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[Hero]

Where's the love for Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Castlevania: Aria of Sarrow, and Mega Man Zero 1 - 3?

GBA is seriously one of the best systems ever, anyone who doesn't play it is really missing out.

 

[jarrod]

Well, for domestic GBA RPGs in similar genres as FFTA & SOM...

JP SRPGs
-Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis (Atlus) 2002
-Z.O.E. The Fist of Mars (Konami) 2002
-Yu-Gi-OH! DungeonDice Monsters (Konami) 2003
-Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (Nintendo) 2003
-Onimusha Tactics (Capcom) 2003
-Fire Emblem (Nintendo) 2003
-Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon (Atlus) 2004

JP ARPGs
-Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (Konami) 2001
-Bomberman Tournament (Activision) 2001
-Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (Konami) 2002
-Car Battler Joe! (Natsume) 2002
-The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past/The Four Swords (Nintendo) 2002
-Caslevania: Aria of Sorrow (Konami) 2003
-Shining Soul (Atlus) 2003
-CIMA: The Enemy (Natsume) 2003
-Sword of Mana (Nintendo) 2003
-Shining Soul II (Atlus) 2004
-River City Ransom EX (Atlus) 2004
-Classic NES Series: The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo) 2004
-Classic NES Series: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (Nintendo) 2004
-Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (Disney) 2004
-The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (Nintendo) 2005

...there might be others I'm forgetting but I think that's it. Shame Slime Morimori never made it (damn you Nintendo & Square Enix!!).

 

[Tsubaki]

Well, for domestic GBA RPGs in similar genres as FFTA & SOM...

Why list a bunch of games that aren't worth playing? Some of them mentioned will make you rip your eyes out.

 

[jarrod]

Why list a bunch of games that aren't worth playing? Some of them mentioned will make you rip your eyes out.

EDIT~ better yet, I'll just order everything according to game quality (imo)...

JP SRPGs
01 Fire Emblem (Nintendo) 2003
02 Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon (Atlus) 2004
03 Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis (Atlus) 2002
04 Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (Nintendo) 2003
05 Z.O.E. The Fist of Mars (Konami) 2002
06 Onimusha Tactics (Capcom) 2003

?? Yu-Gi-OH! DungeonDice Monsters (Konami) 2003


JP ARPGs
01 Classic NES Series: The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo) 2004
02 Caslevania: Aria of Sorrow (Konami) 2003
03 River City Ransom EX (Atlus) 2004
04 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past/The Four Swords (Nintendo) 2002
05 Bomberman Tournament (Activision) 2001
06 Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (Konami) 2001
07 Classic NES Series: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (Nintendo) 2004
08 Shining Soul II (Atlus) 2004
09 Sword of Mana (Nintendo) 2003
10 Car Battler Joe! (Natsume) 2002
11 Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (Konami) 2002
12 CIMA: The Enemy (Natsume) 2003
13 Shining Soul (Atlus) 2003

?? The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (Nintendo) 2005
?? Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (Disney) 2004

 

[MetatronM]

Why list a bunch of games that aren't worth playing? Some of them mentioned will make you rip your eyes out.

Cause jarrod likes to make lists.

Anyway, yeah, like everybody else said, both games suck to various degrees.

FFTA is such shit. And I'm a big Square nut and a huge FFT fan. But FFTA sucked. Hard.

Seriously. Buy Fire Emblem. Now.

 

[AniHawk]

Isamu: Buy buy buy buy buy buy BUY Fire Emblem.

I disliked Mario & Luigi. Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door are much better. It was probably just me, but the humor was hardly there in the game, and the characters weren't all too likeable- even for a Mario game. The gameplay in both Paper Marios I felt was superior to Mario & Luigi's as well (as M&L relies on only two characters while there's more variety and arguably more strategy in using the other 6 in the two PMs).

I recommend Golden Sun: The Lost Age. As Meji said, the game improves on the original by a ton. It really caught me off guard by how well made it was in comparison to the first game.

 

[LakeEarth]

Golden Sun 2 is good? Hmmm, I thought the first one was kin of mediocre. The story in particular was horrid, especially the dialogue. Is this improved in round 2?

I hated the first one, but decided to get the second one because I was craving some RPG fun at the time and remembered I liked the battle system. I was pretty much blown away. The story is still pretty much trash (not AS bad but nothing special), but DAMN the dungeons were fun. Keep in mind, if you don't like long dungeons, you might not like it. I think that mountain one took me more than 2 hours to beat (though it wasn't repetative, it continuously gave new puzzles and situations to deal with).

 

[AniHawk]

The Lost Age also has a ton of optional bosses too. I think my final play time was 48 hours.

 

[Diomedeskun]

Golden Sun had only one worthwhile dungeon: the final Level. Most of the dungeons in The Lost Age were the equal or superior of that level. The powers in part 2 also are far more interesting and the characters actually have some personality, unlike the bland team from part 1. Part 2 also features some fascinating strategy with Djinns and party members that dwarfs that of part 1. It is not very challenging (in terms of dying in battle), but the game does make you think.

It is rather fascinating that most of the other traditional RPGs for the GBA are ports and remakes(Phantasy Star, Final Fantasy 1+2, Breath of Fire). Most of the remaining GBA RPGs are Strategy or action hybrids (or Pokemon).

Going back to Sword of Mana, I would love to see more action RPGs (always a good thing) on GBA, especially games that are neither Castlevanias (although those are awesome) nor dungeon crawls. I adore games like Crystalis and Secret of Mana that have a feel similar to Zelda but much more expansive worlds and Experience/Magic systems of RPGs.

Something is wrong with Konami for not making a GBA action RPG starring Nash from Suikoden.

 

[isamu]

OK looks like Im gonna pick up Fire Emblem soon as I'm done with SoM. THUG 2 and possibly FFTA are hitting the docks at ebay. Puzzle Fighter II is a definitely a keeper.