The Game Boy Advance launched in 2001. Compared to its two predecessor, the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, the GBA had a significantly shorter lifespan. That is to say it was replaced by the DS in 2004.
Thankfully, Nintendo didn’t completely abandon the system as it added GBA support for cartridges in the original and DS Lite models. That was good then, but it doesn’t help now. Some GBA games were made available to 3DS owners while others were put on the Wii U’s Virtual Console for purchase. These ten games though are no longer accessible in a broader sense. Â
10 WarioWare: Twisted
Wario Land 4 and WarioWare: Touched! are available on the Wii U for GBA. WarioWare: Twisted is missing because of its unique cartridge status. The game came with a built in motion detector that allowed for motion based gaming with its various mini games. Even though the Wii U also had a sensor, it was probably deemed too time consuming to bring this game back digitally.Â
9 Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand
Boktai is another example of a game with a built-in gimmick to the cartridge. This game, from the mind of Hideo Kojima, is about slaying vampires and other nefarious monsters.
Players would gather real sunlight via the solar panel on the cartridge in order to charge up the game’s signature Solar Gun. There are rom hacks out there for the game that do away with this necessity, so it is possible to play Boktai through other means.Â
8 Tactics Ogre: The Knight Of Lodis
This is an often forgotten, and just truly underrated, tactical RPG series. For those that loved Final Fantasy Tactics on the PS1 and weren’t as enthralled with the GBA sequel, this is more inline with the mature storytelling of said original. It’s not as completely dark, though. The tone falls somewhere in the middle. That said, it deserves to get brought back and remembered for a new generation.Â
7 Final Fantasy VI Advance
Final Fantasy VI is available to get in a myriad of ways so it’s not as though the game is completely inaccessible. That said, this is the best version of the game as it fixes a lot of the SNES’ original script issues as well as doing away with some bugs. It also adds content like the Kaiser Dragon, which was a planned secret boss on SNES that was scrapped in the end. This version of the game, with its graphics, is lost to time. Do not bother with the PC, or mobile ports.Â
6 Sonic Advance
Sonic may not be a Nintendo franchise, but it is still huge in the video game space. That’s why it is odd that not a single game from the GBA line ever made it to the Wii U. Sonic Advance has three games, all very good returns to the classic 2D action of the originals. There was also a fighting game that wasn’t the best, Sonic Battle, but it was still decent and could be better on the Switch with better multiplayer functionality.Â
5 Shining Soul
This series started as tactical RPGs but soon evolved more into the action RPG genre. While not as fast and frantic as its console counterparts, the two Shining Soul games on the GBA are kind of like The Legend of Zelda meets the Secret of Mana. Both titles are locked to the GBA while the franchise as a whole has been dormant.Â
4 Metal Slug Advance
The main Metal Slug games are so easily accessible that one could trip over a copy. However, there are two big games that remain lost to time. One was exclusive to the PS2 and the other is this spinoff on the GBA. This game has the same action one can find in the main series except it is missing the core fighters. Cast aside, this chaotic, goofy run & gun shooter is in need of a port.Â
3 Ninja Five-O
As the name would imply, this is a game about ninjas but one set in the modern day. Sort of like Mega Man, players can choose from a few stages at the start.
Run, slash, and swing around levels in order to save the day. This is the only game in the series ever made as it never got a sequel or a port despite it getting good buzz when it first launched. Bringing it back digitally may help with that.Â
2 TMNT
This game is based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated reboot film, often referred to as just TMNT, which released in 2007. The crazy thing about this game is that the GBA was ultimately replaced by the DS in 2004 which is to say this was a late debut for the system. That’s one of the reasons why it might have been ignored. The other being movie tie-in games, especially on portables, were often bad. Despite that fact, the game actually reviewed well.
1 Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure
This is another game that was probably ignored due to its tie-in status with its anime counterpart. Not only that but the original Dragon Ball did not hit as critically as its future iteration, Dragon Ball Z. That said, the platforming action and pixel art is some of the best on the system. The game is short, but it is also a worthy addition to anyone’s collection.