Topic: Gameboy Advance Games on DS

[ryancoke]

I haven't owned a Nintendo handheld since the original gameboy. I bought a DS recently and I love it.  I'm wondering about GBA games.  What are the really good ones out there I should check out? I plan on getting Final Fantasy 4,5,6 for sure and probably Zelda: Minish Cap.  I have no idea if there's anything else worth picking up.  Thanks in advance (no pun intended)...

[Louieturkey]

Any Castlevania games you can find.  Zelda Link to the Past is good too.  Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is good (though if we get the updated Final Mix+ of KH2, then there would be no point to it).  

[Ian Sane]

Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Zero Mission.  Unless you hate Metroid for some reason.

I really enjoyed The Minish Cap.  Probably more than one would expect since it gets a bit of flack for not really stacking up compared to other Zeldas.  I found the shrinking aspect of it fun as hell.

The real Pokemon is always a good bet too though the original Gameboy games were better.

If you like turn-based strategy the GBA is overflowing with titles like Advance Wars 1 & 2, two Fire Emblem games, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, and Tactics Ogre (though that's pretty obscure).

[Smoke39]

Get Doom if you're an FPS junkie like me.  It may be old, but it's a nice fix for on the go.  You could also get Doom 2.  It's a bit more laggy, but also a more faithful port.

And if you want some classic platformer action, import Ganbare Goemon 1 + 2.  I'm personally not really into 1, but 2 make the package totally worthwhile.

And get the two Metroid games like Ian sez! O:

[Infernal Monkey]

You HAVE TO get Wario Ware and Wario Ware Twisted. HAVE TO. It's the law.

[MegaByte]

Aside from ones already mentioned...

Kuru Kuru Kururin and Kururin Paradise.  You'll have to import them, but do it!

Some key Mario games:

Mario Kart Super Circuit
Mario Tennis Power Tour
Mario vs. DK

[Arbok]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
If you like turn-based strategy the GBA is overflowing with titles like Advance Wars 1 & 2, two Fire Emblem games, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, and Tactics Ogre (though that's pretty obscure).

I highly recommend these as well, especially Tactics Ogre, although finding that title will be hard now considering it wasn't even easy to buy when first released.

[KDR_11k]

+1 on the Kurukuru Kururin suggestion (Kurukuru is written as one word, otherwise the acronym becomes KKK). If you don't like Japanese it's available in a European version as well. No idea about Kururin Paradise but from what I've heard it's even better so a must buy. There's a Gamecube version but like many other Gamecube games it's massively easier than the GBA versions.

Ninja Cop (Ninja Five-O in the US) is a must buy as well. Rope-swinging ninja mayhem! It's hard but fair and since a level plays out the same way when you retry it doing the same steps you can bit by bit learn the optimal solution.

I'd say you can safely skip Metroid Fusion, it's not that good. Zero Mission is a lot better although it has a few annoyances that put it below Super Metroid IMO (the better weapon selection system doesn't make up for that completely).

Gunstar Super Heroes (aka Gunstar Future Heroes) is a greatly improved Gunstar Heroes and definitely worth a purchase. A nice part is that the complexity of the story increases with the difficulty (and the plot changes depending on your character) so to get the full deal you have to play at hard. At easy the story is so dumb it'd fit into the average arcade game.

Klonoa is worth a look.

I second Mario vs. Donkey Kong but I'd like to mention that it isn't as good as its predecessor, Donkey Kong for the Super Game Boy. Since the DS won't play anything older than the GBA you'd need a GBASP or older to play it but it'll work even on the good old brick.

Donkey Kong: King of Swing is pretty good, too. It's now sold for 20€ in most places but AFAIK not in the US.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is an awesome game.

[shaylepriest]

Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age are awesome RPGs which rival final fantasy and zelda easily

[KDR_11k]

Unfortunately they are pretty much episodic content that isn't labelled as such, Golden Sun ends after the first two out of four important things that would release a huge evil have been visited by the party (if you know the standard jRPG plot that's at most 1/3rd into the game). I refused to buy the second game becuas the first one was so short despite costing the full 40 Euros (or was it even 45?).  

[Mario]

My favourites are Mario vs Donkey Kong, Wario Ware and the POKEMONS! Minish Cap is also amazing, I like it more than LTTP, it has style and isn't boring. Oh yeah, Advance Wars is possibly the best strategy game of all time. With the GBA it's almost impossible to not find any games you'll love.

[ryancoke]

DOOM ON GBA!!!!  WTF!!!!11!!1!!!

I was going to try my hand at some DS homebrew to get Doom on my DS but if I can just find a GBA version that would be sooo much cheaper!

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm not really in RTS or Pokemon games unfortnately but I'm definatly into Metroid and Golden Sun. Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

[ryancoke]

I tried to find Doom for GBA online and all I can find are inflated amazon prices. Ebay only has Doom2. On Amazon.ca some moron is trying to sell Doom for $92Cdn (about $84us)  Crazy!  I don't want to have to scour every eb games used game section in my city to find it.  If anybody happens to see a resonably priced copy online, let me know.

[18 Days]

You probably wont believe me when I tell you this. But there is this GBA cart out there right. It has and I'm not joking, it has Dr Mario AND…AND yes there is more, it also has Puzzle League. It was released at a budget price too! I couldn't believe they would jsut throw the two best puzzle games that arn't Tetris onto the same cartridge but they DID!

It's puzzle game heaven, it even has an option to play the game longwise, in tallscreen like how they're meant to be played.

Seriously though, when you have this in the GBA slot and Tetris DS in the DS slot, you feel invincible, like your on drugs, jsut knowning you have the trifecta of puzzle games in your pocket that could fend off the dangers or any traffic jam, plane trip or uninteresting person you have to endure in your day.

[ryancoke]

If I got Dr. Mario on the DS my wife wouldn't let me use it anymore  She'd be too busy hogging it!

[Ian Sane]

"I'd say you can safely skip Metroid Fusion, it's not that good."

WHAT?!  I'll admit I like Zero Mission better but I would never suggest skipping a whole Metroid game altogether.  The only reason to skip Metroid Fusion is if you can't afford it.  For any Metroid fan it's an essential purchase.

It's like when people suggest that Metroid Prime 2 isn't worth buying because they think the first game is better.  Does that make Metroid Prime 2 not worth playing at all then?  It's still good and still fun.  I say if you like a series any non-spinoff game that isn't bad is worth getting.

Minish Cap isn't as good as A Link to the Past?  Who cares?  It's still good.  If you like Zelda you'll like it.

[jakeOSX]

i agree, fusion was a great game, even if i never did get past that bouncy spider thing... grrr.

and if you like RPG's, i'd give a pokemon game a go, they are better than you'd think. (even if you are getting your @$$ handed to you by a seven year old)

and i'll second and third anything with the words 'advanced' and 'wars' in the title. doom for the GBA was OK, maybe i am too spoiled by computers for FPS. go for metriod hunters for the DS if you need a FPS.

mario 3, or super mario world.

i got wing commander prophecy. i was disappointed. not surprised, but i had high hopes.  

[ryancoke]

I love wing commander games!  Is it really that bad?  I have MP:Hunters already

[jakeOSX]

yeah, it was that bad.  

[ryancoke]

I managed to find Doom for GBA on UK ebay and got it for 10 pounds ($23cdn or $19usd) including shipping. Not a bad deal considerring how hard it seems to be to find.

[Smoke39]

Quote
Originally posted by: KDR_11k
Ninja Cop (Ninja Five-O in the US) is a must buy as well. Rope-swinging ninja mayhem! It's hard but fair and since a level plays out the same way when you retry it doing the same steps you can bit by bit learn the optimal solution.

I should try that game out.  I liked the grappling action in the Bionic Comando games, and the rope-swinging sounds sorta similar.

Quote
Originally posted by: ryancoke
I managed to find Doom for GBA on UK ebay and got it for 10 pounds ($23cdn or $19usd) including shipping. Not a bad deal considerring how hard it seems to be to find.

Awesome.  I've heard it's hard to find.  I don't remember how much I paid for mine (probably too much).

Metroid: Fusion wasn't my favorite, but I definitely wouldn't recommend skipping it.  If you're a Metroid fan you should definitely play it, and if you're not you should still play it because it's pretty different.

PS Doom is so much better than MPH.  Not as good as some later PC FPSs, but it really is a great game.  

[KDR_11k]

If I got Dr. Mario on the DS my wife wouldn't let me use it anymore  She'd be too busy hogging it!

Avoid Wario Ware then, it has Dr. Wario as an unlockable which is pretty close to Dr. Mario.

WHAT?! I'll admit I like Zero Mission better but I would never suggest skipping a whole Metroid game altogether. The only reason to skip Metroid Fusion is if you can't afford it. For any Metroid fan it's an essential purchase.

It lacks a crucial element of Metroid, exploration. It puts you on a linear path with no sequence breaking possible (though 0% runs are doable since mandatory items no longer count). It also has damage that's completely out of whack with the rest of the series, you'll encounter regular enemies that do like 200 damage per hit.

I should try that game out. I liked the grappling action in the Bionic Comando games, and the rope-swinging sounds sorta similar.

Unless you have a sonyesque allergy agianst 2d games you should try Ninja Cop no matter what. I paid 40€ on a copy when the game was already a year or two old but it was still worth it.

[Bill Aurion]

No one mentioned Drill Dozer, you all suck! >=O

[Smoke39]

KDR: Just because Fusion doesn't completely stick to the Metroid forumla and has some tough spots doesn't make it a bad game (though I definitely found some of the bosses very off-puttingly difficult; I don't think I ever beat the SA-X at the end, though I did come REALLY close once (the core X killed me XP)).

Five-O's on my Amazon shopping list, along with a bunch of other games I missed and intend to check out sometime. (:

[WuTangTurtle]

Fire Pro Wrestling, Tales of Phantasia, Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, and Advance Guardian Heroes are a few games i think nobody mentioned.  Fire Pro Wrestling isnt for everyone, either is Tales of Phantasia but Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga is a definite buy.  Advance Guardian Heroes is pretty good but it does have a bit of slow down when there is too much on screen though, to me though its still a treasure