Long before Nintendo took over the handheld space with the Nintendo Switch, it was also dominating the market in the early 2000s with the Game Boy Advance. As the successor to the Game Boy/Game Boy Color, the GBA was a smash hit around the globe and sold over 80 million units during its run. The popularity of the platform was bolstered throughout its life cycle by Nintendo continuing to release new revisions of the hardware like the Game Boy Advance SP and the Game Boy Micro.
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What truly made the GBA special, though, was its incredibly vast catalog of excellent games. Franchises like Metroid, Pokemon, Super Mario, and so many others thrived on Game Boy Advance and received multiple great games on the system. Other GBA games, however, have been more or less lost to time and aren’t talked about as often in 2025 as they should be. With this in mind, let’s look back at some of the best games that released on Game Boy Advance that deserve more recognition.
1)The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
In the very long list of Zelda games that have come about over the decades, The Minish Cap is one that rarely gets any praise. Even when looking only at the handheld Zelda titles that have graced various Nintendo platforms, more focus tends to be placed on the Game Boy duology, Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, or the acclaimed 3DS title A Link Between Worlds. Despite this, The Minish Cap shouldn’t be overlooked.
Surprisingly developed by Capcom, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is without question the best Zelda game on GBA. The title’s main gameplay hook allows Link to turn incredibly small, which leads to a number of unique puzzles and locales being seen throughout the experience. The Minish Cap might have never received a follow-up, but it’s very much worth playing today and still warrants a sequel.
2) Golden Sun
Golden Sun is one of the best RPGs to ever appear on the Game Boy Advance; so why does this series not get any love from Nintendo anymore? Following the launch of the original Golden Sun in 2001, it would go on to get a sequel the year after with Golden Sun: The Lost Age. The series wouldn’t then return until 2010 on Nintendo DS with Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, but has since been on ice.
The fact that Nintendo hasn’t touched Golden Sun in 15 years is downright absurd. While there are still plenty of Game Boy Advance owners who remember how great this franchise’s first entry was, a whole generation of Nintendo fans have since come about who aren’t familiar with it whatsoever. That has resulted in Golden Sun not getting any attention whatsoever, which is a downright shame.
3) WarioWare Inc.
Nintendo’s WarioWare franchise got its start on GBA with WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgames! in 2003. It would go on to evolve and change its gameplay stylings with each new release, but WarioWare Inc. is still arguably the best of the bunch. Its more straightforward approach to its fast-paced, bizarre mini-games makes for a hectic and entertaining time that is constantly replayable.
Even today, WarioWare Inc. remains a lot of fun and is a game that is somewhat timeless. While Smooth Moves and Touched might have been the more popular installments in this Wario sub-series, WarioWare Inc. still deserves its flowers and should not be forgotten.
4) Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge
Did you know that there was a Banjo-Kazooie game on Game Boy Advance? While much of Banjo-Kazooie’s popularity stems from its two games on Nintendo 64, Grunty’s Revenge is actually a great adaptation of the franchise’s platforming prowess on a handheld. While most platformers on GBA left a lot to be desired, this spin-off featured many of the same moves and abilities from the home console games in an expected collectathon format.
Beyond simply being fun to play, Grunty’s Revenge also has more of the same witty humor that fans have come to see in other games. Set between the events of Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, Grunty’s Revenge sees the titular witch returning from the dead in the form of Mecha Grunty to unleash havoc on the bird and bear. Time travel then gets involved and sees Banjo and Kazooie flung back to the past where they have to thwart Grunty once again. If you’re a Banjo-Kazooie fan and have somehow never played Grunty’s Revenge before, it’s definitely worth giving a look while we continue to wait for the (surely never to be announced) Banjo-Threeie.
5) Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament 2004
During the height of Yu-Gi-Oh!’s popularity in the early 2000s, this was the Yu-Gi-Oh! game to have on Game Boy Advance.Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament 2004 was the best version of the card game up until this point that featured the traditional rules of the TCG. World Championship Tournament 2004 was less about storytelling and was instead entirely centered around building your own unique decks of duel monsters to do battle with.
In the decades since, Yu-Gi-Oh! has continued to remain relevant and has expanded just about everything that the card game has to offer. As a result, Yu-Gi-Oh! as a whole has become a bit more complex, and many of the game’s most iconic cards are no longer as viable as they once were. For those looking for an old-school Yu-Gi-Oh! experience from the TCG’s early years, though, World Championship 2004 is about as good as it gets.
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