Welcome to the next edition of my top 10 lists, as I work towards eventually dropping my top 25 games of all time in one list. Today, I am ranking my top 10 Game Boy Advance games.
The reason I’m doing it this way is that it’s a lot easier to parse through all the games I potentially want to rank if I have them all split up by system like this. Unfortunately, I can safely say that no Game Boy Advance game will make it on my final list. The system had a lot going for it, and there were plenty of great games, but nothing that I’d personally say is an all timer.
So basically, I’m hyping you up for my list by saying that I’m not as passionate about these games as some others. What a genius move by me! At the very least, the GBA was a big starting point for me getting into an entire genre of games, so I’ll always have that to thank for it. Read on to find out which genre. Stay tuned to the blog as I continue to make these lists and work up to an epic conclusion!
Past Lists:
10. Mega Man Battle Network 2
The original Mega Man Battle Network is one of those games where you see a lot of interesting ideas, but the execution on those ideas just lags behind a bit. Mega Man Battle Network 2 goes in and cleans a lot of things up and brings the series to where it should be. I still think this series has one of the more interesting and fun RPG battle systems out there, as it manages to combine action combat with grids and strategy in some really fun ways. I can’t say everything is perfect. The level design, in particular, doesn’t do much for me in this series, but the battle system does more than enough to make it stand out as one of the best on the GBA, in my opinion.
9. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
If there is a portable Nintendo system, you can pretty much count on at least one banger Zelda game to drop on it. I’ve always preferred the top-down Zelda games over the 3D games, so this has always been great news for me. The Minish Cap delivers on everything you’d expect, with fun exploration, solid combat, and dungeons that are a blast to get through.
8. Metroid Fusion
I’ve never been a huge Metroid fan despite loving the genre. Fusion might be the only Metroid that ends up in my top 10 for any console list. But man, this game is just undeniable. Fusion has pitch-perfect Metroid gameplay with responsive controls and great boss fights. It’s a bit more linear than the average Metroid game, but I think that might be why I like it more than most. I prefer a lot of exploration in Metroidvania games that have deeper RPG elements. The brisk pace here actually fits the game’s strengths better in my view, and getting in and out in a pretty short amount of time worked great for me. I’m in the minority, but I wish every Metroid game was modeled after this one.
7. Mario Tennis: Power Tour
If you’ve followed my other ranks, you’ve seen a lot of Mario Tennis on my Nintendo lists. Unfortunately, this is the last Mario Tennis game you’ll see. It drives me nuts to this day that Nintendo has completely abandoned the format that their portable Mario sports games used to have. Mario Tennis: Power Tour has fun arcade-y tennis gameplay, combined with a great story mode with RPG elements. There was pretty much nothing like it out there, and there has been almost nothing like it since. Power Tour is probably the best Mario Tennis game ever made in my estimation thanks to this format, and it’s sad that no one seems willing to make another game like it, including Nintendo.
6. Mario Golf: Advance Tour
You can pretty much read my Mario Tennis writeup, and that is mostly what I have to say here. Luckily, at least we got Golf Story back in 2017, which was clearly inspired by this game. Much like Power Tour is for the Mario Tennis games, I’d say Advance Tour is the best Mario Golf game ever made.
5. Golden Sun: The Lost Age
Sequels like The Lost Age are always such a weird internal battle for me when I rank things. The Lost Age makes a lot of nice tweaks to the original Golden Sun, and if I were to compare both of those games, I’d say The Lost Age is probably the better game.
But it’s difficult to surpass the feeling of experiencing something great for the first time. The Lost Age is an excellent JRPG, with fun puzzles and combat, especially on a system that didn’t have many great turn-based RPGs in my opinion, but I had already experienced the core of it with the original game, and thus, it ranks below the original for me (spoilers!).
4. The GBA Castlevania Trilogy
Realistically, all three of the GBA Castlevania games should be on this list in various capacities. If I was making this list in the mid-2000s, that probably would have been easy enough. Unfortunately, after 20 years, all three games kind of blend together for me (especially since there were also 3 Nintendo DS Castlevania games), so thus, they all get combined.
Every game in this trilogy is such a treat for fans of the series. Outside of the story, pretty much every element of these games is about all you could ask for. Excellent exploration, great RPG mechanics that make every encounter rewarding in ways that non-RPG Metroidvanias don’t, and very good boss fights make the entire trilogy a hit. All three games were highly acclaimed, and for good reason. We have had a few series come along and try and fill the void that this series’ absence has created, but I don’t think any of the games that have tried have come all that close to truly replicating how well made these games were. I miss them. In this era of Metroidvanias being so popular, it seems insane that the “Vania” element is now a distant dream.
3. Golden Sun
You knew this one was coming after #5. Once again, on a system that didn’t have tons of great turn based RPGs (the system was a lot better for SRPGs oddly), Golden Sun was a big time standout. It had a unique world, deep combat mechanics that allowed for a lot of flexibility, and a strong story. Golden Sun was awesome, and it’s another franchise that I can’t believe faded away quickly after the GBA.
2. Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
This was actually my first Fire Emblem game, and it inspired me to go back and try past games in the series and got me into series like Shining Force. The Sacred Stones has pretty much everything you’d hope for from a game in this series. There’s a solid story, good characters, fun strategic combat, and really addictive RPG elements. The bond system also adds to the fun. That strategy is enhanced by the intensity that the series’ trademark permadeath brings to the table as well. This was such a great introduction to the series and the genre as a whole for me.
1. Advance Wars
My top 2 GBA games are both from Intelligent Systems! What a great developer.
I love RPG elements. In a review I wrote this year, I talked about how RPG elements make everything better. I feel like every game should try and shoehorn in stats and level ups if it makes sense. So it’s kind of crazy that Advance Wars is my favorite GBA game, as it is a strategy game without those elements. This is when there are many strategy games on the GBA with RPG elements. That just speaks to how good Advance Wars is.
Advance Wars is quite deep, but it’s easy to pick up and play. It’s got a great sense of style and tons of content as well. It’s a blast to master all of the different commanders and army types, and the story has its moments as well. Advance Wars does everything right, and it is why it is one of the most beloved games on the GBA, and that is also why it is my personal favorite.
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