GBA Recommendations

[BeenASon]

What are your most obscure games that are great for the gba? I personally think Danny Phantom Ultimate Enemy is great and also the TMNT 2007 game. I often see stuff like Advance Wars and of course Pokemon dominate the lists but I wish to know some more obscure gems. Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure is also really good. The Incredibles is also a great game.

 

[JuanMena]

Summon Knight.
Konami Krazy Racers.
SSX3 (great considering the limitations of the GBA)
Medal of Honor Underground.
KOF EX 2 (best Fighting game for GBA in my opinion)
Mario Pinball Land (physics sucks and you're better off plyaing Pokemon Pinball, but definitely obscure)
Astro Boy if your jam is Dragon Ball Advance Adventure.
Dragon Ball GT is a decent Beat'em'Up (definitely obscure as it often gets opaqued at "Dragon Ball Z: Ooops you die to the first enemy")
Lady Sia has a very dinstinct "early era" feeling. Obscure, almost nobody played it back in the day. I think it's fine.
Mega-Man Battle Chip Challenge gets a lot of hate, but there's a romhack that improves it a lot (I liked it as a child back in the day, and still is one of my faves for the system)
Pocky and Rocky with Becky is challenging in the sense of "Arcade Style challenge".
Sword of Mana... feels a bit bland, and I actually consider the GB Mana game (Final Fantasy Adventure) to be better... but still great if you're into A-RPGs.
Zooo is a great puzzle game. One of my faves and definitely obscured by WarioWare.

 

[Hutch3G]

I'm a big fan of Eggo Mania, once you learn the controls it becomes a really satisfying action puzzle game, so definitely check it out.

I also quite like the bit generations series, especially Dialhex and Coloris. Dotstream is very neat too.

Maybe it's not really oscure but I also really enjoy Crash Nitro Kart, which I think is the best kart racer on GBA, the controls feel so good and it also beats the home console version.

And finally I know it is well known but definitely try Drill Dozer if you haven't, I don't see a lot of talk about it but it is super charming and fun.

 

[BeenASon]

You guys are making me feel bad! My R36S is dead rn and I won't wana play GBA games without physical buttons so I'm holding off playing anything GBA. But these recommendations are so awesome.

I'm a big fan of Eggo Mania, once you learn the controls it becomes a really satisfying action puzzle game, so definitely check it out.

I also quite like the bit generations series, especially Dialhex and Coloris. Dotstream is very neat too.

Maybe it's not really oscure but I also really enjoy Crash Nitro Kart, which I think is the best kart racer on GBA, the controls feel so good and it also beats the home console version.

And finally I know it is well known but definitely try Drill Dozer if you haven't, I don't see a lot of talk about it but it is super charming and fun.

Drill Dozer looks really good. Great visuals and seems fun to play. I did get recommended this whenever I search up good GBA games lol.

Summon Knight.
Konami Krazy Racers.
SSX3 (great considering the limitations of the GBA)
Medal of Honor Underground.
KOF EX 2 (best Fighting game for GBA in my opinion)
Mario Pinball Land (physics sucks and you're better off plyaing Pokemon Pinball, but definitely obscure)
Astro Boy if your jam is Dragon Ball Advance Adventure.
Dragon Ball GT is a decent Beat'em'Up (definitely obscure as it often gets opaqued at "Dragon Ball Z: Ooops you die to the first enemy")
Lady Sia has a very dinstinct "early era" feeling. Obscure, almost nobody played it back in the day. I think it's fine.
Mega-Man Battle Chip Challenge gets a lot of hate, but there's a romhack that improves it a lot (I liked it as a child back in the day, and still is one of my faves for the system)
Pocky and Rocky with Becky is challenging in the sense of "Arcade Style challenge".
Sword of Mana... feels a bit bland, and I actually consider the GB Mana game (Final Fantasy Adventure) to be better... but still great if you're into A-RPGs.
Zooo is a great puzzle game. One of my faves and definitely obscured by WarioWare.

Sword of Mana was something I tried but quit. It wasn't to my taste tbh. Lady Sia respectfully would BUT the game also looks really great. The artstyle seems very great. Thanks for the recommendations both of you! I hate you guys for expanding my backlog that much lol.

 

[Hutch3G]

Drill Dozer is so fun, the only thing I'll criticise is that it's poorly optimized. The game on its own runs at 30 fps (which is honestly fine) but in the extra stages there's gonna be some big lag spikes hahahaha, but it's all fine. Try to play with rumble support if you can!

 

[hippy dave]

Guru Logic Champ is a brilliant puzzle game with fantastic presentation, playable despite being Japanese only

 

[BeenASon]

Drill Dozer is so fun, the only thing I'll criticise is that it's poorly optimized. The game on its own runs at 30 fps (which is honestly fine) but in the extra stages there's gonna be some big lag spikes hahahaha, but it's all fine. Try to play with rumble support if you can!

Eh the framerate isn't a issue. It's a GBA game afterall.

Post automatically merged: Dec 5, 2025

Puzzle games aren't for me tbh.

Guru Logic Champ is a brilliant puzzle game with fantastic presentation, playable despite being Japanese only

 

[ChronoCrossfangirl2002]

Solatarobo: Red The Hunter
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Chrono Cross
Shantae
Xenosaga
Chocobo Racing PSX
Kingdom Hearts (anything but DDD or BBS)
SMT Nocturne
Laika
Starfox 64
Final Fantasy IX
Mega Man X
Megaman Battle Network

edit: ignore most of this i didnt read it was for the gba

 

[shadowflare7799]

If you love metal slug clones then CT Special Forces series is worth checking out on the GBA.

 

[Janicious]

I heard, mother 3 is a great game! released 2006 after 12 years of development (for n64, restarted in 2003 for GBA), never released outside of japan, but some fans translated it into english/german and others! I just ordered a Japan version of the Card, to dump it legally and apply the translationpatch so i can play it without any guilt.

 

[ChronoCrossfangirl2002]

I heard, mother 3 is a great game! released 2006 after 12 years of development (for n64, restarted in 2003 for GBA), never released outside of japan, but some fans translated it into english/german and others! I just ordered a Japan version of the Card, to dump it legally and apply the translationpatch so i can play it without any guilt.

tbf a good chunk of mother 3 wont make sense without playing the first two

 

[Janicious]

tbf a good chunk of mother 3 wont make sense without playing the first two

yeah, maybe you're right and i have to order the 1+2 too xD

 

[shadowflare7799]

Resident Evil Gaiden is another game worth checking out even though its non canon. I hated the ending though.

 

[Skv0ra]

I heard, mother 3 is a great game! released 2006 after 12 years of development (for n64, restarted in 2003 for GBA), never released outside of japan, but some fans translated it into english/german and others! I just ordered a Japan version of the Card, to dump it legally and apply the translationpatch so i can play it without any guilt.

If it's not sold by the first party at retail right now......these is no guilt, especially giving your money to private resellers.

Otherwise on-topic - Guilty Gear, Aggressive Inline, Golden Sun 1&2, Super Dodgeball, Zoids Legacy, Jet Set Radio. Honestly, for what it was worth at the time, most of GBA ports were pretty solid for what they were and with fairly little competition on the portable market. DS has an awful damn time in the PSP era since there wasn't nor soft mod, nor internal storage nor non-game media support without flashcarts, and then most big game ports at the time were the worst, "phone grade" versions on the DS compared to PSP that had the hardware.

 

[Janicious]

If it's not sold by the first party at retail right now......these is no guilt, especially giving your money to private resellers.

It's still another feeling

 

[Skv0ra]

It's still another feeling

Honestly, a flashcart without a battery + original GBA/SP/mods like LiPo is what's honestly worth the money these days and onwards.