Board 8 > Board 8's Top 20 GBA Games - The Results

(+) Yeah! (+)

Total Stats: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18sFKVDrf_ePBTV8Y9T8-J7PPUc_yBV4NhgRLPK0JbbE/edit?usp=sharing

Much appreciated to everyone who voted and provided write-ups! The structure of the list is a ranking with the same variables as before taking importance in order:

• Total Points
• Total Appearances
• First-Place Points

#20. Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (2002)
Total Points: 20
List Appearances: 9
First-Place Votes: 1
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/eff161f0.jpg

Writeup provided by StifledSilence
Lets rewind a little bit back to the NES list. I ranked Kirbys Adventure as #1. I grew up with and adore that game. My Mom bought this game for me simply because Kirby is our last name, and she thought it was cute that a big puff ball shares that with us. I too got a good chuckle out of the title before I put the cartridge in my top-loader NES console. Little did I know that I would be introduced to one of my favorite game series that day. I immediately loved the 'oaty physics of Kirby, his copy abilities adding so much variety to the gameplay, and the music. Oh my God, the music. This game has the kinds of songs that are permanently stuck in my head. Along with the likes of the Marios, Pokemons, and Streets of Rages, my brain is occupied by looping Kirby music. The games visuals were pretty great too. The enemies were all cute, but dangerous. There was a joy in seeing an enemy and feel the anticipation of gaining its power from its cuddly, edible husk.

Ok, now that we have that out of the way, lets talk about Nightmare in Dream Land. This is a remake of Adventure. You know, that game I just heaped praise upon in the above paragraph. So its good right? Right, Anakin? Nah, it is. Dont worry.

The main thing I absolutely love about Nightmare is how gorgeous it is. The visuals are some of the most bright and colorful I have ever seen in a game. I have not had the chance to play this on an OLED screen before, which I could only imagine is magical. However, even on a regular screen, the colors pop. I have played this game on a regular Game Boy Advance, a Game Boy Advance SP, a modded GBA, a Miyoo Mini Plus, an Analogue Pocket, and a Steam Deck. With all of these varying screen sizes, brightnesses, and resolutions, not once did this game ever look ugly.

The game is a rather faithful recreation of the original as far as content is concerned. If you remember the layouts and secret placements of Adventure, you will feel right at home with Nightmare. The copy abilities handle a little differently in Nightmare, which takes a tiny bit of getting used to. However, it is not bad at all. I found it was more of a timing issue. The amount of clearance you have with hitboxes is the key difference between the combat of the two games. If you are used to Adventure, you just need to figure out in Nightmare how close you can get to an enemy before it registers a hit on you. Once you do that, youre good to go.

One critical issue with Adventure was the slowdown. It was clearly pushing the NES pretty hard, and so having a bunch of sprites and Kirby using copy abilities could tank the framerate a bit. Nightmare in Dream Land eliminates that slowdown and makes for a much smoother experience. This is good, because this game is actually a bit more ruthless with enemies trying to mob you all at once. Naturally, the game is still super easy, but still. It is nice to know the game can push a lot of sprites at you and not chug.

The sub game lineup is different between Adventure and Nightmare, but both sets are actually pretty great. Personally, I prefer the ones from Adventure, especially the crane game. Seeing that fat Kirby plush always brings a smile to my face! However, the ultimate addition that puts Nightmare over the top is the unlockable Meta Knightmare, AKA the coolest unlockable game mode I have ever seen (until King Dedede Tour in Triple Deluxe, at least). You play the entire game as Meta Knight in a timed run with only three health bars and two starting lives. You cant save, which is kind of lame, but its meant to be a speed run of sorts. This does not take away from the fun factor at all, and in fact adds variety.

I only have one minor complaint, which is the music. The tunes in Adventure, which I mentioned earlier, are iconic. The remixes in Nightmaremeh. They are reasonable copies of the originals, and they are not bad. Something about them has been sterilized, however. They lack the punch of the originals. In fact, there are some instances where the urgency has been sucked away as well. This is especially true with the boss battle tunes. I have a lot of nostalgia for certain aspects of GBA soundtracks. That high end treble produced some really atmospheric sound at times. However, I think the lack of bass is probably the culprit here. But hey, one complaint isnt bad at all! Nightmare is a wonderful time that shouldnt be missed!

I hope Amazing Mirror placed higher. Nightmare in Dream Land is one of my least favorite Kirby games due to how much it butchers Adventure.

Also hoping for one of or both Golden Sun games to place!

Good game!

I imagine I could probably say that after every single one of these.

Edit: Oops thought this was Amazing Mirror, havent played Nightmare in Dream Land. Still heard good things.

Tag

I only provided one write-up this time, so I don't know as much!

#19. Kirby & the Amazing MIrror (2004)
Total Points: 20
List Appearances: 10
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/005b08d5.jpg

Writeup provided by StifledSilence
While I was playing Kirby and the Amazing Mirror when I was a teenager, I wasnt sure if I liked it or not. After I beat the game, I still wasnt sure. While I sit here playing it right now in the present, I am still not sure. It is simultaneously a fun time and a total pain in the ass. It has really good ideas that arent always executed well. It is a typical Kirby game, but it also isnt. Its weird as shit, honestly. I also gave it a +4 without question on my voting form. So uhlets try to make some sense of my complicated feelings.

After getting a super familiar formula with Nightmare in Dream Land remaking Adventure, we venture into the completely opposite direction with Amazing Mirror. This is a significant departure from what we expect in a Kirby game. It functions as a gigantic interconnected maze of levels that you need to gain access to and find mirror shards within. You could possibly describe this as a love child of Great Cave Offensive and Milky Way Wishes from Kirby Super Star, along with mild Metroidvania conventions. The game encourages you to explore every nook and cranny of this world and find every area on the map. There are a lot of collectibles to find along the way as you explore as well. These two factors combined make getting 100% in this game a massive pain in the ass, but that was more of a gripe I had when I was a perfectionist teenager. Adult Stifled doesnt stress about that stuff nearly as much, and the game is more fun as a result.

All of the Kirby mechanics you want are still here. There is a nice roster of copy abilities in this game to choose from, including a few newcomers. The obvious standout is Smash Brothers, which is basically a tandem powerup set to Kirbys Smash Bros moves. In the context of a Kirby game, it is a Swiss Army Knife of puzzle solving convenience, and I am here for it. Other new powers like Cupid and Magic are pretty fun too, but will naturally not live up to the cool factor of Smash.

Its a pretty, colorful game, which is to be expected after Nightmare, but the music lacks a little. The tunes are all appropriately bouncy and happy, but feel derivative of ones from past games. I have a hard time remembering very many of them on their own merits and instead my brain just kind of lumps them together with other Kirby songs in my memory. There is also multiplayer, which the game heavily encourages with the additional colored Kirbys. The problem was I did not know any other people that played this game at the time. I guess everyone was too cool for a pink blob in high school. So I kind of feel like I missed out on an entire facet of the game that was probably really cool. There is a mechanic where you can summon the multiplayer Kirbys briefly to help you in a single player game. The only issue is the AI on those Kirbys sucks really bad. They can get stuck in places and dont fight enemies very effectively. So again, it was a cool idea with poor execution.

You might be asking yourself hey, Stifled, you absolute bonehead. This game sounds MID and Im not convinced you like it either! How dare you? LikeI dunno, dude. I think I can best describe how I truly feel about this game in terms of a girl I had a massive crush on in high school. She was one of the weirdest people I have ever met. Being around her made for some strange, confusing moments. But at the same time, she was fun and super cute. I cherished every memory I made with her because I have never met anyone quite like her. Kirby and the Amazing Mirror is eerily similar. The game is definitely weird. Putting backtracking and interconnected levels in a Kirby game is a choice that I could make arguments for being strange and confusing. At the same time, the game is also fun because of how different it is from other games in its series. It is also very nice to look it. The developers took a risk by changing up the formula this much, and as a result, I cherish those memories of playing such an offbeat experience. So do yourself a favor. Ask the weird girl out on a date before its too late. And also pop this cartridge into your GBAor emulate it, whatever.

Kirby sweep?

Furby meep?

Tag

Okay NOW I can say it:

Good game!

I love NiDL. Think it's wayyyyy better than Adventure personaly, though that's some nostalgia bias plus I think pretty poorly of the NES version of Adventure.

Amazing Mirror I tried before submitting a list for the first time and I hated it a lot lol.

#18. WarioWare: Twisted! (2004)
Total Points: 22
List Appearances: 10
First-Place Votes: 1
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/30da8230.jpg

Writeup provided by Bitto
WarioWare as a series is about playing a set of randomized micro-games that speed up and get harder. While the first game can play it loose since it created the idea, every game since then plays with a certain gimmick. WarioWare Touched deals with the touchscreen, Smooth Moves deals with the Wiimote being in certain "stances," etc. In these sequels, each stage usually focuses on a different concept, like Touched uses small swipes on one stage, big rotations on another stage, dragging the stylus in another, etc. It's a good idea, but for some reason, most of these sequels never really clicked on to me. It could be the micro-games, it could be the presentation, it could be something else. But Twisted...that one follows this idea and executes it very well.

Twisted has a huge cartridge with a gyroscope attached, basically making the GBA into a motion controller. As mentioned, every stage has an idea with this motion control, like short swipes back and forth, rotating while also using the GBA buttons, micro-games focused on shifting gravity, etc. I really enjoyed each stage of this WarioWare game, which isn't really something I felt towards any other WarioWare other than the first one and Gold. I'm not really sure why, but I have a few ideas why.

Presentation goes a really long way in WarioWare. A big part of WarioWare's appeal is the quirkiness of it. There's an energy in the presentation in aesthetics, humor, and soundtrack. WarioWare Twisted feels like the only sequel that captures the presentation of the original game and that honestly helps a ton. Mona's probably my favorite stage since it's simplistic enough to get really high scores and the entire stage is set to the soundtrack of Mona Pizza, which I really enjoyed. I'm rather partial to the stages for Dribble & Spitz, Crygor, Orbulon, 9-Volt, and Warioman.

I also feel like the micro-games are just...better in this game? It feels kinda silly saying that since each micro-game is a few seconds at best, but when you're playing them over and over again, you get a sense of what feels good and what feels ehhh. I do like the addition of the Fronk micro-games, which are absurdly fast micro-games that can be included in any stage to keep you on your toes. But really, the micro-games just feel like they got it "right" and test you on different skills even if they're all based on the same concept. The final micro-game where you have to rotate the GBA and tap A at the same tempo and pattern as Wario was so notable that I felt every final micro-game in WarioWare since then has some variation of this idea.

This game also just has an incredible amount of extras. A bunch of them are stupid or meaningless trinkets that you'll use once and forget about, but I do like unlocking things a lot. Sometimes you get something that you just really like. There's this one trinket about this yoga instructor that says "Relaaaax" when you rotate him and that has been living in my head rent-free ever since I got this game.

Its weird, Kirbys Adventure is one of my favorite Kirby games and quite possibly my favorite NES game, yet Im not as big on Nightmare in Dream Land. I actually remember being disappointed seeing that it was a remake back then. I guess I just wanted a new Kirby game at the time.

So come Amazing Mirror and I was a lot more hyped for it. I ended up liking it more too.

I guess when it comes to Adventure over Nightmare in Dream Land, I prefer the NES aesthetics over the GBA ones.

I think I brought it up way back on the NES list, but I can't stand the slowdown in NES Adventure. That thing chugs so bad. The 3DS version is great. Admittedly, haven't played NiDL in many years, so it may not hold up to me. It was my first Kirby game though.

Tag

Missed making a list but I just didn't feel it for this library. My biggest impact would be giving +5 to chain of memories but that's alright.

#17. Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (2002)
Total Points: 24
List Appearances: 10
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/10fdd5ad.jpg

Writeup provided by Zylothewolf
So lets start with the thing most people care about, this is the game that has Roy as the main character. And if you don't love him as a Smash character, then I doubt this game will change your opinion on him.

It might seem like I'm starting very negative but even if the title of the game is "the Binding Blade", Roy won't get it until really late in the game and it's then he becomes the badass as I think he's in Smashbros, and until then he will be an unpromoted unit with not that good stats that you have to bring to every map, and you won't be done with a map until the boss of the map is dead and Roy walks on the square that the boss were on. I think every Fire Emblem game after this has different map objectives in different maps but here it always ends when Roy has reached the "goal".

But this is actually the reason why I like this game more than the other Fire Emblems on Gba. You have to use weak units along with your top 7 or so that are the only ones that are much better than the rest, so it really feels like the strongest units are THAT important to keep alive while most of the squads are just there. They might kill one of unit or two in a map but when they die you don't feel like "Oh man I just lost this unreplacable unit! I better restart this map that I was over an hour in". If it's your healer that dies, or one of your main damage dealers then maybe consider to restart the map but you either have a character that has just missed two battles or so that can take over or you will soon recruit a new one.

And this game gives you a lot of units! And if you read a FAQ on this site then it will tell you that most of them are useless but that's because the FAQ writers usually just assume that the player resets as soon as any unit dies, but personally I think this game is very well designed in that you ARE going to lose units, but it gives you a lot of options to replace the units that dies (unless it's Rutger, Clarine or Milady).
Almost all of the battles in this game are also very big, which might turn of some players but I always think that this makes the battles more memorable. In fact the battle against Murdoch might be my favourite battle in the whole series, this map is really big and the enemy keeps bringing more and more units the further you get in the battle, so I always know that I who isn't a Fire Emblem expert will lose some units, but it's usually when I'm really far in the battle.

The plot is pretty basic, but the game has different paths and a lot extra maps with a special gimmicks, so this is the Fire Emblem I have replayed the most. Not because of it's story or characters, but I just find it so much more fun to than the other two on Gba were you usually get a couple of gods that can take care of every map by themselves.

Amazing Mirror is one of those commonly misunderstood and underrated games just because people couldn't seem to handle a Kirbyvania.

It's nothing top tier but it's definitely worth a playthrough.

Amazing Mirror was pretty fun. Not a favorite but I did like it a lot more than Nightmare in Dreamland (which I liked a bit better than Adventure)

FE6 forcing you to use weak units is probably why I'm NOT that big on it which is funny. I do appreciate the difficulty of the game but it just achieves it in odd ways at times between that and the ruthless reinforcements.

Roys popularity has always been a bit baffling when you stop and think about it.

Hes considered one of the worst lords since he cant promote until close to the end of FE6.

And hes not that good in high-level Melee (of course casuals still love him because of teh fiyah).

Yet, hes generally among the most popular characters in Fire Emblem!

I mean I like him a lot too, so I guess Im part of the problem!

WhiteLens posted...

Roys popularity has always been a bit baffling when you stop and think about it.

Hes considered one of the worst lords since he cant promote until close to the end of FE6.

And hes not that good in high-level Melee (of course casuals still love him because of teh fiyah).

Yet, hes generally among the most popular characters in Fire Emblem!

I mean I like him a lot too, so I guess Im part of the problem!

Which FE characters in Smash are less popular than him?

Being in Melee is enough for it to not be very baffling to me. Also being in the first localized game might give him some nostalgia.

MacArrowny posted...

Which FE characters in Smash are less popular than him?

Going by the first Fire Emblem Heroes choose your legend poll:

https://fireemblem.fandom.com/wiki/Fire_Emblem_Heroes/Choose_Your_Legends_Results:_Round_1

All of them except for Lucina and Ike.

ctesjbuvf posted...

Also being in the first localized game might give him some nostalgia.

His game was never localized.

#16. Advance Wars (2001)
Total Points: 26
List Appearances: 11
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/0bef8809.jpg

Writeup provided by OrangeCrush980
Advance Wars is a turn-based strategy game released in 2001. It was the first turn-based strategy game I played, and the Advance Wars series might be the only pure turn-based strategy series Ive played. Ive played plenty of SRPGs and a few RTSs, but nothing thats quite the same as Advance Wars.

In Advance Wars, you command land, air, and sea units which are based on real life military vehicles and infantry. You and your opponent take turns moving your troops around the map and attacking your opponent. Many battles also give both players the ability to build new units mid-battle. To build units, you need money, and to get money you need to capture cities and other properties. You can also capture your opponents headquarters to win the battle early. Deciding what to build, what to attack, when to attack, how to position your units, what to capture, and so on are all important to succeeding in battle.

The gameplay is very similar to Fire Emblem, but Advance Wars can be more relaxing and sophisticated overall. Since all of your units are generic, you dont have to overly worry about keeping them alive or getting them experience or anything. And you and your opponent both use the same set of units with similar stats, so theres no training up a unit take out half the opponents army on their own. I think the best Fire Emblem games are better than Advance Wars, but Advance Wars is more consistently good on average.

Theres still one big way to customize your army. Before each battle, you can choose a commanding officer (CO) to command your army. Each CO has different strengths and weaknesses which apply to your whole army. For example, Max has much stronger direct units such as Tanks and Bombers, but his indirect units such as Artillery and Battleships have less power and range than normal. Each CO also has a CO Power which they can use to further power up their army for one turn.

Despite the potentially serious premise, Advance Wars has a cartoony aesthetic. This isnt Call of Duty or anything like that. When you or your opponent orders a unit to attack, youll see the commanding officers react to the fight with cute expressions. The campaigns story is kinda serious, but not in a bloody, gritty way.

Some other cool features in Advance Wars are multiplayer support and the ability to design your own maps. So if you ever get bored of the base single player features, these modes can supply a lot more ways to have fun with the game.

Advance Wars isnt the most exciting game to talk about, but its still a lot of fun and one of the best GBA games out there. Anyone who really loves Fire Emblem should check out Advance Wars at some point. And while Black Hole Rising might be objectively better, the first Advance Wars is still great and has a lot of charm to it which its sequel lacks.

Then I probably mixed up the GBA titles

Technically Roy was in the first localized game. He makes a cameo at the end as a child.

BOARD 8'S TOP 10 ARCADE (2000s) GAMES - Part 1

#10. Silent Hill: The Arcade (2007)
Total Points: 6
List Appearances: 2
First-Place Votes: 2
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8ee7fdde.jpg

#9. Guilty Gear X2 (2002)
Total Points: 7
List Appearances: 3
First-Place Votes: 2
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/6c423c73.jpg

#8. Mario Kart Arcade GP (2007)
Total Points: 7
List Appearances: 4
First-Place Votes: 1
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/b94394d3.jpg

#7. Virtua Fighter 5 (2006)
Total Points: 7
List Appearances: 5
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/9/93e1b300.jpg

#6. The House of the Dead III (2002)
Total Points: 8
List Appearances: 5
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/5a92b6a9.jpg

Is that Mario Kart game good? I played one in the arcade recently and it kinda sucked.

I'm not really a fan either. Very watered down and overly forgiving.

Underleveled posted...

Technically Roy was in the first localized game. He makes a cameo at the end as a child.

They actually removed this whole epilogue in the European version of the game. Roy only gets a reference in some of Eliwoods endings there. I guess once they knew they definitely werent going to bring over Binding Blade, they decided to remove it to avoid confusion.

So Binding Blade was the first game I ever used a fan translation for, was super cool to play it when that came out. However, given that we got Blazing Blade (great subtitle, and once again used officially in the Nintendo Music app lol) first it would have been quite the step backwards to get this one after. It did handle the branching parts of the campaign better though. Glad I played it but the weakest of the three GBA Fire Emblems.

BOARD 8'S TOP 10 ARCADE (2000s) GAMES - Part 2

#5. Time Crisis 3 (2002)
Total Points: 9
List Appearances: 5
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/7572f389.jpg

#4. Dance Dance Revolution Extreme (2002)
Total Points: 10
List Appearances: 5
First-Place Votes: 2
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/cb7f3c26.jpg

#3. Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 (2001)
Total Points: 10
List Appearances: 8
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/77c6ee48.jpg

#2. SoulCalibur II (2002)
Total Points: 11
List Appearances: 6
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/b562a084.jpg

#1. Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2001)
Total Points: 17
List Appearances: 9
First-Place Votes: 3
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/a/a28de77c.jpg

I do not know the difference between DDRs...

MacArrowny posted...

I do not know the difference between DDRs...

I don't either I just voted the one I saw votes for because I just wanted to vote the franchise (it's one of the only arcade games I played and enjoyed in the 00s)

#15. Pokmon FireRed/LeafGreen (2004)
Total Points: 27
List Appearances: 14
First-Place Votes: 0
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/143de50a.jpg

Writeup provided by Hbthebattle
These games hold a really special place in my heart, as LeafGreen was the first Pokemon game I ever played. Red and Blue are classics and deserve respect for starting the series but theyre held together by scotch tape and prayers. Those games dont even have Running Shoes, its nuts if you try to go back today without your finger taped to the emulator speedup button. FRLG fixes all of this jank, while also providing a nice aesthetic and gameplay update - the visuals and music look and sound better, most Pokemon have actual level-up movesets, and certain Pokemon placements are shuffled for a better experience. But of course, FRLGs real pride and joy are the areas it adds

Even before the credits roll, the Sevii Islands are a place of wonder and mystery. The game just lets you discover places like Kindle Road, Ponytas new home, and Mt. Ember, a far less slapdash location for Moltres than Victory Road was. Theres a tutor who teaches your starter their ultimate move, and some bug types that are hard to catch out of the Safari Zone. But after the credits, things are a little different. Walking back into Mt. Ember after becoming Champion, I chanced upon a new little tunnel a tunnel with Slugma in it, a Pokemon not in the original 151. The Sevii Islands in the postgame are a whole new world of Pokemon to catch, Team Rocket to beat, and cool locations to experience, using the design sensibilities of later regions like Hoenn to make more interesting areas to explore than Kantos very linear and flat routes.

If youre using Golbat, too, youll find it can now evolve. FRLGs decision to block off crossgen evolutions until you get the National Pokedex is probably its most criticized aspect, and I have to admit its fair. Of the Pokemon remakes, I think only ORAS does a really good job of integrating new evolutions into the base game, as FRLG and HGSS both limit your options in different ways and BDSP is a joke. However, that doesnt stop this from being the definitive Kanto experience, and its a game that, if nothing else, will always have a place in my heart.

MacArrowny posted...

Is that Mario Kart game good? I played one in the arcade recently and it kinda sucked.

Compared to other Mario Kart games, it doesnt stand up. By itself as an arcade experience? I loved it. I played with my son on a family vacation a year ago and we had a blast. The game taking your photo as an in-game avatar was a nice touch. Plus getting to play as Pac Man in a Mario Kart game was something I didnt realize I wanted until I did it.

#14. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (2004)
Total Points: 29
List Appearances: 15
First-Place Votes: 1
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/9/9a6ca36d.jpg

Writeup provided by Hbthebattle
With Capcoms first Zelda outings, the Oracle names, they relied heavily on the framework established by Links Awakening. While in their gameplay, these games of course managed to capture the true spirit of Zelda I think its in aesthetics that these games suffered. Making 16 dungeons is of course going to have them bleed into each other aesthetically, but the repeated usage of certain puzzle motifs does not help matters, and I find the music to be subpar for the series standards.

The Minish Cap fixes nearly all of these problems with aplomb. Sporting a new Toon Link-based artstyle, the game just looks extremely good for the console its on. Not only every dungeon, but every region of the overworld is unique both visually and musically, and all look and feel great. With the exception of plot related Four Sword puzzles, the challenges youre asked to solve in every dungeon and area are unique and always fun. Weve got a great set of items too, with new classics like the Gust Jar and Mole Mitts later being ported to the 3D games after proving their quality.

The best item, however, is the Cane of Pacci, which combos exceptionally well with the games central gimmick. Being able to shrink down and back up again recontextualizes so many of the games areas, and the Cane flipping ordinary pots and jars into places to shrink is used cleverly in so many ways. I think the games other gimmicks work well too, for the most part. Building up to the Four Sword is a very cool thing for those who played it, and Kinstones are a fun way to recontextualize the world.

No game is without its flaws, however, and I think Minish Caps main issues come in when you try for 100% Percent. Kinstones become a lot less charming here, and the Mysterious Figurine quest is obnoxious. Still, this isnt enough to drag down what is Capcoms finest Zelda work.

Flagship was short lived, but they have had a lasting legacy through their Zelda and Kirby titles.

Too low! Definitely the second best handheld Zelda after ALBW and the third best 2D Zelda after that and ALttP.

Minish Cap is so underrated. Great game.

Link with a duck for a hat

Legit thought TMC was a frontrunner to win this before things started. Shocked it's this low, but it makes some sense. I think it's the second or third best 2D Zelda, especially if you don't care about 100%.

If you do care about 100% though....

I never really got into Minish Cap for whatever reason. I don't get why it didn't click with me, but IMO the Gameboy Color trio was a lot better.

#13. Golden Sun: The Lost Age (2002)
Total Points: 32
List Appearances: 14
First-Place Votes: 2
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f177c151.jpg

Writeup provided by OrangeCrush980
Golden Sun: The Lost Age is a turn-based JRPG released in 2003. It is a direct sequel to Golden Sun.

Im someone who was primarily a handheld gamer back in 2001. It cant be understated just how huge of a graphical leap it was to go from Gameboy Color games with years old graphics engines releasing earlier in 2001 to Golden Sun releasing near the end of the year. Golden Sun looks so incredible and its presentation was top notch in general too. Itll likely always be one of my favorite games because of that.

But when looking at the series from a slightly more objective perspective, its clear that The Lost Age is the bigger and better game in a lot of ways. While Camelot didnt learn all of their lessons, they seemed to have a good general understanding of what made the first game good and what its weaknesses were. The Lost Age generally did a good job of playing to and improving the first games strengths (most notably its dungeons) while not featuring its weaknesses as much (most notably its dialogue).

The first game already had above average dungeons for a JRPG. In most of them, you use magic to manipulate the environment in order to solve puzzles. The Lost Age has even better dungeons which may even rival 2D Zeldas in terms of quality. Theres also more of them and theyre longer.

The downside of this though is that the first 2/3rds of the game can feel too aimless. Theres a lot of just blindly walking around and doing dungeons to get a boat, and then sailing around and doing dungeons to get to Lemuria. And its not even made clear that you should even be trying to go to Lemuria! But once you get there, the game finally gains more direction and gets a lot better. I think I prefer the first 2/3rds of the first game to the first 2/3rds of The Lost Age overall, but theres no denying that the last third of The Lost Age is easily the best part of either game.

Another cool thing about The Lost Age is that you play as characters who were antagonists in the first game. In the first game, you play as Isaac who has the mission of stopping alchemy from being unsealed. In this game, you play as Felix who wants to light the 4 great elemental lighthouses in order to unseal alchemy. Granted I feel like this couldve been handled better overall. Its clunky that Felix becomes a silent protagonist in this game in order for the player to more easily put themself into his shoes, but youre not told what Felixs exact motivations are until much later. So its like youre still viewing the story from Isaacs perspective in a way despite Felix now being the silent protagonist.

It's popular for people to bash the series, and I get why. It has some obvious flaws such as the story and characters being barebones despite the dialogue being very verbose. Theres also some disappointing design decisions here and there, such as if you command a character to attack an enemy and the enemy dies before your character attacks it, that character defends instead of attacking something else.

But the series had a bunch of really cool ideas too. I really love its djinn system. Djinn were creatures you can collect in various ways throughout your journey, and theres a variety of ways you can use them in battle. They tie into the games class system, but you also have the option to unleash a djinns special effects in battle in exchange for the assigned characters class potentially changing to a worse one temporarily. And after unleashing enough djinn, you can use powerful summon abilities, but you have to be careful since your characters are now in much weaker classes than normal. Unfortunately, this system wasnt super well balanced, but its still a cool system if you dont intentionally break it.

To tell the truth, if I played the series for the first time today, Im not sure if Id like them or not. They were very much the right games at the right time. But if youre willing to forgive certain flaws, they have a lot of great things to offer.

Also two low! Still one of the best RPGs ever and it cant be overstated how technically impressive these games were.

Are they too low or is the GBA just surprisingly stacked?

It is probably the latter. Always thought of it as a weaker first party lineup until this list and actually its pretty great, just lacks a Super Mario game. Which I think makes it the only major Nintendo platform to not have one?

Oh wow, every game so far is first party. Will any non-Castlevania third party games make it?

tazzyboyishere posted...

If you do care about 100% though....

Shout-out to my save file that's been one kinstone fusion away from 100% for about 20 years

#12. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (2001)
Total Points: 32
List Appearances: 16
First-Place Votes: 1
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/239d4136.jpg

Writeup provided by StifledSilence
So heres the deal. This is not Aria of Sorrow, my favorite Castlevania game. This is not Symphony of the Night, my second favorite Castlevania game. This is not even Dawn of Sorrow, my third favorite Castlevania game. But thats ok. I think a big issue a lot of people have with Circle of the Moon is that their expectations were too high. Comparing a game to other entries in its series is natural, but I think it is important to also rate a game on its own merits. So that said, let me introduce you to my fourth favorite Castlevania game.

I really love the way the GBA Castlevania games look. Circle had a reputation of being too dark due to its dreary atmosphere combined with the crappy screen of the original GBA. However, that nonsense isnt important at all anymore! Now we can play this game on a screen that doesnt suck ass, and I love the atmosphere. The color hues had some very interesting effects on the scenery. I found it to be very earthy. It felt both very dark and dreary, but also very alive and thriving in its own way. Perhaps it was the more liberal use of browns in areas, but it seemed like a stronger connection to nature, which was cool. This made traversing it feel a little spookier and more disconcerting than other games in the series, which I really
enjoyed. Additionally, the sprites look really cool. They have this enhanced stick figure quality to them that I 6nd to be extremely charming.

The game itself is just as fun as youd expect. While not as deep as Aria or Symphony, Circle still does things I love. The things some might find tedious in Castlevania games are actually my favorite parts. I dont even fully understand why, but I LOVE spending absurd amounts of time grinding for levels and spell cards by massacring respawning enemies. In all of the 2D style Castlevanias Ive played, I have blown hours doing mindless grinding to have a nice activity that requires zero brain power. Circle is no exception to this. The soundtrack is quite good, making the grinding that much easier.

This probably wont be your favorite Castlevania game. Hell, the creator of the series talked all kinds of shit about it back in the day. Its clearly nowhere near his favorite. But at the end of the day, give the game a chance anyway. Maybe you thought it looked like garbage back when it came out on your old GBA? Maybe you subscribe to the hater newsletter? Maybe you dont want to play Stifleds 4th favorite Castlevania? I say PSHAW to you! Give Circle another try.