OT: Game Boy Advance

[lcjjdnh]

My brother just got GBA SP for his birthday and we were looking for some recomendations for games. So far we have:
1)Baseball Advance-Looks like a good game but the hitting controls are a bit tough to get used to
2)Advance War 2:Black Hole Rising-Cool TBS game which we both have been having fun with
3)Virtua Tennis-looks like a very deep game but my brother is enjoying it much more than me

Any other games you guys can recommend?

Also, for anyone who was considering buying a GBA, get the SP. It's compact and has a light inside which can be turned on and off, a big step up from the original GBA which had no back light and was tough to see from what I had gathered from a couple of friends who had it.

[IMetTrentGreen]

once you get used to baseball advance its easy as pie. i play it as a time killer, and i'll like 43-13 with tampa bay

[RPI-Fan]

Virtua Tennis is a solid pick on any system, any where. I'd try it more lcj, it's extremely addicting. I'd imagine you'll grow to enjoy it more and more.

[BFleming]

Here's a few off the top of my head:

Metroid Fusion-- great, great game. 6 Hours or so to finish so a bit short, but a blast to play

Castlevania-- There's like 3 different ones here, but with a backlit system like the SP, it solves the one problem everyone had with the game-- the fact it was so dark..

Golden Sun/Golden Sun 2: The Lost Age-- Pretty solid 2d rpg, the characters are rather interesting, not a bad story either (if a bit hard to follow at first) Beat the 1st one in about 30 hrs, and am 1/2 way through the sequel...Difficult without a strategy guide/walkthrough though...

If you need any more suggestions, feel free to ask away...

[ColtCrazy]

Tactics Orge was an interesting game. Made out to be a RP game, it's more of a tactical war game with your team members vs. others. I liked it.

[sterlingice]

I played the heck out of Advance Wars 1- that was one hell of a game.

I definately second a couple of BFleming's suggestions- I've never played the Golden Suns but Fusion and the Metroids are great.

Lots of cool remakes out there like old Super Mario games (2, 3 coming out, World) and Zelda: Link to the Past (one of the finest games of all time). Also, if you like old RPGs, Dragon Warrior 1-3 were remade as were Phantasy Star 1-3. Mario Kart has the levels from the SNES games and also 20 new levels.

SI

[Sybot]

I like Game & Watch Gallery. Bunch of short mini games, but good to kill time.

But Advance Wars has logged more time in my Gameboy than anything else.

[Fidatelo]

Wario Land 4 is a great game.

[cincyreds]

I second Metroid. It is a great game, so is Advance Wars.

I got to get my hands on the second one soon.

Good purchase though. The SP is great when traveling too!

[bamcgee]

I agree with all those recommendations. They're all good choices. However I'm disappointed with the overall lack of quality titles though. We're talking 5 or 6 good games here for a system that's been out for quite a while. And I rarely hear of new development - why aren't developers giving more attention to the biggest selling console in history?

[Calis]

Man, they're remaking River City Ransom for the GBA I hear, and plan on making several more games of the same variety.

That's almost enough to make me want to buy one of those suckers.

[Marc Vaughan]

All the Pokemon games are great imho - now if only my daughter would let me near the GBA ;)

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally posted by bamcgee
why aren't developers giving more attention to the biggest selling console in history?

Simple answer - no one purchases games on them really and Nintendo take a huge chunk of the revenue gained from any game released on that platform.

The best selling GBA games generally shift a fraction of a similar title on any of the other platforms (including GameCube and Xbox).

There are some exceptions to this (notably Pokemon games and some larger franchises).

PS. At some point I'd love to do a CM Gameboy - especially because GBA is one of the few consoles which doesn't have region locking :D

[Fidatelo]

If you made CM Gameboy I'd freakin' lose my mind. Probably my job too, cuz I wouldn't be able to put the thing down :D

[bamcgee]

but surely the development costs are significantly less than for a regular console game? I would think that the GBA would be a haven for smaller development co's looking to start somewhere.

[Sybot]

Actually there is a game for Gameboy Advance called Total Soccer Manager. But I haven't seen it anywhere and I'm not sure how it plays.

[sterlingice]

Actually, N makes money hand over fist on the Game Boy. For instance, last month, 5 of the top 10 selling console games were for GBA (pair of Pokemon games, a YuGiOh game, Golden Sun 2, Castlevania: Aria of Sorry, I think). However, while they tried to go after the adult crowd somewhat with the Gamecube, they could give a rip about people over 15 with the Game Boy (also why they don't care that much about the Playstation handheld): they target kids hard and any other sales are incidental.

Also, think about it: the targeting of a handheld is very different. You don't make 100 hour games for handhelds (Pokemon games excluded). Odds are, with a PS2/GC/XBox in your living room, why would you play a handheld with significantly less power and graphics? The handheld games have to be tremendously addictive and something you can put up and put down since you probably won't just sit down and play it for 5 hours straight except maybe on a car trip or something like that. It's perfect for remakes of old games, which are very popular: they don't need great graphics and it's easy to pick which games to remake because you know what sold before. Lastly, remember you can play all the old Game Boy and Game Boy Color games (I still carry Tetris around).

SI