Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (GBA)
The eighth instalment of the Fire Emblem franchise, The Sacred Stones was only the second to get an international release. It stars royal twins Eirika and Ephraim in a story that sees them separate to protect their homeland of Magvel from invading forces. While it didn't add much to the established formula, it's an exceptionally solid and enjoyable entry and a fittingly impressive swansong for the series on GBA in 2005. It was included as part of the 3DS' Ambassador Program for early adopters, which gave owners of that handheld an opportunity to catch up with the series before the arrival of Fire Emblem: Awakening and the rise of the series' popularity in the West.
Riviera: The Promised Land (GBA)
Riviera, Sting’s first entry in the Dept. Heaven series, first released on the WonderSwan Color in 2002 and there it would have likely remained if Nintendo’s GBA hadn’t the graphical muscle to handle the game’s gorgeous sprites and striking redrawn character portraits. A range of limitations force players to carefully consider their battle team as well as which items to bring along with them, and multiple endings ensure this is well worth playing through more than once.
We know that a remaster is in the works, but it hasn't been announced for Switch yet, nor has it even been confirmed to be releasing worldwide. We'll keep our fingers crossed, for now...
Mario Golf: Advance Tour (GBA)
Mario Golf: Advance Tour is a fantastic portable golf game and then some. Camelot nailed the mixture of RPG and straight-up golf action in the Game Boy Color entry, and it works this time around, too — so well, in fact, that there's not much need to rely on the stable of Mario characters to flesh out the experience, although we're always happy to join the plumber on the fairway, or for the various minigame modes available. Given how successful Golf Story was, it's about time fans of golfing RPG adventures have a chance to hit the greens on the hybrid that started it all.
Throw in some online multiplayer options and Advance Tour will be still worth firing up when tee time comes around.
Klonoa: Empire of Dreams (GBA)
Klonoa's return thanks to Phantasy Reverie Series had us feeling nostalgic for the two GBA entries back in 2022. And in 2024, we're still waiting for Bandai Namco to bring back the two handheld platformers. Empire of Dreams brings the Dream Traveller to the 2D realm, simplifying the gameplay by making it more puzzle-oriented but retaining the magical essence of the console titles. We love both this and Dream Champ Tournament, and it's high time we saw these get a re-release. And hey, why not localise Klonoa Heroes: Densetsu no Star Medal too while you're at it!
Wario Land 4 (GBA)
Wario Land 4 is a testament to quality over quantity, with the clever nonlinear level structures that lend themselves to multiple playthroughs and further exploration to unlock all the extras. It's a platformer for platforming veterans, full of impeccable level design and a quirky audiovisual presentation that would go on to set the precedent for the WarioWare series. If you're a fan of platformers — which will probably be the majority of you if you're Nintendo aficionados — Wario Land 4 is an absolute must-play, and it deserves a lot more love. Nintendo, you fulfill that wish by putting this underappreciated gem on NSO!
Ninja Five-O (GBA)
It's a shame Ninja Five-O (or Ninja Cop as it was known in Europe) didn't receive wider distribution as, minor gripes aside, it's a fantastic side-scrolling action game from Hudson Soft, with a well balanced difficulty curve and excellent level design. The unique blend of frantic rope swinging and clever combat still feel fresh today — if you're a fan of 16-bit action games or you're just looking for something cool to add to your GBA collection, Ninja Cop comes highly recommended. If you can afford the eye-watering prices it reaches on the secondhand market these days, of course.
Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand (GBA)
An action-adventure from Konami that famously had Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima on producing duties, Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand is perhaps most famous for using a special light sensor that was built into each cartridge and forced players to go outside and play the game under actual sunlight in order to recharge vampire-defeating solar weapons. This was fortuitous as the non-backlit screen of the original Game Boy Advance was difficult to see in anything less than direct sunlight.
Although it's primarily remembered for this gimmick, it's a great stealth-focused game without it and we'd love to see it given a chance to shine once more. Hey, it could even use the brightness sensor on your Switch!
Drill Dozer (GBA)
Game Freak might be most famous for putting out games infested with Pocket Monsters, Drill Dozer shows that the developer is no one-trick Ponyta. The story in this breezy drill-based action platformer will keep you entertained for the duration, as will fine music, decent use of the cartridge's in-built rumble function (which we'd love to see retained in a dream NSO version), and brilliant sound effects that compliment the gameplay nicely. It's a title that can be cleared quickly, but tracking down all the hidden treasure and clearing the additional levels adds to its longevity and gives you an excuse to return to this fun little GBA title. All-driller, no filler.
Mario Tennis: Power Tour (GBA)
Come on, you can't have Mario Golf: Advance Tour without Mario Tennis: Power Tour, can you? With both of Camelot's Golden Sun GBA games now on NSO, we need to round out their line-up with both Mario sports games, now. Mario Tennis: Power Tour brings back the RPG mode that we lost countless hours to on the Game Boy Color, and with the added Power Moves and an even-longer single-player campaign, we're desperate to relive the best of the sports RPG era.
Mother 3 (GBA)
Oh yeah, this little game. Yes, please Nintendo.
Enthusiasm for Mother 3 only gets stronger every single year, and with both EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound playable on the NES and SNES NSO services, Mother 3 would complete Shigesato Itoi's trilogy. Imagine — an official English localisation of what many claim to be one of the best RPGs ever made? Nintendo would get a lot more subscribers for this game alone.
We're probably being bit too optimistic here, but we do at least think it'll come to the Japanese service. So hey, at least we'll be able to play it in some form. Hopefully...
We could have gone on. The GBA Pokémons are obvious choices — we'd love to see them, but we also wouldn't be surprised if they were absent due to the complications around trading. Go on, prove us wrong Nintendo!
Let us know below which picks you'd most like to see, and the ones we missed, of course.