The Game Boy Advance was the first true sequel console to the Game Boy, which was released in 2001. The original system had poor lighting, but thanks to the GBA SP, players could actually see what they were doing. The handheld has dozens of games that still hold up, and most of them are available to play on Switch and Switch 2 consoles thanks to a Nintendo Online subscription.

Golden Sun, Metroid Fusion, and so many others. For every good game that holds up better than most, some others have not aged as well. These games are not completely bad, but thanks to advances in technology or sequels, there’s just something about them that makes them feel unplayable today on GBA hardware.

Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand

Impossible In So Many Ways

Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand was one of the coolest GBA games ever made, but actually playing it was admittedly a hassle. As a vampire hunter, players would travel across a world map and then find dungeons that housed vampire lords.

Defeating them and the guarding monsters required players to go outside and absorb literal sunlight to power up their solar gun in the game. Finding a cartridge of Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand, along with a working GBA system, seems impossible now, even though the game itself, sans sunlight, can still be fun.

Duke Nukem Advance

First-Person Shooters Have Come A Long Way On Handhelds

• Developer: Torus Games
• Publisher: Take-Two Interactive
• Platform: GBA
• Released: 8/13/02

Duke Nukem Advance was an impressive game on the GBA back in 2002 because there weren’t many first-person shooters on the system. Duke Nukem, as a franchise, was also still relatively hot, so to get a game in the series on the GBA was a big deal. It was not the Halo of the GBA, but it looked and played fine enough for what it was.

That said, it is far less impressive now that first-shooters on handhelds have come a long way that even some games on the DS hold up better visually and in terms of gameplay, whereas Duke Nukem Advance falls short.

Grand Theft Auto Advance

The Top-Down GTA Is Dead

More impressive than Duke Nukem Advance was Grand Theft Auto Advance, an exclusive Rockstar-approved Grand Theft Auto entry that most fans forgot about. It used the classic top-down style to tell its story, and even though it was on the GBA, it was not a kid-friendly experience.

Players could do all manner of crime, from shooting civilians to stealing cars, and that classic Wanted meter was still around. Regarding the franchise, the top-down entries are all forgettable now, including Grand Theft Auto Advance, but it is still important to remember the stepping stones, which led to the superior Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars that started as a DS exclusive and is still great.

Harry Potter And The Prisoner of Azkaban

A Golden Sun-Like

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was an adaptation of the third Harry Potter film, but unlike the puzzle platformers on the main consoles, this game was much different. The combat and traversal systems were very similar to Golden Sun, complete with using magic to solve puzzles in dungeons.

Most impressive were the battles that were nicely animated at the time. This GBA adaptation is still the best one for the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban movie and still ranks up there as a good Harry Potter game overall, but the bar is set so low that comparing it to an actual GBA RPG would be ridiculous.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit

Like Racing Tanks

Mario Kart: Super Circuit was a throwback to the original game on the SNES, but visually, it looked better. There were more characters and courses, plus steering was mildly better than the SNES game.

That said, going back to it now after going through multiple other portable entries makes the game seem as rough as the SNES game. It’s just not a fun game to control, but the graphics do admittedly hold up, along with the content itself being good if there are any positives to name.

Max Payne

A Good Pared-Down Experience

Max Payne is another Rockstar-published game on the GBA that was surprising to see. It’s a somewhat faithful adaptation of the original game, complete with narrations, although they are in static speech bubbles now. The game does not hold back on the violence and content in all its pixelated top-down glory, from the gunkata moves to popping pills like there was no tomorrow.

It wasn’t as fun as the PS2 version, but it was a good action game on the GBA in 2003 that doesn’t quite hit as hard today, as the more “realistic” graphics no longer look good.

Mega Man Battle Network

Dealing With Random Enemies

Mega Man Battle Network was the first true RPG the Mega Man franchise ever got, and for a generation, including the sequels, it was everything. At the core, this original game still looks absolutely stunning, with the sprite work on the overworld maps and the battle animations.

The thing that doesn’t hold up is the gameplay style in the dungeons, as it uses randomized enemies, and they are very frequent. These battles are fun, but they become monotonous when every few steps another one starts and artistically lengthens the experience.

Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire

A Series That Has Evolved Way Too Much

Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire were the two games that made up the third Generation of Pokemon games, and it’s at this point that the fandom started to split, even back then. Looking back now, the game does have some good music, some good Pokemon, and some great visuals.

However, the Pokemon games have evolved so much that going back to a lot of these games now is a chore. Finding Pokemon in tall grass, the speed of battles, how Pokemon level up, the traversal methods, and so much more are dated mechanics that make the modern games practically feel like a hundred years in the future.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

Better Stealth Games Now

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is another game like Max Payne that tried to make its GBA adaptation look more realistic with its human characters. They are big on-screen presences that looked unlike a lot of GBA visuals at the time.

While the lighting was not as impressive as the original Xbox game, it was still a fun 2D stealth game, which was one of the very few on the GBA. Stealth fans made do in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, and while this GBA adaptation is far from being an abomination today, it’s just not a game that anyone should play without context.

Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 2

A Slow-Paced Tactical Game

The Super Robot Taisen, or Super Robot Wars, series began on the Game Boy in 1991 in Japan and featured tactical battles against mechs in a crossover anime experience. Most games remain exclusive to Japan, with the GBA getting two of the games in North America for the first time. albeit lesser spinoffs: Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation and its sequel.

The second game holds up a bit better as it was a bit more ambitious, but neither of these games can hold a candle to the main entries that tactical fans were missing out on, thanks to a lack of impressive visuals and classic anime representation. If RPG mech fans really want to experience a good entry on the GBA, they should check out Super Robot Taisen J, which does have an English patch.