20 Best GBA Games Of All Time [2018]

Check out the updated list of Best GBA Games of all time. If you are a GBA fan, these are top twenty best Gameboy Advance games that should be a part of your collection.

Game Boy Advance a.k.a GBA is one of the most popular handheld video game consoles. We enjoyed a lot of legendary titles on GBA such as Everything or Nothing, Ace Combat Advanced, Advance Wars, Backyard Football, Boktai, Car Battle Joe, Final Fantasy VI Advance, Fire Emblem, Ninja Five-o, Sonic Advance 3, Metroid, Mario, and Sonic. This list goes on and on and ends with a total of 1074 games in GBA Library. Going through all the games in GBA’s library and finding some worthy of playing titles is physically impossible. Considering it as a hectic and time-consuming job, we’ve lines up a list of 20 best GBA games of all time for you. These games include titles such as Car Battler Joe, Wario Land 4, Advance Wars 2, Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, and much more. Hopefully, they’ll be a great addition to your best Gameboy Advance games collection.

Best GBA Games

Let’s have a look at some of the best GBA games (Gameboy Advance games) and enjoy playing them on your favorite handheld console.

1. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is one of the best GBA Games that remained underrated for quite some time. After various upgrades, this one became a massive hit and surfaced as one of the most influential games of the Zelda series. Developed by Capcom, The Minish Cap offers a perfectly balanced gameplay with all the new and old elements. The unique character line up and a combination of old and new elements plus the unique feel makes it even more interesting.

Set in the little world of Picori, it lets you play the game as Link (the protagonist of almost all of the Zelda games), accompany Ezlo, explore the world and complete the most charming objectives you’ll ever have in a game. Filled with all kinds of adventures, puzzles and other wonders, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is a fun game to play and enjoy.

2. Metroid Fusion

Metroid Fusion is one remarkable Gameboy Advance game that follows the footsteps of the popular Metroid: Zero Mission. If we compare these two games, you’ll notice the unarguably immense freedom and plenty of room for the gameplay in Metroid Fusion. As the last game in the series of Metroid, this game offers more diverse nature and a brilliantly immersive experience of adventure-based aesthetics. With a well-written story, more characters and adventures, Metroid Fusion features Samus as the primary character of the game. Samus accompanies Adam in the game and encounters the ever evolving parasites while exploring the Space research Station.

The objective of the game is to find the cure for rapidly spreading X-Parasite Infection. The doctors will infuse your blood with Metroids and that’s when the real adventure begins. You’ll have to progress in the game by absorbing and eliminating the parasites. This will allow you to have more abilities that you can use against the Host bodies of the Parasites. With a very conventional and fun gameplay, Metroid Fusion offers beautiful visuals, easy controls and an addictive experience of the Adventure genre. As one of the most diverse titles among Best GBA games, Metroid Fusion would definitely entertain you well. Do give it a try.

3. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow offers an Exploration-centric Adventure gameplay in which it offers Metroid inspired environments and graphics. Like its predecessors such as Castlevania: Circle of the Moon and Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow offers a similar gameplay and mechanics. The game offers a futuristic setting of the year 2035 and allows you to control a new Hero character named as Soma Cruz. Soma Cruz is the descendant of Dracula, the Villain of previous games. So, Soma is a Dracula and a Hero at the same time. He uses all of his predecessor’s powers along with some new ones that help him absorb the souls of the enemies.

Flying, Summoning the Monsters, Shooting bullets, and wielding a Whip are among the most effective and usable abilities of Soma. You can simply control Soma, and enjoy reigning hell over the enemies with all these blasting powers and abilities. As a complete package, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow offers an improved and well-designed gameplay, loads of unique characters, new powers and abilities, beautiful visuals and a rewarding system. Playing it as one of the best Gameboy Advance games would definitely be a great pleasure. So do give it a try if you haven’t yet played it.

4. Boktai: The Sun is in your Hand

Boktai: The Sun is in your Hand is an intriguing Action and Adventure-based GBA game that totally changes the rules. The game lets you play as Django, a Solar Boy who wields a legendary weapon known as Del Sol. Your task is to use the Sunlight to charge your weapon and use it to thwart the Evil Forces (Vampires). These undead vampires are immune to everything but the Direct Sunlight, so you can easily target them in the dark with your special Gun, Del Sol. Another Sunflower like character Otenko accompanies you on your vampire eliminating journey.

Otenko pace’s in the game as an advisor to you so you’ll have to listen to him carefully while going through Tricky Puzzles, Traps and enemy infested areas. With the beautifully designed visuals, reinvented mechanics, and a fast-paced gameplay, Boktai: The Sun is in your Hand lets you enjoy a well-written story as well. Furthermore, this remarkable GBA game offers a totally Fantasy-based play that draws heavy inspiration from the Anime. As one of the best GBA games, Boktai: The Sun is in your Hand would definitely entertain you well.

5. Mario Golf: Advance Tour

Mario Golf: Advance Tour has its own special place among best GBA games of all times. This remarkable title combines RPG and Golfing elements together and offers a vibrant experience of GBA gaming. It offers a beautiful 16-bit gameplay that incorporates RPG aesthetics in the core gameplay beautifully. Mario Golf lets you play as a male or female character. The male character is called Neil and the female is named as Ella. Initially, you’ll find both of these characters at the Country Club where you can select any one of them, engage in various types of golf competitions, and face some of the most challenging rivals ever.

All of this happens in the tiny world of Mario, where winning golf matches is the only primary objective. Competing in matches, winning the tournaments, defeating the AI controlled opponents, and developing new skills rewards you with experience points. These experience points are usable within the game world and you can buy various upgrades with them. With a very curious game design, beautiful graphics, and an addictive gameplay, Mario Golf: Advance Tour is one of the best GBA games to play and enjoy.

6. Kirby and the Amazing Mirror

Kirby and the Amazing Mirror is another great addition to the Nintendo Game Boy Advance library. The game is free-to-play and it allows you to enjoy it on GBA, 3DS and Wii U. The game follows the standard Adventure-based play formula and offers a twisted yet exciting gameplay. It features the character of Kirby and lets you control it in an open-ended environment. With a non-linear gameplay, Kirby and the Amazing Mirror allow you to travel to various game levels via the mirrors. These levels are actually paths to more mirrors that lead to more advanced levels of the game. The maze-like layout of the game makes it even more interesting because it gets more challenging at every new level. On every level, you’ll have to face some of the most assorted boss enemies, and after defeating them, you can collect the piece of Shard you are after.

Kirby and the Amazing Mirror offer a whole lot of amazing moves that you can use against the enemies. There are also amazing upgrades added into the play as well. Another amazing fact of the game is that it allows you to absorb the abilities of the enemies. These abilities come in handy while brawling against the enemies on advanced levels of the game. This robust Single-player title offers loads of mini-games as well and lets you play them when not brawling against the enemies. Considering all the great things, Kirby and the Amazing Mirror never lets you get bored at any stage and instead it offers hours of fun and entertainment. With all the beautifully created visuals, sounds, and all the amazing adventure oriented play, Kirby, and the Amazing Mirror is not less than a remarkable title among all the best GBA games.

7. Car Battler Joe

As we are talking about the best GBA games, not including Car Battler Joe would be an utter disappointment. This fantastic title offers a Mad Max inspired Adventure gameplay and includes in the best JRPG elements in the play. It features the world in ruins where civilizations are bound to live in rundown villages. Living in harsh environments, the ultimate source of making a living is to collect the scrap from all the waste zones situated at some of the impossible locations of the game world. Another way to survive is to take part in deadly competitions. These competitions are actually various types of car battling events that take place outside the safe zones.

The primary objective of the game is to find your father who is missing. It’s rumored that your father is still alive and is in league with one of the most notorious Car battling gangs. As an adventure-based game, Car Battler Joe lets you set out on a journey to find your father. Traveling to various towns, talking to locals (NPCs), completing various jobs, collecting items from the scrap, selling it and buying upgrades lies among the secondary objectives of the game. With a well-written story, good-paced gameplay, and a wonderful blend of multiple genres, Car Battler Joe is one fantastic Adventure game to play on GBA.

8. Warioland 4

Warioland 4 is Nintendo’s another legendary take on the amazing 2D and Platform-based aesthetics. This remarkable game offers Bump Mapping, Cel Shading, and Self-shadowing elements with regards to the graphical innovations and offers a fantastic combination of Action and Adventure rudiments. The story of the game is centered around the exploration of a new Pyramid that has all the adventurers stunned with its unfriendly interior and unfriendly environment. As a selfless, unafraid and greedy explorer and adventurer, Wario sets out on a journey to Summit the Pyramid and loot the riches. You are tasked to control the character of Wario and lead him on his journey to the Pyramid.

Warioland 4 innovates the gameplay as compared to the previous titles of the series. It features a very unusual play in which it tasks you to collect gems, CDs, in six levels per section of the pyramid. You will find the hardest enemy bosses on every level of the game. After defeating the boss and collecting all the pieces of Gems, you can move towards the next level and enjoy the rest of the game. To complete the objectives of the game, Warioland 4 lets you use a number of cool power-ups, upgrades, and loads of other great items. With a remarkably addictive gameplay, beautiful visuals, and an entirely immersive experience of Platform gaming, Warioland 4 is one of the best GBA games of all times.

9. Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising

Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising is one of the latest additions to the Advance Wars series. Developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems, this remarkable game stands as one of the best Gameboy Advance Games of all times. As compared to previous games, Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising offers a similar gameplay and mechanics. The only change you’ll see in the game is the reinvented graphical style and new content additions. The storyline of the game connects this title with the previous. According to the new storyline, the Blackhole gets resurrected after the defeat in Cosmo Land. This time the Blackhole has gathered the forces and a big attack on Marco Land is planned. Saturn takes the command and leads towards the Macro Land. As the protagonist, your primary objective is to gather all the allied nations and push back the Black Hole as you did in the past.

Saving the Macro Land is a matter of utmost importance in the game so, your focus must be on that. Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising is set in five main continents on the map. These continents are made up of Five Countries each and it focuses on one country at a time. According to the gameplay, the only way to defeat the Black Hole is to defeat all of the enemy troops, capturing their headquarters and by destroying it. Furthermore, Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising offers many campaigns in the game as well as multiple objectives, exploration, and questing. With an incredibly addictive turn-based Tactics and Strategy oriented gameplay, fantastic visuals and enhanced mechanics, Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising ranks among Best GBA Games of all times. Do try it out.

10. Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis

Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis is another great GBA experience that truly is a great source of entertainment for all the GBA fans. It offers a mix-up of Tactical Strategy and JRPG elements and allows you to enjoy a gameplay similar to the 90’s top ranking game Balkan Conflict. Created by the developer of Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis offers a vibrant story and an immersive gameplay to enjoy. It mainly focuses on Tactical Combat and lets you act as a Young Knight. You play as a member of the order of Sacred Flame and your task is to march towards the Ovis and complete a number of different objectives.

These objectives include exploration, decision making and defeating the evil enemies in deadliest battles. With a 3D environment, Tactics Ogre is set in an Isometric world. Because of this unique element, the game is best suitable for Game Boy Advance and other handheld consoles. It offers a brilliant narrative, a great story and lets you make decisions that lead to one of the several endings of the game. So are you ready to get in the shoes of a young Warrior who is brave enough to bring the entire enemy empire down? This remarkable Single-player Adventure-based Strategy and RPG game is one of the best GBA games that must take a good spot in your collections.

11. Dr. Mario & Puzzle League

Dr. Mario & Puzzle League is a truly very rewarding and inventive title among best Gameboy Advance games. The amazing combination of Puzzle and adventure makes this game one of all time favorites as it offers freedom and plenty of room for the gameplay. As enjoyable as the Nintendo’s 1990s hits, Dr. Mario & Puzzle League offers a Tetris Attack and Puzzle League inspired gameplay and mechanics. As two major hits in one Cartridge, this amazing title deserves to be in your collections of best GBA games of all times. Dr. Mario offers two new CPU-based Vs. modes in the play.

The Puzzle league is the main focus here, so you’ll find quite modifications in it. Lots of new levels, visually stunning graphics, and multiple difficulty levels are the tasty new features of the game. With the Six challenging Single-player modes, marathon mode, timed mode, garbage mode, and the line mode, Puzzle league offers a truly remarkable and innovative play you’ll ever experience in any other game of the same type. Long story short, Dr. Mario & Puzzle League is one amazing mixture of the two best titles. If you are a puzzle gaming fanatic, you’ll love the brilliant Dr. Mario and Puzzle League for the price of one.

12. Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town

Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town takes on the most adorable genres of gaming and combines them into one brilliant package. Farming, Cooking, Fishing, Dating and Social elements are all bundled up in this beautiful game. Generically, the game is an RPG Simulation that offers a Cinematic experience of play. According to the story, you act as the main character whose grandfather dies and leaves behind a big farm for you to tack care of. Your task in the game is to Clear the farm of all the baddies, sow fields, grow crops, raise animals, and interact with people of your neighborhood.

Buying goods from the markets and merchants, bringing your products to the market, selling them and earning a living are all among the secondary objectives of the game. The social element of the game lets you interact with people around you, attend various community-based events, meet new people, make friends and eventually get married to your virtual lover. In short, Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town is a complete package of all the things that you can possibly experience in your real daily life. With a variety of different genres, beautiful graphics, and an immersive gameplay, Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town is a worthy title among best GBA games. Trying it out won’t be a waste of your precious gaming time.

13. Drill Dozer

Drill Dozer is a Single-player Action and Platform video game by Game Freak specifically developed for Game Boy Advance. The game revolves around the character of Jill, a female character and the daughter of Doug. Doug is the leader of a notorious bandit gang named as Red Dozers. The game starts off with Doug being ambushed by a rival gang known as Skullkers. After ambushing Doug, the members of Skullkers stole as Red Diamond given to Jill by her deceased mother. With her father being badly wounded and her mother’s blessed Red Diamond, Jill gets on an adventure of revenge. You are tasked to control the character of Jill as she locates and eliminates the members of Skullkers.

Hop on the “Drill Dozer” and reign hell over the enemies in all sorts of blasting fashions. The secondary objectives of the game are to find four other diamonds while exploring the game world. Drill Dozer is al packed up with multiple types of enemies and rivals, so you’ll find plenty of hardcore action in the game. With obstacles at every step, you’ll enjoy using all sorts of amazing weapons, power-ups, and upgrades. Drill Dozer offers the best graphics, a well-written story, and easy controls. As one of the best GBA games, Drill Dozer would definitely help you satisfy your inner adventurer and action seeker. Do try it out.

14. Metal Slug Advance

Metal Slug Advance is SNK’s brilliant take on the best GBA games. With a variety of innovations and extremely engaging gameplay, Metal Slug Advance offers the best Shoot’em Up experience you’ll ever find in any other game. This particular title draws heavy inspiration from the original Metal Slug games and offers a similar yet exciting and more rewarding gameplay. It allows you to play the game with entirely new heroes, weapons, and environments and you have to complete only one main objective.

The objective of the game is to infiltrate the enemy territory by walking or by any of the many military grade vehicles. Once inside the enemy territory, you can use a variety of different weapons to kill the enemies and to destroy their installations. With a very fast-paced gameplay and clean graphics, you’ll definitely enjoy playing it. If you are a hardcore Game Boy Advance fan and you have never played any Metal Slug games before, you should definitely try it out. It’s an amazingly addictive, promising and action-packed game to play and enjoy.

15. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is the very first game in the Final Fantasy Series that made its debut on the Nintendo platform. The game offers a mix of Tactical Strategy and RPG elements and it offers a story very much similar to the original Final Fantasy Tactics. However, it offers certain gameplay elements that are new and innovative at the same time. With an Isometric perspective, it primarily focuses on Turn-based battles. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance offers four gameplay modes, a map consisting of a Dungeon land, and various locations to explore.

According to the gameplay, your task in the game is to explore the overworld, face the randomly encountering enemies, and reach down the dungeon where countless challenges wait for you. It offers a quest-oriented gameplay mainly in which your objectives are to go through a series of dungeons, caves, forests, and buildings in order to eliminate the enemies. Collecting treasure chests, solving puzzles, and following different paths in maze-like environments makes the game even more engaging and addictive at the same time. With a diverse story, loads of unique characters and customization options, single and multiplayer support, beautiful visuals, and an incredibly well-balanced gameplay, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is a fantastic title among best GBA games.

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16. Mega Man Zero 2

Mega Man Zero 2 is the direct sequel to the popular Mega Man Zero video game. This extraordinary title offers the side-scrolling play and combines it with hardcore action and thrill. As one of all times best GBA games, Mega Man Zero 2 lets you be the protagonist Zero. The game connects the story to the one in the previous game and lets you act as Zero who fights against the forces of Evil to save the world. The evil forces of Neo Arcadia are not an easy rival as compared to the one in the previous game. So, you’’ have to focus on developing new skills as you go with the flow. The only task is to fight and defeat the evil forces and to do that you’ll have to concentrate on your abilities as well as the skills required.

As the legendary Reploids, you must accompany X onto all of your epic adventures in a world filled with all kinds of enemies. The gameplay of Mega Man Zero 2 follows the same standard formula as its predecessors and allows you to have an innovative and exciting yet remarkably similar gameplay to Mega Man Zero. It allows you to have various new and old weapons, skills and abilities and use them against the enemies to save the world. With an entirely brilliant presentation, an action-filled gameplay, and beautiful 2D graphics, Mega Man Zero 2 ranks high among best Gameboy Advance games of all time. For all those who love playing games on GBA and are always in search of something rewarding and entertaining Mega Man Zero 2 will definitely be the best choice.

17. Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2

For all the sports Gameboy Advance games fans, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 is not less than a treat. This cool game is the direct sequel to the top trending Tony Hawks Pro Skater. This extremely fast-paced and adrenaline rush title offers both single and multiplayer gameplay modes. It follows the footsteps of its predecessor and offers a similar gameplay that includes loads of innovations in it. Same like the previous game, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 lets you play as a professional Skateboarder. Your task is to complete a number of different objectives to earn cash rewards. With the award money, you can buy various upgrades and improve your performance during the play.

Performing various trick while skateboarding and developing new ones makes this game exciting enough for you to play it for hours. With a more robust approach to graphics and mechanics, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 lets you play beside the most skilled characters such as Rodney Mullen, Eric Koston, and Steve Caballero. This adds up a bit more spice to the play as you’ll have to complete more challenging objectives. Furthermore, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 lets you improve your ability to make trick combos and try out some advanced level tricks. The more trick you perform the more award money you get. So, are you ready to take on the role of the amazing Skateboarder? Well, you should be because Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 is one addictive Extreme Sports name among the best GBA games of all times.

18. Fire Emblem

Fire Emblem is a critically acclaimed Tactical RPG video game by Nintendo Australia. This super addictive game is all about Turn-based Combats and it offers an Isometric perspective. You can play the game by controlling the player character on a Grid-based environment. As the gameplay requires teamwork, you are allowed to create a team of skilled heroes and heroines by recruiting various other characters. Each of the characters you recruit has their particular abilities and skills based on their class. These abilities include Magic, Sword-wielding skills, different techniques, etc. The main focus here is the Tactical Turn-based combat element. So, it’s your task to deploy the hero characters strategically on various spots on the map. The only objective of the game is to defeat the enemies by damaging them by the use of physical attacks.

For this purpose, you can use any of the characters on your turn and the damage they do to the enemies’ counts as a single blow. You’ll have to continue attacking the enemies until they are all dead and that’s when you’ll be able to complete a quest. Each completed quest rewards you in a number of different ways. You can use these rewards to buy upgrades and enhance the efficiency of your characters. With a standard RPG formula, Fire Emblem offers beautiful graphics, and intriguing and well-written storyline and an immersive Tactical Strategy and RPG experience. If you are head to toe into finding the best GBA games, you should definitely try it out. It’ll entertain you with hours of pure awesomeness in terms of a mind-blowing gameplay.

19. Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga

Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga is all packed up with multiple genre gameplay. It amalgamates Action, Adventure, RPG, and Platform genres into each other nicely and as a result, it features a robust gameplay. Following the lead of legendary Mario games, Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga offers similar objectives such as saving the Princess peach and defeating Bowser and all of the enemies. It offers a different but quite innovative Combat system that lets you do a lot more things than just running, jumping on the platforms, and collecting coins and power-ups.

Packed with a brilliant story and dialogue, Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga allows you to enjoy a Turn-based play while combating against the enemies. Bowser has his own place in the game. As your arch enemy, Bowser tends to tease you more and more by deploying more enemies in your path and getting farther with every step you take. With a long play time and all the fun game levels, Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga offers a variety of different environments and lets you enjoy playing the game for hours. As one of the best Gameboy Advance games, Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga should absolutely be part of your collection of Best GBA games of all times.

20. Astro Boy

The last title in our collection of best GBA games is the popular Astro Boy. The game lets you be the Astro Boy who has the abilities of Flying, X-Ray Vision and he is brave enough to rein hell over the powerful enemies. This remarkable Action and Adventure video game offers a classic Side-Scrolling and Platform-based play. You are tasked to control the character of a Robotic Astro Boy, help the professor get back all the stolen money and defeat the thieves and other enemies.

To complete the objectives, you’ll have to fly your way through hordes of enemies and eventually defeat the boss. The boss is the one who’s hiding the money and when you are able to defeat the boss, you’ll get your money back. Astro Boy offers ten exciting game levels, beautiful visuals and an addictive gameplay to enjoy. For an amazing Action and Adventure experience, do try it out and enjoy all the blasting fun.

Hope you liked our list of best Gameboy Advance games. If you happen to know more GBA games and they are worthy to add to the list, share with us in the comments below.