small - the graphics were outsourced, too, so the monsters might be considered generic looking (I think it's fine, myself, though they feel somewhat out of place in the series).

Harmony of Dissonance was developed with palette adjustments to compensate for users playing on non-backlit GBAs, which is...ah...a rather DAZZLING experience on a backlit machine at times. "Neon castle" is the slang term for it

Astro Boy is highly recommended. Definitely A-grade material; it does use a cheap trick to extend the gameplay but there are enough twists to keep one somewhat interested.

Not one of the Metroid games has let me down. They're all top quality - though Fusion introduces some annoying features (Samus...talks?!), it's simply a slight to purists and doesn't affect the gameplay, which is excellent. Zero Mission of course is the remake of the original Metroid, and it manages to be a highly original experience - despite having a similar map, there are tons of things to look closely with. It's to Metroid what Twin Snakes was to Metal Gear Solid.

Other than that, I'm at a loss...I'm not a great conniseur of GBA titles, sadly

I've been wondering about the Boktai games and Metal Slug Advance, though, and possibly even Shaman King, if I decide to find out what it's about.