Dragonball: Advanced Adventure was and is one if my favorite GBA games. It covers the original Dragonball series up to the King Piccolo saga and plays like a beat em up during levels and a fighting game during bosses.
Extra Mode makes Advanced Adventure what it is, once you beat the game with Goku and Krillin you can unlock every enemy in the game as a playable character. I have so much fun destroying everything as King Piccolo and there are some surprisingly strong minor characters like Tambourine and General Blue.
@@YustinJ420 I think its predecessor game Legacy of Goku 2 is a bit better since it has actual completion goals with the golden capsules and the character trophies, the latter of which leads to an alternate ending. Plus it has the charged melee attacks missing in Buu's Fury making combat more interesting.
@@GoldStorm07 Yeah they're both good. I didn't get too far in 2 because the combat was too difficult for me. Buu's Fury is more of a hidden gem internationally because it was never released in Japan or Europe.
It's pretty good and addictive but a little shallow. There's a ton of enemy recycling where they just 2x, 3x or 4x the size and you have to play through stages multiple times to see everything. Still, like I said around 20 years ago it's pretty good.
Oh, you mentioned my boy Sabre Wolf! I remember my parents getting it for me and I didn't want to play it because the box art was so lousy. Ultimately, it ended up being one of the most beloved games of my childhood.
Underrated gem I will die on the hill of: Sigma Star Saga. It is a 2D Shmup RPG with a colorful cast. Funny enough, it was a WayForwad game. Their next original title after the original Shantae on Game Boy Color and it seems like it was completely lost to time
Remember that WayForward also made Xtreme Sports on Game Boy Color, and like Shantae and Sigma Star Saga, it has that distinct Matt Bozon charm. I wish Shantae 2: Risky Revolution on GBA hadn't been cancelled as it looked quite promising and looked more charming and fun than most modern Shantae games, including Risky's Revenge. But at least, Sigma Star Saga is a really great game, and I think it even has some elements from Shantae.
wow this console had a TON of hidden gems. Makes me feel like my childhood with the console feel insignificant. Time to bust out the emulator and fan translations. Great video steve keep up the good work!
Speaking of Treasure, although its a remake, Gunstar Super Heroes is worth an honorable mention. I got very lucky and found it at the bottom of a clearance shelf for $10 in an F.Y.E. around the end of the GBA's life on the market. Worth every penny and then some.
"Hamtaro Ham-Ham Heartbreak" and it's GBC predecessor "Hamtaro Ham-Hams Unite" are amazing. Nintendo put a lot of heart and effort into these games. They made a solid adventure title with great side content. You normally wouldn't expect this from a licensed game. The fact that Shigeru Miyamoto worked on Heartbreak really says how much love they had for the IP. Also that second Mother 3 fake out was gold. Hopefully Nintendo gives us Virtual Boy Online! I can see the Nintendo Labo VR kits now.
Also if you like Ham Ham Heartbreak you need to try the sequel, Rainbow Rescue, which only came out in Japan and Europe (so there is already an English version around) and Ham Ham Games, a sport themed minigame collection that is also very fun. Such fantastic games that hopefully will see a re-release someday on NSO.
I was glad to see Rayman 3 (gba). Though I do want to mention, it did include some elements of the console version of Rayman 3 such as the Hoodlum enemies. Also, Sabrewulf was a deep cut.
Rayman 3 on GBA was awesome, grew up with it, remember playing that game before i got Rayman 2, and was super confused when the music was the same as Rayman 3 gba (Rayman 2 Music obviously better though). There are 3 more Rayman games on GBA. Rayman Advance( Rayman 1 port) Rayman Hoodlum’s revenge and Raving rabbids. Rabbids GBA is supposedly good but i haven’t played that one. Also fun fact: Rayman 3 GBA was the last game to ever be released on Wii U Virtual Console.
For the 1% of you who haven't forgotten that Gradius exists, there's Gradius Advance/Galaxies/Generation (one game) on the GBA. The soundfont isn't so hot, but the composition slaps, and the game has a rather manageable difficulty option (bullet-less easy and insane hard)
It would be so nice if more of those games came out internationally. It would also be nice if the remake of the first game (the one we got was a remake of Medabots 2) had been good, instead of bombing so hard that the publisher put the series on ice for nine years and gave it to a different developer when they brought it back. But at least, for now, we've got a fan translation team working on the GameBoy games...
Shaman king: Master of spirits is a really fun action platformer that feels a bit like ninja gaiden and has slight metroidvania elements to unlock collectibles. I have never watched shaman king, but had so much fun with the game. It also has a sequel, but i haven't played it yet but have heard good things.
DK:king of swing is one of my favorite GBA games. It's got interesting controls, mainly focusing on the l and r buttons and I think its quite underrated. I wish it got proper recognition and a sequel. ( yes I know there's one for the ds but it's not the same as the original lol)
The Boktai series is a severely underrated game series-- sure, people heard about it because of its sunlight mechanic, but back when these games were released, gamers seemed to really hate going outside so a lot of people passed this series up. It's a shame, because Boktai 1, 2, and the Japan-exclusive 3 are some of the most finely crafted gaming experiences on the GBA. The stories, music, graphics, and gameplay are all amazing. The characters and locations are memorable, and to this day, remain some of my favorites in ANY video game. I doubt they'll wind up on NSO because of both the Solar Sensor mechanic AND the potential licensing issues (A Konami game made by the late KojiPro), so playing a patched ROM is an acceptable way to experience the Boktai games in this day and age. If you CAN find a working physical copy, though, it's well worth it. Nothing can top the feeling of genuinely sweating during a boss battle, and then going back indoors to cool off afterwards.
The solar sensor wouldn't be an issue since the switch does infact have a photodiode built into it, primally its used to adjust the screen brightness automatically depending on background light, but it could be used to give boktai its original mechanics in emulation if the rights could be sorted to allow it.
@@Howwy191 Ooooh, I didn't know that! They could rework it to work with that, yeah! Though... the OG solar sensor detected UV-- it wasn't meant to work with anything other than actual sunlight (or a blacklight if you were clever), so I'm not sure how that would effect the gameplay balance. If you spent too long in strong sunlight, the game would detect this and make your in-game weapon overheat, forcing you to take a break in the shade for a while; this was to keep kids from getting sunburned.
GBA rivals the ds in its quality of underappreciated gems. You mentioned klonoa, there were actually 3 games, 2 platformers and an rpg. There was also 3 f zero games on the GBA. As for some gems you missed, summon knight sword craft story 1 and 2. Both amazing action rpgs in the vein of the tales of series. Ninja five O, an action platformer in the style of ninja garden or shinobi but with it's own spin. Another series is legacy of goku 2 and buus fury. Even though it is the dbz liesence these action rpg games dont get talked about enough and for my money, are the best dbz games out there.
A game no one talks about because it was only released in Japan and Spain is Crayon Shin-chan Adventure in Cineland. Really great platformer with lots of bizarre characters and stages and your abilities change depending on which costume you wear.
One of the few GBA games I grew up with was the port of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend it over other versions of that incredible game, the GBA conversion plays surprisingly well, even from the isometric angle where you can't really see that far ahead of you. There's also Spyro 2 Season of Fire. It corrects all the crucial issues I had with the previous one. Also, I heartily recommend the GBA remaster of Mother 1 that was bundled with Earthbound in Japan. It's the same game, but with a much needed 'easy mode' where they increased experience gain from battles and changed nothing else. It becomes much more playable this way, and I've got good memories with a fan translation back in the day.
Harvest moon friends of mineral town. Genuinely had a booklet of reciepes printed out as a teenager in a binder I used for the game as well as heart event times for the love interest
I don't know if this is your first scripted video Steve, or if it's just the first one I saw, but it's brilliantly put together - looking forward to seeing more!
Great list of games and I've only heard of a few of them! As deep as the list of quality GBA games goes, hopefully we get to experience them. I admit one obscure series is the Super Robot Taisen set if games that were on GBA. While the US did get the two OG series games, there were some quality ones left in Japan due to licensing issues.
This really makes me want to hook up my raspberry pi again since that's the only platform I have to play these games on. Really cool to see a lot of titles I had not heard of.
I spent the GBA's peak years playing only Pokemon and Crash Bandicoot including the aforementioned Huge Adventure/XS, by the time I expanded my experiences on the system with Minish Cap it was on it's way out and I subsequently got a lot of notable games like Metroid Zero Mission and my favorite game of all time: Final Fantasy VI, on the system. Then only played the Golden Sun games, Metroid Fusion, F-Zero GP Legend and Wario Land 4 via Wii U Virtual Console.
Here's some more hidden gems to check out: - Mazes of Fate - Back to Stone - Drome Racers - Steel Empire - Gensou Suikoden Card Stories - Hamtaro - Ham-Ham Games - Denki Blocks - Guru Logic Champ And my favorite Rare game of all time, It's Mr. Pants.
Although not exactly a hidden gem, i'm currently playing through Advance Wars. I use an Emulator on my Phone and the controls, gameplay and graphics are perfect on a Phone screen, and with the save anywhere mechanic i can play everywhere i go for 10 minutes or for an hour. Some hidden gems i do enjoy playing for the GBA are Black Belt Challenge, Blackthorne, CT Special Forces 2, Iridion 2, Lady Sia, Summon Knight - Swordcraft Story 2, and Wade Hixton's Counter Punch. Cool video, cheers.
'Mario Kart Super Circuit was trash' WOW!. I know it's not many people;'s favourite MK, but I could barely continue watching after that statement. MKSC is one of the BEST MKs for those willing to give it a chance. I've 3 Star'd everything, and the finesse you can achieve with the controls is astounding. The controls of later games were over simplified as bit too much. Only people who are not very good at racers would say such a thing. The game is astounding. I love it's art direction too.
The original Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories on GBA is a game I vastly prefer over the PS2 remake in terms of gameplay, and all of the sprite work captures the look of the series very well in my opinion. It's a shame most newcomers of the series never touched this game but maybe, just maybe, they'll release it on NSO for fans to check out.
I know Derrick is working on that monster sized SMT vid, but man once Derrick and Steve start supplementing the weekly Jon vids every week, this channel will be GOATed (even though it already is in my eyes lol)
so happy to see sword of mana make your list! it's definitely one of my favorite gba games, and i love how it expands on the original final fantasy adventure/seiken densetsu story with the new girl's story!
The Lord of the Rings games for GBA are really cool Diablo clone that follows the plot of the movies and are the games that set me on that style of games.
Yay! Chu Chu Rocket! Glad someone actually remembers the GBA port not only do I still have the cartridge but was my first experience to this game (didn't know there was a Dreamcast version at the time) and I still love it!
What's wrong with Super Circuit? Sure, it was a step back after N64 with it being back to the pseudo 3D, but it was basically a mechanically better Super Mario Kart.
This is the first time I have heard someone talking about my favourite GBA game as a hidden gem. I can die in peace now seeing that someone appreciates Hamtaro Ham-Ham Heartbrek \o/
So, these are some good picks for sure. One that I never see get talked about is ESPN Final Round Golf for the GBA. It’s not the most involved golf game out there, but it was well made and has a really good soundtrack. It was also published by Konami.
My favorite underrated GBA game has got to be Denki Blocks, a clever puzzler with a charming presentation, that gets really tough in later stages. Especially when you want to get all the secondary bonus goals. I loved it, and I would love a sequel on the Switch.
Gunstar Heroes Advanced. Even though it was a pseudo-remake, it has all that Treasure magic we know and love. If only it had link cable co-op… (Fun fact: Advance Guardian Heroes, on the other hand, DOES have link cable co-op!)
I wish some proper 3D stuff was included. Hot Wheels: Stunt Track Challenge, Drome Racers, and the Need for Speed GBA games are ones I still play a lot to this day.
As someone who's recently played through the whole Mario Kart series, Super Circuit was way more enjoyable than the SNES original. No idea why everyone dunks on that one, it does everything the original did but better.
It's kinda similar to Wario Land in that once you get to the end of a level and find the wolf, you have to race back to the start to avoid getting eaten.
I would also recommend Super Robot Taisen: Original Generations 1 and 2 for the system. They are both part of the Super Robot Wars series, which is a tactical RPG series pretty similar in gameplay to Fire Emblem in which multiple mecha anime come together to fight evil in one big crossover extravaganza. Original Generations 1 and 2 are part of a sub-series in which all the original characters that Banpresto made over the years come together instead, meaning no anime characters which previously kept the series from reaching western shores due to copyright and licensing issues at the time. They were both localized by Atlus back in the day, but due to them releasing at the very end of the GBA's life-cycle and little to no recognition of the SRW brand in the west, the games didn't exactly sell well. They would be the last SRW games ever released outside of Japan until SRW 30 marked the mainline series' debut last year when it was released worldwide on Steam.
*_Hey, how dare you call Mario Kart: Super Circuit trash!!!_* What is on a more serious and positive note, I've never heard of most of these video game titles on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance; but the _Sabre Wolf_ video game is the most intriguing one as it looks *_A LOT_* like the Donkey Kong Country video games.
So many of these games look and sound great, but I fear that this list will largely serve to remind us of what we could be playing on the Switch if it actually got more than one or two GBA games that weren't big international hits when they initially released.
My favourite non-Insomniac Spyro game was on the GBA. The Attack of the Rhynocs was great for the hardware it was on. While it probably doesn't fit the term, it felt almost Metroidvania in some ways.
Hey Steve, you're like my favorite guy in the group, but I recommend using b-roll game footage inbetween camera footage of your face so the deadpan stare toward the script is less noticable.
It’s funny that the title says hidden gems but true fans of the GBA already know about these games and they aren’t really hidden because the few copies that sold when they where out are hard to get now because collectors have them😂 not so hidden if every GBA fan wants them or already has them and makes videos recommending the “hidden” gem.
Capcom actually did an awesome job with Mega Man Battle Network on the WiiU Ports where a lot of locked content was available. I hope we get full versions. Ive been meaning to play the whole series again (though some haven't aged well) but ive been holding back just incase theres another release on the horizon
Rayman 3 gba is a classic for me. Never managed to finish it though, it gets difficult. my cartridge of rayman 3 is a 2-in-1 with a Winnie the Pooh game (i guess it was published by ubisoft too), which isn't as interesting unfortunately. as a kid i was just confused by the mechanics and as an adult it was too simple lol. can't beat Tigger's Honey Hunt in terms of Winnie the pooh games i guess.
Dragonball: Advanced Adventure was and is one if my favorite GBA games. It covers the original Dragonball series up to the King Piccolo saga and plays like a beat em up during levels and a fighting game during bosses.
Extra Mode makes Advanced Adventure what it is, once you beat the game with Goku and Krillin you can unlock every enemy in the game as a playable character. I have so much fun destroying everything as King Piccolo and there are some surprisingly strong minor characters like Tambourine and General Blue.
Dragon Ball Z Buu's Fury is a great action RPG if you're a fan of the series
@@YustinJ420 I think its predecessor game Legacy of Goku 2 is a bit better since it has actual completion goals with the golden capsules and the character trophies, the latter of which leads to an alternate ending. Plus it has the charged melee attacks missing in Buu's Fury making combat more interesting.
@@GoldStorm07 Yeah they're both good. I didn't get too far in 2 because the combat was too difficult for me. Buu's Fury is more of a hidden gem internationally because it was never released in Japan or Europe.
The platforming and combat of that game is fucking sublime
Astro Boy: Omega Factor looks insane. A Treasure game hueing closer to Mega Man?! Couldn't ask for any more than that!
Definitely play it if you get the chance! It deserves its spot on this list for sure!
omega factor is such a banger. treasure are so talented at putting inventive boss fights together
I played it just for the story. It was so good. It's a game only story too, since at the time there was an Astro boy anime airing at the same time.
It's pretty good and addictive but a little shallow. There's a ton of enemy recycling where they just 2x, 3x or 4x the size and you have to play through stages multiple times to see everything. Still, like I said around 20 years ago it's pretty good.
Giving that mega man was inspired by the Astro boy anime it makes perfect sense, great game
Oh, you mentioned my boy Sabre Wolf! I remember my parents getting it for me and I didn't want to play it because the box art was so lousy. Ultimately, it ended up being one of the most beloved games of my childhood.
Box art shouldn’t matter when you see the Rare logo in the bottom corner.
Underrated gem I will die on the hill of: Sigma Star Saga. It is a 2D Shmup RPG with a colorful cast. Funny enough, it was a WayForwad game. Their next original title after the original Shantae on Game Boy Color and it seems like it was completely lost to time
Remember that WayForward also made Xtreme Sports on Game Boy Color, and like Shantae and Sigma Star Saga, it has that distinct Matt Bozon charm.
I wish Shantae 2: Risky Revolution on GBA hadn't been cancelled as it looked quite promising and looked more charming and fun than most modern Shantae games, including Risky's Revenge. But at least, Sigma Star Saga is a really great game, and I think it even has some elements from Shantae.
wow this console had a TON of hidden gems. Makes me feel like my childhood with the console feel insignificant. Time to bust out the emulator and fan translations. Great video steve keep up the good work!
Speaking of Treasure, although its a remake, Gunstar Super Heroes is worth an honorable mention. I got very lucky and found it at the bottom of a clearance shelf for $10 in an F.Y.E. around the end of the GBA's life on the market. Worth every penny and then some.
"Hamtaro Ham-Ham Heartbreak" and it's GBC predecessor "Hamtaro Ham-Hams Unite" are amazing. Nintendo put a lot of heart and effort into these games. They made a solid adventure title with great side content. You normally wouldn't expect this from a licensed game. The fact that Shigeru Miyamoto worked on Heartbreak really says how much love they had for the IP.
Also that second Mother 3 fake out was gold. Hopefully Nintendo gives us Virtual Boy Online! I can see the Nintendo Labo VR kits now.
Also if you like Ham Ham Heartbreak you need to try the sequel, Rainbow Rescue, which only came out in Japan and Europe (so there is already an English version around) and Ham Ham Games, a sport themed minigame collection that is also very fun. Such fantastic games that hopefully will see a re-release someday on NSO.
I was glad to see Rayman 3 (gba). Though I do want to mention, it did include some elements of the console version of Rayman 3 such as the Hoodlum enemies. Also, Sabrewulf was a deep cut.
"Mario Kart Super Circuit was trash"
Me, who's gotten 3 star ranks in every cup in the game: ok
I was so tempted to just stop watching the video when I heard that lol
Mario Kart Super Circuit is in my top four Mario Kart games, accompanying Double Dash, Wii, and 64
More solo/shorter content I’m here for it! Much love and awesome to see this
Rayman 3 on GBA was awesome, grew up with it, remember playing that game before i got Rayman 2, and was super confused when the music was the same as Rayman 3 gba (Rayman 2 Music obviously better though).
There are 3 more Rayman games on GBA. Rayman Advance( Rayman 1 port) Rayman Hoodlum’s revenge and Raving rabbids. Rabbids GBA is supposedly good but i haven’t played that one.
Also fun fact: Rayman 3 GBA was the last game to ever be released on Wii U Virtual Console.
My everdrive is on its way, can't wait to try all these games on my Analogue Pocket!
For the 1% of you who haven't forgotten that Gradius exists, there's Gradius Advance/Galaxies/Generation (one game) on the GBA. The soundfont isn't so hot, but the composition slaps, and the game has a rather manageable difficulty option (bullet-less easy and insane hard)
I loved advanced guardian hero’s as a kid, I’m so glad it’s getting recognition.
I have to mention Medabots. Love that game on the GBA.
It would be so nice if more of those games came out internationally. It would also be nice if the remake of the first game (the one we got was a remake of Medabots 2) had been good, instead of bombing so hard that the publisher put the series on ice for nine years and gave it to a different developer when they brought it back. But at least, for now, we've got a fan translation team working on the GameBoy games...
Shaman king: Master of spirits is a really fun action platformer that feels a bit like ninja gaiden and has slight metroidvania elements to unlock collectibles. I have never watched shaman king, but had so much fun with the game. It also has a sequel, but i haven't played it yet but have heard good things.
Yes! I love this game!!!
DK:king of swing is one of my favorite GBA games. It's got interesting controls, mainly focusing on the l and r buttons and I think its quite underrated. I wish it got proper recognition and a sequel. ( yes I know there's one for the ds but it's not the same as the original lol)
YES, PLEASE! PUT THE HAMTARO GAMES ON NSO!
Astro boy was excellent! Though for some reason my clearest memory of the game is about balance a candle on the back of a character’s head or heck.
The Boktai series is a severely underrated game series-- sure, people heard about it because of its sunlight mechanic, but back when these games were released, gamers seemed to really hate going outside so a lot of people passed this series up.
It's a shame, because Boktai 1, 2, and the Japan-exclusive 3 are some of the most finely crafted gaming experiences on the GBA. The stories, music, graphics, and gameplay are all amazing. The characters and locations are memorable, and to this day, remain some of my favorites in ANY video game.
I doubt they'll wind up on NSO because of both the Solar Sensor mechanic AND the potential licensing issues (A Konami game made by the late KojiPro), so playing a patched ROM is an acceptable way to experience the Boktai games in this day and age. If you CAN find a working physical copy, though, it's well worth it. Nothing can top the feeling of genuinely sweating during a boss battle, and then going back indoors to cool off afterwards.
The solar sensor wouldn't be an issue since the switch does infact have a photodiode built into it, primally its used to adjust the screen brightness automatically depending on background light, but it could be used to give boktai its original mechanics in emulation if the rights could be sorted to allow it.
@@Howwy191 Ooooh, I didn't know that! They could rework it to work with that, yeah! Though... the OG solar sensor detected UV-- it wasn't meant to work with anything other than actual sunlight (or a blacklight if you were clever), so I'm not sure how that would effect the gameplay balance. If you spent too long in strong sunlight, the game would detect this and make your in-game weapon overheat, forcing you to take a break in the shade for a while; this was to keep kids from getting sunburned.
GBA rivals the ds in its quality of underappreciated gems. You mentioned klonoa, there were actually 3 games, 2 platformers and an rpg. There was also 3 f zero games on the GBA. As for some gems you missed, summon knight sword craft story 1 and 2. Both amazing action rpgs in the vein of the tales of series. Ninja five O, an action platformer in the style of ninja garden or shinobi but with it's own spin. Another series is legacy of goku 2 and buus fury. Even though it is the dbz liesence these action rpg games dont get talked about enough and for my money, are the best dbz games out there.
Pokemon Pinball Ruby and Sapphire is one of my favourite games ever. It has really good mechanics and is extremely fun to play
A game no one talks about because it was only released in Japan and Spain is Crayon Shin-chan Adventure in Cineland. Really great platformer with lots of bizarre characters and stages and your abilities change depending on which costume you wear.
One of the few GBA games I grew up with was the port of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend it over other versions of that incredible game, the GBA conversion plays surprisingly well, even from the isometric angle where you can't really see that far ahead of you. There's also Spyro 2 Season of Fire. It corrects all the crucial issues I had with the previous one. Also, I heartily recommend the GBA remaster of Mother 1 that was bundled with Earthbound in Japan. It's the same game, but with a much needed 'easy mode' where they increased experience gain from battles and changed nothing else. It becomes much more playable this way, and I've got good memories with a fan translation back in the day.
1:20 careful with that knife Derrick!!
Harvest moon friends of mineral town. Genuinely had a booklet of reciepes printed out as a teenager in a binder I used for the game as well as heart event times for the love interest
I highly recommend Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure. Probably one of my favorite licensed game in the gba library.
I don't know if this is your first scripted video Steve, or if it's just the first one I saw, but it's brilliantly put together - looking forward to seeing more!
Great list of games and I've only heard of a few of them! As deep as the list of quality GBA games goes, hopefully we get to experience them. I admit one obscure series is the Super Robot Taisen set if games that were on GBA. While the US did get the two OG series games, there were some quality ones left in Japan due to licensing issues.
This really makes me want to hook up my raspberry pi again since that's the only platform I have to play these games on. Really cool to see a lot of titles I had not heard of.
I spent the GBA's peak years playing only Pokemon and Crash Bandicoot including the aforementioned Huge Adventure/XS, by the time I expanded my experiences on the system with Minish Cap it was on it's way out and I subsequently got a lot of notable games like Metroid Zero Mission and my favorite game of all time: Final Fantasy VI, on the system. Then only played the Golden Sun games, Metroid Fusion, F-Zero GP Legend and Wario Land 4 via Wii U Virtual Console.
Here's some more hidden gems to check out:
- Mazes of Fate
- Back to Stone
- Drome Racers
- Steel Empire
- Gensou Suikoden Card Stories
- Hamtaro - Ham-Ham Games
- Denki Blocks
- Guru Logic Champ
And my favorite Rare game of all time, It's Mr. Pants.
Ay Steve’s first solo video! Awesome. Keep it up boys!
Although not exactly a hidden gem, i'm currently playing through Advance Wars.
I use an Emulator on my Phone and the controls, gameplay and graphics are perfect on a Phone screen, and with the save anywhere mechanic i can play everywhere i go for 10 minutes or for an hour.
Some hidden gems i do enjoy playing for the GBA are Black Belt Challenge, Blackthorne, CT Special Forces 2, Iridion 2, Lady Sia, Summon Knight - Swordcraft Story 2, and Wade Hixton's Counter Punch.
Cool video, cheers.
I think DS slightly edged out Advance in terms of depth and quality... but damn the GBA has some really deep seated nostalgia for me
Great list of obscure Game Boy Advance titles! I hadn't heard of most of them.
'Mario Kart Super Circuit was trash' WOW!. I know it's not many people;'s favourite MK, but I could barely continue watching after that statement. MKSC is one of the BEST MKs for those willing to give it a chance. I've 3 Star'd everything, and the finesse you can achieve with the controls is astounding. The controls of later games were over simplified as bit too much. Only people who are not very good at racers would say such a thing. The game is astounding. I love it's art direction too.
The original Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories on GBA is a game I vastly prefer over the PS2 remake in terms of gameplay, and all of the sprite work captures the look of the series very well in my opinion. It's a shame most newcomers of the series never touched this game but maybe, just maybe, they'll release it on NSO for fans to check out.
I know Derrick is working on that monster sized SMT vid, but man once Derrick and Steve start supplementing the weekly Jon vids every week, this channel will be GOATed (even though it already is in my eyes lol)
As someone who only ever used the GBA for Pokémon games, this video is highly illuminating! Wonderful stuff.
so happy to see sword of mana make your list! it's definitely one of my favorite gba games, and i love how it expands on the original final fantasy adventure/seiken densetsu story with the new girl's story!
The Lord of the Rings games for GBA are really cool Diablo clone that follows the plot of the movies and are the games that set me on that style of games.
Super Circuit was great
Yes, finally another video by Steve! I just love this guy
Yay! Chu Chu Rocket! Glad someone actually remembers the GBA port not only do I still have the cartridge but was my first experience to this game (didn't know there was a Dreamcast version at the time) and I still love it!
Anyone else want a GBA classic system instead of it being on NSO?
grab a miyoo mini and make it yourself ;)
I loved Sword of Mana as a kid. It got me into the Mana series.
So happy to see Konami Krazy Racers on here and wished there had been a sequel to it on DS. Not to mention new Mystical Ninja content any time soon...
What's wrong with Super Circuit? Sure, it was a step back after N64 with it being back to the pseudo 3D, but it was basically a mechanically better Super Mario Kart.
I’d say the Dreamcast Chu Chu is more accessible simply because it can be easily burned off like every game on the console.
This is the first time I have heard someone talking about my favourite GBA game as a hidden gem. I can die in peace now seeing that someone appreciates Hamtaro Ham-Ham Heartbrek \o/
there's actually two Fzero games on GBA
F-Zero Maximum Velocity
F-Zero GP Legend
GP Legend is based on the Anime
I got me a gba sp last year but don't have a ton of games for it yet. Might look at these soon
So, these are some good picks for sure. One that I never see get talked about is ESPN Final Round Golf for the GBA. It’s not the most involved golf game out there, but it was well made and has a really good soundtrack. It was also published by Konami.
There was also a Tekken game on GBA. I can’t speak for its quality, but it was the first time Tekken appeared on something other than PlayStation.
Excuse me super circuit is not anywhere near as bad as people make it out to be.
You have the end gag mastered already!
I had no idea tomato adventure released on the Wii U virtual console-
My favorite underrated GBA game has got to be Denki Blocks, a clever puzzler with a charming presentation, that gets really tough in later stages. Especially when you want to get all the secondary bonus goals. I loved it, and I would love a sequel on the Switch.
SUPER CIRCUIT IS NOT TRASH
That first game is really similar to an indie game called Roundabout. I never knew it was derivative of something.
I like Mario Kart Super Circuit. It's the best Mode7 Mario Kart.
Always love it when Custom Robo gets a shout out
Robopon 2. It's the last gasp of air we got from Quintet in America, and it shows. It's better than the first, and it didn't need a gimmick cart.
That Rayman 3 looks awesome! Looks like a proper 2D follow up to the original.
Gunstar Heroes Advanced. Even though it was a pseudo-remake, it has all that Treasure magic we know and love. If only it had link cable co-op… (Fun fact: Advance Guardian Heroes, on the other hand, DOES have link cable co-op!)
Yo, where is the BEST Gameboy Advance cartridge..
.... the first two episodes of Sonic X
Incredibly thrilled to see the Luigi's Mansion prints hung up back there, Steve!
I wish some proper 3D stuff was included. Hot Wheels: Stunt Track Challenge, Drome Racers, and the Need for Speed GBA games are ones I still play a lot to this day.
Mario Kart Super Circuit is awesome and beats the hand holding mechanics and gameplay of today.
As someone who's recently played through the whole Mario Kart series, Super Circuit was way more enjoyable than the SNES original. No idea why everyone dunks on that one, it does everything the original did but better.
those rare folks do make some great games, I should probably check out sabre wulf
It's kinda similar to Wario Land in that once you get to the end of a level and find the wolf, you have to race back to the start to avoid getting eaten.
Ty the tasmanian tiger 2 was a really faithful dumbing down of the PS2 game.
Honestly my favorite was iridion 2. Best soundtrack I've ever heard with excellent space shooter gameplay. The only downside is it uses password save.
I would also recommend Super Robot Taisen: Original Generations 1 and 2 for the system. They are both part of the Super Robot Wars series, which is a tactical RPG series pretty similar in gameplay to Fire Emblem in which multiple mecha anime come together to fight evil in one big crossover extravaganza. Original Generations 1 and 2 are part of a sub-series in which all the original characters that Banpresto made over the years come together instead, meaning no anime characters which previously kept the series from reaching western shores due to copyright and licensing issues at the time. They were both localized by Atlus back in the day, but due to them releasing at the very end of the GBA's life-cycle and little to no recognition of the SRW brand in the west, the games didn't exactly sell well. They would be the last SRW games ever released outside of Japan until SRW 30 marked the mainline series' debut last year when it was released worldwide on Steam.
Other gems you should try: Star Wars Episode 3 (great beat'em up!), Lady Sia, Scurge Hive (isometric metroidvania).
This is great, I hadn't heard of some of these!
I mean these are great picks, but GBA games are insanely overpriced on the resale market.
That's, um, certainly one way to slice a couple of scallions...
DON’T THINK I DON’T HEAR THAT MOTHER 3 MUSIC AT THE END THERE STEVE
You got me!
Thank you for covering drill dozer! It is massive nostalgia for me.
Gunstar Superheroes was great. Nobody should miss it.
Man, just that intro before the ad was great
Oh, and Shining Force was pretty cool (specifically Resurrection of the Dark Dragon)
*_Hey, how dare you call Mario Kart: Super Circuit trash!!!_* What is on a more serious and positive note, I've never heard of most of these video game titles on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance; but the _Sabre Wolf_ video game is the most intriguing one as it looks *_A LOT_* like the Donkey Kong Country video games.
So many of these games look and sound great, but I fear that this list will largely serve to remind us of what we could be playing on the Switch if it actually got more than one or two GBA games that weren't big international hits when they initially released.
Wait so the weather is getting nicer thanks to Hello Fresh? That's impressive!
Yeah I did not know custom robo was on GBA. DS game is one of my favorites
Drill Dozer, Sabrewulf, Konami Krazy Racers, Astro Boy, Klonoa, such great games. I really want to try Sword of Mana.
My favourite non-Insomniac Spyro game was on the GBA. The Attack of the Rhynocs was great for the hardware it was on. While it probably doesn't fit the term, it felt almost Metroidvania in some ways.
That was a great watch
kurukuru kururin is one of my favorites on the gba. it's a unique and fun game.
Hey Steve, you're like my favorite guy in the group, but I recommend using b-roll game footage inbetween camera footage of your face so the deadpan stare toward the script is less noticable.
It’s funny that the title says hidden gems but true fans of the GBA already know about these games and they aren’t really hidden because the few copies that sold when they where out are hard to get now because collectors have them😂 not so hidden if every GBA fan wants them or already has them and makes videos recommending the “hidden” gem.
Loving this form of content from you guys
Capcom actually did an awesome job with Mega Man Battle Network on the WiiU Ports where a lot of locked content was available. I hope we get full versions. Ive been meaning to play the whole series again (though some haven't aged well) but ive been holding back just incase theres another release on the horizon
Mario Circuit is far from trash! I was playing it not even an hour ago 😂
Good video 👍
You do know that there were two F-Zero entries on the GBA that did receive North American releases, right?
nah mate, you gotta call it the Zed Ex Spectrum. Zee Ex just sounds wrong lol
Rayman 3 gba is a classic for me. Never managed to finish it though, it gets difficult.
my cartridge of rayman 3 is a 2-in-1 with a Winnie the Pooh game (i guess it was published by ubisoft too), which isn't as interesting unfortunately. as a kid i was just confused by the mechanics and as an adult it was too simple lol. can't beat Tigger's Honey Hunt in terms of Winnie the pooh games i guess.