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Gucci
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Happy 20th Anniversary GBA

by Gucci Fri Jun 11, 2021 11:42 pm

20 years! Time flies!

The GBA, for me personally, is probably the single most important console/handheld I ever had the luxury of playing. Shit, I probably spent more time with a GBA in my hand than any other console since my start in gaming in ‘94.

I’m sure it helped that the GBA was around during my high school years. Countless hours with Pokémon, Golden Suns, Mega Man Battle Network series, Sonic Advance and that Chao Garden, a large amount of SNES ports, new Kirby and Zelda games, Metroidvanias, and on and on.

Hardware wise: I remember owning the original non-backlit (no longer own), front lit SP (works but isn’t shelled), a backlit SP, and my favorite: the Micro (which BTW I can mitigate the BC flaw for GB/C games with an Everdrive).

Accessories included a worm light during the early years, GC to GBA cable (for the complete Chao experience), e-reader with the NES games and the Pokémon TCG dot matrix codes, and lastly the wireless adaptor. Never had a GBA player personally.
I own too many hoodies jackets hoodies and DS games and I’m not ashamed!
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Anapan
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Re: Happy 20th Anniversary GBA

by Anapan Sat Jun 12, 2021 11:02 pm

I definitely played more GBA than I have any other portable. I got the original the first week it was available. I had an SP in my pocket everywhere I went for many years. I switched up to a Micro when they came out - it was my favorite too. There's even a band picture on the back of one of the albums my brother's old band released where I photobombed it by holding up a GBA in the background. Such a cool system. I regret not playing more multiplayer games on them.
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Raging Justice
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Re: Happy 20th Anniversary GBA

by Raging Justice Sun Jun 13, 2021 5:49 am

I love the GBA too. That and the PSP are my favorite handhelds, although I have to give a shout out to the New Nintendo 3ds XL. You can do some amazing things with that portable if you hack it. I have a nice little collection of GBA games, mostly CIB. Here's a sample of what I have:
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prfsnl_gmr
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Re: Happy 20th Anniversary GBA

by prfsnl_gmr Sun Jun 13, 2021 10:20 am

That copy of Invader is very impressive.
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alienjesus
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Re: Happy 20th Anniversary GBA

by alienjesus Sun Jun 13, 2021 10:43 am

I'm a big fan of the GBA too, although I must admit it's a system I've not bought as many new games for since it's prime as some others - I've bought many more games for the Game Boy, Game Boy Colour or DS, not really sure why!

Back in it's prime I had maybe a dozen or so GBA games - I was a teenager without much disposable income and my purchases were divided between the GBA and the Gamecube at the time. My favourite games were Pokémon Sapphire, Golden Sun, Final Fantasy Tactics, Harvest Moon and Fire Emblem, all of which I put hundreds of hours into.

The full list of games I had at the time was:
Final Fantasy Tactics
Fire Emblem
Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town
Golden Sun
Golden Sun: The Lost Age
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Mario Kart Super Circuit
Pokémon Emerald
Pokémon Leafgreen
Pokémon Sapphire
Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3
Zelda: A Link to the Past + 4 Swords
Zelda: Minish Cap

I've got more for the system now - about 50 or so games according to my backloggery. Unfortunately all of my game boxes from the time have since been thrown away by my mum, but I do have the manuals still at least. All my more recent games have generally been cartridge only.

Here's the games I own for the system: https://backloggery.com/games.php?user=Alienjesus&console=GBA
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fastbilly1
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Re: Happy 20th Anniversary GBA

by fastbilly1 Sun Jun 13, 2021 10:48 am

GBA was with me every day in college until senior year when I got a GP32 and started playing SNES games again. It dropped at that unique time that I had alot of free money and time, so I played alot of the games released. It was hard to top multiplayer Mario Kart Super Circuit or Shining Soul (aka Diablo portable) at that time. Sadly buying GBA games now is difficult.

One of my high gaming goals is to create a video series of every multiplayer GBA game, played by a full compliment of gamers who are competent at the game - and not just the first level.
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alienjesus
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Re: Happy 20th Anniversary GBA

by alienjesus Sun Jun 13, 2021 11:01 am

fastbilly1 wrote:GBA was with me every day in college until senior year when I got a GP32 and started playing SNES games again. It dropped at that unique time that I had alot of free money and time, so I played alot of the games released. It was hard to top multiplayer Mario Kart Super Circuit or Shining Soul (aka Diablo portable) at that time. Sadly buying GBA games now is difficult.

One of my high gaming goals is to create a video series of every multiplayer GBA game, played by a full compliment of gamers who are competent at the game - and not just the first level.


I would love to see this.
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Raging Justice
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Re: Happy 20th Anniversary GBA

by Raging Justice Sun Jun 13, 2021 11:04 am

prfsnl_gmr wrote:That copy of Invader is very impressive.


Yeah, that's probably the most valuable game in my GBA collection. I once had a pristine CIB copy of Ninja Five-O too, but the outer box got damaged. I still get upset whenever I think about it :cry:
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alienjesus
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Re: Happy 20th Anniversary GBA

by alienjesus Sun Jun 13, 2021 11:14 am

I'd love your thoughts on a few games in your GBA collection Raging Justice. Specifically I'd like to hear thoughts on these ones:

CT Special Forces 1 & 2
Wade Hixton's Counter Punch
Klonoa 2
Lady Sia
Samurai Deeper Kyo
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Raging Justice
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Re: Happy 20th Anniversary GBA

by Raging Justice Sun Jun 13, 2021 11:32 am

alienjesus wrote:I'd love your thoughts on a few games in your GBA collection Raging Justice. Specifically I'd like to hear thoughts on these ones:

CT Special Forces 1 & 2
Wade Hixton's Counter Punch
Klonoa 2
Lady Sia
Samurai Deeper Kyo


I have CT Special Forces 2 & 3, don't have the first one. The third one was apparently never released in the US, though I think there is a Playstation version oddly enough. I had heard once that the GBA one is very rare, but I see them pop on the UK version of ebay and pricecharting doesn't have it listed as all that expensive last time I checked.

I played the second one to completion and thought it was fun. It's like a slower paced, more methodical Metal Slug game. I was saying in another thread how the game Mighty Goose, which recently came out on PS4, is like Metal Slug for people who aren't great at Metal Slug games. I sort of feel that way about CT Special Forces 2. It's similar to Metal Slug, but not as brutally hard.

I've played Klonoa 1 and 2. They're both great. They've taken the gameplay from the Playstation games and just made them a bit more puzzle based. The endless runner stages can be annoying though. I've yet to play a bad Klonoa game.

Lady Sia I only played a little bit of, I'd like to play more of it someday before I really comment on it. I don't remember how I ended up with two copies of the game. I think maybe one was missing the instruction booklet or something. This is one of those games I think I discovered from a Radical Reggie youtube video

Samurai Deeper Kyo I haven't played yet. I bought it for two reasons. One, because it's a hack n slash game and I like those. Two, because I thought I read somewhere that it was the last game released for the GBA, which I thought was interesting.

Wade Hixton is another one I haven't played through in it's entirety, but I did two or three fights I think and thought it was fun. It's basically a Super Punch Out game for the GBA, just more cartoony. I remember some minor differences in the gameplay mechanics when compared to Punch Out, but it's largely the same type of game. That same level of humor is there too. Wade Hixton has a little bit more story to it and even has a hub area where you can explore and do different things.
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