I have an original GBA that I'm pretty sure was my first eBay purchase back in 2003 or so. Soon after I bought it I found the Afterburner front light kit and installed it. My first attempt at any kind of modification to a system. Now after all these years I finally bought an AGS-101 from eBay too. It should be here in a couple days. I've been checking out the Retro Modding website and they have a slew of parts and upgrades for the original. I'm thinking about tinkering around with the original and putting a back light screen in it and possibly some other upgrades. They sell a Metal Jesus Rocks edition on there for somewhere around $300. I don't plan on putting that kind of money into something that is lurking on 20 years old. But its cool to see how passionate some people still are for the GBA.
Console specific thread won't get locked, even if they're older than six months or a year. But I do like to see a separate thread for the GameBoy (Color) and the GameBoy Advance, just to keep the discussion in one place, and to use it as the ''official'' thread to which we can refer any future duplicate threads.
I have renamed this thread 'The GameBoy Advance Thread', and it will serve as a general thread concerning all things GBA related.
If anyone wants to talk about the GameBoy (Color), he/she is free to create a new thread, and we'll use that one as the general thread for all GameBoy (Color) talk.
So like I mentioned I've had an original GBA for quite a while, but I never built up much of a library for it. I'm scoping out some games on eBay but am cautious to buy some of them thinking they may be clones. I'm looking at getting copies of Doom 1 and 2 and Duke Nukem. Other than those at the moment I'm not sure what else to go for. I was just given a copy of Minish Cap. I have Metroid Fusion, Super Mario World and a couple others that aren't note worthy lol. I just found out about Metroid Zero Mission so I imagine that will be a buy soon. I'm up for suggestions and tips on spotting fakes on eBay.
Bought a bl GBA SP over the summer for $60 with the charger. It has a backlit screen and is the graphite color. I enjoy it, but haven't played it too much considering the Switch has been sucking up all of my time. I really enjoy Warioware and have played it for hours and hours. I also have Super Mario Advance 4 which is pretty fun too. Warioland 4 and a few Gameboy games I have are okay, but nothing worth noting. Overall it's a nice system and still holds up surprisingly well today.
I use NDS Lite to play GBA games.
Well, right now i still haven't got any GBA games but i will get my K-1 Pocket Grand Prix 1 GBA soon from Ebay.
I missed my NDS Lite almost as soon as I sold it. Needed the money at the time though. Knowing I was going to buy the DSi I kept all of my games. Really missed the GBA compatibility though.
I got my SP yesterday. Its in better shape than the listing made it look on eBay. Barely any scratches on the top of it. The screen is perfect along with pretty much the rest of the shell. Only issues seems to be with the power switch. At first it would take a couple tries turning it on and off to get it going. Seems to be better now. I have a replacement shell, glass screen, new battery and a tri-wing screwdriver coming tomorrow. So I'm going to open it up and see whats going on. Not even sure I'm going to bother with the shell replacement. Unless it is a near perfect match to the color of the original. My eBay addiction is spiking now though. Several games on my watch list now.
-Being able to have a GBA and DS game in my DS is an underrated feature that should have never left for every single Nintendo system since tbh. I mean, it doesn't matter as much in the era of downloadable games but being able to choose between two games with no effort was great. And also the entire reason releasing the DS 3 years after GBA wasn't infuriating.
-I liked the GBA as much as any gaming system/gaming library. Which is impressive considering my love of music and my frequent disappointment with music in GBA games. Successful despite a handicap I suppose.
-I had the unfortunate pleasure of buying Circle of the Moon at launch. The horror stories about the original GBA were true, in case any younger people here were wondering. I was blind as a BAT playing this game, hurhur.
-People complained about VC prices being too expensive, but considering how ok everyone was with all of these 30-40 dollar ports and remakes that made up a good amount of GBA's library, I don't buy it. Well I do buy it, because it isn't a bad deal on VC. : VVVVVVVV
-There was a Pinball game based off of House of the Dead on GBA. True Story. I've always remembered this from like 2002 Game Informer. Think that was the first time I heard about the company Atlus too (also GBA games(?), though I don't remember which ones)...
-Play Drill Dozer.
-Either Tales of Phantasia is one of the greatest games ever created, or the GBA version is overhated by some people.
-Play Astro Boy: Omega Factor
-In the span of about a year, I bought LTTP, sold LTTP, bought Donkey Kong Country, beat Donkey Kong Country and traded Donkey Kong Country with a stranger for his copy of LTTP. Not even kidding. Think I sold LTTP again later too.
-I have a couple of the GBA video cartridges for Cartoon Network shows and I think a Spongebob one. Remember kids, at one time, paying a good sum of money for an hour or so of low quality video was somehow acceptable just because it could be played on a gaming system!
-I still have my GBA collection in a plastic bag. I should put them in something better someday...
So my eBay buying craze is still going on. Just got Mario Tennis and Mario Golf in the mail today. I haven't really gotten to play them other than making sure they work. Both I understand are an RPG for the story mode.
Which Pokemon game would be recommended for the GBA? Fire Red is basically a remake of Red isn't it? Worth getting or get something else?
I loved the GBA so much as a kid. The GBA was the first "new" or new version of a system system I got. I had a Game Boy color and a Playstation. My Dad had NES. GBA was the first time I got a new version a game device. I remember my friends had gotten one and showed it to me and I was blown away at the colors and graphics. We took turns playing Advance Wars, passing the GBA around the room to each of us.
I begged my parents for one, though they never said they'd get one for me. Then on Christmas, after I opened the couple presents under the tree they brought out 2 more boxes they said they "forgot" to put under the tree. I opened the one on top first - Advance Wars! I was suddenly thrilled, then worried, how do I tell them I cannot play it on my Game Boy(thinking they didn't understand how it worked)? Then I realized there was one last box to open, the silver colored Game Boy Advance! I burned through that first set of AA batteries in like 3 days.
Ultimately I played that GBA until the A button wore out. I still have it, but like I said, the A button hardly works on it anymore, and much of the silvery (paint? covering?) has worn off the edges because I guess my natural skin oil is a tad on the acidic side.
Nintendo Switch FC: 4867-2891-2493
Switch username: Em
Discord: Heavyarms55#1475
Pokemon Go FC: 3838 2595 7596
PSN: Heavyarms55zx
@DTMOF84 If you never played them, Advance Wars 1 and 2 and the GBA Fire Emblem titles! As for Pokemon: Fire Red has content that wasn't in R/B as well and graphically looks the best in my opinion(of the GBA titles). Emerald was great at the time because of the battle frontieer, but has been made obsolete by newer releases.
@Heavyarms55 maybe I'll look out for a copy of Fire Red then. I feel like I'm making up for lost time on these games I never played on my original GBA. I had a similar experience with the GBC too. I only bought two games for it. I had already bought a copy of Pokemon Blue and was playing that on my original Gameboy. Looking back I was a senior in high school when I bought my GBA. So playing Xbox and mostly Halo LAN parties was my thing.
@DTMOF84 Here's my list of definite recommendations and worthy (in my opinion) mentions. Guess you'll have to check some footage of them on YouTube, to see if any of them interest you, but they've certainly entertained me back in the day. I have both the original, purple clear GBA and the GBA SP, but I played most of these games on the SP, simply because of the back light. Never bothered to mod my original GBA.
Anyway, without further ado, here are my lists, starting with the recommendations:
Advance Wars
Advance Wars 2
Banjo-Kazooie - Grunty's Revenge
Breath of Fire
Breath of Fire 2
Castlevania - Aria of Sorrow
Donkey Kong Country
Final Fantasy VI Advance
F-Zero - GP Legends
Golden Sun
Golden Sun - The Lost Age
Iridion 3D
Iridion II
Kirby and the Amazing Mirror
Kirby's Nightmare in Dreamland
Mario & Luigi - Superstar Saga
Mario Golf Advance Tour
Mario Kart Super Circuit
Mario Tennis Advance Power Tour
Metroid Fusion
Metroid Zero Mission
Pokémon Emerald
Pokémon Fire Red
Pokémon Leaf Green
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon - Red Rescue Team
Pokémon Ruby
Pokémon Sapphire
Rayman Advance
Sabre Wulf
Shining Force - Resurrection of the Dark Dragon
Sonic Advance 2
Super Mario Advance
Super Mario World - Super Mario Advance 2
Super Street Fighter II Turbo - Revival
The Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past & Four Swords
The Legend of Zelda - The Minish Cap
The Pinball of the Dead
Top Gear Rally
Warioland 4
Yoshi's Island - Super Mario Advance 3
Worthy mentions:
Denki Blocks!
International Karate Plus
Karnaaj Rally
Klonoa 2 - Dream Champ Tournament
Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Mr. Nutz
Pac-Man Collection
Pac-Man Pinball Advance
Payback
Pokémon Pinball - Ruby & Sapphire
Rock N' Roll Racing
Sega Smash Pack
Spyro 2 - Season of Flame
Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts
Super Monkey Ball Jr
The Revenge of Shinobi
Top Gear GT Championship (actually one of my first purchases for the GBA)
Virtua Tennis
Wings (personal favorite of mine because I used to play it on the Commodore Amiga)
Yggdra Union - We'll Never Fight Alone (if you like Advance Wars, you might also like this)
ZooCube
And for an additional overview of the best that the GBA has to offer, I'd recommend watching these videos from MetalJesusRocks' YouTube channel:
@ThanosReXXX I appreciate the list there. That'll give me a lot to go on. I've watched some of those videos already. I really like Metal Jesus. Radical Reggie has some of his own too that were good for recommendations.
@DTMOF84 You're welcome. And no problem. It was actually nice to go back and revisit these great games. Kind of a flashback moment...
And yes, MetalJesusRocks has quite a few decent videos, especially where it concerns collections of games for any system. He's done videos for practically all systems, showing you what games are still worth getting.
Another favorite YouTube channel of mine, don't know if you know or like him, is Lord Karnage. He used to be one of the reviewers from CGR (Classic Game Room), but he has his own channel now. His CGR reviews are classics, though. However, you won't find many portable games reviewed there.
@ThanosReXXX I do like Lord Karnage a lot. If I'm looking for a retro game review I will watch a CGR over anything else. I also really like Spawn Wave for gaming news. Saturday nights he'll do a live video pod cast with a handful of other YouTubers. Its a good show to watch.
Some great recommendations here, and Thanosrexxx provided quite a list. Of course, things will depend on your tastes in genres. For example, no mentions of Fire Pro Wrestling yet, but if that's of interest, it's quite good, though not as good as the various console versions. The Star Wars Revenge of the Sith is a beat-em-up game. I got it last summer, but have yet to put much time into it yet. Seems pretty good so far.
I'm surprised to see no mentions of the Mega Man Zero series. Parts 2, 3 and 4 are especially good. Part 1 is good, but it encourages more item farming than the others. I should point out that the Mega Man Zero Collection is on the DS and was affordable last I checked. The GBA carts were also affordable last time I checked. Gunstar Super Heroes and Metal Slug Advance are also pretty good. I've heard pretty good things about the Ninja Turtle games as well.
As for spotting fakes, your best bet is to search google and youtube. You'll need to see the examples yourself to spot the differences. Some fake jobs are harder to spot than others. The main method is to compare the Nintendo markings above the contact pins at the cartridge openings. Sometimes, the cartridge shell will have the wrong markings on it. The more obvious fakes will have different cartridge labels than they should. Pokemon games are widely faked, and are harder to spot because the originals and fakes have batteries, but the configuration is different. The nice thing about Pokemon games is their translucent carts. I always bought carts that lost their labels so that I could see that they were legitimate through the shell. Some sellers do a good job of spotting fakes and only sell legitimate games.
I have found that used GBA carts can be temperamental. Perhaps many just need cleaning, but I've had my share of used carts have trouble making contact. Games I've owned since new don't have that problem. I have come across some games(non-battery) that have trouble with saving. Other games have batteries, which may need replacement.
@DTMOF84 Yeah, Spawn Wave is good as well. I do watch his videos on a regular basis. I like his calm way of bringing his news, and he knows tech stuff, which is nice, so he knows what he's talking about when the specs discussions come along.
Another good one in that respect is Arlo. A lot of people ignore or disregard him because he uses a hand puppet in his videos, so you never actually see the guy himself, but you have to look past that and really listen to what he has to say, because he is one of the most sensible people I've ever come across, where YouTube video game channels are concerned.
And he often confronts his viewers with points of view with so much logic. His Nintendo Switch-related "In Defense of Ports" video is a masterpiece of irrefutable logic, far as I'm concerned.
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
@sdelfin Some good recommendations there, as well. I can definitely agree on Mega Man and Metal Slug, but I was kind of trying (and largely failing) to keep my list a bit short, so I decided to stick to games that I actually have, instead of naming others that are also good.
But I'm pretty sure that most other good games are mentioned in those four videos I posted underneath my list...
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
Forums
Topic: The GameBoy Advance Thread
Posts 1 to 20 of 201
Please login or sign up to reply to this topic