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GBA and DS game recommendations

2,850
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9
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  • Age 28
  • Seen Nov 14, 2023
I've noticed that the majority of my GBA and DS games are Pokémon games. I want to add some variety. I'll list what I have and what I'm interested in and hopefully you guys can give me some recommendations.

For the GBA I have: Pokémon Sapphire, Emerald, and FireRed, and Final Fight One.
I'm looking to get FE Blazing Blade and Sacred Stones. Also looking at Golden Sun.

For the DS I have: Pokémon Diamond, Platinum, HeartGold, White, White 2 and Conquest. I also have Mario Kart DS and Starfy.

I like RPGs, action adventure, fighting, platformers and racing games.
 
8,279
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15
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  • Age 27
  • Seen yesterday
The World Ends with You is a good RPG. It has a unique combat system that takes advantage of the touch screen. Fantastic art direction.

I hear all of the Castlevania DS games are great.

Metroid Zero Mission is a good introduction to the series. Snappy controls. It has typical open-ended Metroidvania exploration, but it leaves more hints on where to go compared to something like Super Metroid.

If you liked Starfy, Kirby Super Star Ultra is similar and is a solid remake of the original SNES game.

999, Ace Attorney, and Ghost Trick are all fantastic visual novels if you like those.
 

Kai

Wayfarer
336
Posts
6
Years
DS: TWEWY (features adjustable difficulty), Kirby Super Star Ultra, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble , and Mega Man Zero Collection.
 

thedestinedblade

Radiant Cool Boy
3,340
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15
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Some GBA games I liked: Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis, Advance Wars 1 and 2, the Megaman Battle Network games, Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town. FFT Advance.

DS: Atelier Annie, Hotel Dusk: Room 215, the Professor Layton games, Chrono Trigger, Rune Factory 1-3, Inazuma Eleven, Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time and Bower's Inside Story. There is an FE game for the DS (Shadow Dragon), but I didn't particularly care for it. You might enjoy it though.
 
4,683
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10
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  • Age 29
  • Seen Mar 22, 2024
Definitely second The World Ends With You! Lot of great suggestions already, I also loved Minish Cap, Megaman Battle Network, Ace Attorney series and Harvest Moon: FoMT (although the latter 2 don't really fit your preferred genres)

I don't love VNs and back then I didn't even know what that kind of game was called, I just considered it a 'murder-mystery adventure' and played the hell out of the Ace Attorney games. But to each their own - my brother called it "the button-pushing game" since every time he saw me playing it I was pushing the button for more dialogue and he did not see the value in the story or mystery-solving aspects of it, as he also likes more action-y games. :P

A few more:

GBA
- Kirby: Nightmares in Dream Land
- LoZ: Link to the Past is a classic but tbh I'm not sure if it has aged well since I haven't replayed it
- Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance
- Medabots (there's a Metabee version and Rokusho version, but IIRC they are virtually the same except a for a few version-exclusive Medabots, kinda like in Pokémon games - if you don't know what Medabots are, neither did I when I got these games, but I still had a blast)

DS
- Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
- Yoshi's Island DS
- Lost in Blue - again, not quite a fit for your genres but it was a real hidden gem for me; I think it's pretty underrated and worth checking out (survival game)

I did play these as a child so I am unsure if they hold up for someone a bit older as I haven't replayed most of them, I just remember loving these games.
 
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955
Posts
12
Years
I would recommend Solatorobo for the DS, IT'S BEAUTIFUL!.... Or Golden Sun: Dark Dawn on the DS.

that or check out the Gamer's Obscurea Topic I posted, there's a game list of DS, GBA, PC, PS2 and so on there; mostly games noone has never heard of before.

If you have, I did all I could.
 

BlazingCobaltX

big mood. bye
1,260
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14
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  • Age 26
  • Seen Jun 19, 2019
The Mario & Luigi series, especially Superstar Saga (if you don't have the 3DS remake) and Bowser's Inside Story. I agree with all other recommendations given here.
 

Desert Stream~

Holy Kipper!
3,269
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8
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  • Age 33
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Pretty much what's already been said :p There's a lot of Dragon quest games on DS, those are pretty good too.
 

Sonata

Don't let me disappear
13,642
Posts
11
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Get the Golden Sun game for DS as well. The Digimon games which came out on the DS were good too - Digimon World DS is one that I've played numerous times, whereas Dawn/Dusk I only got partway through a few times before setting it aside for something else.
 

Yukari

Guest
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The six castlevania games spread across the GBA and DS all get my highest recommendation. (Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, and Aria of Sorrow on GBA, Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia on the DS.) While I'm speaking of Metroidvania the Metroid games are good too, but I'm not nearly as familiar with that series.

Radiant Historia and the Dragon Quest Series are really solid recommendations for the DS. If you can pick some of those games up they're excellent. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 1 and 2 are both excellent Strategy RPGs on the DS. If you enjoy Fire Emblem you should probably give them a shot.
 
127
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6
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  • Age 31
  • Seen Jul 19, 2018
GBA: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Dragonball Z: Legacy of Goku I and II, Yoshi's Island

DS: Dragon Quest IV, V, VI, and IX
 

Nathan

Blade of Justice
4,066
Posts
11
Years
haven't played many ds games so my recommendations will be gba stuff.

final fantasy 4/5/6 advance, they're always great rpgs. always agree with those who mentioned advance wars and the megaman zero collection. anything castlevania. also had fun with summon night swordcraft story 1 & 2 so you could possibly try those as well.
 
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