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Game Boy Advance: 10 Best Games to Start With
Friends, SuperChis flash cartridges for GBA are now available on AliExpress
.And the best flash cartridge for Nintendo DS — DSPico
Cool eXtremeRate cases for GBA SP.
Friends, help me buy (if you have) various old stuff: Help me buy.
In the early 2000s, the Game Boy Advance felt almost like a full home console, just in a pocket-sized form. That was its main magic compared with the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. It no longer looked like just another handheld held back by weak hardware.
The GBA could deliver an experience close to what the NES and SNES had offered before: big platformers, serious RPGs, tactical strategy games, racing, and long adventures.
That is why it makes more sense to start exploring this console not with random titles, but with the games that show it at its very best.
Top 10 Games
10. WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!
You can start your GBA journey not with a huge adventure, but with a game that shows another major strength of the system: fast, addictive, truly portable gameplay. WarioWare is a pile of tiny challenges that last only a few seconds, yet somehow pull you in right away. This game quickly makes one thing clear: the Game Boy Advance was not only a pocket-sized "home console," but also a perfect system for short, exciting play sessions.
9. Mario Kart: Super Circuit
This racer proves that the GBA handled a genre that had previously been associated almost entirely with home systems. Mario Kart: Super Circuit is not a cut-down portable spin-off, but a proper Mario Kart with speed, energy, clever shortcuts, nasty tricks, and that constant "just one more race" feeling. If you want to feel right away how confidently the Game Boy Advance brought big Nintendo hits to a small screen, this is an ideal starting point.
8. Advance Wars
Advance Wars belongs on this list for a simple reason: it shows that the GBA was great not only for arcade-style games and platformers, but also for serious, thoughtful strategy games. This is turn-based tactics that does not scare off newcomers, yet quickly becomes absorbing and lets you feel the real appeal of the genre. After playing it, you understand especially well how far the Game Boy Advance had come from the days when handhelds were linked only with simple "ten-minute" games.
7. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
If you want to try something darker, moodier, and a bit more grown-up on the GBA, Aria of Sorrow is close to perfect. It is a game about exploring a castle, slowly opening new paths, and enjoying that satisfying sense of growth when every new ability makes the world feel larger. It shows very well that the GBA library was not only bright and friendly, but also deep enough to deliver a full-scale adventure.
6. Metroid Fusion
Metroid Fusion is one of those games that makes the Game Boy Advance stop feeling like just a good handheld. The scale feels real here: a tense atmosphere, a complete science-fiction world, constant forward momentum, and the sense that you are holding not a small travel toy, but a serious console game. At the same time, Fusion is more welcoming to newcomers than it may seem, which makes it a great choice both for a first step into the series and for seeing what the GBA could really do.
5. Pokémon FireRed
A list like this would feel incomplete without Pokémon, but for a starting point one game is enough, and FireRed fits that role best. It is a very clean, accessible, and engaging version of the formula that turned Pokémon into a global sensation: exploring a region, building a team, training, taking on gyms, fighting Team Rocket, and always feeling that sense of adventure. FireRed is especially good at showing how the GBA could turn what seemed like a portable game into a real journey that pulls you in completely.
4. Golden Sun
Golden Sun is here as proof that the Game Boy Advance could already handle large RPGs that had previously been associated more with home consoles. It is a big fantasy adventure with beautiful presentation, a long story, a real sense of travel, and that "big game" feeling that older handhelds rarely offered. If you want to see how serious a device the GBA was in the early 2000s, Golden Sun is impossible to skip.
3. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
This game works so well because it brings together several of the GBA's strongest sides at once: bright visuals, an easy-going tone, a sense of adventure, and at the same time a fully developed RPG system. Superstar Saga does not overload the player, does not drag through a slow opening, and very quickly shows why RPGs on the GBA became so popular. It is a great example of how the Game Boy Advance could deliver an experience close to a home console while still feeling lively, light, and very easy to get into.
2. Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
If we are talking about a good starting point for the GBA, it is almost impossible to leave Mario out. Super Mario Advance 4 is not only a great game on its own, but also a very clear example of how well the Game Boy Advance handled a genre that had always been the foundation of Nintendo's home consoles. It is bright, precise, varied, and still feels as easy to play today as if it had been made yesterday, not more than twenty years ago. It is one of the best games to pick if you want to feel the quality of the GBA library right away.
1. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
If I had to choose just one game that really should be your first stop on the Game Boy Advance, I would put The Minish Cap in first place. It brings together everything people love about the GBA: the feel of a big adventure, a beautiful world, great pacing, that classic sense of exploration, and the right balance between accessibility and depth. This is exactly the kind of game that makes the main Game Boy Advance phenomenon especially clear: it was no longer just a strong handheld console, but almost a true home system that happened to fit in your pocket.
