The Game Boy was a big hit for Nintendo that lasted a long time. It launched in 1989 in North America, with the first successor, the Game Boy Color, releasing in 1998. The jump from those two portables was minimal. The evolution from the Game Boy Color to the Game Boy Advance was a bigger one in 2001.
It launched with some great titles throughout 2001, including Golden Sun and Wario Land 4, and things would only get better as things progressed. 2003 was like the year of RPGs for the Game Boy Advance. Every year saw some amazing RPGs on the portable, but 2003 was truly something special.
8 Pokemon Ruby And Sapphire
Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire was the third generation of games in this series. It was a divisive game at the time and remains an odd entry. At this point, fans were ready for something new. The graphics were a big boost, and things moved faster, but the formula had grown a bit stagnant.
That didn’t bother some players, though, as change can be viewed as detrimental to the pure enjoyment of catching new Pokemon. This was another case where the games first launched in Japan a year prior.
7 Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand
Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand was an odd experiment from the mind of Hideo Kojima. At its core, the game can best be described as a stealth action game wherein players would fight monsters leading up to big boss fights with vampires.
Players had a gun with the literal power of the sun locked inside it. To charge this gun up, players would need to absorb sunlight via a solar panel on the back of the cartridge. It was a fun game but tricky to play due to this handicap.
6 Castlevania: Aria Of Sorrow
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow was the third Metroidvania in this series on the GBA, following Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance. It fixed some problems with the previous two titles, like the movement speed.
The game had all the best features players had grown to love, including leveling up, looting, learning new abilities, and so on. It is the best of the GBA trilogy, which was succeeded by a direct sequel, Dawn of Sorrow, on the DS. The story is interesting as it takes place in the future of 2035 and is getting close to anime territory.
5 Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance was not the sequel fans probably wanted, but it was still a tight tactical RPG. The original was a mature takedown of religion, but the sequel was more lighthearted. It was an Isekai wherein the main characters were zapped into a storybook version of Ivalice.
The gameplay remained mostly the same, with players choosing a wide variety of classes and characters to throw out onto the battlefield. The biggest change was the Judges that penalized players for doing certain actions like healing in a no-heal zone.
4 Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade was the first entry the West got in this long-running tactical RPG series, which was just known as Fire Emblem in the West. The combat was just as brutal as the games before, without much love thrown at the player.
The brutal nature is seemingly why a lot of players loved these games, though. It’s great that newer entries past Fire Emblem Awakening offer casual modes to hook in more players. However, there’s also nothing quite like the challenge of The Blazing Blade and other Fire Emblem titles of this era.
3 Mario And Luigi: Superstar Saga
Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga was the third RPG spinoff to this plumber platforming star and the first of this new franchise. Mario and Luigi were the only two playable characters, and certain buttons controlled each character’s actions on the GBA.
Players could solve puzzles with them in dungeons using these combo features. Combat was an active turn-based system where timing was everything. It felt closer to the vibe of Super Mario RPG on the SNES than any of the Paper Mario games up to this point.
2 Golden Sun: The Lost Age
Golden Sun: The Lost Age was released in Japan first in 2002 before it was ported to the West in 2003. It’s the second game in the series, and it was a big deal at the time. Players could migrate save data via a passcode from the original. It was not the simplest way to transfer data, but it should still get credit as most games were not doing this at the time, and games rarely do it today.
The turn-based gameplay and the puzzle-filled dungeons made it feel like Final Fantasy had a baby with The Legend of Zelda.
1 Onimusha Tactics
Onimusha Tactics was a strange spinoff to the main series, which was like Resident Evil but with samurai in feudal Japan. It was instead a tactical RPG with the battle system and vibe feeling close to Final Fantasy Tactics. Create a party, fight in linearly designed maps, level up, and repeat. It is the only strategy game in the series, which is a shame as this turned out well.
Fans would presumably like any new game to come out in this dormant franchise, even if it is just a remaster of a spinoff like this.