Top GBA games

[ChadTower]

Okay, I'm spending a lot of time with my SP lately... what are the games I need to play? 

[Chris G]

I haven't played a lot of different games, but I thought Castlevania Aria was the shizzle.

[ChadTower]

So far, for the GBA specifically, I've played Lego Star Wars (which I also beat on the GC) and I just picked up Super Bust A Move at lunch.

[SithMaster]

Advance wars 1 and 2
metroid fusion
metroid zero mission
doom and doom 2 maybe(depends on if you dont mind them being off a little but they have mp and coop)
castlevania in general
zelda minish cap
zelda four swords

if anything the advance wars series is a must unless you hate tbs games.

[ChadTower]

tbs?

[SithMaster]

turn based strategy.

also the game really relies on the whole rock/paper/scissors idea as certain units cannot do anything to others and such.

[ChadTower]

Oh, right... I don't mind TBS so long as you can save whereever you want.  Sometimes I get sick of that pretty quickly.

[Chris G]

I've been meaning to check out the Zelda games, but my wife usurped control of the GBA some time ago.  I need to take care of that.  How was Lego Star Wars?  Seems I've heard good things about that too.

[ChadTower]

It was good, of course a sort of subset of the real console version.  Still, well suited to a simple handheld control scheme.  IIRC some of the levels were unique to the GBA version as well.

[AtomSmasher]

Oh, right... I don't mind TBS so long as you can save whereever you want.  Sometimes I get sick of that pretty quickly.

You can save anywhere in Advance Wars.  Those games took a lot of my free time in the past (as did the DS Advance Wars game).  I also really enjoyed metroid fusion and metroid zero mission.

[Hoagie_one]

drill dozer was very fun + what they all said.

[thennomeking]

Ill go for the lesser known games (and a few well known that no one talks about)

Car Battler Joe - Think Twisted Metal/Carmeggedon, with upgradable vehicles.
Tactics Ogre - The best of the Strategy RPGS on the system (upgradable Chess).
Boktai - A fun little action adventure that requires the sun.
Ecks vs Sever 1&2 - 2 of the better FPS on the GBA.
Gadget Racers - Cutesy upgradeable racing.
Karaaj Ralley - RC ProAM for a new generation.
Zone of the Enders: Fist of Mars - probably the best startegy game on the system.
Super Dodgeball Advance - Think of it as a hybrid of an rpg and a sports game.  It was a launch title but it is still one of my favorites and  Ive played most of the catalog.
Konami Karts - What MarioKart Advanced wanted to be.
Chu Chu Rocket - Equal to its Dreamcast counterpart, but portable and single cart multiplayer.
Sabrewulf - My personal favorite of the system, an action platformer with a dash of adventure.  Grab the treasure from the Sabrewulf and make it back to the begining without him killing you.  I did wait 20 years for a sequel to the speccy version so yes I am bias.
The GT Advanced series - very good racers, the first two are rally , the third eludes me.
CT Special Forces 1&2 - Modern day Metal Slug.
Godzilla Domination - King of Monsters skinned for Godzilla.
Iridion II - a decent shump, stay far away from Iridion 3d though.
Lady Sai - a fun little action adventure, in the vein of the modern Prince of Persias.
F-zero GP - the original Fzero on steroids.
Wizards - the sequel to Warlocked on the gameboy, a pretty good RTS
CIMA the Enemy - another good Japanese styled RPG

Imports:
Kuru Kuru Kurin - abstract puzzle game - simply a blast and no real language curve.
Napoleon - A very good RTS
Magical Vacation - the best Japanese RPG on the system hands down.
Famicon Mini - Kid Icarus - because it is Kid Icarus
Bitgenerations - all - they look like techdemos but man are they addictive
Mother 3 - sequel to the US SNES rpg Earthbound.


That should do for now.  If you want a better description, or longer list, dont hesitate to ask.  Though I cannot tell you when I will reply.

[ChadTower]

Wow, thanks.

[somunny]

Minish Cap was great.

[KenToad]

Kuru Kuru Kururin (Europe and Japan only) and the sequel Kururin Paradise (Japan only) are amazing games, well worth your time and perfect games for the handheld format. 

Also, check out Rhythm Tengoku for another Japan only dose of weirdness.  It's by the makers of Wario Ware, which I'm sure you're already familiar with.

Follow this link to see IGN's 15 must-have GBA games:
http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/390/390646p1.html

The most interesting of their picks is Ninja 5-O and that game is truly an incredible little gem, like a pumped up ninja version of Bionic Commando.  It has the appeal of Bionic Commando in that I still play it occasionally just to see what kind of feats I can perform with the grappling hook or if I can beat my best times in the time attack mode.  Some of the levels have a lot of backtracking, which can get irritating, but never so much that you want to stop playing.

[SithMaster]

Boktai is something i really wanted to try.  ive read people have used certain light fixtures to play.

i thought the ign list was 25 but i remember the ninja game mentioned.  lot of good games.

[KenToad]

I know that IGN has done a lot of lists, but I can't find any cool ones with 25 GBA games right now.  Here is the list of Editor's Choice awards from IGN.  At the top is TMNT, which I haven't played, but has been really highly rated. 

http://gameboy.ign.com/index/choice.html

Here's a good list by Racketboy:

www.racketboy.com/retro/2007/05/best-undiscovered-nintendo-game-boy-advance-gba-games.html

[lemoe]

Donkey Kong Country 1,2 and 3! Almost as good as the snes version!!! lol

[ChadTower]

I've actually never played Wario Ware...

[KenToad]

The first Wario Ware is fantastic.  Twisted! is also fun for a while and it shows off a bit of the technology that they expanded upon in developing the wii controller.  I'm really disappointed by the wario ware DS game, though.

[crashwg]

The first Wario Ware is fantastic.  Twisted! is also fun for a while and it shows off a bit of the technology that they expanded upon in developing the wii controller.  I'm really disappointed by the wario ware DS game, though.

When you say you're disappointed with Wario Ware Touched, are you saying that because it's not much of an improvement over the GBA game or is it really not as good?  I ask because I've never played the original but have enjoyed Touched very much so...

[KenToad]

I say I'm disappointed with Touched because it's just too short and too easy.  They really should have incorporated buttons into the mini-games.  A lot of the stylus based mini-games are just variations of scribble furiously on the screen.  There are very few of the wow! you mini-games in this particular Wario Ware incarnation, IMO.

[rumpelstiltzkin]

Astro boy , Gunstar super heroes

[Malenko]

zelda:lttp
firepro wrestling 1 or 2
Mario Kart
Super Mario World
Super Mario 3
Mortal Kombat Advance
Tekken Advance


and of course all the retro game packs you can find, like konami's classic collection
I gave my SP and most of my games to my mom a couple years ago, she gave all the games to her friends kids except the pacman collection and the ms.pacman game

[DaveMMR]

Mortal Kombat Advance

A little trivia on that one: It was the first and, to date, only game to receive a 0.0 from a reviewing in the history of Electronic Gaming Monthly.   

I second the Advance Wars series (Dual Strike - the third game - is worth getting a DS for).  That game hasn't left the system for more than two months already and has been responsible for me staying up way too late.

[thennomeking]

Another fun one would be Dinotopia: Timestone Pirates.  But DO NOT pay more than a couple bucks for it.  It is a fun platformer but not the best.  As a fan of James Gurney's work I had to play it, but shocked me how easy it was.

Also if you can get the Asterix and Obelix games they are also a blast - however if you are not a fan of the French series you may not like them.