I recently acquired a Game Boy Player for my Gamecube and need some stuff to play on it,

Any thoughts? They don't need to be good games, as long as I can get them for cheap. They can be either be Game Boy / Colour / Advance games, they can't however be any of the Pokémon games as I already own them.

I don't mind what the genre is, and the region also doesn't matter as I don't believe the GBA is region locked so Japan or America-only games are very welcome.

Thanks in advance.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT: I've got some great suggestions, I'll have a ton of stuff to play for a while now so thanks.

However, all of the games so far have all been good games, are there any "so-bad-it's-good" or just plain awful games anyone knows about?

WIth the whole XCOM craze going on, I started playing a game called Rebelstar: Tactical Command. It's a cool little strategy game. Taking up most of my commute/waiting for classes time.

@mwng: Is it worth getting that if I already have Advance Wars: Dual Strike?

I'm playing through Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga right now and it's pretty great.

@SerHulse said:

@mwng: Is it worth getting that if I already have Advance Wars: Dual Strike?

Probably not unless the idea of playing Advance Wars on TV is that important to you.

Try and find Chu-Chu Rocket. It's a sweet puzzle game that has both hectic battle puzzles and more relaxed cerebral puzzles. It's also already a Dreamcast game though, so if you have that, it's probably the better platform. It's also out for iPad if you have one of those. But I remember the GBA port being really awesome, there were a lot more levels since they used a lot of the user made levels from the Dreamcast version.

@MikkaQ: I have literally just bought Chu Chu Rocket, I already had the DC version but my Dreamcast is broken, and it was only £2 so how could I not?

I just rebought this myself but I seem to remember DOOM being pretty cool on the GBA.

The Castlevania games on the GBA were great. Also the Fire Emblem games if you liked Advance Wars.

@SerHulse said:

@MikkaQ: I have literally just bought Chu Chu Rocket, I already had the DC version but my Dreamcast is broken, and it was only £2 so how could I not?

Wow that's a great price. I was worried it would be a difficult game to find, but apparently not. Gotta dig out the old cart sometime.

Super Robot Wars 1 and 2

I hear those Pocket Monster games are snazzy. They even come in the remake of the original variety for the GBA.

@AndrewB said:

I hear those Pocket Monster games are snazzy. They even come in the remake of the original variety for the GBA.

I would actually like to own a copy of the original Japanese Green and Red, only ones I don't have yet (apart from Black 2)

Boktai (Kojima)

Mystical Ninja 1 & 2 Collection (Konami)

Astro Boy: Omega Factor (Treasure)

SMA3: Yoshi's Island (Nintendo)

Link to the Past (Nintendo)

Ninja Five-O

Alright, some real suggestions:

All of the Zelda games, including Link's Awakening DX, Oracle of Ages/Seasons, and definitely Minish Cap.

Believe it or not, the Gameboy Color version of Metal Gear Solid is solid. It's reminiscent of the old MSX games, but it has a PS1 era modern Metal Gear crazy story.

Dragon Warrior: Monsters is a good cross between Dragon Warrior (or Quest), Pokemon, and the Mystery Dungeon series.

Motocross Maniacs is the predecessor to Joe Danger, and I had a blast playing it back in the day.

The Wario series, starting with Super Mario Land 3 (the best) through Wario Land 4 for the GBA, before Wario was banished to the Warioware games never to be heard from again.

Gargoyle's Quest is some kind of twisted RPG/Platformer and it's deceptively cool. How could you go wrong with a story as riveting as "AN UNKNOWN ARMY... ATTACKED... THE KING HAS BEEN... GWAAHH!"

The aforementioned Castlevania games for the GBA were all fantastic. Specifically Aria of Sorrow, which of course spawned Dawn of Sorrow, another fantastic game.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is a good game. Much better than Tactics A2, which is reaaaaaly weird considering you'd think the DS version would be infinitely better.

@myketuna said:

WIth the whole XCOM craze going on, I started playing a game called Rebelstar: Tactical Command. It's a cool little strategy game. Taking up most of my commute/waiting for classes time.

Fuck I was trying to remember the name of this all day.

I love you.

The Metroid games for the GBA are simply amazing, especially Fusion. There hasn't been a Metroid game that's come close to the quality of those games since.

@PeasantAbuse said:

I'm playing through Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga right now and it's pretty great.

Seconding this and Metroid Fusion , any of those Super Mario Bros games (whether it's Super Mario Bros 3, Yoshi's Island, or Super Mario World), The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap , The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords , Fire Emblem are some other great games that you can't go wrong with.

Mario & Luigi Superstar saga is a must play.

Golden Sun 1 and 2 are really good

@SaintOfKillers: I was just about to condemn everyone in this thread for not mentioning those yet.

Welcome to the club! I bought a GB player this past spring and played Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones on it, and recently I've played a bit of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX. I want to buy all the other Zelda Game Boy games for it at some point, plus maybe the Golden Sun games.

Man, I can't wait till we can save threads as favorites or something. I would fucking favorite this thread so fucking hard.

Warioware. So good.

Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis.

The first 3 Megaman Battle Network games are some of the best things out there, 2 is the high point in the series. If you want shit then keep playing after 3.

Of the already mentioned I'll say that Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Aria Of Sorrow and WarioWare are still AMAZING games for the GBA.

A cursory glance of my bin of cartridges showed me an overlooked gem. Astro Boy. It's a pretty great shooter from Treasure based on the classic manga.

Metroid Zero Mission and Fusion, Minish Cap Sword of Mana, TMNT, Superstar Saga, you already have Pokemans, Nightmare In Dreamland is one of my favorite games of all time, Legacy of Goku 2, Drill Dozer, Klonoa 2 Dream Champ Tournament

Stuff I hear good things about but never played: Golden Sun 1 and 2, Fire Emblem series, Sigma Star Saga

@TooSweet said:

Super Robot Wars 1 and 2

Yeah, these are criminally underrated strategy games. Most of the Japanese I know came from having to translate parts of the PS2 version (and will hopefully serve me well for OG3!)

Sigma Star Saga. Weird one but great.

@DoctorWelch said:

The Metroid games for the GBA are simply amazing, especially Fusion. There hasn't been a Metroid game that's come close to the quality of those games since.

Of the two, I'd say that Zero Mission is a little closer to the greatness of Super Metroid because it allows for some more sequence breaking and is all around more Metroid-y. Fusion is just really, really linear. OP should still get both, though, and in addition to the two Metroid games get:

• Mega Man Zero 1, 2, 3, and 4
• Final Fantasy VI
• the Castlevania games
• Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, and 3 (unless you can play the SNES versions, on an actual SNES or Wii or emulator, more preferable there).
• Golden Sun
• Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories (which isn't always great but it's still interesting)
• Mega Man Battle Network (the later games have more features but none of them are all that different)
• Sonic Advance 1, 2, 3

I know there's something I'm missing but I can't think of it...

Learn Japanese and get Mother 1 +2 and Mother 3. Great games. ... Well, 2 and 3 certainly. FFVI also, as other have said, though it lags a bit and the sound is, per usual for GBA games, a little bit off.

Great suggestions so far guys, Thanks!

@BrickRoad said:

Learn Japanese and get Mother 1 +2 and Mother 3. Great games. ... Well, 2 and 3 certainly. FFVI also, as other have said, though it lags a bit and the sound is, per usual for GBA games, a little bit off.

I've heard great things about the Mother series, but it seems like it would be a massive investment, they are going for around £40-£50 each on eBay right now.

@Silvergun said:

@TooSweet said:

Super Robot Wars 1 and 2

Yeah, these are criminally underrated strategy games. Most of the Japanese I know came from having to translate parts of the PS2 version (and will hopefully serve me well for OG3!)

Are any other games in that series any good? It seems like it's be pretty hard to find copies of Game Boy ones.

@SerHulse said:

Are any other games in that series any good? It seems like it's be pretty hard to find copies of Game Boy ones.

OGS (the Remake of 1+2) and its sequel OG: Gaiden are my personal favorites, although I hear Z2 is also really good (haven't gotten around to that one yet). The whole OG series are basically a 'greatest hits' of the original characters, robots, and and storylines from the previous SRW games. Neither are translated, although translation guides do exist for both. At the very least, you'll want to know what the menu options mean.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, that's a terrible suggestion for you! Please think through your topic titles next time, thanks.

Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django - man that game is awesome.

It has a solar sensor in it.

I held it up to the cloudy sky while it was starting to rain in terrible British weather just to get 1 bar of sunlight to purify my Vampire body, then I got sick bat powers and turned into a werewolf. It was worth it.

Astro Boy Omega Factor. It's really a great horizontal character-shooter/brawler. I know the license might raise an eyebrow, but it's an under-appreciated gem. Seek it out and have some fun.

@SaintOfKillers said:

Golden Sun 1 and 2 are really good

I spent most the GBA era playing just these two games. Highly recommended!

@Daryl said:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, that's a terrible suggestion for you! Please think through your topic titles next time, thanks.

I meant "Terrible" as in "Terrible Games" it says so in the OP.

I'll just list all the GBA games I bought when I finally picked up a handheld:

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords

Super Mario Bros. 3: Super Mario Advance 4

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Advance Wars

Metroid Fusion

WarioWare Twisted!

Metal Gear Solid

Mario vs. Donkey Kong

Since I had never owned a handheld system before, nor a Nintendo platform, I look at many, many personal and publication top ten lists before buying. Except Metal Gear Solid; I bought that because I had never played a MGS game.

By the way, anyone here have any experience changing a GBA cart battery? I've never gotten into Castlevania because starting over every time becomes a bit grating...

@LordXavierBritish said:

@myketuna said:

WIth the whole XCOM craze going on, I started playing a game called Rebelstar: Tactical Command. It's a cool little strategy game. Taking up most of my commute/waiting for classes time.

Fuck I was trying to remember the name of this all day.

I love you.

Someone suggested this in a "Games similar to XCOM" thread and I decided to try it out on a whim. Game is gonna keep me busy until I can buy, and have time for, XCOM proper.

I always thought that Lady Sia was an underrated classic. You might want to dig that up somewhere.

@mlarrabee: Completely forgot about Mario Vs. DK, I'll pick that up.

By the way, anyone here have any experience changing a GBA cart battery? I've never gotten into Castlevania because starting over every time becomes a bit grating...

See if this video helps you: http://youtu.be/JvnHvhOl7I4

@SerHulse: Thanks!

I didn't imagine it was hard, but I just never took the time to actually do it!

EDIT: As it turns out, that's the one game I own that's a bootleg. It's missing the "Nintendo #########" printing.

All the big games have already been mentioned so I'll point out a few lesser known ones:
 
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Actually a really awesome beat em up game on the GBA.
Dragon Ball Z Legacy of Goku 2 and Buu's Fury- If you like DBZ you have absolutely no excuse not to own these games.
Wario Ware Mega Microgame$- Very strange game, but also very addictive. 
Crazy Taxi Catch a Ride- Haven't played this game in a while but I remember having lots of fun with this game on road trips.

@Turtlebird95: Well I do like DBZ, so I guess I've got no choice!

@Turtlebird95: Well I do like DBZ, so I guess I've got no choice!

That Banjo-Kazooie GBA game is pretty... uh, it's really somethin' else. 

Metroid Zero Mission and Fusion, Minish Cap Sword of Mana, TMNT, Superstar Saga, you already have Pokemans, Nightmare In Dreamland is one of my favorite games of all time, Legacy of Goku 2, Drill Dozer, Klonoa 2 Dream Champ Tournament

Stuff I hear good things about but never played: Golden Sun 1 and 2, Fire Emblem series, Sigma Star Saga