Your favorite third-party GBA games?

So, apparently, back in June, the Game Boy Advance turned ten years old, but I apparently didn't notice because I was spending most of the month camping.

Fast forward 3 months, and an article on Nintendo Life brought up a good talking point: the 3DS Ambassador Program makes it clear that GBA games can be emulated on the 3DS Virtual Console, but so far Nintendo hasn't announced any plans for GBA games outside of the first-party games planned for release for early 3DS adopters to download.

If Nintendo ever allows Game Boy Advance games to be released on the 3DS Virtual Console, which third-party games would you want, and why?

Here's my list of third-party games wanted:

• Any of the GBA Final Fantasy games, particularly the ports of Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI, and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

• Ninja Five-O a very fun 2D action game that I've only ever played on an emulator, and wouldn't you know it: the cartridge itself is exceedingly rare, with the cheapest copies on Amazon selling for almost $70!

• Any of the GBA Castlevania games. Having started the series with Dawn Of Sorrow on the DS (kind of spoiling the ending to Aria Of Sorrow, but I disgress), the Castlevania games, with the exception of the 3D installments and possibly Simon's Quest, have been offering consistent quality from the beginning of the franchise.

• The entire Sonic Advance trilogy. The first Sonic Advance game brought back the classic 2D gameplay of the Sega Genesis era, and the last two were shining gems in an otherwise dark period of Sonic's history.

edited 20th Sep '11 12:06:47 PM by Zennistrad

The Summon Night games. Fun as hell and full of Les Yay. A winning combination if there ever was one!

In addition to the aforementioned Final Fantasy and Sonic Advance Trilogy titles, I also adore Sonic Battle and the Golden Sun titles. The former's an excellent fighter and a nice portable equivalent to Super Smash Bros; the latter's an equally excellent series of Eastern RPGs.

I came here to say Ninja Five-O/Ninja Cop and I'm glad to see the OP has it covered. It's the best 2D ninja game ever — yes, even better than <insert awesome 2D ninja game here>.

I have a physical copy of it, which I bought used at a irl store towards the end of the GBA era. It was very rare and a lucky find even at the time. I've proudly unlocked everything, S-ranked all the time trials and so forth.

Odd name for a game... it's obviously a play off of Hawaii Five-O, which was so named because Hawaii is the 50th state. Nothing in the game points to a Hawaiian setting, iirc.

Do we seriously not have a page for this game? :(

Also of note: TMNT on GBA is the best Ninja Turtles game (really) and one of the best beat-em-up games ever. Try that, if you haven't.

Final Fight Zero is one of the coolest ways to play Final Fight, although it's not arcade perfect and the graphics probably look a bit fugly in emulation.

Golden Sun isn't third party...

I'm sorry, but what does third-party mean?

Third-Party Companies are ones not owned by any other company, and make games for any system they wish. Sega's currently third party, while the first party ones make their own system, like Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft.

The creators of Golden Sun, who I can't place at the moment, are Second Party under Nintendo.

Anyway, Sonic Battle is one of my favorites. The Sonic Advance Trilogy, not nearly as much, though.

Golden Sun was Camelot. Thought it was third party, but correction accepted!

edited 20th Sep '11 4:20:45 PM by CaissasDeathAngel

When someone other than your studios and close affiliates make games for your console... I think.

... Or just go with that.

Er... Isn't Camelot more of a Second Party Studio?

edited 20th Sep '11 4:21:52 PM by Folt

Oh.

What about Square Enix?

edited 20th Sep '11 4:20:33 PM by Bookyangel2438

Square-Enix is Third Party. They're not owned by any specific Company.

I do believe they used to be strictly under Nintendo some time ago, but eventually moved to making games on Sony as well.

Third Party.

edited 20th Sep '11 4:22:20 PM by Folt

Ah, good.

F Fs 4, 5, and 6 would be nice, as well as Dawn of Souls.

Astro Boy: Omega Factor. A damn fun game in its own right and one of the few games, if not the only game to ever make me weep.

That's pretty much my list too. As well as Shining Soul 1 and 2.

That one as well.

edited 20th Sep '11 4:24:10 PM by Folt

Shining Soul 1 was pretty fun, even if kind of crappy(seriously, why can I barely hit?!). I have to get 2.

Here's hoping Camelot will take Shining Force back from Sega.

...Also, why doesn't Camelot have a page?

Baffles me too, about as much as why Mario Golf and Tennis doesn't have a page. The RPG Story Modes could get them some trope examples. Perhaps I'll make them tomorrow...

Actually, both of them do. Golf's under the Video Game namespace, while Tennis is on the Main one. Not sure why they're not on the same kind.

Apparently, the full name is Camelot Software... according to one crosslink, anyway.

Can't find the Golf one, but I did find the Tennis one. It's... undernourished...

EDIT: Nevermind. I found it.

Also, I wouldn't mind having Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge, but oh well.

edited 20th Sep '11 4:38:34 PM by Folt

It seems we've got work to do!

...Now if only I wasn't too lazy to make something other than my original Troper Page.

I'll do some work on those pages for now.

Despite the Porting Disaster, I wouldn't mind having GBA Tales Of Phantasia as well...

Megaman Zero 3, Sonic Advance 3, Sonic Battle, Megaman Battle Network.

I used to love playing on my GBA emu but then one day it stopped working and now I can run it anymore. *sigh*

River City Ransom EX and Double Dragon Advance for those of you that love them some Beat Em Ups.

Minish Cap was developed by Capcom, so....third-party?

Closer to Second Party. It's still a Zelda game on an official Nintendo system. Definitely not third party, though.