These are the GBA games Destructoid most want to see on Nintendo Switch Online

Get the GBA at NSO ASAP

If there’s one thing I’m going to miss when the Wii U and 3DS eShops finally close their doors forever, it’s actually being able to buy the old games I remember from my childhood from the virtual console. Nintendo has the richest back catalog of any developer in the industry today, and it’s just a shame that the only way we can experience some of these titles in the future is with Nintendo Switch Online. Do not misunderstand me. I like the service and I think the selection of NES and SNES titles is pretty solid. But given how much of Nintendo’s history is tied to portable devices not currently available on the subscription service, fans are missing out on part of the company’s and industry’s legacy.

However, that may be changing. Recently, reports surfaced online that Nintendo’s emulator for Game Boy Advance was leaked with a handful of notable titles leaked next to it. Whether this is legal or not remains to be seen, but if this is the next thing for the Nintendo Switch Online service, think of me as excited (probably a lot more excited than I am about the N64 games as it’s slowly being added to Expansion). Pass level). I wanted to share my enthusiasm with the rest of the writers here at Destructoid, so I asked them to name the GBA title they would most like to see perform at NSO if this leak were to prove legal.

Ninja Five-O

The number one GBA game I would love to play on my Nintendo Switch will always be that Ninja Five-O. The action platform game, developed by Hudson Soft and released by Konami, flew far under the radar in 2003 and was released around the same time as Golden Sun: The Lost Age and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. The reviews were good, but the sales were dismal. The game disappeared from the market as quietly as it came in, only to grow in popularity when people start writing articles about the best GBA games. Unfortunately, this increase was too small to justify another print of the game, and the prices of original copies skyrocketed. I’ve never played Ninja Five-Obut I have wanted it for many years because of all the love it has received from the lucky few who managed to give the game a chance far back.

Here, however, is the catch. Ninja Five-O is one of the titles listed in the GBA Emulator leak, and it, along with a few others, actually makes me think that this leak might not be legal. Because it’s almost too perfect for an obscure but beloved GBA game that costs a fortune to buy these days, to appear on the list of compatible games for this emulator. That is entirely possible, I admit. NSO has you set some pretty obscure games before. But I just do not think we are so lucky or that this timeline is so generous. – CJ Andriessen

Mor 3

No one likes to make mistakes, but I would love it if all that I’ve heard about the last 5 years Mor 3‘s chances of being brought abroad turned out to be outdated information. If you have not heard of the game before, then you have a lot to come after. First published in Japan 16 years ago, Mor 3 is a comic, tragic tale. With heartbreaking deaths, multiple gender-non-conformist characters and messages about anti-capitalism and anti-TV (!), An unchanged release of Mor 3 on the Western Switch Online service would definitely make headlines. Fans who have been demanding it for years would go bananas. Others would demand a boycott of Nintendo for being (gasp!) “Too awake”.

It’s hard to imagine Nintendo wanting to deal with all this controversy, but again, I would love to be wrong if that meant I had to play the best RPG of the GBA era on my Switch. – Jonathan Holmes

Favor Super Heroes

An often forgotten gem in the Treasure catalog, Favor Super Heroes (also known as Gunstar Future Heroes) was released on Game Boy Advance in 2005 and serves as a direct sequel to the beloved 1993 Sega Mega Drive classic. of the terrifying overlord, Golden Silver.

Favor Super Heroes takes the explosive, pixelated, run ‘n’ gun chaos from its predecessor and scales it down to the diminutive shape of the handheld console. While the wide arsenal of weapons, creative boss battles and dynamic battles are all present and correct, Favor Super Heroes includes funky fresh maneuvers, fun new characters and bosses and even a new gender for the protagonist Red – now a gunman.

Although highly rated by critics, they even won “Best GBA Games” at E3 2005, Favor Super Heroes so unfortunately not sales success. And while it’s hardly a five-star release, this pocket-sized blaster is much like the whole Gunstar Heroes franchise, deserves better than languishing in “Where Are They Now?” file. – Chris Moyse

Pokémon LeafGreen

It may be shocking to hear, but I’m currently embarking on my Pokémon journey for the first time as an adult, after I was banned from playing any of the games as a child. There was a lot of debate among my Pokémon-loving friends about which game to start with, but we eventually decided that Leaf green was the best option – and I do not think there could have been a better choice.

As I play it, I keep imagining that I’m 10 years old when I go out on this adventure for the first time, and it reigns. It may be a simple game, but it’s so well designed that I find its gameplay loop engaging, even enchanting.

So with as much fun as I have had, the only downside is that because I play it on a ROM on my friend’s computer, I can only play it when I go to him. Having it on a handheld console would not only be convenient, but I also think it would be another great way to emulate the original Leaf green experience for myself even though I missed that boat fifteen years ago. I would definitely look forward to the other games on the leaked list that I have not played yet (of which there are many), but I think I would start with this if it were included. – Noelle Warner

Wario Land 4

Give me a Nintendo Switch Wario Land 4 loaded on it and I want to play it – it all. Right there and then. I collect every single jewel and even make the baseball mini-game.

This ended up being the very first Game Boy Advance game I was able to play and it impressed me personally. It felt like a big leap visually. Heck, when you look at random screenshots today, the crisp, colorful, gnarled pixel art holds up so well – especially the bosses and the Wario transformations. I wish more games looked like this!

Although I have not gone back to play all the previous ones Wario games (and I probably never will, to be honest), there’s something about it Wario Land 4 which resonates with me to this day. It has it “Wow, this is it immediately fun “factor that goes for it, as well as memorable art, animation and music. Jumping into blocks and weirdos just feels right. And even though the game is available to me on the Wii U and 3DS, it also deserves a place on the Switch . – Jordan Devore

Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation 1 & 2

GBA had a lot of unforgettable games, but of them all (except maybe Final Fantasy Tactics Advance), I want to see Atlus’ ports off Super Robot Wars OG and OG2. At the time, they were so unsure of its attractiveness in the West that they went for the untranslated Super Robot Taisen title, even! I like Super Robot Warsbut even after the frankly miraculous overseas release of Super Robot Wars 30, my favorites are still the “Original Generation” titles, which use the various game-exclusive characters and designs as the stars in their own environment. So rather than a funky excuse to have Char from Gundam hang out with Shinji from Evangelion and what-have-you, I have always felt that AND the series has operated under more pressure to stand on its own, with interesting bows and funny characters that do not lean up to the extreme brand recognition a classic mecha gets you.

Of course, at this point, the ideal situation would be for Bandai Namco to improve and port over the PS3 era Super Robot Wars OGSbut if we’re talking about GBA games that exist and that I would like to see more people play, it’s them. – Josh Tolentino

Astro Boy: Omega Factor

Everything I have ever seen, seen or read related to Astro boy has been extremely incoherent and strange, making it perfect for the legendary developer Treasure (so amazing that they have already been shown on this list with Gunstar Super Heroes). Astro Boy: Omega Factor was an easy title to overlook back in 2004, and the only reason I chose it out of an offer bucket was its pedigree. It lives up to these papers by showing ridiculous attacks, over-the-top gameplay and tight graphics. Honestly, I think the Treasures library should always be treasured, so it would be great to see this cult classic get another chance.

What are the chances that someone will review all the necessary licenses to make this happen? About as likely as someone trying to republish McDonald’s Treasure Land Adventureit should be done, but I believe in it when I see it. – Zoey Handley

Boktai: The sun is in your hand

There is no shortage of excellent GBA games that could continue here because the GBA is a pretty awesome little device. It has RPGs, platform players, and even some of its fighting games are not half bad. But if we’re making a Dream-Switch Online lineup, I’d like to see some swings for the fences. Let’s the often forgotten Hideo Kojima handheld classic Boktai: The sun is in your hand.

Boktai infamously used a detector to capture sunlight as part of its nuclear mechanics. As much as extremely dual-screen Nintendo DS games, this makes it a bit more of a mystery to port-forward. But Boktai is also an interesting piece of the Game Boy Advances library; it’s an action RPG with some cool mechanics and an exciting setting. Sunlight is not only a gameplay feature, but also lore. I would love to see this continue in an updated way to at least showcase the alien experiments in the GBA’s library. – Eric Van Allen

*****

So many great games mentioned above and so many more that did not reach the cut, inclusive Bore Dozer, Golden Sun.and Kirby and the amazing mirror. But as Eric says, the GBA is a pretty awesome device with a solid library of great games across multiple genres that I can’t wait to get rolled out very slowly on the Nintendo Switch Online service. That’s our list. What are the games you most want to see pop up?