It's been a while since I've done one of these, hasn't it? Well, regardless, it's time to give the ol' GBA a proper sending-off, and what better way to do it than by naming off its best titles.

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10. Advance Guardian Heroes

This one's gotten a lot of undeserved flak, much of it directed at the fact that it's a fairly linear and short game compared to its precursor, or, more retardedly, its soundtrack not being as good as its precuror's (because, of course, stereo, 128KBS Redbook audio can be transferred flawlessly to a mono, portable SNES' sound processor).

In spite of both of these facts, though, this turned out to be a pretty damn fun game. Think Double Dragon meets Mischief Makers, with a bit of the original Guardian Heroes thrown on top. You'll do battle with enormous hordes of enemies using homing punches, ground-shaking blasts that harm all enemies onscreen, fireballs, lightning bolts, and your "Advance Mode" that gives you invincibility and double your normal speed for a brief period. Add in some downright wild scripted events - riding misiles, surfing down a river while battling robots and an enormous metal sphere, and taking apart an enormous mechanical enemy piece by piece with flurries of punches - and you have one wild game. Even more astonishing, there's barely a hint of slowdown during all this action.

So yes, while AGH may be almost a totally different game from the original Guardian Heroes, it's still a blast to play. There aren't too many games that can deviate so far from their originals and still be fun.

9. Double Dragon Advance

A series left idle since the early days of the SNES made a triumphant return to the Game Boy Advance with surprisingly little fanfare. Which is very unfortunate, as I dare say this is the best game in the entire series. Fixing a lot of the things that were wrong with its predecessors, DDA Features fluid controls, solid hit detection and a difficulty curve that manages to be challenging without being incredibly frustrating. They even added a two-player link mode so you can kick all sorts of ass with a friend (if they can find another copy of the game, that is).

8. Metroid: Zero Mission

Metroid Fusion is perhaps the most controversial game in the Metroid series; while many enjoyed it for its surprisingly deep storyline, long-time fans were turned off by the fact that it brought linearity to a series known for its free-roaming gameplay. It may be because of this that Nintendo struck a balance with Zero Mission. Essentially a remake of the original Metroid, the game features many new bosses, a handful of items not seen in the original and several animated story scenes to advance the plotline without being overly verbose (or linear). It actually works out quite well; the game's only stumbling block is a really clumsily-implemented stealth stage near the end.

7. Drill Dozer

Another one that seems to have gone largely unnoticed; hell, hit up Amazon and you can find brand new copies for only $8 now. A platformer that manages to use one gimmick in a lot of creative ways, you'll use your Drill Dozer to cross long pits, deflect bullets, traverse mazes of regenerating blocks, traverse mazes of thermal detectors by switching your engines off as they sweep over you, and perhaps most cleverly, playing "hot potato" with an enemy mech using live missiles. My only complaint is that some puzzles get pretty frustrating, and the fact that it seems to end too soon - while the stages are fairly long, there are only a total of twelve in the game.

6. Wario Ware: Twisted!

Ah Wario Ware, Nintendo's little collections of absolute insanity. The series, like any success, would spawn many imitators, including the abismal W.T.F. and Hot Pixel for PSP, but nothing can match up to the real deal.

Even among the real games, though, none can match up to Twisted. The gimmick in this entry is a motion sensor built into the cartridge itself, which is put to use in over 200 minigames - balancing while walking a tiny bridge between two buildings, dodging charging bulls, eating watermelons, throwing boomerangs, and even playing a version of Super Mario Brothers wrapped around a sphere, to name a few. There are also a few other creative twists, like throwing much faster "Frantic Fronk" games randomly into the mix, stages where all the games operate on one timer that extends as you complete games (as opposed to being finished in 4 seconds regardless). Not to mention that the game has some of the most ridiculous unlockables ever. Hell, I dare you to name one other game where you grind an SUV into tiny shreds with a cheese grater.

5. Final Fantasy V Advance

Finally, a decent stateside release of this Final Fantasy title; no unnecessarily long load times (what's the deal with Square's ports having those anyway?) or dopey out-of-place cinematics, just a nice, portable version of the game to play on the road. Add in four new character classes, character portraits, a new post-game quest and some redone (and much more humorous) dialog and you've got a solid version of an already great RPG.

4. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

One of the best games in the entire series, and that's saying a lot. The core gameplay doesn't stray terribly from the Castlevania formula, but hey, it doesn't need to; they're top-notch among action platformers. Add in some great visuals, music and controls and a neat "Tactical Soul" system that lets you customize your abilities in various ways by gathering the souls of defeated enemies, and you have a game with a surprising amount of depth. Of course, this also says nothing of the unique take on the story; I won't spoil it here, but it's a pretty clever reversal of the series norm.

3. River City Ransom EX

A perfect example of how to do a remake; this game took everything that made the original great and made it better. Adding a plethora of new items and abilities, expanding the story mode by adding several recruitable characters, and even allowing full customizability of your character, this game was pure greatness. Hell, it may even have made #1 if not for the fatal flaw of not including a two-player mode. Seriously, what's up with that? They now have the technology to avoid a ton of slowdown in 2P mode and they don't even bother with it?

2. Advance Wars

To date, this is probably still my most-played GBA game, and with good reason; it's a fun little strategy title with a surprising amount of challenge and depth. If the plain Story Mode and an even harder Advance Campaign weren't enough, there's also a ton of War Room challenges, custom map building, and best of all, up to four players can compete with one another either on a single cart or by linking up multiple systems, giving it nearly infinite replay value. It's since been surpassed by Advance Wars DS and Days of Ruin, but as early-generation titles go this is one of the best.

1. Astro Boy: Omega Factor

Treasure, Sega, Hitmaker and Osamu Tezuka's Star System combined to make one of the best games of all time. A game as varied as it is challenging, combining side-scrolling shootemup stages, brawler stages, and Treasure's trademarks - enormous, superpowered bosses and surprisingly deep combat mechanics. Top it off with fluid controls, oustanding visuals and music and a great storyline and you have the total package. You're doing yourself a great disservice if you've never played Astro Boy.

- Vinic <- 8:38:00 am, friday, may 2nd, 2008 pdt
- Spoony Spoonicus <- 6:27:49 pm, friday, may 2nd, 2008 pdt
- Vinic <- 4:52:38 am, saturday, may 3rd, 2008 pdt