13th February 2007, 10:08 PM
Yes, that's Fire Emblem (except for where you call it a "strategy/RPG". It's a strategy game, not "strategy-RPG". No, I won't give up on my position that that genre doesn't exist! :) They're just strategy games with RPG features, not a whole separate genre...), and those are my two favorite games on the GBA.
As for Riviera, see my review here. It's long because of how much I loved the game. :)
Summon Night (and its sequel) are action-RPGs with random, sidescrolling-combat battles (think Tales of Phantasia, but a lot faster and more fun -- you have one character who fights and a helping 'Guardian Beast' (you get one of four, chosen at the beginning of the game) which lets you cast spells and stuff.). The story (and the game) is kind of simple, but fun, and the script is simply fantastic... it's one of the funniest GBA games I've ever played... :D It's not hugely deep, long, or challenging, but it's a lot of fun and worth playing. The sequel is easier to find... I like the first one more, because of its more unique setting and story (it is set in a industrial-style city in the middle of the ocean, and the main dungeon is a 100 floor dungeon under the city -- yes, this means that it repeats a lot graphically, but I didn't care at all... it gives it a focus that most RPGs lack. The plot is about your character (male or female, the game is pretty much the same either way. Guardian Beast choice makes a much greater effect on the plot.), the child of a Craftlord (city leader, essentially), trying to become a Craftlord in a tournament. It's broken up into days and the NPCs in town change what they say each day, and your ending is determined by which of the major NPC characters you talk to at the end of the day the most (well, it's actually determined by who you talk to at the end of one specific day near the end, but close enough) but Summon Night Swordcraft Story 2 is good as well (it's in a rural town... better production values and more flashy graphics, as you'd expect, but it feels more 'traditional RPG setting' and didn't interest me quite as much... plus, I like the main characters in the first game better. And Sugar is hilarious, none of the second game's Guardian Beasts are that great...).
Advance Wars... don't you know those games? Strategy games bordering on wargames... great stuff of course.
Yggdra Union is another strategy game, this time by the makers of Riviera. It's hard, complex, and sometimes frusterating, but has great visual style and is a lot of fun. Anyone who wants more GBA strategy games (closer to Fire Emblem than anything, but utterly unique) should get it... while challenging, it's worth the effort. The story is only decent, but it's the gameplay that counts, and its gameplay is great... it'll just take a little while to get used to it. The most unique thing about the game is that you only get one attack per turn -- but it is a formation attack, so you can have up to five units attacking a formation of enemy units. Lots of strategic complexity. Also, it doesn't heal damage at the end of battles -- between battles you can use items (which you could also equipfor temporary stat boosts) that give you certain amount of morale (health essentially) back. It also uses cards; the card you pick on each turn determines the number of squares your troops can move this turn and affects how much damage you do (they replenish between phases of the battle or at the end of the battle). As I said, complex... but awesome... and with great graphics and artwork and good music, too.
Gradius Galaxies is... well... Gradius, but a new one, and for GBA... which means it's a great shmup. Very nice difficulty curve; on Easy it's very easy, but play a few loops or up the difficulty and it gets very hard... music isn't as good as some other games in the series, but it's still a fantastic game, and one of the best (and only) GBA-exclusive shmups.
Golden Sun is a traditional RPG, of course. That one's well known. And I don't think I have to describe Metroid...
Lady Sia's a sidescrolling action/platformer. Surprisingly good coming from a noname developer... I enjoyed it. It's not really long and difficult or anything, but fun while it lasts. Trying to unlock the hidden stages is a pain though, not worth it... the main game, though, was good.
Gunstar Super Heroes is an awesome sidescrolling action-shooter. Sequel (semi-remake, but sequel) to the Genesis game. Run. Shoot stuff. Repeat. Notice how awesome it is. :)
As for KOF EX2, it's a fighting game... for GBA fighting games, it's either that, Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival (SFII. Again.), Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max (decent version of a good fighting game), or Guilty Gear Advance (the worst of the four; it's not as good of a port as it could have been, I've heard), and I like KOF, so I got that one. (oh yes, KOF EX: Neo Blood Origin, the first KOF GBA game, is pretty bad... the second one is MUCH improved.)
As for Riviera, see my review here. It's long because of how much I loved the game. :)
Summon Night (and its sequel) are action-RPGs with random, sidescrolling-combat battles (think Tales of Phantasia, but a lot faster and more fun -- you have one character who fights and a helping 'Guardian Beast' (you get one of four, chosen at the beginning of the game) which lets you cast spells and stuff.). The story (and the game) is kind of simple, but fun, and the script is simply fantastic... it's one of the funniest GBA games I've ever played... :D It's not hugely deep, long, or challenging, but it's a lot of fun and worth playing. The sequel is easier to find... I like the first one more, because of its more unique setting and story (it is set in a industrial-style city in the middle of the ocean, and the main dungeon is a 100 floor dungeon under the city -- yes, this means that it repeats a lot graphically, but I didn't care at all... it gives it a focus that most RPGs lack. The plot is about your character (male or female, the game is pretty much the same either way. Guardian Beast choice makes a much greater effect on the plot.), the child of a Craftlord (city leader, essentially), trying to become a Craftlord in a tournament. It's broken up into days and the NPCs in town change what they say each day, and your ending is determined by which of the major NPC characters you talk to at the end of the day the most (well, it's actually determined by who you talk to at the end of one specific day near the end, but close enough) but Summon Night Swordcraft Story 2 is good as well (it's in a rural town... better production values and more flashy graphics, as you'd expect, but it feels more 'traditional RPG setting' and didn't interest me quite as much... plus, I like the main characters in the first game better. And Sugar is hilarious, none of the second game's Guardian Beasts are that great...).
Advance Wars... don't you know those games? Strategy games bordering on wargames... great stuff of course.
Yggdra Union is another strategy game, this time by the makers of Riviera. It's hard, complex, and sometimes frusterating, but has great visual style and is a lot of fun. Anyone who wants more GBA strategy games (closer to Fire Emblem than anything, but utterly unique) should get it... while challenging, it's worth the effort. The story is only decent, but it's the gameplay that counts, and its gameplay is great... it'll just take a little while to get used to it. The most unique thing about the game is that you only get one attack per turn -- but it is a formation attack, so you can have up to five units attacking a formation of enemy units. Lots of strategic complexity. Also, it doesn't heal damage at the end of battles -- between battles you can use items (which you could also equipfor temporary stat boosts) that give you certain amount of morale (health essentially) back. It also uses cards; the card you pick on each turn determines the number of squares your troops can move this turn and affects how much damage you do (they replenish between phases of the battle or at the end of the battle). As I said, complex... but awesome... and with great graphics and artwork and good music, too.
Gradius Galaxies is... well... Gradius, but a new one, and for GBA... which means it's a great shmup. Very nice difficulty curve; on Easy it's very easy, but play a few loops or up the difficulty and it gets very hard... music isn't as good as some other games in the series, but it's still a fantastic game, and one of the best (and only) GBA-exclusive shmups.
Golden Sun is a traditional RPG, of course. That one's well known. And I don't think I have to describe Metroid...
Lady Sia's a sidescrolling action/platformer. Surprisingly good coming from a noname developer... I enjoyed it. It's not really long and difficult or anything, but fun while it lasts. Trying to unlock the hidden stages is a pain though, not worth it... the main game, though, was good.
Gunstar Super Heroes is an awesome sidescrolling action-shooter. Sequel (semi-remake, but sequel) to the Genesis game. Run. Shoot stuff. Repeat. Notice how awesome it is. :)
As for KOF EX2, it's a fighting game... for GBA fighting games, it's either that, Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival (SFII. Again.), Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max (decent version of a good fighting game), or Guilty Gear Advance (the worst of the four; it's not as good of a port as it could have been, I've heard), and I like KOF, so I got that one. (oh yes, KOF EX: Neo Blood Origin, the first KOF GBA game, is pretty bad... the second one is MUCH improved.)