Criminally Underrated GBA Games

[Music] [Music] the boy advance was no stranger to quality platformers there were plenty of games for fans of the genre to enjoy but much like the first game in the series on the playstation 1 clinoa 2 found itself hitting below the radar and as a result didn't get as much of a fair shake because the more popular franchises on the handheld did all the elements from the kalinoa franchise have returned and many things have stayed the same mainly the goal of each stage which is to use enemies blocks and many other resources available to you to seek out free star stones and reach the exit to do this you'll be forced to capture enemies with clonoa's ring to use them as a sort of double jump to get over walls or obstacles or having to hurl them at a switch or breakable item in order to advance in the beginning the levels involve pretty much just that tossing and jumping on enemies but things soon get much more complicated after the first simple levels unlike the title before this one which had simple puzzles that even repeat themselves but even with difficulty this game still doesn't cause a lot of frustration if you've played the previous installment on the gba nothing will seem new about half of the sprites and animations have been recycled but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing all of the animations and environments look crisp colorful and detailed plus the game's cutscenes can be somewhat amusing too everything runs smoothly as well with absolutely no frame drops which makes playing clone number 2 an absolute delight if you're on the lookout for something new to add to your collection clinoa 2 well and truly deserves a spot [Music] scratch hive was released for two of nintendo's handheld systems both the game boy advance and the nintendo ds it saw you assuming the role of jenosa an elite bounty hunter who's been hired to discover what happened to a secret military research lab after a series of strange distress calls on the way there your spaceship is shot at as you approach the lap and as you investigate the damage you discover that your ship and your body have been infected with the scourge the stage is some sort of hive mind bio energy being which lives only to spread itself and take over anything you can this aspect goes hand in hand with the gameplay which has some great ideas the game takes place from an isometric perspective and is essentially a shooter you run around shooting enemies and solving puzzles to open new doors and get key cards to let you progress further through the complex most of the action is blasting enemies and careful jumping although there are some special items which are mostly useful for solving puzzles the star of the show is the scourge infection itself though as time passes on your infection level climbs from 1 to 100 and when it reaches 100 your hp begins to drain this is a great mechanic which adds a ton of tension to the otherwise undistinguished platforming shooting adventure the biggest flaw in the gameplay however is the lack of variety every single level is the same you run around collecting key cards on opening doors drag security orbs to open locks to the boss door go in kill the boss rinse and repeat thankfully the action more than makes up for the general lack of diversity and while never reaching the highest of say the metroid series screech hive is still well worth checking out [Music] iridium 2 is the sequel to the launch title iridium 3d and is a fine example of a developer learning from their mistakes but with the bad reputation the first entry has many passed this one by not knowing what they were missing sometimes it seems a little redundant explaining the gameplay portion of the shooter but there are some new additions here the change is a few but make everything seem so different from the last installment starting with a new perspective that the game takes which is that of a vertical scrolling somewhat isometric view instead of a rear view like the first game this simple change makes it 10 times easier to see what the actual hell is going on and instantly makes meridian 2 far superior as with most shooters you can expect to have a generous amount of weaponry which can all be upgraded throughout the course of the game mainly by acquiring special items known as pods that add a serious punch to your offensive efforts there are two bosses for a stage one in the middle and one at the end with all of them having some interesting or creative attacks to throw at you but most of the time they don't provide that much of a challenge and less placed in hard mode and even then they aren't the hardest bosses in the world in fact the whole game is actually rather easy outside of hard mode so i recommend that you skip easy and normal to get the most enjoyment out of it i'm not gonna lie the game is also incredibly short and doesn't really offer up any sort of replay value once you've made your way through it despite that though iridium 2 provides what is quite possibly one of the most technically impressive games on the gba if you're a lover of shooters this is definitely one to add to your list [Music] when you think of a ninja game what do you imagine perhaps something along the lines of shinobi or ninja gaiden do you see a vast empire stretching across the orient like in dynasty warriors or maybe you envision these four pizza-loving turtles from new york city you'd never even consider an urban police detective working the gritty city soon enter joe the lead crime detective of the precinct this axe ninja has changed occupations opting for a more practical line of work of course old habits die hard and despite the bland name and presumably low paying salary joe still retains all of the elite training of the ninja discipline using his superior abilities joe is able to crack down on the massive crime wave hitting the city and instead of carrying around a 9 millimeter and a bulletproof vest the detective is armed with a thin shroud of fabric and its trusty sword using only the basic tools of the ninja it's up to you to stop whatever illegal activities that lay in your path and restore safety to the community and as our ninja makes his way through the rough and tough areas of the city he'll have to face all sorts of evil and twisted minions of the cd underground thankfully his mad ninja skills come in handy time and time again you've got a standard katana to bring down some heavy duty punishment on the evildoers and in case you find yourself in a tight situation our hero comes with an unlimited supply of throwing styles if you don't want to risk close range combat you can launch a few of these projectiles at your enemies and watch as their star ridden corpses collapse onto the cold floor and if that isn't enough your throwing stars can be upgraded into fireballs and lasers to add even more spice to your deadly arsenal of course joe has got one last trick up his sleeve and it all revolves around a small gauge at the top of the screen if you let the gauge fill up you can execute an attack of unprecedented speed and deadly accuracy all these years later i've always hoped that in some form we could get a continuation of the series but much like any other konami property it looks like it's destined to be forgotten [Music] when it comes to racing the game boy advance was no slouch with the likes of mario kart and f0 the handheld provided many different takes on the genre but one that never got the attention it deserved had to be gt advance free after a minor detour in the form of a rally racing game gt advance returned for its third entry and this time around it was remarkably similar to the first game in the series although many of the minor issues have been ironed out resulting in a much better and more enjoyable racing game now unlike most other races on the system that focus more on casual play gt advance 3 took it up a notch and attempted to provide a realistic experience but did it succeed well for the most part yes the best way to think about it is that it's like a sort of bite-sized gran turismo players will choose a car and then race in a series of events unlocking parts and cars as they go as with the first and second games the driving is very simple provided you know the function of an accelerator and a prick you should be fine unlike its predecessors there really isn't much precision driving to be found nor is it necessary because the opponent's ai isn't that challenging rather than picking out the perfect line through a track players are better off just throwing on the brakes and sliding through corners it may not require a lot of skill but it sure is a blast to play i can't say if gt advance 3 is the best racer on the gameboy advance but this is certainly the best i've encountered and arguably the best title in the gt advanced series if you want to always have a racing title close by this game will certainly fit the bill there's collecting racing mini games and multiplayer you just cannot go wrong astro boy begins with the birth of the robot boy himself after dying in a horrible car collision tobio is reborn as astro boy the game begins at this point with your doctor teaching you how to play from here on begins his strong and constantly moving narrative that in fact has more depth and soul than many of the games you'll find on the handheld the story explores all sorts of moral questions and even relationships between people and robots you wouldn't believe a side scroller could pull this off but astro boy hits it right out of the park of course the story wouldn't be much without the gameplay to back it up an astro boy delivers in spades utilizing a combination of punching kicking jet propulsion and lasers is your job to crush every enemy in your path while also saving human and robot lives mostly gameplay consists of travelling from one end of the screen to another but the game is broken up by all different kinds of obstacles in one area you'll have to navigate a deadly electrical maze or in another you'll need to fight your way down an elevator shaft basically the game almost never bogs you down with a dull moment but the bosses man this is where the game takes it to the next level you can really tell hitmaker took their time to make sure that every boss battle was as unique and fun as possible with each of them offering up their own distinct challenge that tests your knowledge of the mechanics in play with its solid sprite work colorful levels great animations and awesome sprite scaling effects a lot of thought must have gone into the game's artwork and it really shines through every pixel it's a wonder why this game didn't fly off the shelves it has everything going for it once you beat it you're not even done the game unlocks more for you to do and even more story to be uncovered ignore the fact that this game is based on a license and a kid show and pick it up it's just that good when pokemon was released in japan in 1996 it was a huge success leading to many clones for various systems but mostly for the game boy of these a few were actually quite original despite having borrowed so much from pokemon to begin with one of these was a game called medabots by natsumi the gameboy advanced beijing is essentially a remake of the first game with the plot revolving around a gang of thieves called the rubberogang a police voice a masked superhero and of course our main character ippy who is a walking database of matabots and who also happens to get caught up in the conflict between the three groups after buying a medabot with money he was supposed to use to buy dinner with like i mentioned earlier metabolites was a knockoff of the pokemon concept however meadowbots does it with a big twist instead of collecting monsters to be raised and evolved players collect robot parts and mix and match them as they please to create their own custom robots each of them must consist of six parts head torso left and right arms legs a central processor known as metal and finally a tin pad which is basically a skeleton all of these pieces have their own attributes however only the metal gains experience and for our play it will constantly change shape depending on how many times you use them on your robot targeting specific parts of enemy's bodies will either speed up or hinder the process depending on which robot and attack you are using there's a lot of trial and error involved but once it clicks it soon becomes one of the most engaging battle systems you'll find on the handheld if you fancy dipping your toes into the world of metabots the gba release offers the perfect jumping on point and will no doubt satisfy longtime fans of the genre with its intricate game playing systems [Music] bucktai is quite possibly one of the most unique games available on the gba if not one of the most unique games of all time it sees you taking on the role of a solo boy known as django son of a famous vampire hunter ringo formerly famous that is as he recently died at the hands of the count and a mortal demon wreaking havoc on the world the undead had taken over entire species are dying out and the earth is changing for the worse as his son you are not only entitled to revenge but also to his legacy the gun dissolve a potent weapon which uses the power of the sun to defeat undead foes now as far as gameplay goes baktai's claim to fame is the cartridge's most prominent feature a solar sensor the sensor picks up on solar light which is used in the game for multiple purposes many of the events are affected by the amount of light hitting the sensor such as traps puzzles even enemies in a related area boktai has an incredibly sophisticated timekeeping feature as well after entering an initial time and date and selecting the region where you live the game will intelligently determine near precise times for sunrise sunset and even full moons this is reflected in game with changing environments depending on the time of day for example zombies won't go outside in the daytime but other enemies may be more prevalent bogtai's gameplay is more than just a glossy polish though kojima's influence is clear as a major element of the game itself sure you can run up to an enemy and blast him to smithereens but more often than not this will make the zhang go very dead very fast the trick is to use your stealth techniques looking around the wall crawling and wall knocking to distract and manipulate your enemies making them easy to defeat or avoid entirely overall being tied to the sun in order to play quite simply might just be too demanding and problematic for many people but if you're lucky enough to live somewhere sunny black tie will not disappoint starting out life on the playstation 2 the zone of the anders series wouldn't be something you'd think would be possible on the gba but the fist of mass is a strategic rpg that leaves behind the 3d action of the originals and offers a completely different take on the franchise you control an army of macs on a map divided into a grid with each scene having its own objective it may be to kill all enemy forces and maybe to defeat the boss the scenarios are pretty diverse and it's generally very easy to tell what you're supposed to do moving and attacking with your units is the order of the day and you can use the terrain to boost your defensive capabilities when you attack and defeat enemy units you gain experience and may level up as well as cash which can go toward upgrading your max in between the scenes you can also gain extra abilities by downloading them from local servers which is scattered throughout certain areas on the mission maps in addition as you defeat enemies or sustained attacks your spirit rises when you reach certain amounts of spirit points your neck will gain new attacks as well these attacks are insane allowing you to do much more damage than before add to that a couple of in-battle abilities such as repair and supply and you pretty much have the game's combat in a nutshell now there are actually two ways to play the battles in the game you've got standard and ias or interactive action system when you attack you are given a certain amount of time to hit your enemy and you must lock on to your moving target and fire when attacked several crosshairs will appear on the screen and your job is to avoid them all by the time the time limit runs out which method you use is really just a matter of preference ias is by far the easier mode which also adds an element of action to the game now when it comes to visuals considering that this is not on a home system the graphics are pretty cool the battle animations are quite impressive and varied considerably from back to mac this game proves that the power of a machine has no bearing over visual quality as if it's in the hands of a competent developer they'll be able to play to the system's strengths a zone of the enders on the gba is a great example of exactly that if you're fond of strategic rpgs the fist of mars is well worth checking out uggs reunion is a strategic rpg that comes from the same people responsible for rivera and disgaea with that kind of resume you'd expect it to be one of the most well-known and celebrated games on the system but for some reason it just never hit the mark and would go on to be largely forgotten by many players now the game has two main characters the first one is ogdre a princess in exile from her country after it's invaded and ultimately taken over she crosses paths with the somewhat stereotypical thief melanor who agrees to help her regain her throne when it comes to gameplay it's a grid-based srpg with the most basic type of combat being when one individual challenges another rather than exchanging blows one on one though each side begins to clash with the strength of six warriors and here is ultra union's major catch each side can only initiate one skirmish per turn in order to involve the full force of your party in that single exchange you must form a union this game's terminology for unit formation as well as take advantage of a card system in which you build a deck of cards before the battle begins different cards grant you a bonus to the amount of damage you do increase the number of moves you can make and grant certain abilities to use in battle they become central to taking on the enemy and finding as many of them as you can throughout the world is something you'll want to keep in mind as you make your way through it if you've exhausted the usual suspects on the gba like fire emblem or advance was urged reunion is a solid srpg that well and truly deserves a look well that does it for today's video keep an eye out for part two as that will be coming up soon so don't forget to subscribe and hit that bell to get notified you can follow me on all of the socials to stay up to date and also join our growing community on discord to meet many like-minded gamers to continue the conversation with i'd like to give a special shout out to our patreon supporters rhino skill gym nano steve richard amy daniel quinn dio and paddy j for their continued support that helps make these videos possible you'll find all of the links in the description as always thanks for taking the time to watch the video i'll catch you next time [Music] just make me steal [Music]

Channel: That Video Games Show

Views: 182,936

Keywords: criminally underrated gba games, underrated gba games, gba, good gba games, top ten gba games, best gba games, list, countdown, playstation, gameplay, gba games, games, collector, underrated games, top ten underrated gba games, ten underrated gba games, obscure gba games, lesser known gba games, cheap gba games, underrated, under rated gba games, gba emulator, klonoa, scurge hive, iridion, ninja five o, gt advance, astro boy, medabots, boktai, yggdra union, zone of the enders, tvgs

Id: zdmwZYijSuw

Length: 18min 24sec (1104 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 24 2022