
The boss battles were also intriguing: after you defeated each villain, they would retreat into a coffin that you then had to drag out of the creature’s castle, retracing all the steps you took to get inside in the first place.
Must play gameboy advance games full#
The game also became a lot more difficult after sunset because the enemies would be out in full force as well. And you needed to be outside - standing next to a window or a bright fluorescent light didn’t do the trick, and an internal clock ensured you couldn’t cheat with a sun lamp at night. The game’s hero, Django, wielded a “solar gun” that was charged by the light gathered by the sensor. It wouldn’t be a Kojima game without some weird gameplay gimmicks and Boktai had its share, most notably in the solar sensor embedded into the cartridge. Boktai was basically a stealth action game like Metal Gear Solid, but with vampires and zombies. If the Game Boy Advance could be said to have any cult classics, this title from Hideo Kojima would be at the top of the list. Advance Wars is probably why I’m still contending with Into The Breach. I haven’t played the original for years (more than a decade, if I’m honest), but it prepared me for the more complicated, richer sequels that came after it, with their increased challenges. The unit icons and split-screen battles were more than adequate, and you didn’t need many buttons to bark orders to your forces. Advance Wars didn’t really suffer, though. The original Advance Wars knows you’re only human, or at least not old enough to drink alcohol.Ī lot of games were constrained by the limits of the Game Boy Advance, which is a meandering way of saying it had a small screen and not many buttons. Unlike games like Wargroove, which acts as a spiritual successor of sorts for Advance Wars, each move wasn’t necessarily make-or-break either. It’s easy to pick up and play, and forgiving enough for beginners to make their first tentative steps into the hugely satisfying tactics genre. The first few levels demonstrate the benefits of fortified structures, high mobility units and setting up your base before pitting you against more capable generals and threats.

No, you can’t just order your units toward the enemy - you have to think it out. With initially simple rules of what each unit does, contrasting human soldiers to tanks, then bigger tanks, artillery, ships and planes, the game holds your hand throughout.
Must play gameboy advance games series#
Intelligent Systems’ Advance Wars series is the perfect first turn-based strategy game. With cute infantry icons and tanks that squished around grid-based skirmishes, this was Game Boy Does War. Before I played the Fire Emblem series, let alone newer tactical titles like Into The Breach or Mario + Rabbids, it all started with Advance Wars.
