i can vouch for game and watch gallery, wario land 4, mario and luigi superstar saga, alien hominid, and mother 3 all being really great games. its kinda hard to think off the top of my head rare or obscure games that are really good, but I think there's a lot more than you think there would be at first. there was a japanese one where you move a spinning rectangle through an obstacle course that was pretty good, the name is escaping me...
Topic: Cool, Weird or Obscure GBA games?
Reply by Cashlin
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Reply by ToriElectra
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They made some decent Spyro games for the GBA that managed to feel like the original PS1 games despite the hardware downgrade. Season of Ice I've never managed to finish, but I've played Season of Flame about a billion times. Never played Attack of the Rhynocs, though (and stay away from Spyro Orange/Crash Purple -- that was just plain wasted potential).
Reply by Amy-Lee
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Play DBZ! I was never a fan but I loved the games! That and Pokemon Red were probably my top 2 played games.
Reply by L-Legomaster
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Game & watch gallery advance is one of my favorites to play every so often with the ammount of recreations and re-imaginings it has of those original things. Definitely not one to beat/complete in one sitting
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Also worth mentioning: Super mario bros advance. One of my favorite gba games (maybe because i grew up with it ( ᐛ ))
Reply by Tayla Gaffney Blake
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Reply by itriedtoescape
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devil children, a spinoff of a spinoff of good ol' megami tensei. not only is it obscure, it is also... very interesting. ahem. basically the result of trying to market occult, violent, adult-themed megami tensei to the pokemon demographic.
Reply by cryingbaby23
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Reply by armin
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Wendy: Every Witch Way. It's GBC and not GBA, but when the fuck am I ever gonna have the chance to talk about this game?
It's like a proto-VVVVVV, and it's really cool.
Reply by Rafael
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I would say Mother 3, Boktai, Magical Vacation and Oriental Blue. Pretty sure these last two have complete english translation patches!
Reply by Leon
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Rebelstar: Tactical Command was a super weird one that I had on my GBA. It was a spiritual successor to the Rebelstar computer games from the early 80's and were essentially XCOM style games. The GBA game also plays super similar to an XCOM game, with turn-based isometric gameplay, half and full cover systems, items and weapons, upgrades and that sorta stuff. I remember enjoying it a lot as a kid, and it's probably still good if you're into those sorts of titles.
Reply by Macky
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Mother 3 is on the GBA, but it was only released in Japan. You can download a rom with a fan translation.
The Jet Set Radio GBA port is actually not bad, and it's done well.
I don't know if you put this on the list, but Wario Ware Inc. and Wario Ware Twisted are very good wario ware games.
The port of A Link To The Past w/ Four Swords is good. Four Swords on the ALTTP port is very fun with friends if you every get the chance (it is unlikely that you will due to the circumstances of the game). In order to play Four Swords you need, at minimum, 2 game boy advances, 2 link cables, 2 of the games. I was able to play it with a friend and 1 other person back in the day.
Reply by nightcity
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I don't have a big collection but here are a few of my favourite hidden gems / underrated games so far:
Maniac Racers Advance (aka Motorcross Maniacs Advance) is a fun but overlooked title. Gameplay wise, it's a bit like Excite Bike meets Sonic the Hedgehog. Very fast and takes a little while to get to grips with.
There's Alien Hominid, which is an expanded version of the old Newgrounds Flash game. That's worth a look if you like Metal Slug style run and gun games. A bit short, but has smooth looking animation with loads of charm.
Columns Crown is a decent puzzler but not well regarded. It's just Columns tbh, so if you don't like Columns you won't enjoy it, but I like it.
V-rally 3 is a game that's lost much of its magic these days, but I still think it's very impressive to see a fully 3D rally car game running on the humble GBA. It even has a first person mode for added immersiveness!
And finally, there's Advance Guardian Heroes: A technically impressive and ambitious beat 'em up that doesn't quite hit the mark. But still, it's cool to see what the GBA can do when it's made to sweat. Treasure also made Astro Boy: Omega Factor and Gunstar Super Heroes (both are excellent).
Solid ports like Jet Set Radio, Super Monkey Ball Jr, Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival are worthy of a mention too, but not exactly obscure.
Reply by KIMERA ROYAL
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Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones is a favourite of mine! it's a bit more down to earth than the other games in the series but it's still really fun. people complain because it's a little bit on the easier side but honestly it's still really challenging and the story made it worth it for me.
Reply by Chen
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Reply by eva 🛹
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Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga is a great pick! If you end up enjoying that, I thought Partners in Time on the DS was also great.
I wasn't deep into GBA but I enjoyed the Megaman Battle Network series. All of them are kinda the same, I'd get the 2nd or 3rd one since I played those. Very interesting real-time tactical battle system.
Reply by KittenRabies
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Dogz, YES! I also played the crap out of Catz, they're such relaxing little games. The games I've played so far aren't super obscure, currently trying to beat the Elite Four in Pokemon Leafgreen and I had finished Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue team sometime last year I believe. My next games to play are HamTaro Ham-Ham Heartbreak and either Final Fantasy Tactics or Sword of Mana.
Reply by Zauberer
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Actually Metroid Fusion is considered one of the best 2D Metroid games along with Super Metroid, do not worry pal :D
GBA offers one of the best Castlevania games that I ever played, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. Great atmosphere, good story and tight gameplay. It's a metroidvania and it reminds me of Castlevania SOTN, that's a game to try sooner or later.
Also, I heard some extremely positive opinions about Mother 3 by a lot of people, but I have yet to play it!
Reply by electroslag
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I played the hell out of the Harry Potter Quidditch World Cup game on gba. I LOVED that game hahaha
Reply by robin
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I have a soft spot for this little licensed game for the dreamworks madagascar movie simply titled "madagascar", I think it has a DS version as well? but it was my very first game, its a platformer that handles pretty well and has you switching between characters frequently to do different things i.e. the lion can double jump, the hippo can swim.. i suggest checking it out!