The Game Boy Advance was probably the first video game console I bought with my own money.
And boy howdy, was it money well spent. If I remember correctly, it was, I think, $100. I bought it at Fry's.
And I must say, I had a ton of fun with the little console. I bought many games for it, all of which I would play constantly. Even at school. Who plays games at school? I'll tell you who. Me.
Unfortunately, as I grew older, so did the technology of the day. The Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable were nigh upon us.
As a result, I got rid of my GBA, and all of the games for it. A decision I regret almost as much as exchanging a PlayStation for a Nintendo 64 way back in the 1990s.
It wasn't until I started getting into retrogaming that I started taking an interest in the games of my childhood.
Starting with the Super Nintendo, little by little, I wanted to build up my collection of games that I used to play as a kid. And that included the Game Boy Advance.
And now, I have one.
Pretty snazzy, huh?
I got this little beauty custom painted and backlit from a website called 8 Bit Aesthetics.
They sell all kinds of custom Game Boy jobs. They're a bit pricey, but it's well worth it if you want something pretty.
And speaking of pretty, in case you didn't notice, this particular GBA is painted like my favorite musical album of all time, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.
And it's got a glass screen on the front too. I had to superglue it on because it kept falling out, but it's still pretty.
And then I thought, "Say, now that I have a Game Boy Advance, and several games for it, what can I do to make my mark?" And then, it hit me.
No, not like that. I mean, I got an idea. I'll make a Top Five List of my favorite Game Boy Advance games.
Because nobody's ever done that before.
I remember this game being super, super hard. But I would always be playing it for some reason.
You know how it is. You find a game that's hard, but even so, you just keep playing it because it's still fun.
It's brain-drillingly difficult, but it's still fun.
Such is the case with Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. I think it might have been the first Castlevania game I ever played, actually.
It was hard, yes, but at lease you could helicopter your whip. That was cool.
Oh, this game. This game right here.
One of the best platformers I have ever played on any console ever, Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland was the second Kirby game I have ever played.
The first would be Kirby: Super Star on the Super Nintendo. But anyway, Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland was a remake of Kirby's Adventure on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Of course, I never knew this at the time I was playing it, because I was only 11 or 12 I think. But even so, it's loads of fun.
I remember, a few of my friends and I were celebrating my birthday party by going down to La Porte, and I brought my Game Boy Advance with me.
I let one of my friends borrow it, and he was playing Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland the entire time we were there.
I was sitting there, opening my presents, having a ball, and he was over there in the corner... sitting there... playing my game... on my Game Boy Advance.
I was supposed to be sitting in that corner.
Not being social.
Not talking to my friends.
All alone all alone all by myself.
I remember reading a review of this game in Electronic Gaming Monthly and being totally enthralled by it. It got really good reviews, and reviews are always right.
Anyway, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is a tactical role-playing game based on Final Fantasy Tactics on the PlayStation.
I'd never played a tactical RPG before, but I wanted to play this game anyway, because it was Final Fantasy. And Final Fantasy was an RPG. And I loved RPGs at that time.
But this was unlike any RPG I had ever played. It wasn't as simple as walking along, encountering a monster, defeating the monster, going on your way, wash, rinse, and repeat.
You had to plan your moves carefully. Attacks from behind were super effective. And you could choose who could be in your party. And above all, it was fun.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is one of the most fun games I have ever played and probably my favorite strategy RPG ever.
Vampires. They're mean. They're thirsty. And they're back from the dead.
And it's up to one fearless vampire killer to destroy the Count of Ground-Soaking Blood once and for all. And his name is Django.
But seriously, Django is the name of the main character in the game.
And he, along with his faithful companion Otenko, are charged with ridding the world of vampires armed only with the trusty Gun Del Sol.
The most interesting thing about this game is that it has a little bitty chip inside of the cart that is solar powered.
Meaning, it actually detects sunlight. And you're gonna need that sunlight if you wanna defeat those vampires.
As well as having that interesting mechanic, this game also contains references to several famous spaghetti westerns.
Such classics like the aforementioned Django, but also A Fistful of Dollars, Once Upon a Time in the West, Sabata, A Pistol for Ringo, They Call Me Trinity, and even Trigun.
The game was produced by Hideo Kojima of Snatcher, Policenauts, and Metal Gear fame.
And it contains a lot of stealth elements of the Metal Gear games.
Some enemies you have to sneak past, or else they'll attack you with this black stuff that you have to shake off as quickly as possible.
With all the interesting gameplay mechanics, western movie influences, and Hideo Kojima behind it, Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand has all the trappings of a great Game Boy Advance game.
And indeed it is one of my favorites.
But it is not my favorite. If it was, it obviously wouldn't be at #2. No. That spot goes to our next contestant.
It's...
Yes! Golden Sun! The first game I ever bought for the Game Boy Advance is my favorite game on the system.
It's the first RPG I ever played. It's the only game I ever played at school. I practically beat a boss during one of my class periods. Right there in front of the teacher. I was just that attached to it.
In retrospect, the story wasn't really all that and a bag of chips. Standard Final Fantasy-style RPG fare. But at the time, I didn't care. I was just too hung up on it.
It was the gameplay, the turn-based RPG gameplay, that really caught me hook, line, and sinker.
Up until then, I had only been playing games like Banjo-Kazooie and Super Mario World.
I didn't play much of Ocarina of Time, but even if I did, I don't think it would have prepared me for the sheer awesomeness that was Golden Sun.
In fact, Golden Sun might just not only be my favorite Game Boy Advance game, but one of my favorite games, period.
Not my favorite, of course. Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath is my favorite.
But Golden Sun still comes pretty darn close.
It's a shame more people don't know about Golden Sun.
I believe it deserves a place in every portable RPG fan's library.
It's gotta be up there with games like Pokemon, and Monster Hunter on the PSP.
But even if it isn't, I stand by my belief that this game is probably the best game on the Game Boy Advance.
YES
I
SAID IT.
And oh yeah...
It's my birthday.
EVERY DAY AND EVERY WAY IT'S THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT YES