New GBA owner

klwillis45

klwillis45

CAGiversary!
Just snagged a original GBA for $2 at a yard sale. This is my first handheld since the original GB when I was a kid & I don't know much except this thing with play GBA, GB & GBC games.

What do I need to know? Best games & accessories & where to acquire them? Does Gamestop still sell GBA stuff? Any advice is welcome since I've basically be paying zero attention to this segment since I was a kid. Thanks.
 
Best games, imo:

Any Pokemon game
Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga
Dragonball Z: Buu's Fury
Final Fantasy Tactics
Metroid Fusion
LoZ: The Minish Cap.
Yoshi's Island
Stay away from Mario Kart. It was terrible.

GameStop still sells GBA games, but they are clearing out inventory. If you can find them, all GBA games are 75% off. Best bet to find games is online. I've found plenty at thrift stores, yard sales, and flea markets, but more often than not the games are overpriced.

I personally never used any accessories other than a link cable and a book light.
 
To add onto that:

Fire Emblem
Legend of Zelda
Zelda II
A Link to the Past
Super Mario Advance Series (A lot of ports are good on the go!)
Spyro Season of Fire (and Ice) were ok
Mario Tennis: Power Tour was RPGish if I recall
Final Fantasy VI
Yu-Gi-Oh series if you're into it.

Hope you plug a lot of hours into your new console!!!
 
Castlevania series
Final Fantasy V
Pokemon Emerald / FireRed
Super Mario Advance series (remakes/ports of SMB2, SMB3, SMW, and Yoshi's Island)
F-Zero: Maximum Velocity

I've never played the following but heard they were good:
Golden Sun
Boktai (the cartridge has a built-in solar panel that affects your game when it receives sunlight)
 
Gba is probably my favorite system. In addition in throw in

Warioland 4
Astroboy
NHL 2002 (great version of 90s style video game hockey)

Some oddballs that I love

Tony hawk pro skater 2 - different perspective but still fun as hell
Mech platoon- a nice little RTS on the system
Max Payne - cool port with full audio
Drill Dozer
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The GBA is one of my favorite systems, great pickup!

If you really want to experience the handheld to it's maximum potential, I'd pickup a pearl blue/pink or graphite gameboy sp. These have the brighter backlit screen, which in my opinion, made the GBA a lot more enjoyable for me. As a kid, I always had to play directly under a lamp or something because the screen is simply too dark. Play a game like Castlevania: Circle of the Moon or Metroid Fusion with the original GBA vs an sp, and you'll never want to pick up the GBA again. That said, I did miss how comfortable the GBA was in my hands.

Anyways, here's the games I'd recommend:

Advance Wars 1&2
Fire Emblem, both of them
Golden Sun, both of them
Metroid Fusion/Zero Mission
Pokemon Emerald
Pokemon Leaf Green/Fire Red
Astro Boy, this game surprised me the most in how much fun I had
Ninja Five-0, old school gameplay reminded me of genesis games
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, easy game but lots of fun building your team
Tactics Ogre
Super Mario World
Yoshi's Island
Castlevania, if I had to pick one I'd go with Aria of Sorrow or get the double pack
Boktai, great time to pick this game up
Warioware
Bomberman Tournament, multiplayer is lots of fun and the campaign was enjoyable
Mario & Luigi
Riviera

If you enjoyed Sonic as a kid, Sonic 3 was the best one in my opinion.

If you enjoyed Mega Man, the Battle Network games are get repetitive but I'd recommend playing one of them. I played through 2, 3 and 6; I'd get any of them but 6 had the best ending. I didn't really enjoy the Zero games though.

Some people enjoyed the Breath of Fire games, but I never picked them up.

The DBZ games are fun if you're liked watching it.

The Mario Kart game was pretty lame, despite good reviews; the worst one I've played for sure.

Tony Hawk was fun, I remember completing all the gaps in THPS3. I'd get one of them.

The GBA is backwards compatible with GB games of course, so feel free to pickup anything you may have missed then. Enjoy!
 
You're going to have to order something called a Halo light if you want better lighting on the original GBA. But since you got it for $2, you can try modding it. I'm not sure how it goes, but some people had success putting in a backlight, even after the afterburner kit is long sold out.
 
In addition to the suggestions above, the two Klonoa games on the system are great puzzle-platformers. Used carts can be found fairly cheaply, and Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament is even available new for a decent price (at least at Amazon).

Also, if you're a Kingdom Hearts fan, KH: Chain of Memories is decent. I don't know how it compares to the PS2 remake, though.
 
DK Jungle Climber
Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap


Those are my top 4.
 
[quote name='klwillis45']Just snagged a original GBA for $2 at a yard sale. This is my first handheld since the original GB when I was a kid & I don't know much except this thing with play GBA, GB & GBC games.

What do I need to know? Best games & accessories & where to acquire them? Does Gamestop still sell GBA stuff? Any advice is welcome since I've basically be paying zero attention to this segment since I was a kid. Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Not to rain on your party, but you REALLY should get the GBA-SP, and get rid of that original GBA. The reason? The screen is so dim and dark (no backlight at all), its basically unusable. I had an original GBA and about 30 games many years ago; got so frustrated that I dumped everything at a used game store; then they came out with the GBA-SP, a MASSIVE improvement over the original GBA, and with a screen that is actually very bright and nice. Better form factor too. You really will be miserable trying to play games on an original GBA, they look completely dim and dark; the system is pretty much worthless. But the GBA-SP is a GREAT improvement and well worth picking up.
 
Definitely check out Gamestops in your area (or check stock online) before you buy a GBA game on eBay. I've also been out of the loop pretty much since the Game Boy Color came out, and recently got a DS Lite used (as well as a 3DS--but the DS Lite plays GBA games). I've had great luck finding good GBA games at a few Gamestops around here, and with the 75% off they're mostly $2.50 or less. The price online is the price before the 75% off.
 
Like everyone has already said...
If you don't go for the SP you NEED to get the book light accessory thing. Also, to reiterate what everyone has basically said.

Any and all Pokemon games
Both Golden Suns
And Zelda the Minish Cap
Also Mario and Luigi Supestar Saga

Also if you want you can go for the Classic Nes GBA games.


Edit: Wellllll. Last post was almost a month ago. My bad. You probably are well past all of this at this point.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top