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.

The Seventh Generation: Nintendo Wii

While it has been much longer than just a couple weeks, The Seventh Generation is back.  The first console to look back on is Nintendo's biggest gamble, the Wii.  Coming off of a turbulent run with the Gamecube (Nintendo's weakest selling game console at the time), Nintendo came to terms with the fact that they could not compete with Microsoft and Sony when it came to computing power.  Nintendo looked at their strengths, gameplay and design, and the risk taken with the Nintendo DS for inspiration for their newest console.  Instead of directly competing with the Xbox 360 and PS3 in terms of power, the Wii focused its entire design around one core mechanic, motion control.  Motion controls were attempted in earlier console generations, but they were never refined to the point of actually being more than a non-functional gimmick.  The Wii brought motion controls to the forefront of the video game industry and nobody could have predicted the success to follow.

Apart from the hardcore Nintendo fans that flocked to the Wii for the newest entries in Nintendo's venerable franchises (Mario, Metroid, Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong and Super Smash Bros.), the Wii caught the attention of people who never considered playing video games as an activity for them.  The simplistic design the Wii Remote, which was intentionally designed to look and feel like a TV remote, and the familiarity of the sports included in Wii Sports, the game packed in with every Wii system, broke down the large barrier of entry video games had before this point in time.  No longer did people have to learn complex button presses to play games, they just had to mimic certain motions to get involved.  This universal appeal equated to monstrous sales for the Wii.  While the Wii may had been a minimal improvement over the Gamecube in terms of power and graphics, it easily outsold PS3 and Xbox 360, incredibly more powerful machines, this past generation.

Being the most successful system of the past generation did not mean the Wii was the best console of this past generation.  In actuality, the Wii was quite the opposite.  Although Nintendo and a few other developers used the Wii's under-powered specs to create artistically stunning games, the majority of Wii games can be considered lacking at best.  During the early years of the Wii, there was such a large number of shovel ware released on the machine that it was hard to discern between the good and the bad.  For every Super Mario Galaxy, there were dozens of shovel ware like Carnival Games and Chicken Shoot.  The Wii, much like the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube, suffered from a lack of third-party support.  While there were publishers like Sega, Ubisoft and EA that supported the Wii with numerous games, a good number of publishers such as Bethesda and Take-Two passed over the Wii due to its lack a processing power.

For Nintendo fans, the Wii offered a lot of great games both old (through the power of the Virtual Console) and new that you could not experience anywhere else.  Apart from the core Nintendo faithful and the new slew of casual gamers, the Wii did not offer enough to sway people away from the most cutting-edge systems in the PS3 and Xbox 360.  The Wii may be among Nintendo's most successful video game consoles, but it will never be remembered as fondly as its predecessors.

On the Download: Earthbound

Since the inception of the Virtual Console in 2006, there has been one game that Nintendo fans clamoured to see on Nintendo's online catalogue- Earthbound.  Earthbound is a cult classic RPG from HAL Laboratory and Ape that released on the SNES back in 1994.  When Earthbound initially released, it did not do well commercially despite how loved the game was by RPG fans and critics.  Due to the poor sales, Nintendo kept future re-releases of Earthbound and its predecessor and successor in Japan.  For a long time, the only way to get Earthbound was by buying an original copy for the SNES, which easily cost upwards of 100 dollars.  After 19 years, Earthbound is finally being re-released for an affordable price in order for those who missed it to enjoy this classic.  The launch date for the Virtual Console re-release had been shrouded in mystery until the masters at Nintendo of America surprised everybody with a Nintendo Direct Mini, which revealed Earthbound would be released today on the Nintendo eShop!

Earthbound follows four unlikely heroes, known as the Chosen Ones, as they fight off an extraterrestrial threat.  These four heroes are small-town Onett native Ness, famous young physic Paula, child genius Jeff and mystic prince Poo.  These four heroes must use their Psi powers to dispatch numerous strange monsters from dinosaurs to piles of vomit and even some human foes such as hippies.  On their adventures, they will experience the quirky humour that Earthbound is known for firsthand as the game parodies American culture and many RPG tropes.  The original Earthbound came with a strategy guide to help gamers if they ever got stuck.  Considering this Virtual Console re-release is digital only, there is no way to get the guide when purchasing the Virtual Console version.  Before you get depressed, Nintendo has made a digital version of the strategy guide available for free on Earthbound's official website.  The guide is also optimized for use on the Wii U Internet Browser.

Earthbound is available now on the Nintendo eShop for 10 dollars, which is peanuts compared to the insane price the original SNES cartridge fetches nowadays.  Personally, I never got the chance to play Earthbound for myself as I did not owned a SNES.  Seeing Nintendo re-release this beloved RPG for fans old and new to experience is just wonderful.  Hopefully if enough people purchase Earthbound on Virtual Console, maybe Nintendo will finally bring Mother 1 and 3 across the pond to North America.  If you own a Wii U, it is time to make Nintendo notice that we want more games like Earthbound by talking with our money.  Simply Earthbound is a must-buy for any Wii U owner.

On the Download: Oracle of Ages and Seasons

Some games hold a special place in ones’ heart.  For yours truly, The Legend of Zelda:  Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons are two of those games.  In my younger years, all I played were handheld games.  I did not own a console until the Gamecube, outside of the Sega Genesis I got for my birthday when I was four.  Without a console, I was not exposed to such excellent franchises like Castlevania, Final Fantasy and Metroid until I was much older.  A lot of my exposure to these franchises came from my subscription to gaming magazines like Nintendo Power and later portable entries in these franchises.  Before Oracle of Ages and Seasons, I had never played a game in the Legend of Zelda series.  In the rearview mirror, it was one of the best decisions of my life.  Oracle of Ages and Seasons gave birth to my love of Nintendo and the Legend of Zelda series.  Why am I spending all this time talking about my past experience with these games as they are over a decade old?  Well, last Thursday marked the release of The Legend of Zelda:  Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons on the 3DS Virtual Console.  Releases that this writer has been looking forward to for a while now considering I no longer have the means to play the originals.

The Oracle of Ages and Seasons are parallel stories in the Legend of Zelda universe.  Upon checking on the Triforce, Link is transported to either the world of Labrynna in Ages or Holodrum in Seasons.  Soon after Link's arrival, he meets up with the titular oracles, the Oracle of Ages Nayru and the Oracle of Seasons Din.  Everything may seem peaceful at first, but sadly that peace does not last long as the forces of evil kidnap  the oracles and plunge their respective worlds into chaos.  Armed with his trusty sword and shield, it is up to Link to rescue the oracles and put a stop to the chaos brought about by the forces of evil, Oynx and Veran.  Oracle of Ages and Seasons play like your typical top-down Legend of Zelda as Link completes dungeons to gain valuable items that open more of the world to traverse and allow the hero to solve many skill testing puzzles.  Aside from the different stories, there is one other major difference between the Oracle games.  This difference being that Oracle of Ages focuses more on puzzle-solving while Oracle of Seasons focuses more on action.

For those interested, The Legend of Zelda:  Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons are available on the Nintendo eShop.  For a limited time, you can pick up Ages and Seasons for 5 dollars each.  Once this promotion is over, the games will be available for 6 dollars each.  No matter the price, these games are definite downloads for any 3DS owner.

On the Download: April 28 - May 4

Sometimes things do not go as planned.  Originally, I wanted this edition of On the Download up much sooner, but when a two hour nap turned into a ten hour sleep plans changed.  On the topic of plans changing, earlier this week I could not think of any downloadable games coming out this week to warrant a new edition of On the Download.  Then I saw all the coverage for Far Cry 3:  Blood Dragon and well my plans changed.  Sometimes downloadable games can sneak up on you like it did to me this past week if you are not on top of them.  Over the past few weeks, there has been a whole slew of noteworthy downloadable games to hit market such as Fez, Papo and Yo, Dyad and Monaco all for PC.  It is a good time to be a gamer with an internet connection.

Last week I looked at the launch of the Wii U Virtual Console, well more games came out for the service this past Thursday on the eShop.  These aforementioned games are Mega Man and Pac-Man.  While the releases have been cut back from the last week's launch, it is very nice to see Nintendo show continued support for the Virtual Console considering how poor the support was for it during the later years of the Wii's life cycle.  As long as Nintendo keeps releasing Virtual Console games on a regular basis, hopefully once a week, it will provide a good library of games for a system in dire need of them.  While Mega Man and Pac Man may already be on many other platforms, the Wii U versions of these games include all the bells and whistles like restore points and Miiverse support that are included in Wii U and 3DS Virtual Console games.  For 5 dollars apiece, these are two classic games for gamers both young and old to download for the Wii U.

It is 2007.  The world is left in shambles of nuclear fallout after Vietnam War II.  You play as Cyber Commando Rex Colt as you set out to kill enemies, rescue a damsel in distress and ultimately save the world like Cyber Commandos do best.  The game I am talking about is Ubisoft's standalone downloadable expansion to Far Cry 3 called Far Cry 3:  Blood Dragon.  Blood Dragon's only tie to Far Cry 3 is that they both use the same game engine.  Ubisoft Montreal has crafted an insane game that looks to parody what people love about 80s action movies:  inane plot; cheesy one-liners; unnecessary sci-fi elements and; tons of explosions.  You do not need Far Cry 3 to experience the insanity of Blood Dragon, only 15 dollars or 1400 Microsoft Points and a Xbox 360, PS3 or PC.

On the Download: Wii U Update Bonanza

After months of patiently waiting, Wii U owners have finally received the massive update needed to solve the load time problems the system has had since launch.  While this update does drastically decrease the load times between running games and applications, it is not the only feature that Nintendo has added to the Wii U through the update.  Wii U owners can now boot right into the Wii Menu by holding the B button during start-up, download and install games and applications in the background and when the system is turned off and transfer data between two USB storage devices.  Along with the update came a few new games to download in the Wii U eShop.  For the first On the Download of 2013, let us get on with the show.

Wii U owners have gotten a little taste of the Wii U Virtual Console through Nintendo's 30 cent trial program on the Wii U eShop.  Now with the release of the spring update comes the official launch of the Wii U Virtual Console.  While Nintendo's 30 cent program on select Virtual Console games will continue until July, Virtual Consoles will be released much more frequently now that the service has officially launched.  For those looking at what to download for the Virtual Console launch, there are eight games to choose from.  These games are Super Mario World, F-Zero, Punch-Out, Balloon Fight, Excitebike, Kirby's Adventure, Ice Climbers and Donkey Kong Jr.  The prices for Virtual Console games range from 5 dollars for NES games and 8 dollars for SNES game, but Kirby's Adventure is on for 30 cents until May 16th.  For Wii U owners who have moved their Wii Virtual Console library to the Wii U, you will be able to download the Wii U Virtual Console versions of these games for either 1 dollar for NES games and 1 dollar and 50 cents for SNES games.

While the delay of Rayman Legends and loss of exclusivity made a lot of Wii U owners very angry, Ubisoft has been trying their best to make it up to these gamers.  First, it was announced that the extra time has allowed the developers up to 30 new levels into Rayman Legends.  Second, Ubisoft planned to release the multiplayer portion of Rayman Legends exclusively for Wii U owners before the launch of the actual game.  There was a vague mention of a spring release for this feature, but nothing was ever set in stone.  It was to many gamers surprise to see the Rayman Legends Challenges App up on the Wii U eShop ready to download this past week.  This free app allows gamers to play through the final versions of the demo levels along with the online challenge mode.  There are daily and weekly challenges for gamers to test their platforming skills against people from all over the world.  Win trophies in these challenges in order to boost your awesomeness level and unlock more extreme challenges.  Personally, I have enjoyed my time with the Rayman Legends Challenges App and will easily spend more time with my Wii U because of it.  The app is free so Wii U owners should have no excuse to download it while we all wait for Rayman Legends' September release.