Mother 3

"I wish I could pound fate with this 2x4."

Who said the Game Boy Advance is dead? I'll hear none of it. I may not have used mine to the fullest extent, but it sure was host to a great many must-play titles. Most of which I completely missed out on at the time, and now one of which that damn near everyone outside of Japan missed: Mother 3.

The concluding part of the Mother series, you'll be controlling distinctly pixelly characters as they face off against more weird alien foes in an RPG like no other. If you can read Japanese...

Rebelstar: Tactical Command

Not for the over-30's.

Rebelstar. Rebelstar... where have I heard that name before? Turns out, long, long ago, I failed to emulate Rebelstar for this very 1001 list. I was apparently really rather interested in seeing X-Com on a ZX Spectrum and was saddened by not being able to play it.

I've still not gone back and tried to get it going again, but maybe now that Rebelstar: Tactical Command is making itself known on the Game Boy Advance, I'll be more inspired to try getting Rebelstar going again.

Wait. The Game Boy Advance? There's an X-Com on the GBA?

Gunstar Super Heroes

Talk about holding down the trigger...

The original Gunstar Heroes was a complete unknown to me, but it sure made an entrance with a bang. A lot of bangs, even. More gunfire than a Call of Duty title. Colourful, cartoony and absolutely action-packed, I liked it. And now it gets a sequel for the Game Boy Advance in Gunstar Super Heroes.

History keeps repeating, and when bad guys are bad, good guys need to be heroes. Trigger fingers at the ready - not that you'll need to release them once you start to squeeze...

WarioWare: Twisted!

Again!

Can you make a game about ironing? You can indeed, and thankfully this game is so short that it's over in three seconds. Did you iron that shirt, or did your tilt sensor go mental and the iron go A.W.O.L. in WarioWare: Twisted!, another bunch of mad mini-games for your Game Boy Advance?

Wario is back for more mayhem, and he's here to show off some advancements in technology, too. We've definitely got time to play this one.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

I thought you were the blue one.

The formula for a Legend of Zelda game is well known by now. You know not only what you're going to get in a game, but who you're going to get as well. Characters may share a name, signature costume, role in life, and so on, but they're not identical from game to game. Each title is different from the last. Except for all the similarities.

You'd think, then, that The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures would be similarly filled with Links, and Zeldas, and Hyrules, and Hyahs!, and you'd be right. You'd think it would have swords and shields, and puzzles that require the use of an item or two, and you'd be right there as well.

But you'd never guess the form the game would take. Semi co-operative. Four players. Multiple gaming systems working together.

What's going on in Hyrule this time?

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

"If only we had some way to defend ourselves against those nuts of his."

The Legend of Zelda on a Game Boy Advance. This should blow my mind, right? A reliable game series on a handheld console that I wish I knew more about when I actually had one. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is - I hope - going to entertain me.

But I know nothing about it. I can be safe in saying there'll be dungeons and monsters and puzzles, navigated by a kid in a green tunic called Link, in a land called Hyrule, but apart from those common elements (and many more besides), I don't know anything about The Minish Cap.

Let's dive headfirst into this tiny cartridge and unpack its secrets.

Metroid: Zero Mission

EMERGENCY ORDER_

From one remake to another. From one remake I know about to one I don't. From one I care about to one I have no emotions for at all. Perhaps I'll view Metroid: Zero Mission in the same way Nintendo fans saw Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. And it's on the mighty Game Boy Advance, too, so it's looking positive. I'm hoping for good things here.

Remaking Samus Aran's original Nintendo Entertainment System outing, Zero Mission uses all the improvements the series has developed in the decades since to go back and reimagine a game that perhaps many players didn't get a chance to play.

Updated gameplay, graphics and even new story elements, Zero Mission sounds like a great title for someone like me.

Ninja Five-O

Stop, or I'll shuriken!

What is it with ninja's and sidescrolling? They can't get enough of it. And they all seem to be good ninja's, too. This time around, you're a ninja cop, which probably raises quite a few questions regarding police brutality, come to think of it...

Anyway, Ninja Five-O sees Joe Osugi putting the smackdown on whatever criminals cross his path, in an actioner platform for everybody's favourite handheld console, the Game Boy Advance. Why does there need to be another ninja-centric action platformer on the 1001 list?

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!

Play!

I was caught off guard by the last Wario title, and the fat maniac is back again in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, a Game Boy Advance title like no other.

Some games give you time to practice the controls. Some games tell you the rules of their world. WarioWare gives you five seconds and a one-word clue to figure out what to do before you fail.

Sounds pretty good, actually.

Astro Boy: Omega Factor

Go, go, gadget arm cannon!

I'm not a fan of Astro Boy. I think that's an important point to make at the start of post about Astro Boy: Omega Factor, a beat 'em up for the Game Boy Advance starring, obviously, Astro Boy.

It's mostly his look. A robot kid with far more weaponry hidden in his limbs than any robot should have, kid or not. It's unsettling and unappealing.

But maybe I can see past that with a well-developed video game on what appears to be the console of the moment. It's a beat 'em up. I can beat things up. Let's beat things up!

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

We're not in Transylvania anymore...

I keep saying that the Game Boy Advance is chucking out so many great titles that I really have to wonder just what an idiot I was when I had one. I used my GBA SP to play Ecks vs. Sever, for goodness sake - that's how out of touch with the handheld's library I was. So it's thanks to this 1001 list that I'm introduced to all the games I should have been playing, with Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow taking the reigns next.

Taking lots of cues from the success of Symphony of the Night, Aria of Sorrow builds upon the PlayStation hit and still manages to squash the action into a Game Boy cartridge. Dracula's Castle serves as our backdrop once more, as we Metroidvania our way through it in search of the big bad guy himself, no doubt.

Will this turn into yet another GBA title that I can't put down?

Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire

Gotta catch 'em all.

My name is Frank, and I am an addict.

I was surprised to see that the original Pokémon games most of us are aware of, Red and Blue weren't on the 1001 list. Even Pokémon Yellow, where the iconic Pikachu follows your every move, isn't down as a must-play title, despite the millions of copies sold across the world.

Only two (or four) games from the series make the list, the first of which are Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire. We're already into the third generation of Pokémon and are now on the Game Boy Advance, after the Color entries of the past. Why is this our jumping on point to the series?

Metroid Fusion

Are your objectives clear?

You wait ages for a Metroid game and then two come along at once. That was the situation back in 2002, only I wasn't waiting for a Metroid game. I'd never played one at that point in my life - didn't know what people were desperately waiting for. Nintendo gave the fans something, though, and the 1001 list says we should play them both, starting with Metroid Fusion.

Described as the forgotten middle child, Fusion was released on the Game Boy Advance as a sequel to Super Metroid. Eight years had passed since the last release. Entire consoles had come and gone. Were players that hungry for the next part of the story?

I'm looking forward to finding out.

Golden Sun

"Please, dear, wake up."

When you finally take Advance Wars out of your Game Boy Advance, you might wonder what else you can put in instead. According to the 1001 list, old school RPG Golden Sun is worth a look. Well, more than a look, it's a must-play video game. I wonder why that is.

I've never heard of the series before, so I've no idea what I'm in for. There's no better way to find out than by diving right in.

Advance Wars

"What?!? Even my medium tanks are defeated??? THAT NELL!!!"

Source // MobyGames

Help. I started playing Advance Wars after lunch, and now four hours have gone by, and I'm still playing it. It's just... it's quite good this. Oh, when will I find the time to play this?

I had a Game Boy Advance. I waited until the SP model to get one, but I got one, and it was a great little handheld. Why I never picked up Advance Wars for it is anyone's guess because this cartoony turn-based tactics game has devoured my attention this afternoon. I guess I just had absolutely no knowledge about GBA games back in the day unless I knew I wanted to own something.

Well, now I only want to play Advance Wars. Why is that?

Mario Kart: Super Circuit

Let's go!

Handhelds and racing games. They're a pretty good combination. I'd certainly not shudder at the thought of playing one, and when the one you need to play is Mario Kart: Super Circuit, and the handheld is the Game Boy Advance, you can expect to have yourself a pretty darn good time.

Merging elements of Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart 64 together, Super Circuit is more of the same game that you know and love, squashed into a handheld that you were probably taking everywhere. How does it stack up to those two earlier games?

Final Fantasy V

Kweh!

I had to skip back through the 1001 list to double check I hadn't missed any, but no, it turns out that the first Final Fantasy title worth playing in the series is Final Fantasy V, and I know absolutely nothing about it.

I know about the series, but I've watched far, far more than I've played, and no matter what my views are playing them now, that's probably not going to change - but who knows?

Let's crack on with Final Fantasy V, where we're going to gather up a load of crystals, get real life jobs and kick anything that doesn't belong in this world out of it.

Simple.

Final Fight

Oh! My car.

Source // Wikipedia

I must admit to going completely blank when it came to remembering what Final Fight was. I knew I'd heard of it before, I didn't think I'd ever played it, and I knew it was significant. Somehow. Just don't know how, or why, or what it was - until I started playing, that is, and remembering all that.

Jessica, the daughter Metro City mayor, Mike Haggar, has been kidnapped by the Mad Gear gang. The only way to get her back is to do what they say... unless you happen to be a former professional wrestler whose kidnapped daughter is dating a martial arts master skilled with knives, who also happens to be friends with a master ninja. I think your chances may be pretty good in this scenario...

So the question is simple: Will we save Jessica or will the streets be home to our Final Fight?

See what I did there? Damn right, you did.

International Karate +

Red and Blue could do better.

Source // Wikipedia

I would have said 'Another karate game? Already?', but I shouldn't because the likes of Karate Champ and Yie-Ar Kung Fu were released a good couple of years before International Karate +, meaning the developers at System 3 have had a good couple of years to see what works and make it perfect.

At least that's what I'm hoping they did. This can't be a filler game. You wouldn't fill a list of 1001 must play games with filler games, would you? No. I wouldn't. Anyway, that said, just what does International Karate + bring to the table?

Marble Madnesss

Let's all lose our marbles!

Source // Wikipedia

I don't ever recall playing Marble Madness, but I get the feeling I might have. Maybe I'm confusing it for playing an actual marble maze game made of wood and marbles, I don't know. What I do know though is that I know of it. That was a mouthful, but then again it is hard to bargle nawdle zouss with all these marbles in my mouth.

Jesus, what's become of me? Get back in the game.