Gameboy Advance: My Favorite Games Part 2

So with the GBA celebrating 10 years, decided to look at some of the games that kept me busy on long road trips, on the school bus, and camping trips even. 

In case you missed it, here is the first part of my list of favorite GBA games. Last of my list after the jump.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

Man this game was awesome, and is unfortunately the only one of the three Mario and Luigi games I've played. In this game you controlled Mario and Luigi in the overworld which played a bit like a platforming game, but whenever you encountered and enemy it went into and RPG turn based battle. Unlike regular RPG's, whenever you did your action, you could do extra button presses to increase the damage of your combo, similar to Legend of Dragoon. You mess up, the attack ends and doesn't do the max amount of damage it could have.   

But the best part of this game had to be the story and the writing. Princess Peach's voice gets stolen by Cackletta in order to activate the Beanstar which will grant Cackletta's wish of ruling the world. The game never takes itself too seriously and pokes fun at the Mario series from time to time. I mean just look at the main antagonists name, Cackletta and Fawful. You know those two are just waiting for Mario and Luigi to screw up their plans at some point.

Some other memorable things from the game are Bowser loses his memory and is treated like a noob. Luigi gets hypnotized into thinking he's Mario. Birdo gets dressed up as Princess Peach and the final boss battle takes place inside of Bowser's body!  If you're looking for a Mario game that is a bit more than just jumping on Goombas or even a worthwile RPG, seek this out.

What is this abomination!? Play the game and find out!

Golden Sun

The story and scope of this game was so big, it took two games to tell it all! This was pretty much a JRPG but it had three big things that hooked me.

1) Djinn - these were little spirits attached to one of the four elements (Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind) that could be used to summon some pretty bad ass creatures to help you in battle. But they worked similar to the summons and junction system of Final Fantasy VIII. By using the equipped djinn, you actually changed which Psynergy your party member used in battle. So if you weren't careful, you could end up losing that cure spell or revival spell for a turn until the djinn were rested and re-equipped.

2) Psynergy - Psynergy was pretty much the equivalent of magic in this game. The one twist was that there was Psynergy that you could use outside of battle to help solve puzzles. You had Psynergy that helped you push and pull objects, you had douse that could put out fires blocking your path, Reveal helps you see hidden threats and chests. It was a neat little twist on an old RPG mechanic.

3) The Intro - There is a gigantic thunderstorm that is causing flooding and rock slides threatening your village.  Many peoples lives are at risk and you end up meeting a mysterious duo that may be the cause of all this. I wish I could explain more but it would give some interesting plot points away.

Metroid Fusion

What I loved about this games was that it was a Nintendo game but it wasn't all happy go lucky. The game started off with Samus almost dying from an infection of a new enemy, the X Parasite.

The parasite copied its host down to their memories before killing it and replacing them. So when the parasite is set loose within a research station, our favorite female bounty hunter is sent in to set things straight. Simple right?

EXCEPT NOT! See, in order to save her life when the parasite infected her, Samus was injected with a vaccine created from Metroid DNA which then changed her genetic make-up. She now was able to absorb the X parasite since Metroids were their natural enemy but she also inherited their weakness for ice. Now normally it wouldn't matter except there was a foe literally her equal with a weapon that gave it the upper hand in battle. The SA-X.

SA-X: Samus Aran X Parasite

The SA-X was the X parasite that infested Samus' power suit and almost killed her. Parts of her suit that were surgically removed in order to save her life ended up growing, fusing, and becoming Samus. It has all her powers, experience, and no compassion for life except the propagation of the X parasite species.

The SA-X hunts Samus pretty much the entire game and since it has the Ice Beam and all her abilities she cannot defeat it. It almost sounds like the plot of a horror movie doesn't it?

The tension throughout the game and atmosphere never let up until the credits roll. That is why I absolutely love this game.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

The clock count last time I booted up FFTA was about 120 hours. And that was my second FFTA cart, my first one with the completed game had gotten stolen long ago so I had to buy a new one and beat it through all over again. That is how much I loved this game.

I found every secret character, did every job, mission, and contract that game had to offer. I think I only missed one monster for the monster collector and seriously am considering starting over again just so I can literally have everything in the game.

The story was interesting, but overall I didn't really care about it. I just liked beefing my characters to the point where a I could knock out multiple enemies with a single blow. I loved buying the cards that nullified the judges rules during battles, and replacing them with ones that left the other party sitting there like sitting ducks. There was a point where I actually got all of a party banned and sent to jail with the cards I put into play.

Like strategy RPG's? Play this. It will eat up your time with it's turn based battles and leave you saying, "Just one more turn." until you realize you've lost hours of your life and haven't slept in god knows how long.

And then you will continue playing anyways.

Plus, the Bangaa were badass.

So it took a bit but there is my list. So ladies and gents, what are your favorite GBA games huh? Let us know in the comments.