I Ranked All 17 GBA Launch Titles - Game Boy Advance Rules!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 พ.ย. 2024
- GBA was a system I couldn't get enough of. Basically a portable Super Nintendo with all these new, great games coming out, it was excellent. With a massive launch line-up, here's a look at all 17 GBA launch games and where I'd rank them.
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A look at every classic Game Boy game that came out the launch year of 1989 - th-cam.com/video/AB2ATBS9hPM/w-d-xo.html
i think the gameboy is worse than a regular NES, but the advance is slightly better than a super. In the way of graphics.
Intend your puns!
Castlevania Circle of the Moon was almost unplayable on the original GBA. Great game on the SP's backlight.
Circle of the Moon is a solid S Rank!!
Even with dark screen it was awesome!
Pitfall the Mayen adventure.
This was one of my favorite games growing up on the Sega Genesis, and the Super Nintendo. I spent so many hours playing this game. Oh my God I love this game.
Funny you mentioning Pinobee looking like a Sega Saturn game. It was actually ported from the Gameboy Advance to the original Playstation a year and a half later!
Some good GBA games no one really ever talks about:
Blender Bros. - A solid action platformer with some mode-7 style racing segments mixed in.
Tang Tang - One of those games you always see for $1.99 and pass by. Although nothing necessarily groundbreaking, it services a fun experience in the block-building vein of Solomon's Key or Troddlers, with boss battles that remind me of the lightning attacks from Bubble Bobble.
Lilo & Stitch - Don't sell it short. It's a kid-friendly Metal Slug-style run-n-gun with some aspects of Prince of Persia and Gyruss spliced into later levels.
Shaman King: Master of Spirits 1 & 2 - Unlike their card-based counterparts, these Konami games are 8-bit successors to Castlevania and Clash at Demonhead, purportedly built using the Circle of the Moon engine. Regardless of being licensed properties, these are two of the best GBA games no one has ever played.
Gunstar Super Heroes and Ninja Five O are 2 of my favorites
Funny you mentioning Pinobee looking like a Sega Saturn game. It was actually ported from the Gameboy Advance to the original Playstation a year and a half later!
There's that and several former Sonic Team and SEGA employees, like Sonic and NiGHTS character designer Naoto Ohshima, actually developed this game under their company Artoon. While Artoon no longer exists, these employees still work under the company's successor Arzest.
Edit: Ohshima even designed the characters in Pinobee.
Nintendo: "I hope y'all like this Mario Bros remake, cause we're putting it on like, 5 GBA games!"
COTM is an amazing game and my favourite gba castlevania game. I usually play it once a year too
love the soundtrack
Rayman Advance was a port of the ps1 game so if you make it to level 2 or maybe 3, you do get the ability to punch.
I'm still reeing about them not just putting the extra two buttons in for a full SNES controller all these years later.
i only bought Mario advance at launch and played the bajesus outta it
I got my OG GBA Glacier system right around the launch date, and I'll say this about the Castlevania games, they were hard to play simply because the screen was not backlit making an already dark game even harder to see unless you where in good light, and a worm light, or lighted screen cover did not help much do to reflections. Plus the reviews of the games at the time noted this flaw. it feels like the developers did not play the games on final retail hardware, or they would have noticed this right off the bat, and adjusted things as something like Sonic Advance was much easier to play on the OG GBA, having said that playing the games any other way they are fantastic, and I highly recommend them for those into Castlevania games.
I got Super Mario 2 for NES at the age of 12 a few years later got Mario 3 and found my favorite game after Mario took off flying to the clouds catching coins along the way. 15 years later I got the Gameboy Advance SP, GameCube with Gameboy Player and the Super Mario Advance series. That was great playing the Mario series again. 34 years later I still play my original NES SMB 2&3, Gameboy Advance series and Super Mario All-Stars SNES and Wii. Sounds like a Save rating after all these years.
TMNT (based on the 2007 film) is an old school style beat em up and a real hidden gem.
I love Super Mario Bros 2 because it was just so different from the rest of the games.
It stands out the most.
Medal of Honor: Infiltrator is a bit of a hidden gem.
Every game needs a breathe button.
Hidden Gems:
Godzilla: Domination is a super fun kaiju brawler with some classic Toho monsters,
TMNT is a great Turtles beat-em-up made by the folks who would go on to make the Scott Pilgrim game,
X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse is another beat-em-up that’s reminiscent of X-Men Arcade, but made a bit simpler for portability’s sake,
And Nightmare Before Christmas is a surprisingly decent MetroidVania style game.
All of them have excellent sprite art with super charming animations, and they’re all well worth your time!
(Also, Astro Boy: The Omega Factor, Rescue Heroes: Billy Blazes, KONG: 8th Wonder of the World, and the Kim Possible games are all also excellent, but have already been mentioned pretty frequently online)
This was a welcome flashback. Thank you! I actually was so hyped about the GBA that I imported one from Japan. My first games were the JPN versions of Mario Advance, Konami Wai Wai Racing (Konami Krazy Racers) and Zen Nihon GT Senshuken (Top Gear GT Championship; just missed the deadline to be a launch title in America). I played the HELL out of all of those for the next few months and enjoyed every second.
Perfect way to spend a Sunday , love your channel
Slime Mori Mori is a major hidden gem.
My kid will play video games, but at 8 months old right now, he's watching videos that I do... I don't think he's seen a John Riggs video yet, but his face lit up as soon as John started talking... I think we got another fan here.
Honestly I’ve just been playing Super Mario 1, 2 and 3 on my Nes classic and Super Mario still from as a child to now is the best
Never heard anyone call Rayman 1 a "nice, polite" game. That game gets crazy hard quick!
Look forward to seeing you in Louisville arcade expo!
Drilldozer for sure!! No one ever mentions that game and it's friggin BRILLIANT!! Lol. 💜
Is that a WCW Capitol Combat 1990 T-shirt!? I can hear Jim Ross' voice right now as I type.
haha, yep!
4:33 This game is right up in my alley.
While Fire Pro's gameplay is complex, once you understand the controls, it's a really good wrestling game.
Thank you for giving Fire Pro Wrestling a high rating. :)
Great game but the timing was just different enough than X Special that it took me a while to get used to.
Oh my god, can you imagine the GBA version of Chu Chu Rocket coming to the NSO service if Sega allows it? Online play support for this game right there, albeit it's with Switch friends only, but still.
well the gbc port of alone in the dark came to the gameboy nso on day 1 which i never wouldve predicted in a million years so hell, i could see them bringing over an oddball like that
Get mGBA and you can already do this. It's on PC and androids (probably apple phones too), and a toaster can run GBA titles.
TMNT is one of the best looking, good playing beat em ups for the system
Ah yes, I remember getting my GBA on launch day. First Nintendo console I'd bought since the original NES and GameBoy. I was excited to finally play some SNES games and portably!
You can throw punches in Rayman Advance, just not at the beginning. It's a port of the original one. 😅 Anyway I agree about ChuChu Rocket, a great puzzle game, especially in multiplayer actually. This mode alone makes it a hidden gem.
That one game that looked like another flying shooter…
It kind of reminds me of Total Eclipse for the 3DO. Although, ironically, the GBA game looks much better than my old 3DO games.
The Summon Knight games, Cima the enemy and wade hixton's counter punch are some great hidden gems :)
Konami has a surprising amount of pachenko subscribers
My fav hidden gems lately, prince of Persia sands of time, Jedi power battles, billy blazes rescue heroes, and Bruce Lee return of the dragon. Been having lots of fun with dragon ball advanced adventure but that one is pricey now. Love the gba great video
I'm with you on SMB2, John! It's actually my all-time favorite game! 😆
The GBA was one of my favorite handhelds, and I feel like it had one of the best Nintendo launch line-ups of all time. because you were giving out S's and A's a lot.
Back in 2001, 2D games were really passe on home consoles, so the GBA felt like one of the few places to get your fix of 2D gaming.
Thanks John! Hopefully we get many more titles in the future :)
I always find it humorous when you call opponents in sports games "enemies"😆
I looked up why the GBA didn't have x and y buttons because it was supposed to be like a handheld SNES. I read somewhere that Nintendo didn't put x and y buttons on the GBA because they didn't want sloppy SNES ports. If the GBA didn't have x and y buttons then the SNES ports would have to have some thought put into them.
GBA was the 1st game system I ever got on launch day. I picked up Super Mario Advance, Circle of the Moon,Tony Hawk 2 and Fire Pro Wrestling. I had a ton of health problems back then and was constantly in the hospital so having a gba was a godsend cause it had so many killer games.
I agree Castlevania is S tier. What an amazing launch game. Made me buy the GBA at the time
I was living in NYC on release day and I had to work early. I went at lunchtime to get my GBA preorder and all they had left at the store were a stack of pink ones lol. I got F-Zero and THPS 2. I love THPS 2. It is like an updated version of 720.
Speaking of Rayman holy crap I remember beating that game and it was pretty hard
The first time I saw Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 running on GBA was kinda shocked: that game, those graphics, those precise controls were mindblowing for an handheld game & console at that time.
Maaaan, I'm getting old...mmmh ok, maybe I'm just a bit more experienced.
Super Mario Advance was unique because they added new material like Mecha Birdo.
There were also ports of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1, 2, and 3 on the Game Boy Color
Love your vids. This RATING vid was awesome too
As for hidden gems I loved Baseball Advance it was like Sega Genesis World Series Baseball with 2001/2002 teams & rosters on the GBA. EA did something similar with NHL 2002 & Madden on GBA and they were some of the best sports games on the system.
I have to agree with Baseball Advance! I play the heck out of that game when I was younger. I still play it a ton to this day! It was a great game!
@@peterjarvis7335 It was shockingly great as I wasn’t expecting much as I had played High Heat 2002 before it which was dreadful on gba.
@@jonwolfenden yeah high heat was pretty bad. I would argue that Baseball Advance might be the best sports game on gba besides maybe fire pro wrestling.
@@peterjarvis7335 I’m with you both fire pro’s were pretty great. I enjoyed nhl 2002 but it did have some flaws. I don’t remember any decent nba games on gba cause I remember thinking my game gear nba jams being better than any of them. I remember being bummed we didn’t get yearly versions of baseball advance I would have bought it every year.
@@jonwolfenden same that would have been awesome to get yearly versions of baseball advance every year. I would have spent so much money getting all of them.
Castlevania Circle of the Moon is a really good game. I didn't know that it was a game launch title though. Very interesting.
Thanks again for this video JohnRiggs.
( P.S At the time of this post Castlevania Circle of the Moon its avialable on the
Switch E-shop as part of a compilation of Castlevania games called: Castlevania Advance Collection.
Some games also including Aria of Sorrow that was another really good GBA title in the franchise. )
Thanks Riggs. You are right about all the old Castlevania / Metroidvania games. Every single one of them is great, but with SOTN being the best of the best in my opinion!
I wish they made an original 2D Mario platformer for this system. The Wario was incredible
If I may
Earthworm Jim on the DS (DSiWare) actually takes the cake when it comes to being the worst way to play Earthworm Jim
Oh! I bet you're right. I passed on that one.
@@JohnRiggs Yeah, it is a bit of an obscure release
I don't really have any hidden gems to suggest, but one GBA game I unironically enjoy but a lot of people don't seem to is Sonic Battle. It's NOT a standard Sonic game as it's actually a fighting/brawler game but with the ability to collect move cards from the various characters and then custom-build your own fighting robot using those moves. I think the reasons people don't like it are because the fighting mechanics aren't very deep, the art style is very jagged and intentionally rough, and the only non-multiplayer minigame out of FIVE minigames is just bad Minesweeper, but it plays perfectly fine and I still enjoy it! :)
I never had a GBA but I played it at my friend's house back in the day.
My favorite games were:
- Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls
- Final Fantasy IV Advance
- Final Fantasy V Advance
- Final Fantasy VI Advance
- Golden Sun
- Golden Sun: The Lost Age
- Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
- Metroid Zero Mission
- Metroid Fusion
- Street Fighter Alpha 3
- Super Puzzle Fighter II
- Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords
- The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Great video.
Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance, Mortal Kombat Tournament Edition, Ghost Rider, Ultimate Spider-Man, TMNT (2007) and 007 Nightfire are solid GBA games in my opinion
I'm working on Zelda Minish cap right now. I can't believe I've never played it before, it's a great little game so far.
While I agree, the GBA is comparable to having a SNES in your pocket, the original game boy is by no means like having an NES
Dude kudos for the Fire Pro S rating. Great job Riggs!!
I love the GBA back-lit. If you're a gameboy fan, than you can collect all the games
I had Pinobee. I think I got it for like $2-3 used. It was pretty good. A hidden gem game I can think of would probably have been the Zone of the Enders: Fist of Mars. It had a lot of story and played like a turn based strategy game.
Circle of the Moons biggest flaw is the grinding to get the right cards. It was tedious even on the Switch when you could use rewind.
Pinobee had that Sega Saturn look because it was developed by Artoon, composed of ex-Sonic Team staff including Sonic and Nights co-creator Naoto Oshima.
I played Circle of the Moon before SOTN, and I was blown away by the Metroid style Castlevania game with RPG elements
I love the changes they made to Mario 2. The new boss and the voices were cool too
I always love when you make ranking videos
Thank you for the recommendations, Sandy Petersen. The GBA is legendary and had one of the better launches of any system.
Considering that it launched an entirely new series for Nintendo, I don't think Warioware could be considered a hidden gem, but it was a serious addiction for me.
I have one objection: F Zero deserves an S. I just love the classic F Zero titles that run in mode 7. And I love how this game worked so well on a handheld console. It really played like an SNES sequel, not a downgraded version for gameboy and I really spent a lot of time with the game. And that is coming from somebody who normally is actively avoiding racing games and really doesn't like them
Interestingly enough the GBA didn't actually have a mode 7 according to MVG.
Thank you someone else who agrees with me!
Super Mario Dodgeball NEEDS to happen!!!
Wade Hixton's Counter Punch is one if my all time favorite GBA titles . 💯 🔥 .
Damn thanks. I had no idea GBA came to NSO.
I remember fire pro wrestling during launch. I remember seeing it on some target gba games sizzle reel. It looked so effing good
It's crazy to me that people are playing gba titles for the first time! I've managed to keep a decent library and 2 working gba sp so my kids have had them their entire lives.
Fire Pro Wrestling was easily the best handheld wrestling game I played. Coming from extreme limitations of the WWF games on Game Boy, getting a game like that really made the GBA feel like a gigantic leap forward. I sunk an unfathomable amount of hours into that one.
Nobody talks about Drill Dozer and his price isn't sky rocking than other rare games on the system.
love me some drill dozer!
Absolutely love Castlevania Circle of the Moon and Super Dodgeball Advance. Great video!
Chuchu rocket did get a sequel. Called chuchu rocket universe. It was on Apple Arcade but they just pulled it from the app store this past September.
Golden Sun is a great RPG on the GBA! Don't see it mentioned too much nowadays.
It's probably hard to replay since it would take like 20 minutes to get through some dialog.
Feckin love the GBA. Hook me up some Tony Hawks on it any time.
Great Video Riggs, thanks for posting
When I got my GBA I got Circle of the Moon and Dodgeball Advance with it, then went back to my friend's house and had to play at her desk so I'd have a light on the screen 😅
How bout a review of the criminally underrated Jazz Jackrabbit on GBA? Really fun run n gun!
Not making a true F-Zero sequel for the SNES still feels like a missed opportunity. I know they had that BS F-Zero Grand Prix, but I didn't know about that until a few years after F-Zero for the GBA. Got my GBA on launch day along with F-Zero and loved it.
Yes! A Mario dodgeball game would be rad.
I think so, but Nintendo still making boring Tennis games LOL
@@victortacuru8849 and not even releasing complete games. Their sports games on switch have been really disappointing. I was excited for Mario Strikers, until finding out there's basically no single player content.
I couldn't wait for the GBA. I imported it from Japan and had it a few months before US launch
I like Nintendo adding old games to their online service as it gets younger people to try out those old games. Hope they continue to keep adding more old games.
so many good gameboy advance games, lot of hidden gems
I never realized how good of a launch this thing had
Bomberman Tournament was a pretty good deep cut.
Circle of the Moon and Super Mario Kart where the games I got for my GBA at the start. Circle started my love affair with Castlevania, yet the Mario Kart game was more my sisters game... and it seems like a lot of people say that's the worst one? Haven't played it in a long time, but that seems a little harsh to me.
Invincible Iron Man is definitely a hidden gem for the GBA
I like that the characters in Castlevania were either drawn or heavily inspired by the artist of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.
Hidden gem: Zoocube! A super fun graphically awesome puzzler
I had one of these at launch and bought Mario, Castlevania, Fire Pro, and Krazy Racers.
The one that doesn’t seem to be a launch title to me is Dodgeball, as I remember getting that much later and it is clearly one I would have gotten at launch.
personally, i really like the summon night series. it's a fun jrpg that i never finished the first time round but blazed through it this time
I remember buying a GBA around launch to get the Army Men Advance game. No idea why.
Super dodgeball advance is so much fun to play on an arcade machine with a joystick it is awesome the graphics are a little bit stretched because it's a Game Boy Advance game but it still looks cool and plays cool
Blackthorne on the GBA is pretty good. The controls take some getting used to but a great experience overall.
There are numerous ports of FPS games on the GBA reimagined as overhead style adventure games. Most aren’t dreadful.