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Best GBA games

The greatest titles from Nintendo’s best years of unchallenged handheld dominance

Words: on February 13, 2013
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24 comments

  • Plasma Narwhal - February 16, 2013 7:06 p.m.

    I think I'm the only one that's not too shy to say that the first Metroid was just plain bad. Getting stuck under pillars and in lava at the same time while helplessly watching your health rapidly draining away, health and ammo restocking that would literally take an hour to do, no map, long monotonous copy-and-pasted corridors, the password system of the American version, getting screwed if you have the wave beam instead of the ice beam when you enter Tourian, the list goes on. I love Metroid as much as the next guy. Heck, I've completed every installment (except Metroid Prime Pinball). But, seriously, I can say with confidence and credibility and no bias that the first Metroid was a bad game, plain and simple.

  • CrashmanX - February 14, 2013 5:35 p.m.

    That feel when I've played every game on this list (haven't beat them all, but played em). So many good games. The GBA was probably my favorite hand held, nostalgia aside. The DS was pretty damn great too, but it just didn't have the same variety in it's library (too much shovel ware IMO). PSP is damn awesome too, but that's in a separate league.

  • BladedFalcon - February 14, 2013 3:57 p.m.

    Ninja Five o is definitely one of the most underrated, unknown games of all time. Seriously awesome game, and I'd put it even higher than 33 still, but hey, it made the list, so taht's good enough for me, at least someone else remembers. Also, aside from Pokemon s/r/e, I really can't argue with the top 5, the cream of the crop, those games are.

  • OkCyDe - February 14, 2013 1:46 p.m.

    Disappointed you didn't include Double Dragon Advance. The original is the grandaddy of arcade fighting games, ported over many consoles over the years. But the GBA version brought the original concept right up to date adding a variety of new moves, weapons and levels. It had a brilliant 'pick-up-and-fight' level of addiction & replayability, & the option to play 2 player coop brought it to perfection.

  • winner2 - February 14, 2013 1:03 p.m.

    I'm glad R/S/E were in the top 10. I havn't played practically any of these though, Pokemon was enough for me back then.

  • BladedFalcon - February 14, 2013 3:58 p.m.

    You are missing out so much.

  • winner2 - February 14, 2013 6:46 p.m.

    Well I'd assume these games might be dirt cheap now, but I have no idea where I left my old SP. If I found it I'd consider getting some of these. Pity too, that was a great little handheld, simple but great.

  • BladedFalcon - February 14, 2013 7:28 p.m.

    Yes it was, and yeah, if you have the time and the money, a lot of these are really worth getting, handhelds are often handwaved as being inferior experiences to their console counterparts, but the truth is that the depth and design of some of these games is just as top notch, if not more than modern AAA games. And personally, I just loved that most of the GBA games used 2D sprites, to me, that graphical style has a charm that no matter how much times passes, it'll never fade.

  • Pruman - February 14, 2013 12:52 p.m.

    Hell yes to Advance Wars being #1. Metroid Fusion was what got me to buy a GBA, but Advance Wars was what made it my favorite handheld platform of all time.

  • minimaxi - February 14, 2013 8:39 a.m.

    I personally think the best castlevania in GBA is circle of the moon. Yes, I've played all of those.

  • BladedFalcon - February 14, 2013 3:59 p.m.

    CotM is pretty great, and if we're talking about challenge-wise, then yes, I definitely agree. I can understand why Aria is much more loved though, it has much better production values, better story, and the soul system was pretty damn fantastic. Then again, so was the card system in CotM, and sadly no one seems to pay much attention to that.

  • brickman409 - February 13, 2013 9:27 p.m.

    "Many of them were ports of Super Nintendo games (which we’re mostly leaving out of this article)" uh, a couple of these on this list were super nintendo ports.

  • MightyWumbo - February 13, 2013 7:48 p.m.

    dragonball z legacy of goku 1 and 2, buu's fury are my favorite ones!!!

  • thetruth7 - February 13, 2013 7:25 p.m.

    FFV higher than FFVI??? seriously!? otherwise good list.

  • EAC73 - February 13, 2013 4:56 p.m.

    summon knight 1 and 2 were nice gems of the gba, i recommend them to anyone.

  • Tjwoods18 - February 13, 2013 4:09 p.m.

    You put leaf green/fire red in 22nd place, let alone place Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald ahead of it? The original plot of Pokémon (original Pokémon, team rocket, Gym Leaders, etc) had to be the best of all time.

  • Talvari - February 13, 2013 2:48 p.m.

    Hell yeah, Zelda, Mario, Golden Sun 1 + 2 and..that one lord of the rings game that was actually pretty cool :| Great lists so far :D

  • Magus - January 30, 2013 9:56 p.m.

    Thanks a lot for the spoilers! Now I can play Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow with the peace of mind that I already know the surprise at the end. Seriously, the list is great, put please bear in mind that while some may read it just to remember fun times, others like me use it to decide which retro games to pick up and play.

  • kyle94 - February 13, 2013 8:14 p.m.

    To be entirely fair, Aria of Sorrow is from 2003. When something is that old, it becomes a bit silly to try to avoid spoilers about it. In all likelihood, someone familiar with a game would probably already know the spoiler. Hell, someone familiar with several recent Castlevania games would know the spoiler, considering the back cover of the game's sequel spoiled the twist, and that was 2 years later.

  • slimjim441 - February 14, 2013 midnight

    kyle's got a point. Aria of Sorrow is great and should still be played, but you can't really get bummed over getting the ending spoiled for a game that's ten years old. I didn't even feel bad that I accidentally spoiled parts of Mass Effect 3 to a friend of mine who hasn't finished it. It came out a year ago, he's had it since day one. It's not my problem anymore that he hasn't finished it yet. But yeah, that was ten years ago; it happens. I'm still waiting for the day that I can ruin the ending of Sixth Sense for someone and watch them get pissed and I'll be like, 'sucks to be you, man. That movie's like 20 years old.' End rant.

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