Top 5 Game Boy Advance Games

Handhelds have always been a generation or two behind the technology found in video game consoles.  This significant technological disadvantage has never hurt the popularity of handheld gaming.  In fact, it is a non-factor to most except those most obsessed with graphics and hardware specs.  The ability to play quality games in the palm of your hand has captured the hearts and minds of gamers around the globe.  From black-and-white pick-up and play arcade-like experiences of the Game Boy to fully featured time-consuming 3D worlds of the 3DS and Vita, the landscape of handheld gaming has drastically changed in the past two decades.  Nintendo's Game Boy family of handheld systems, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary, has played a major role instituting this change.  In particular, the final entry in Nintendo's legendary line of Game Boy systems pushed the bar the furthest before the Nintendo DS brand took over.

The Game Boy Advance put the power of the Super Nintendo, arguably one of the greatest video game consoles ever created, in the palm of your hands.  Although small in size, Game Boy Advance cartridges housed some of the best experiences from that beloved era of gaming such as A Link to the Past, Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country and Final Fantasy VI along with brand new classics like Advance Wars, Golden Sun and Drill Dozer.  The Game Boy Advance was the one video game system that introduced this writer to likes of Castlevania, Metroid and Fire Emblem, easily some of my favourite video game franchises.  In honour of the Game Boy's silver anniversary and the launch of the Game Boy Advance Virtual Console on Wii U, I would like to share my Top 5 Game Boy Advance games.  For this Top 5, I will be excluding any Super Nintendo port because they can overshadow the original titles released for the Game Boy Advance which deserve the recognition.  Enjoy the Top 5 and hopefully Nintendo will bring some of these titles to the Virtual Console for all to enjoy.

5. Mega Man Zero
Over the years, Capcom has developed various different iterations of the Blue Bomber from a robot-hunting mercenary to a living computer AI.  Each iteration focuses on a different aspect of game design such as the infusion of an overarching story in the X series to the RPG elements of the Battle Network series. The best iteration of Mega Man in this writer's opinion is Mega Man Zero for the Game Boy Advance.  Introduced as a character in the X series, Zero finally got the top billing that he was originally meant to receive in Mega Man X with Mega Man Zero.  100 years after the events of Mega Man X, Zero is awakened to help the Reploid resistance in their fight against his former friend X and the Neo Arcadian army.  While the story of Mega Man Zero spans four games, it is the first game that set the gold standard for the series with excellent action-platforming, fast-paced combat, challenging yet rewarding difficulty and heart-pumping music.  For those who missed out on Mega Man Zero on Game Boy Advance, the Mega Man Zero Collection for the Nintendo DS is a perfect way to experience this series in its entirety.

4. Mario & Luigi:  Superstar Saga
No one ever though Mario and RPG mechanics would ever be a good combination.  In actuality, Nintendo's iconic plumber is more than well-suited for the RPG genre as proven by both Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario.  Inspired by Mario's previous ventures into RPGs, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga took Mario RPGs in a different direction by limiting your party to just two characters-- Mario and Luigi.  The battles were ultimately turn-based, but involve much more input than your regular RPG.  Mario and Luigi always need to be on their toes at all times as they can cause more damage or even outright avoid attacks with a perfectly timed button press.  Exploring the overworld in Superstar Saga was not limited by gravity as Mario and Luigi could platform their way through areas to further the story and find hidden items.  The Mario Bros. repertoire of special moves and items like hammers and propeller jump allowed them to solve puzzles interspersed throughout the game.  Along with the gameplay, the love for Superstar Saga comes from its signature humour which ranges from Luigi dressing up as Princess Peach to allude the main villains to all the hilarious results of missing button presses to initiate Bros. Attacks.  While the series has only got better with each entry, Superstar Saga still stands as one of the best RPGs on the Game Boy Advance.

3. Castlevania:  Aria of Sorrow
Before the Game Boy Advance, portable Castlevania games were among the worst entries in the series.  With the power of the Game Boy Advance and later the Nintendo DS, Konami reversed the stigma firmly placed on portable Castlevanias for the better.  Their quality easily outclassed every console Castlevania following Symphony of the Night.  In fact, each portable entry has added their own additions to the Metroidvania formula introduced in Symphony of the Night such as Circle of the Moon's Dual Set-up System or the two interchangeable versions of Dracula's Castle in Harmony of Dissonance.  Among the three Castlevania games on the Game Boy Advance, Aria of Sorrow is the best.  Set in 2035, you play as Soma Cruz, the reincarnation of Dracula, as he stumbles upon Dracula's Castle hidden within a solar eclipse.  Trapped in Dracula's Castle, Soma must use his abilities as Dracula's vessel to escape before transforming into the iconic vampire.  Aria of Sorrow refines the same action-platforming and RPG mechanics used in the other Castlevania games for the Game Boy Advance to perfection.  What differentiates Aria of Sorrow from other entires in the series is the Tactical Soul system.  Instead of interchanging a select number of sub-weapons, Soma is able to absorb the souls of fallen enemies to acquire new attacks, summonable familiars, stat boosts and abilities which open up new areas to explore.  Equipping different combinations of souls allows you to create your own unique Soma with the attacks and abilities you want to use.  With the poor direction Castlevania has taken in recent years, Aria of Sorrow is a shining example of how great this franchise can be.

2. Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem is a series with a long and storied history.  Sadly that long and storied history was exclusive to Japan until 2003.  The first Fire Emblem to reach North American shores is one of the best tactical strategy games on any game system.  Following the adventures of Eliwood, Hector and Lynn, three lords from the continent of Elibe, Fire Emblem tasks players with taking an army of allies to stop the evil forces of the Black Fang and their pursuit to unleash the powers of the Dragon Gate on the world.  Fire Emblem's greatest strength came from the gameplay which has one managing the strengths and weaknesses of weapons and magic, the durability of items, character stats and the range of allies and enemies to overcome insurmountable odds.  At the game's best, it feels like playing a game of chess with medieval knights and wizards as your chess pieces.  Along with introducing North American audiences to the core mechanics of the series, Fire Emblem introduced players to its most signature feature-- the permanent death of ally units.  This feature caused plenty of chapter restarts from yours truly, but it made you feel connected to your units in a way no other tactical strategy game has done before.  No longer were these units expendable pawns; they were living, breathing characters that you cared for and grew attached to over the course of the game.  Their loss packed much more weight than losing a unit in a game like Advance Wars or Starcraft.  This emotional weight along with excellent game mechanics made Fire Emblem a defining experience for the strategy genre in general.

1. Metroid:  Zero Mission
Out of all the experiences available on the Game Boy Advance, one stands taller than the rest.  This experience comes from gaming's favourite bounty hunter, Samus Aran.  Actually, it is the remake of her first adventure to Planet Zebes in the original Metroid.  Metroid may be an iconic achievement in video game design and development, but certain aspects of the game, namely the graphics and the unguided structure of the game, have not stood the test of time.  Zero Mission took the original Metroid and upgraded the gameplay, graphics, level design, music and story to the masterful quality of Super Metroid.  Zero Mission made Metroid better in every conceivable way and that was not the only thing it did.  Zero Mission expanded on the original story of Metroid.  No longer was defeating Mother Brain the final thing Samus did on Planet Zebes.  In trying to leave Zebes, Samus is shot down by Space Pirates and stripped down to her Zero Suit.  With no power to fight regular enemies, the game changes from your standard 2D action-platformer to a compelling 2D stealth game as Samus tracks down a brand new Power Suit in order to finally escape the clutches of Zebes.  This incredible twist gave the final act of Metroid a greater sense of danger and vulnerability than fighting off countless waves of metroids.  Hands down, Metroid: Zero Mission is the definitive version of a classic which preserves it against the negative effects of Father Time.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn Review

As the third entry in Camelot’s acclaimed RPG series and the first for the Nintendo DS, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn looks to continue the story from the first two entries in the series while also bringing in newcomers with it’s easy-to learn mechanics and generous difficulty level. As the last Nintendo release for the Nintendo DS, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn serves as worthwhile swan song for Nintendo’s dual screen behemoth and a very approachable RPG for those looking to get into this genre of games.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn picks up 30 years after the climactic Golden Sun event at the end of The Lost Age.  You control Matthew, Tyrell and Karis, the children of the Warriors of Vale (the heroes from the first two games).  After a brief introduction dungeon, Matthew and his friends are sent on a quest to retrieve the mystical Roc’s Feather in order to fix the Soarwing that Tyrell destroyed.  Things escalate from this one simple task as Matthew and company get sucked into an evil plot to cover the world of Weyard in darkness.  Matthew and his friends must travel to distant lands, meet up with new party members and activate the Alchemy machines in order to save the world from utter destruction.  As a whole, the story can be dismissed as your regular RPG story, though it does pick up in the latter stages of the game.  For those who have not played the first two Golden Sun games much like yours truly, there are some allusions to those games that might go over your heads, but Camelot does a great job of getting players up to speed with the important plot points.  This makes Dark Dawn a great jumping on point for those interested in giving this series a chance.

Over the years, there has been one aspect of the game that has made the Golden Sun series stand out from your average Japanese RPG.  That aspect is the puzzles.  As all the characters in your party are Adepts, people who can use Psynergy (Golden Sun’s equivalent to magic), they can interact with the game environment in different ways to reach unreachable areas and solve some head scratching puzzles.  These puzzles make the trudge through dungeons and towns that much more bearable as there are more things to outside of battling random enemies.  Also in your travels you will be collect djinn, elemental creatures that can boost a character’s stats and offer different uses in battle from reviving a party member to boosting each party member’s defense to unleashing devastating attacks.  Golden Sun: Dark Dawn’s battle system is very similar to battle systems found in other turn-based RPGs.  You select from a menu of attacks, psynergy abilities, djinn, summons and defense, target an enemy and repeat.  With Dark Dawn, Camelot has improved on a complaint about the battle system from the first two Golden Sun games.  Camelot has included smart combat, so if an enemy is killed before other party members can attack it, now they intelligently attack one of the remaining enemies instead of just switching to defense.  This improvement makes combat much more faster and fluid experience than its predecessors and make going back to that battle system a little harder on some.

For longtime RPG fans, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn will be a walk in the park.  The easier difficulty makes for a more approachable game to RPG newcomers, but Dark Dawn is easy to a fault.  Personally I only died once in the entire game and that was at the final boss, which had an insane difficulty spike.  Speaking of the final boss and the ending, they were both a bit lackluster to say the least.  It felt as you reached the halfway point of the game, the big twist that would lead into the final hours of the game and the true finale.  That does not happen and you are left feeling like Dark Dawn is the first part of a much bigger story.  Camelot does wrap up the majority of mysteries brought up during the course of the game, but there are some big plot points left open for the inevitable 3DS sequel.  Personally, I did not mind as much, but it will bum a lot of people that after 30 hours you will have to wait a few more years for the actual conclusion to this story.

At the end of the day, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn is an entertaining RPG that any gamer no matter age or experience can pick up and play.  The lackluster final boss and ending and the difficulty will turn some people off, but those who stick with the game will be treated to a worthwhile RPG with a cool story, simple yet fun battle system and some excellent puzzles.