Highlights
- Astro Boy: Omega Factor is a solid game adaptation of the franchise, combining brawler and shoot 'em up elements with great graphics.
- F-Zero: GP Legend offers better controls and customization compared to the original, making it one of the best racers on the Game Boy Advance.
- Shaman King: Master of Spirits is a Metroidvania-style game with hack and slash gameplay, although it was only released in North America and Europe.
One of the biggest anime franchises on the Game Boy Advance had to be the various Pokemon entries. While the series started as RPGs on the Game Boy, a lot of fans by this point associated the series with the anime adaptation. With better pixel art, the character sprites looked more reminiscent of the anime than ever before.
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RPGs based on anime are few and far between. These titles are not only rare, but also rank among the best in their genre.
There were even cartridges made for the Game Boy Advance that played episodes of the anime albeit in grainy forms. There were other anime cartridges too like Yu-Gi-Oh! along with Western cartoons like SpongeBob SquarePants. Pokemon content aside, what were some of the truly best anime games on the system that are still worth getting into today?
8 Astro Boy: Omega Factor
Astro Boy can be thanked for creating the anime and manga medium as a whole. Now, Astro Boy: Omega Factor ranks among the best game adaptations of the franchise and it was developed by Treasure who was best known for creating harder-than-nails games in the 90s and early 2000s.
Gunstar Heroes and Ikaruga are two fine examples and Astro Boy: Omega Factor is like a combination of those two experiences. Players could fight baddies as the titular hero like a brawler, but then some levels had him fly around like in a typical shoot ‘em up. The gameplay was solid and the graphics are some of the finest on the portable.
7 F-Zero: GP Legend
F-Zero: GP Legend is based on the anime series of the same name, which was a way for Nintendo to rebrand their futuristic racer. There’s still not much of a story to follow but fans could dig deeper on characters to get a more robust background on them. Captain Falcon, despite this, is probably still more known as a guest character in Super Smash Bros.
Everything played the same in F-Zero: GP Legend albeit with better controls and more customization from the original on SNES. It ranks up there as one of the best racers on the handheld and that even includes Mario Kart: Super Circuit.
6 Shaman King: Master Of Spirits
Shaman King: Master of Spirits was a Konami game that borrowed the formula from their Castlevania series. While the game didn’t feature one continuous map inside of a castle or anything like that, it was still a Metroidvania connected by smaller areas.
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The main character, Yoh, could hack and slash away at enemies, level up, and even gain new powers. It got a sequel as well. Both of them were only released in North America and Europe despite Konami being a Japanese company and Shaman King being a Japanese IP.
5 Fullmetal Alchemist: Stray Rondo
Fullmetal Alchemist: Hagane no Renkinjutsushi Meisou no Rondo is a mouthful of a name but it roughly translates down to Fullmetal Alchemist: Stray Rondo. It’s based on the Fullmetal Alchemist anime which was about Ed and Al Elric who used alchemy to try and bring back their dead mom but wound up hurting their bodies instead. The core plot follows the boys as teenagers trying to get their bodies back, but there’s a lot of stuff they encounter along the way, including the embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins.
This game, only released in Japan, was a turn-based RPG that incorporated alchemy into combat-like spells in other RPGs. It’s a shame it was never been brought over officially but fans have done some minimal work to make it playable in English.
4 Super Robot Taisen J
Super Robot Taisen began in 1991 on the Game Boy and it was a tactical RPG that crossed over various mech-based anime. Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation was the first game in the series to reach a Western audience, which was in 2006, and it removed the key feature: anime. The game instead crossed over originally designed mecha from within the series while still featuring tactical gameplay.
It, and its sequel, are okay, but for the true experience players should check out Super Robot Taisen J. Fans have translated the game into full English and it features various anime like Brain Powerd, Fullmetal Panic, and various Gundam series.
3 Mega Man Battle Network
Mega Man Battle Network technically was a game first as the anime didn’t come out until a year after. However, the anime assuredly was worked on at the same time as the game. It was the most anime the franchise had ever gotten by this point and that includes Mega Man Legends.
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In this rebranding, Mega Man was a digital pet that could be used to fight off digital viruses to keep cyberspace clean. The gameplay was a cross between a grid-based RPG and an action RPG. In random battles, players had a small grid they could move Mega Man around in and fire willingly based on a deck of cards players could equip.
2 One Piece
One Piece shared the name of the anime on which it was based when it launched in 2005. It wasn’t a very creative name but it made up for that with a tight action platformer starring the main hero, Monkey D Luffy. He could stretch into various forms and other characters could be summoned to assist like Zoro.
The developer, Dimps, may not be as well-known as Capcom or Konami, but they did good work on the GBA and other platforms. This included a lot of other licensed-based projects and they co-developed bigger titles like Kirby & The Amazing Mirror and Sonic Advance.
1 Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure
Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure is another action platformer that was developed by Dimps. It technically predates One Piece as it was released in 2004 but that was in Japan only. The West didn’t get this game until 2006, which was well into the DS era. It’s not that astounding because the original Dragon Ball anime didn’t do as well as the more action-based sequel series of Dragon Ball Z.
So, Western fans can thank their lucky stars for it coming over at all. As for the game itself, Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure loosely followed Goku’s exploits against the Red Ribbon Army and ended with his fight against King Piccolo.