I remember there being another 2D quest game similar to the castlevanias on GBA. Anyone know it? Or another side scroller similar to it?
On the RPG side, i only want to know about good gameboy exclusives. No final fantasy/breath of fire ect. remakes plz.
I have the Castlevania Double Pack which is both CV GBA games on 1 cartridge and its a pretty good deal since they are both good games.
There are 3 Castlevania games on GBA: Aria of Sorrow, Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance. All three are similar enough.
If you're looking for Metroidvania-style gameplay, then you should start with both Metroid games on GBA (Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission), as this is where Aria of Sorrow drew its gameplay elements from.
As for RPGs, two words: Golden Sun. There are two (exclusive) installments on the GBA. And of course Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (my favourite zelda game!).
Aren't you into beat em ups and fighting games? Not sure if aware, but the best SFII Turbo version is on GBA, as well as Final Fight One and SF Alpha 3.
Don't forget shining force port for the GBA, Also just about every 16 bit final fantasy...The GBA has tons of RPGs, Lunars, Ogre tactics, Mario RPG , Lufia, 2 metroid games, both original zeldas, Kingdom Hearts, Sowrd of Mana, and tales of Phantasia, and the Phantasy Star Collection. Plus tons I didn't think of
He was asking about exclusives though.
I remember beating a great game called Sword Quest or something, it was a dungeon crawler with Tales of Destiny like battles.
Guardian Heroes looks like an RPG beat em up.
I dont play handheld fighters or beat em ups.
That's probably Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2. There is a prequel as well.
Advance Guardian Heroes is a sequel to the Saturn game; it's an action RPG. Pretty good, but not great.
Fire Emblem is the best RPG on the system imo, even if you don't like srpgs.
Scurge: Hive is pretty similar to the "metroidvania" style, but with a 3/4 overhead view. Great game, too.
Shaman King Master Of Spirits is supposed to use the GBA Castlevania engine.
Wow, that game seems awesome! Thanks.Quote:
Originally Posted by j_factor
Scurge: Hive also has a ds port. Pretty decent game.
I also highly recommend Sigma Star Saga.
Any reason it can't be for the DS??? Dawn of Sorrow is the direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow. And they are a lot a like.Quote:
Originally Posted by DanceroftheShadows
True, except for the rune writing before defeating each boss. Ridiculously redundant and slightly annoying, especially since you're not using the pen for anything else throughout the entire game and you get like 5 seconds to pull it out and write the rune. If that fails, you have to kill it all over again. Zzz.
D'oh! You beat me there. And yes, it's VERY similar to Castlevania and Metroid. I recommend it heartily. You MIGHT need to have at least SOME familiarity with the show though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Black_Tiger
That looks awesome. I'm just getting back in GBA gaming and I've always wanted a good shmup for it. Strange that there are hardly any of note.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olls
For RPGs, there's Shining Soul and Shining Soul II, which are action RPGs. The first game is all right, but fun, and the second game is noticeably better. There's also Mazes of Fate, which is like an old-school DOS dungeon crawler (think Eye of the Beholder and Shining in the Darkness), but with a more modern style to the graphics.
There's also the mediocre Back to Stone, and the enjoyable Sigma Star Saga (a mix of shmup and RPG), Lufia: The Ruins of Lore (which I've never played), the two Golden Sun games (which I've also never played), and a few others. Outside of that, you start hitting a lot of ports and remakes (Lunar Legends, Eye of the Beholder, Phantasy Star Collection, Final Fantasy I & II, Final Fantasy VI-VI Advanced, Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon, Breath of Fire 1 and 2, etc.). It seems like there are more ports on the GBA than originals, but there more originals to be found than you might think. I'd suggest trying them out via emulation first to see how they are, though. A good number of them fell into the 6.X range in reviews (some a lot lower), so don't just go blindly buying them. Play them for a hour or so, and get a better feel for what they're like.
Mazes of Fate looks pretty interesting! Is it worth it, would you say?
Personally? Yes. It's a fun game, especially if you've played (and enjoyed) the old dungeon crawlers in the DOS days.
I found Mazes of Fate kind of boring, but some people really liked it. YMMV. The GBA Lufia game is great, but you should really play the SNES ones first (the GBC one is skippable). I would also recommend Tales of Phantasia; it's a port, but only the GBA version was released in English. Eye of the Beholder and Lunar are both pretty lame compared to the Sega CD versions.
If you're into strategy-RPG, GBA has a decent selection: Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Super Robot Taisen OG 1 and 2, Onimusha Tactics, two Fire Emblem games, Yggdra Union, and Zone of the Enders; all of these are original to the GBA, although Yggdra Union later received a PSP port. You may also enjoy the two Advance Wars games and Rebelstar Tactical Command, which are turn-based tactics games (not RPG).
I also recommend Car Battler Joe. It's an RPG of sorts, with the battles replaced by driving. Kind of similar to Final Lap Twin for Turbografx, but instead of straight races, you do have weapons on your vehicle.
Interesting, I found the GBA Lufia game to be really quite poor. No charm, and the design is much worse than the SNES ones. The GBC one is very different from the classic Lufia games which is part of what made it so good. Having the best GBC soundtrack also helps.Quote:
Originally Posted by j_factor
It's not really a Metroidvania but Astro Boy does have a level up system and collectables after you've beaten the main game.
There's also the isometric CIMA: The Enemy and Summon Night, which plays like Tales of Phantasia.
I hate strategy RPGs , they make me want to do cocaine
CIMA is real-time and very action oriented; it's more like Bubble and Squeak or ICO than a traditional SRPG.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Riviera are also good RPG’s for the GBA. If you have a DS, you should check the Castlevania games there too. And finally, there’s Monster Tale (DS) a Metroivania game that its style somewhat reminded me of Monster World. It’s very heavy on backtracking though.
I greatly enjoyed Shining Soul II. It is one of the very few games of the last decade that I played through multiple times, and still wish to play yet more. It is a really finely crafted game which stays true to the Shining universe of items, weapons, and characters. Many games go forgotten and/or overlooked on the GBA, I'd say Shining Soul II is one of the more under-appreciated releases. One day I hope to find the opportunity to play with three other experienced players in a multi-player quest.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Coop
On the other side of the spectrum is Back to Stone. I looked forward to this game thinking that it would deliver a Landstalker-like experience, regrettably it doesn't come close. Jumping in Landstalker never gave me problems but the 8-way control of Back to Stone and the GBA d-pad makes things trickier than I could care to deal with. I might have given the game more of a chance if it wasn't for the fact that it uses a long password for game save.
Totally agreed on both counts, I was surprised to find that Shining Soul II gets rather poor reviews. I mean the game is well crafted, fun, and has a ton of replay value, so I don't see how it's a 6/10 in some places (the kind that gives 8/10 to mediocrity).Quote:
Originally Posted by Zz Badnusty
But hey, I love Lufia TLR for the GBC, so what do I know?
You are a bad man. :(Quote:
Originally Posted by DanceroftheShadows