top 10 GBA games

[tokyochojin]

Seen as there is already a fave 10 DC games, i thought i would start a similar thread for the GBA after recently purchasing a SP with Wario ware (amazing) stuck on what to get next...maybe Shining Soul II anyway guys....??

[E. Randy Dupre]

I'm going to avoid all of the straight SNES remakes, because good as they are, they're not what makes the GBA worth having. So my ten, in no particular order, are:

Wario Ware, deffo. You know why.

Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire. I've only played Ruby, but they're effectively the same game. Notched up 96hrs and only stopped because I had to give a Sapphire-owning friend chance to catch up. I've still not completed my Pokedex (missing the trade monsters) and have yet to see a shiny. The lifespan on this one's mental.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I still say that the entire menu system is fubar, but I've just recently decided to give the game another chance and have fallen in love despite that particularly ugly feature. It's too easy by far, but the depth in the jobs and ability system is amazing - the individuality you can give to your team really makes it. Incidentally, I bought the official Future Press guide for it, so that I could see weapon stats and the like without having to keep track of loads of individual pages printed out from Gamefaqs, and it's easily one of the most attractive UK/US video game books I've ever seen.

Mr Driller 2. One of the best puzzle games around. Absolutely perfect mixture of planning and reflexes.

Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga. Funniest Nintendo game yet . Clever character swapping mechanics and the turn-based/real-time hybrid battle system make playing it a joy.

Denki Blocks. Often overlooked, but a puzzler that actually contains puzzles (I know I said Mr Driller was, but it's not really a puzzle game, much as Tetris isn't) and is highly original to boot. THe Denki character design is wonderful, too. Addictive and challenging.

Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town. It's Harvest Moon, innit? Got it last weekend - it's not likely to leave my GBA for a very long time. Makes hard work fun.

Advance Wars/Advance Wars 2. Deep but immediately accessible. Excellent multiplayer modes, enormous single player lifespan.

Pokemon Pinball Ruby/Sapphire. Easier than the original, but just as addictive. Ball physics are just so. Catch 'em all gameplay matched with score challenge makes it near-impossible to put down.

Castlevania. Again, I've only played the one (the first to come out on the GBA - I forget the name right now), but presumably any of the three released so far are going to give you hours of enjoyment. Very similar to Metroid, except you're not led by the hand and there's (arguably) greater depth to the play mechanics.

[Pob]

If you're going to play Castlevania on the GBA try and make it Aria of Sorrow, if you can find it. Best one by far.

[mr_sockochris]

1. Yoshi's Island - Simply the best 2D platformer ever created with 6 new GBA only levels

2. Wario Ware - The best original game on the GBA and probabily the most craziest too. Wario Ware is gameplay at its purest form.

3. Zelda LttP - The single player, as we all know, is a stuning game, but the addition of 4 Swords make this a must own for me.

4. Mario Kart Super Circuit - 16 new tracks plus all the SNES tracks included aswell, need i say more?

5. Metroid Zero Mission - While it's not quite the quality of Super Metroid and it is a little bit too easy, it's still a great game with all the usual quality of level design, hidden items and clever progression that make the Metroid games what they are.

6. Advance Wars - I hate any kind of turn based combat game, but i absolutly love Advance Wars, i was hooked on it throughout my whole 2 week holiday last year.

7. Castlevania Aria of Sorrow - I'd not played a CV game in years before i got this

8. Metroid Fusion - The GBA's other Metroid game is a much harder and more linear one. The extra difficulty and stronger focus on story were very welcome in my opinion, though the game does tend to hold your hand all the way through it by telling you where to go all of the time. Still, doesn't make it any less of a must own though

9. Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga - As i said earlier, i hate turn based combat, but this actually got it right for me as it gave you some degree of interaction within the conbat instead of just watching each other doing attacks over and over. The game is full to the brim with Nintendo magic, design, music and most of all, humour.

10. F-Zero: GP Legend - I don't know anyone who's enjoyed this game other than me, but i like it. The tracks are much better than those found in Maximum Velocity, the music certainly is (plenty of SNES and N64 tunes thrown in there :happy )and the time trial challenges are a nice welcome addition to boosting up the lifespan. There's also a secret cup with 8 SNES tracks on it to unlock also, which brought a huge smile to my face

Both Klonoa and especially Wario Land 4 are criminally ignored platformers on GBA. If you can find them cheapish (they're a bit short to spend more than ?20 on) then grab 'em.

I also picked up the new Kirby game this week and i've been enjoying that alot and i can see it creeping onto my top10 if the rest of the game is as good as what i've played so far.

[bowser123]

Some are mentioned previously, all are must buys TBH.
In order of my preference:

1. Made In Wario (Get the JPN version, increases the WTF factor if you don't speak the language)
2. Mario And Luigi
3. Advance Wars 2
4. Mario Kart
5. Kururin Paradise (JPN Only, sequel to Kuru Kuru Kururin)
6. Metroid Fusion
7. Hamtaro
8. Fire Emblem
9. Castlevania 3
10. Densetsu no Stafi 2 (JPN Only, original Nintendo platformer)

Honourable mentions to: Metroid 1st Mission, Denki Blocks, SF2 Alpha, Pokemon and Klonoa.

[Joe Musashi]

In random order... My favourite 10 GBA games:

1. Metroid Fusion
2. Advance Wars
3. Wario Ware
4. Chu Chu Rocket (perfectly suited for the GBA)
5. Mario Kart: Super Circuit
6. Metroid: Zero Mission
7. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
8. Castlevania (the first one)
9. Super Mario World
10. Mario & Luigi (don't have it yet, but it is widely recommended and regarded by some as the best GBA game)

[yosai]

In no order.

Guru Logic Champ
Pinball of the Dead
Metroid Zero Mission/Fusion
Advance Wars
Kuru Kuru Kurin/Paradise
Mario Kart
Made In Wario
Mario & Luigi
Mario Golf Advance Tour
Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper

[evilpompie]

The gba sp is the best system I have ever played, here are my favourites:

Advance wars 1 (one of the most addicting games ever, reminded me of when I used to play Dune 2 on the pc, just couldn't stop playing)
Advance wars 2 (same story)
FF Tactics (just one more battle...)
Denki Blocks (great game, underrated)
Yoshi's Island (stunning game and graphics)
Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire (love it)
Zelda LttP
Mario and Luigi
F Zero
Fire Emblem (my brother is sending this one over from Canada, but I thought I'd put it in to complete the top ten)

Come to think of it, I haven't actually finished one of the games fully yet...

[Sketcz]

hmm, not many GBA games I can think of, so here are as many as I can, in no order:

WarioWare
Metroid Zero Mission (Fusion I thought sucked)
CV AoS
CV CotM
CV the other one, forgot its name
Advance Wars
Kuru Kuru Kurin - painfully overlooked classic

[csuzw]

In no particular order.

Pokemon Sapphire
Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Advance Wars
Tetris Advance
Mariokart
Golden Sun
Streetfighter 2

I've got quite a lot of other games but none of them stand out like the above. Tactics Ogre might fit in there if i ever get round to playing it.

[nips]

I don't think I've even played 10 GBA games. But I certainly enjoyed:

Pokemon Sapphire
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Chu Chu Rocket
Metroid Fusion
Golden Sun

Kuru Kuru Kurin drove me mental. That is the way to piss someone off. I can get the appeal, but it just drove me mad!

STOP HITTING THE ****ING WALLS!!

[elnombre1000]

I'm going to avoid all of the straight SNES remakes, because good as they are, they're not what makes the GBA worth having. So my ten, in no particular order, are:

Wario Ware, deffo. You know why.

Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire. I've only played Ruby, but they're effectively the same game. Notched up 96hrs and only stopped because I had to give a Sapphire-owning friend chance to catch up. I've still not completed my Pokedex (missing the trade monsters) and have yet to see a shiny. The lifespan on this one's mental.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I still say that the entire menu system is fubar, but I've just recently decided to give the game another chance and have fallen in love despite that particularly ugly feature. It's too easy by far, but the depth in the jobs and ability system is amazing - the individuality you can give to your team really makes it. Incidentally, I bought the official Future Press guide for it, so that I could see weapon stats and the like without having to keep track of loads of individual pages printed out from Gamefaqs, and it's easily one of the most attractive UK/US video game books I've ever seen.

Mr Driller 2. One of the best puzzle games around. Absolutely perfect mixture of planning and reflexes.

Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga. Funniest Nintendo game yet . Clever character swapping mechanics and the turn-based/real-time hybrid battle system make playing it a joy.

Denki Blocks. Often overlooked, but a puzzler that actually contains puzzles (I know I said Mr Driller was, but it's not really a puzzle game, much as Tetris isn't) and is highly original to boot. THe Denki character design is wonderful, too. Addictive and challenging.

Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town. It's Harvest Moon, innit? Got it last weekend - it's not likely to leave my GBA for a very long time. Makes hard work fun.

Advance Wars/Advance Wars 2. Deep but immediately accessible. Excellent multiplayer modes, enormous single player lifespan.

Pokemon Pinball Ruby/Sapphire. Easier than the original, but just as addictive. Ball physics are just so. Catch 'em all gameplay matched with score challenge makes it near-impossible to put down.

Castlevania. Again, I've only played the one (the first to come out on the GBA - I forget the name right now), but presumably any of the three released so far are going to give you hours of enjoyment. Very similar to Metroid, except you're not led by the hand and there's (arguably) greater depth to the play mechanics.

wario ware is a classic

[Ryan]

Hrmm

Tactics Orge - a million miles better FFTA (which is itself ace).
Advance Wars 1 - best strat game I've played. Fantastic.
Advance Wars 2 - more of a good thing
Mario Kart Super Circuit - I'm a MK whore so this is a no brainer
Final Fantasty Tactics Advance - not as good as Tactics Orge, but still great.
Doom - surprisingly good conversion, it's still the great game it always was.

Dont consider any of my other games great - Breath of Fire is a standard RPG, Golden Sun is only half a game and I don't really like the Mario games that much :-/

[superkully]

Concerning Golden Sun, play Golden Sun 2 and you'll realise it is only 1/4 of a game...

If you havn't played it on the SNES, get Yoshis Island, it is gorgeous, addictive and thoroughly amusing without being frustrating like the straight Mario games.

Also Advance Wars, play the 1st one before the 2nd, the gameplay and strategy is different, should be cheaper too? (Although not the case in the shops I've seen...)

And ZOE: FOM, not one most people recommend but I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

-1 for Mech Platoon, amazing that they managed to get a RTS on the GBA two+ whole years ago but there is no soul.

As an aside, why do you need 10 games? You'll just end up not appreciating them all, get a couple and get stuck into them first.

[Uli]

Concerning Golden Sun, play Golden Sun 2 and you'll realise it is only 1/4 of a game...

hmm, i've justed ordered them both since i've heard only good about them. you mean the story is still unfinished and a further sequel is on the way?