When the original Game Boy came out, games like the ones people enjoyed on their NES were finally playable on the go, and players loved Nintendo for it. The green and black color palette was a bit of a bummer, but finally was rectified with the Game Boy Color. Even so, most of the games were still pretty basic. The next step was to make a handheld unit that could replicate the superior experience offered on the Super Nintendo, and the Game Boy Advance did precisely that.
Happily, many of the best games from the Game Boy Advance are available to enjoy today with a subscription to Switch Online with the Expansion Pack. However, there are still some absolute gems missing from that library. Here are 10 essential GBA games that belong on Switch Online.
10
WarioWare: Twisted!
Released: Oct. 14, 2004
The WarioWare franchise got its start on the Game Boy Advance, with 2003’s WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! Until that point, Wario had mostly lived life as a villainous foil to Mario, but then he became an entrepreneur fascinated with the commercial potential for tiny little video games. Or so goes the lore. WarioWare: Twisted! was the second and final entry for the series on the GBA, offering another selection of “microgames” for players to conquer. This time around, the focus was on twisting the Game Boy unit around (hence the title) instead of pressing buttons on the d-pad. Perhaps that’s why the game hasn’t arrived on Switch Online, despite being a critical darling upon release. But it seems like there ought to be some way to make it happen, even so.
9
Tales of Phantasia
Released: Aug. 1, 2003
Tales of Phantasia, the first game in the long-running Tales series of RPGs, made its debut in Japan on the Super Nintendo in 1995. Like numerous entries in the franchise, it was never released overseas on its original hardware. However, a Game Boy Advance port followed a little over a decade later. Published by Nintendo in 2006, it finally gave players outside Japan the chance to see what we’d been missing: an action-RPG with beautiful visuals. Namco also made slight tweaks to improve the experience, including a reduction in the enemy encounter rate. English voiceover work also was added in North America and Europe. Two decades later, with the Tales series still going, it feels like the right time to bring the first entry to a new audience.
8
Drill Dozer
Released: Sep. 22, 2005
Game Freak has worked on games besides Pokémon for years, and Drill Dozer is one of the developer’s early successes. Known as Screw Breaker in Japan, the platformer presented colorful stages that stood apart from other games in the genre and featured a young girl driving a powerful little tank. A rumble pack built into the cartridge let players feel as if they were dealing actual destruction in the stages they cleared. Unfortunately, the timing for Drill Dozer’s launch wasn’t ideal. Nintendo was already in the middle of a big push to make its DS hardware a success, and didn’t do a lot of marketing for its final releases on older hardware.
7
Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland
Released: Oct. 25, 2002
Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland is a remake of Kirby’s Adventure on the NES, but with better visuals and multiplayer action for up to four players, along with new minigames. It also includes some balance adjustments, including more difficult boss encounters and more obvious entrances to hidden areas. There’s not a whole lot to it, but what’s there is perfect for younger players on the hunt for good times with their favorite pink puffball. It would make an excellent addition to the Switch Online library, which already has the more advanced Kirby & The Amazing Mirror. Maybe it can happen around the time Kirby and the World Beyond arrives in 2027.
6
Lufia: The Ruins of Lore
Released: Mar. 8, 2002
Lufia is suddenly alive again, with Lufia 1 and 2 getting remakes in 2027. While the announcement that those beloved titles are on their way was most welcome, there has been no word on the later installments. Lufia: The Ruins of Lore, which launched on the Game Boy Advance, would be a natural addition to the Switch Online library. It’s a side story that takes place 20 years after the events depicted in Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals. Combat is turn-based, but battles are triggered only when the player encounters visible enemies on the map. It’s also possible to recruit monsters, rather than always killing them, and they grant powerful attacks in battle. If Clear River Games can’t get the rights to localize more entries in the series, perhaps The Ruins of Lore can still make an appearance on Switch Online.
5
Super Puzzle Fighter 2
Released: Mar. 28, 2003
Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo debuted in arcades in 1996, and came home later that year for the PlayStation and Saturn. It features chibi versions of popular characters from Street Fighter 2, who are duking it out by matching falling blocks in a puzzle game. As colorful stones fall from the top of the screen, they fuse to form larger blocks. Clearing them sets off dazzling combo chains, which is a dopamine hit that’s hard to resist. It’s all too easy to spend hours playing the simple little puzzle game, even if you don’t know Chun-Li from Felicia. Fans of the fighting series will find even more to like in the background and character design. It translates just beautifully to the Game Boy Advance, even without “Turbo” in the title. The opportunity to battle friends online today would be at least as welcome as the link cable option was back in the day. If you’re not ready to wait, you can also find it included as part of the Capcom Fighting Collection.
4
Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire
Released: Aug. 1, 2003
Pinball might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Pokémon, but it worked perfectly in Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire. Developed by Jupiter Corporation, which is best known these days for its picross games, the action pinball title offers two unique tables. Mostly, it plays like standard pinball with Pokémon fixings. Visuals are bright and cheery, and unique modes give players new goals (such as hitting a Pokémon several times before a timer expires and it vanishes). New Pokémon releases and spinoffs happen fairly regularly, so it seems likely that we’ll get the chance to play Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire again sooner or later. If we get our way, it’ll be the former.
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3
Onimusha Tactics
Released: July 25, 2003
Players are busy talking about Onimusha: Way of the Sword these days, as the series enjoys a proper revival after more than a decade with no new entries. The franchise dates back to Onimusha: Warlords on the PlayStation 2 in 2001. Following that popular release, the series remained highly active for several years. Along the way, Onimusha Tactics arrived on the Game Boy Advance, presenting a dark side story that was at odds with its cheerier visuals. Combat is no longer action-based. Instead, player characters occupy a Fire Emblem-esque grid, where they work to overcome the opposing force so the plot can advance. It’s a strategy game for genre newcomers, and right now would be the perfect time to revive it for a new audience.
2
Mega Man & Bass
Released: Aug. 10, 2002
Capcom has produced numerous compilations of Mega Man games, but Mega Man & Bass remains relatively elusive, despite being better than some of the mainline entries. Originally released on the Super Famicom as RockMan & Forte in 1998, the action platformer wasn’t released in North America with its new name for another five years. When it did finally arrive, it did so as a Game Boy Advance port. It offered more challenging stages than Mega Man fans were accustomed to, with the tougher Mega Man 9 still a few years away. The game’s big hook was that it let players enjoy the adventure either as Mega Man or as Bass, his more agile rival. The robots play differently, which means the robot stages offer new challenges even after a player has cleared the game once. Considering the title’s absence from recent compilations, a Switch Online appearance would make perfect sense and fill in a vital gap.
1
Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis
Released: June 21, 2001
Before Square acquired Quest in 2002, the team produced several games in its Ogre Battle franchise, starting with Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen in 1993. The final installment was Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis, a tactical RPG that serves as a prequel to the overall series. It follows Alphonse Loeher, a Lodis soldier who turns against his former allies while battling to defend the kingdom of Ovis. Combat plays out on expansive maps that feature varying elevation and terrain, much as in a subsequent project from the team, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Despite the handheld format, the game offered a compelling adventure for serious fans of strategy games, with numerous classes and weapons that made combat varied and difficult. The game has been unavailable for a quarter-century and would make a fine addition to the Switch Online library, especially if Square Enix has no plans for a remake along the lines of Tactics Ogre: Reborn.
