GBA - better than I thought

I never had a gba, but now I bought a DS lite( black eh eh) and I found myself buying some gba games since they very cheap ... and i must say that I got very good surprises! I never thought that the gba could being able to have such impressive games in graphics, gameplay and even sound :chimp:

I'm loving metroid fusion..

So, what are you're favourite games?

Cheers

Bakaneiro said:

So, what are you're favourite games?

Cheers

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I have sold all my GBA games apart from my very favourites that I can't see myself selling.They are -

Mario Golf
Metal Slug
Contra Advance
Bubble Bobble
Godzilla Domination
Mario Pinball Land
Mario vs Donkey Kong
Marawu: Made in Wario (aka Wario Twisted)
Made In Wario (Wario Ware GBA)

Plus I can use them on my GBAP for my cube and use my Hori pad as well.

I never had a gba, but the best games i've played on it were Golden Sun, the castlevanias, and metroid Zero Mission. I might buy a Ds Lite on Chrismas season.

Double Dragon Advance. I bought a GBA just for that game.

All the Castlevanias, Mario Kart, Zelda, and all Warioware games are must haves. Also, I highly recommend important Rythem Heaven. It will not see a USA release and made by the same people who make Warioware.

jeeez, the list could go on forever.

Summon Night
Super Robot Taisen
Pinball of the Dead
Ninja 5-0
Super Ghouls and Ghosts
Doom
Doom 2
Duke Nukem
Golden Sun(s)
Castlevania(s)
Megaman Zero(s)!!! ALL 4 OF THEM
Gunstar SH
Steel Empire
Iridion 2
Phalanx
Phantasy Star Collection

Seriously....I could go on forever.

Viva GBA!

pixeljunkie said:

jeeez, the list could go on forever.

Summon Night
Super Robot Taisen
Pinball of the Dead
Ninja 5-0
Super Ghouls and Ghosts
Doom
Doom 2
Duke Nukem
Golden Sun(s)
Castlevania(s)
Megaman Zero(s)!!! ALL 4 OF THEM
Gunstar SH
Steel Empire
Iridion 2
Phalanx
Phantasy Star Collection

Seriously....I could go on forever.

Viva GBA!

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Ninja 5-0 looks very nice(gotta buy it).. remindes me elevator action mixed with shinobi




BTW, the gba shinobi is cool?

Bakaneiro said:

BTW, the gba shinobi is cool?

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beware of Ninja 5-0 carts from Hong Kong on ebay [boots]

also GBA Shinobi is utter trash

I too was surprised by the quality of GBA games. I always sort of just filed them with SNES games, which I was never impressed with.

I picked up Gunstar Super Heroes and KOF EX2 because they were cheap (and there's no DS KOF game yet) and I'm definitely impressed. GSH was doing things I hadn't even known were possible on the GBA and KOF, while it doesn't play quite as well as the NGPC ones, is really good too.

I really wish there was a way to map the L+R buttons to X+Y for GBA games. I've been playing KOF in 2-button mode because the shoulder buttons are just too awkward to use effectively.

yeah, I remember when I first got my old GBA. I bought with an import copy of Super SFII X Revival since that was the only game I really cared to see when the GBA first came out. At the time, I considered it the best handheld fighter (more like the original than any other, but NGPC ones were still more fun).

I didn't get many more games for it until much later and now I've amassed some 40 or so games. Out of what I have, I'd highly recommend:

All Golden Suns (best portable RPGs, I think)
All Castlevanias
All Metroids
All Kirbys
All Final Fantasys
All Zeldas
F-Zero (as good as the SNES version!)
Boktai (i think there's a second one but I don't have it)
The KoFs
Super SFII Turbo Revival
Drill Dozer
Mario Kart
Galaxian Galaxies
The different Mario remakes (most are worth it)

And if you can still find them cheap:

The Spyro games (they were surprisingly fun, but easy)
SSX Tricky (not too bad of a port, but kinda easy)
SF Alpha 3
Lunar Legend (interesting remake of the original)
Jet Grind Radio (again, not a bad portable port)
The different Sonic titles (I had the first one which kinda sucked, but I heard the other two were better)

As for mapping the shoulder buttons to X/Y, I thought I had heard of a mod to do that on the DS, but I may just be thinking of the old GBA mod that added two buttons above A and B which were the same as L and R. Seems like you could probably develop a mod like that, though. Maybe just have a switch on the side or something to switch between X/Y mode and L/R. A lot of work to go through for something like that, though

Personally, I'd like to see a mod to let me play my GB and GBC games on my DS.

Mattroid said:

As for mapping the shoulder buttons to X/Y, I thought I had heard of a mod to do that on the DS, but I may just be thinking of the old GBA mod that added two buttons above A and B which were the same as L and R. Seems like you could probably develop a mod like that, though. Maybe just have a switch on the side or something to switch between X/Y mode and L/R. A lot of work to go through for something like that, though

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I did some digging today and found the mod you're talking about. It's the DS Chip Advanced at mash-mods.com. It's nice and cheap but they only show it installed on an old DS. I'm waiting for an email back about whether it will fit in a Lite.

that's right. I should have known it was a mashmods thing. $18 isn't a bad deal, too, if you can do it yourself.

pixeljunkie said:

Steel Empire

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Did Steel Empire get a USA release? The only one's I've seen for sale are the European versions.

Mattroid said:

that's right. I should have known it was a mashmods thing. $18 isn't a bad deal, too, if you can do it yourself.

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Even $22 to have them install it is a steal if it means I can play KOFEX2 properly.

I just heard back from them (quick response!):

Mash-Mods said:

A new version of the chip will be coming out next week with more features, easier to install, and quite probably (not yet confirmed) compatible with the DS Lite.

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So I guess I'll just have to keep an eye on the site and see what happens.

Yeah. I've been playing alot of GBA also. I recently bought Poke'mon Emerald..as I'm a fan of the series..and it's awsome. Iv'e been playing alot of Gunstar Heroes and Advanced war's also. They look incredible on the DS lite also.

Astro Boy is one of the greatest games I've ever played.
I'm not talking about handhelds, I'm talkin bout of ALL TIME.
Really made me feel like a kid again; what's so amazing is that I've never even seen an Astro Boy episode, so that shows you how accessible it is to everyone.
So, please do yourself a favor and part with 20 of your dollars to have one of the most memorable gaming experiences in your life.

twalden said:

Did Steel Empire get a USA release? The only one's I've seen for sale are the European versions.

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No.

Mattroid said:

Galaxian Galaxies

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Haha, you mean Gradius Galaxies, bro.
My favorite handheld shmup.

twalden said:

Did Steel Empire get a USA release? The only one's I've seen for sale are the European versions.

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nope no US release....I've been playing teh rom

Some games you must play or get:

Ninja Five-O (incredible combination of Rolling Thunder, Shinobi and Bionic Commando)

Drill Dozer (one of the best platformer with a very cool play mechanic, get it for $10 at Bestbuy)

Astro Boy Omega Factor (one of Treasure's finer games)

Tactic Ogre (Good luck finding a copy)

Final Fantasy Tactics (most say it is not as good as the original PS1, but I enjoyed it nonetheless)

Final Fantasy I/II, IV remakes (good remakes, esp if you enjoyed the original)

Racing Gears (good top down racing game)

Fire Pro Wrestling 1 & 2

Summon Night: Swordcraft Story (Great Atlus rpg, it came out recently but looking very hard to find already, better pick one up if you see it)

Super Robot Taisen Original Generation (see Summon Night, I can't wait for OG2 coming next month)

Castlevanias (get the double pack, and track down Circle of the Moon)

Metroid Zero Mission (super fun)

Any of the Super Mario Bros port, like Yoshi's Island

Advance Mario Golf (addictive)

That's it off the top of my head, I am sure I missed many many great games (like Golden Sun).

All time favorites

Sword of Mana

Sigma Star Saga

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Pokemon Ruby / Sapphire / Leaf Green

Shining Soul II

Zelda: A Link to the Past + Four Swords

WarioWare


Sword of Mana & Sigma Star Saga though... man, I love those games.
And the Castlevania's too... it's love.

...And speaking of GBA games, I just picked up Metroid Fusion and Castlevania: Circle of the Moon today, and I am extremely pleased.. mostly with Metroid.

Sure, GBA has an excellent library of games. Been following it since day one. The Golden Sun games are really good. The port of FFIV, Phantasy Star Collection... I don't really play RPGs too much either.

Gunstar Super Heroes, Advance Guardian Heroes, both great. The port of R Type 3 is straight outta the toilet though. Drill Dozer is an excellent game. Really original idea.

Go go Beckham soccer island, basically a Platformer like soccer kid mixed with Graphics of smw and Yoshi's island featuring David beckham