Support NeoGAF

[Afro Republican]

The GBA is one of everyone's favorite handhelds, and is usually as far back as people are willing to go due to how the original GB and GBC have aged rather badly outside a few titles. I have below the top 40 best selling GBA games in NPD and in JAPAN to compare the libraries. You'll be surprised at the overlap (outside of games like Spyro/Mother selling only in their respective territories.) between the two countries. Which is not very common with other systems.

Here are the top 40 best selling GBA games NPD below:

Console    Title                              Publisher                Release      LTD   Recent Sales
[LIST=1]
[*]GBA       SUPER MARIO ADVANCE 2              NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Feb-02         2,459,271       448
[*]GBA       POKEMON RUBY                       NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Mar-03         2,401,019     7,075
[*]GBA       POKEMON SAPPHIRE                   NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Mar-03         2,170,065     6,390
[*]GBA       NAMCO MUSEUM                       NAMCO                    Jun-01         2,146,499     6,460
[*]GBA       MARIO KART: CIRCUIT                NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Aug-01         2,084,589     4,483
[*]GBA       SUPER MARIO ADVANCE                NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Jun-01         2,058,569        63
[*]GBA       MARIO BROS 3: MARIO 4              NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Oct-03         1,882,876    22,570
[*]GBA       FROGGER'S ADV: TEMPLE              KONAMI OF AMERICA        Nov-01         1,602,969     2,290
[*]GBA       POKEMON FIRERED W/ADP              NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Sep-04         1,561,349    13,546
[*]GBA       PAC-MAN COLLECTION                 NAMCO                    Jul-01         1,444,737     4,456
[*]GBA       POKEMON EMERALD                    NINTENDO OF AMERICA      May-05         1,437,870    68,490
[*]GBA       ZELDA: LINK TO PAST                NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Dec-02         1,385,481     3,414
[*]GBA       POKEMON LEAFGRN W/ADP              NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Sep-04         1,363,457    14,008
[*]GBA       YU-GI-OH! ETERNAL                  KONAMI OF AMERICA        Oct-02         1,311,508        50
[*]GBA       DRAGONBALL Z: GOKU                 ATARI                    May-02         1,216,218       268
[*]GBA       YOSHI'S ISLAND:MARIO3              NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Sep-02         1,151,562       330
[*]GBA       DISNEY'S FINDING NEMO              THQ                      May-03         1,079,398     2,709
[*]GBA       SONIC ADVANCE                      THQ                      Feb-02         1,050,528       595
[*]GBA       SPYRO: SEASON OF ICE               VIVENDI UNIVERSAL        Oct-01         1,025,040     3,276
[*]GBA       MARIO & LUIGI SAGA                 NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Nov-03           992,177     4,306
[*]GBA       KIRBY: NIGHTMARE                   NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Dec-02           970,793       405
[*]GBA       THE INCREDIBLES                    THQ                      Nov-04           966,324     8,888
[*]GBA       DONKEY KONG COUNTRY                NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Jun-03           962,170       177
[*]GBA       HARRY POTTER: CHAMBER              ELECTRONIC ARTS          Nov-02           960,946       792
[*]GBA       METROID FUSION                     NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Nov-02           937,340     1,570
[*]GBA       TETRIS WORLDS                      THQ                      Sep-01           849,464     8,153
[*]GBA       KINGDOM HEARTS: CHAIN              SQUARE ENIX INC (CORP)   Dec-02           814,414     6,906
[*]GBA       GOLDEN SUN                         NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Nov-01           743,327
[*]GBA       YU-GI-OH! SACRED CARD              KONAMI OF AMERICA        Nov-03           742,964       828
[*]GBA       THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE                THQ                      Oct-04           741,205     6,025
[*]GBA       SONIC ADVANCE 2                    THQ                      Mar-03           738,495     1,147
[*]GBA       SPIDER-MAN: THE MOVIE              ACTIVISION               Apr-02           735,388        70
[*]GBA       WARIO LAND 4                       NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Nov-01           718,160         5
[*]GBA       CRASH BANDICOOT: HUGE              VIVENDI UNIVERSAL        Feb-02           716,697       757
[*]GBA       SPONGEBOB: DUTCHMAN                THQ                      Sep-02           716,035     5,958
[*]GBA       SPONGEBOB: BATTLE                  THQ                      Oct-03           701,470       879
[*]GBA       HARRY POTTER:SORCERER              ELECTRONIC ARTS          Nov-01           694,968        13
[*]GBA       TONY HAWKS PRO SKATR2              ACTIVISION               May-01           676,387        67
[*]GBA       SPYRO 2: SEASON FLAME              VIVENDI UNIVERSAL        Sep-02           664,849     1,419
[*]GBA       FINAL FANTASY TACTICS              NINTENDO OF AMERICA      Sep-03           646,684     1,490

[/LIST]

BONUS, Top 40 best selling GBA games in japan:

Oddly, both lists don't include the ports of the FInal Fantasy rpgs, which I could see for NPD, but find very odd for Japan. (Also Mega Man seems to have only been a thing in Japan as well.)

Also hello Frogger, what are you dong up there again.

 

[Afro Republican]

Spyro and Sonic neck and neck

 

[underberg]

I think the OP must cite the website from which he/she took the list of GBA best-selling games in Japan: https://sites.google.com/site/gamedatalibrary/game-search

On the website, there is a disclaimer: "Please credit this site if you're posting information from here anywhere.".

It is not odd Final Fantasy games didn't chart as they were released very late in GBA lifecycle, when DS was already around or about to come (2004, 2005 and 2006). Anyway, from the same website:

Final Fantasy VI Advance 281.190
Final Fantasy I + II: Dawn of Souls 277.688
Final Fantasy V Advance 259.920
Final Fantasy IV Advance 219.391

 

[Daniel Thomas MacInnes]

I absolutely love the Gameboy Advance, it's one of those systems with an endlessly supply of hidden gems and surprises. I think the hardware design was a bit lazy, as Nintendo had no handheld competitors at the time, but the games are terrific and tons of fun.

My favorite GBA games are pretty obscure, such as Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer, Motoracer Advance, Moto GP, Pinball of the Dead, Gekido Advance, Double Dragon Advance, Lunar Legend, Ogre Battle, Dropzone, Three Stooges and International Karate. Advance Wars 2 is my favorite, with Zelda: Minish Cap a close second. The Castlevanias were pretty good but too easy. The Final Fantasy titles were all excellent. The two Metroids were passable but overrated.

 

[Deleted member 738976]

I absolutely love the Gameboy Advance, it's one of those systems with an endlessly supply of hidden gems and surprises. I think the hardware design was a bit lazy, as Nintendo had no handheld competitors at the time, but the games are terrific and tons of fun.

My favorite GBA games are pretty obscure, such as Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer, Motoracer Advance, Moto GP, Pinball of the Dead, Gekido Advance, Double Dragon Advance, Lunar Legend, Ogre Battle, Dropzone, Three Stooges and International Karate. Advance Wars 2 is my favorite, with Zelda: Minish Cap a close second. The Castlevanias were pretty good but too easy. The Final Fantasy titles were all excellent. The two Metroids were passable but overrated.

The GBA felt like Genesis and SNES combining into one godly system. I mean 16+16? Do the math.