I’ve just rediscovered my childhood Gameboys, I grew up in the 90s and had an original, a color, an advance and an sp. My game collection has whittled down over the year to the usual suspects, Pokemons, Zelda’s, Mario’s and some other standards. But I want to dive into some games that 7 year old me would have brushed over. So what’s your favorite game?
Buncha youngins with your GBAs.
My favourite OG gameboy game was Kirby’s Dream Land. Played and replayed it many times. Even had one of those attachments to magnify it and light up the screen when it got dark :)
I highly recommend Pleasant Dreams: The Welcoming Play of Kirby’s Dream Land. I got it on one of the mega Itch.io charity bundles and was intrigued. It was the highlight of the night for me, unexpectedly.
I’d never played Kirby’s Dream Land, but I loaded it up the next chance I got, and Couture nailed it. It’s an absolutely perfect introduction to gaming for non-gamers.
Ooh thanks for pointing it out. Looks like I have it from a bundle too, haha. I will give it a read.
I remember the day I got my worm light for the gbc. Everyone was peasants.
I still have mine! Found it the other day
Tetris change my mind
First video game I ever played
The Megaman Battle Network series on GBA is awesome. Replayed a few of them last year and they are still great.
Do you know if the Steam remake was any good?
I have not played the steam remakes, but they appear to be the exact same games. So that would be a good way to play them if you don’t have the original games or ROMs for them.
I was also going to say MMBN, but since that’s been said, I’ll say Golden Sun. Loved both of those games to death.
Breath of Fire 1 and 2 are also great (although technically SNES ports).
Golden Sun is my all-time favorite! I wish I could relive the thill I felt for the first and second games
Same here! They made a DS one as a third installment, but the story leaves off in the middle, and the sense of awe just isn’t there. Not the same anyway as 1&2. Especially 2, when you [SPOILER] play the “bad” guys
Metroid II: Samus Returns & Gargoyles Quest (such a bloody hard game) on the OG GameBoy were my favs. I played a lot of *Battletoads *on it too but that game was so bloody frustratingly difficult, especially for a kid, so played it mostly out of spite to get past the stupid brain ball chasing you level. Also loved Parodius (parody side scrolling SHUMP from Konami) but never owned it, so borrowed it from friends to play. Naturally I also played Tetris to the point that the music still haunts my dreams. There was also a pretty decent Spider-Man game for it, but can’t remember it’s name & it’s not showing up on lists.
The OG GB also had a lot of bog awful licensed property (movie/tv/cartoon) tie in games too, as well as generally terrible releases. To see them all, check this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Game_Boy_games
I unfortunately never owned an Advance, so only got into games on it later via official emulators (the Wii U control pad was the best GB Advance out there), so got to play Golden Sun later but enjoyed it as a fairly unique take on the J-RPG genre. The releases of Breath of Fire 1 & 2 on the Advance was also a great thing, since they were my favourite SNES games.
For GBA games, here’s a list but so many shitty licensed games there too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Game_Boy_Advance_games
Advance Wars for GBA was up there for me (below any Zelda game). I’ve got my eyes on the Switch remake, but holding until I can find it on sale.
would be the perfect phone game with asynchronous turns
Seriously, it would be great for mobile. I played the OG ones using a GBA emulator but I want more Advanced Wars
I do have a copy of this kicking around. It was my brothers and I never played it. I’ll have to give it a go!
I know you mentioned Zelda, but there were actually a ton of pretty good Zelda games like Oracle of Ages/Seasons. Advance Wars was pretty fun. Golden Sun too. I also have to agree with MMBN from the other commenters.
Oracle of ages/seasons was waaaay too hard. I tried to play it as a kid, got stuck, and gave up very early on. As an adult, I decided to come back to it just to see what I missed out on. Still had to check guides a few times and abused save states.
I can’t remember the details, but there was some kinds puzzle or something that depended on sound and my adult, hearing impaired self could not complete it without save states galore.
I can’t believe I’m the first person to mention Link’s Awakening in this thread. Still one of my favorite Zelda games. It’s bizarre quirkiness felt just like all the strange aberrations that manifest in dreams.
The ones I played the most were:
DMG: Kirby’s Dreamland 2
GBC: Shante
GBA: Drilldozer
Platformers to me always felt like the best suited games to handheld games, and I love the bright colorful art styles. Drilldozer is definitely my all time favorite. If you can find a copy, I’d highly recommend it! The rumble pack cartridge is so cool.
I will never not shill advance wars 1 and 2 Great gameplay, great artstyle, great everyting
Golden Sun GBA. GBC, Wacky Racers and GB it was Tetris because I had nothing else, lol.
Never sleep on Wario land
Does Yoshi’s Island count? I loved that game to death and it’s ending makes me tear up as well.
Wario land, Metroid 2, Donkey Kong 94 are all great
I second this! Donkey Kong 94 is a must play, and I feel like Wario is the true Game Boy mascot.
Mole Mania also deserves a shout out. Another Shigeru Miyamoto game that gets even better on the Super Game Boy.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Has to be one of the best GBA games made
I played thru Kirby about 3 times I. A road trip from California to Texas so I’ll go with that