Best GBA RPG Games: Tried, Tested and Rated in 2024

When the original Gameboy launched back in the late 1980s (Japan) and early 1990s (North America and Europe) it was nothing short of revolutionary.

Everyone who could afford a Gameboy owned a Gameboy.

The very first portable games console came with such a buzz and adrenalin that Tetris became the number one game played worldwide!

It did though take a further 11 years before Nintendo launched the Gameboy Advance (GBA) with more advanced gameplay and a full colour screen.

With the spectrum of consoles and games already on the market, the GBA wasn’t as big and as popular as the original Tetris addicting classic, but Nintendo still went on to sell over 80 million GBAs worldwide between 2001 and 2008.

With the launch of a full graphic sprightly pocket based games console, there came one genre perfect for the market.

RPG games!

Not only did RPG games on the Gameboy Advance appeal to general role-players, such as those who regularly took adventure in Dungeons and Dragons games, but also to a wider appeal of roleplaying adventure games for players who enjoyed text based games seen on ZX Spectrum, like The Hobbit.

The GBA though took things so much further with interactive visual storytelling, imaginative worlds in which players could immerse themselves and the ability to grab out of your pocket and play at any time.

My GBA had been gathering dust for some time, but it was time to plug it in (make sure it was still in working order) and sort through my library of games for some roleplaying game fun.

Here are the best GBA RPG games, tried, tested, and rated.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

As the game starts out, ‘it was a day like any other’. Although considering this is a Final Fantasy game, it surely wasn’t going to end that way.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance launched on the GBA in 2003 by Square Enix, and although there were a couple of Final Fantasy games that launched on the GBA, this has long been considered the best of them.

Now RPG games of course are not built or created for speed.

The opening sequence sees your character, re-defined name Merche (but can be changed) having a snowball fight in his new school with new classmates.

This snowball fight helps learn the sequence of events needed for fighting and action scenes, as each team play their turn and move accordingly.

The snowball fight leads to a get together after a magical spells book buy, and well not much imagination is required to know the rest.

The four characters are transported to a Bangaa (reptile looking) world by uttering the enchantment in the magical spells book and story unfolds from there.

Like many RPGs, a scene needs to be set and an understanding of the mechanics of the game is required. The opening snowball fight on Final Fantasy Tactics Advance does a great job of this.

The graphics are good and as expected on the GBA, and the controls are easy enough to get along with.

The game can be a little slow at times, but this is where absorbing yourself in to the game for an hour or two to set the scene and understand where the game is going is important.

It is incredibly expansive with many twists and options whilst playing, it does require some patience as the story-line gets going but half the fun in the adventure is the journey.

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

The Sacred Stones begins the story with evil being captured from within the stones to bring peace back to a land of Magvel once plagued with tyranny, but the evil couldn’t be captured for as long as the land’s town folk had hoped.

Various Kingdoms exist within the continent of Magvel ruled by various kings, queens and emperors.

But as the kingdom of Grado declares war on the others, and it’s up to Seth to help the rescued Princess Erika back to her father and brother.

The terrain is of course full of Grado’s men, and many battles lie in the path.

Many RPG games are born and last on their storyline and how immersive the gameplay is. This is where Fire Emblem excels.

Top down 2D graphics, which morph into 3D during fight sequences, show the navigational route around the continent whilst battle commences around every corner.

Players need to pay attention to the battle rules, and durability of weapons – for example, the weapon handed to Princess Erika has a durability of 40, meaning it can be used 40 times before it breaks.

The cartoon graphics are quirky and fun, but do not intrude with the overall feel of the mission at hand.

Controls are very easy considering the complex battle scenes, probability scores of landing a hit and fatal hit etc…

Fire Emblem is a little hidden RPG gem on the GBA.

The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past

There were two main Zelda titles released on the GBA, although a close call, Link to the Past slightly fairs better when put on a competitor test with its successor.

Hyrule sets the scene for all powers that be laying claim to the hidden golden land, but none returned but from within the golden land poured in evil.

What sets Zelda apart from many games – RPG or otherwise – is they astonishing attention to detail.

Each pixel of every frame has been creatively thought out.

There’s always a familiarity when playing many of the Zelda games like the top down bushes and paths, as well as the readable signs along the route.

Sprightly graphics are a dream and really draw you in to the immersive world of Zelda.

The only slight frustration when playing is some of the screens have to ‘roll-in’ to view when reaching the top or bottom of the viewable area, which can slow gameplay ever so slightly.

The 3D scrollable map is a beautiful touch to the game, and very well developed.

Controls are effortless and a joy to use.

The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past is a pleasure to play.

Sword of Mana

The Sword of Mana opens to quite a captivating little story, dating back to the dawns of time.

I will warn anyone who attempts to pop in the Sword of Mana cartridge that the opening semi-interactive sequence, is long!

It starts with a dream, then a Dark Lord entering the castle to catch the inhabitants whilst the younger children manage to escape, but the hero wakes from the dream every time.

Each RPG has to set a scene, a world, a hero, a villain and of course some mystery and often battle sequences.

Sword of Mana does a good job of encompassing all of this.

The graphics are pretty decent for a GBA.

Even the dream sequence has a brown hue over the top giving good visual separation from the underlying animation sequence.

After around 15mins of pressing A after A continuously after starting the game, watching whilst all other characters interacted to open the scene, it was time to actually be able to move – and escape the prison.

The game sometimes feels as if it’s being played out before you rather than being in control, at least to begin with.

A player needs to get past this to be able to get in to the game.

Although this method ensures you are invested in to the characters, gameplay and have a full understanding of the mission ahead, which has its benefits.

Sword of Mana is a game someone will most likely need a good 2-3 hours just to start and get in to, but if a long drawn out animated RPG is calling, then this is a good game to go to.

Pokemon: Green Leaf Version

Now, it can of course come down to personal taste and preferences as to which Pokemon game resonates with a player the most.

Each different game is an incarnation of a previous, and instead of Pokemon 1, Pokemon 2 etc… they were titled by colour instead.

Each game is similar, although not identical, with a different Pokemon and trainer, based on the version being played.

Pokemon: Green Leaf Version was an enhanced version of the original Ruby and Sapphire games.

The graphics were deemed to be a little better and included more within the overall game.

Of course, the Pokemon franchise absolutely exploded!

Cartoon, games, merchandise, and a virtual reality based games that saw people running around their streets trying to catch virtual Pokemon not too long ago.

Pokemon on both the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo Gameboy Advance were incredibly big deals, and saw many Pokemon and RPG fans heading out to the stores in droves to buy a copy.

For those not familiar with the Pokemon world, the game starts with Professor Oak giving to the young trainer a Pokemon.

All around the area are Pokemon hiding awaiting battle, and each battle makes your Pokemon stronger.

The land is vast but challenges must be overcome, and battles one to progress, which can be frustrating at times but hugely addictive.

The graphics are very well designed and thought out, as one might expect with a Pokemon game, and controls are good. Not amazing, but good enough.

Many a young player spent hundreds and hundreds of hours in Pokemon worlds, and picking up the game now almost twenty years after it released, it’s easy to see why.

Suggested Reading: Best Game Boy games, tried and tested!

Golden Sun

Isaac, wake up!

Well that’s how the opener goes, unless of course you changed your name from Isaac in the welcome screen.

It’s probably a good job Isaac woke up when he did as the Mt Aleph Boulder is about to fall.

It is a little funny though that after Isaac does jump out of bed, and about to run out of the house to escape the boulder, but he is told to put his tunic on first, as it’s raining outside.

For this RPG the game starts rather quickly, which can have its advantages.

You play as Isaac who is left alone whilst the others help rescue other villagers escape from the falling boulder and are told to head south for safety.

Golden Sun isn’t going to win any graphic design awards, the display looks a little haphazardly put together in places, but then some games can deliver more on gameplay than graphical finesse.

The start of the game is a little tricky to figure out, and the controls can be equally as frustrating at times. They take a little getting used to.

This wouldn’t be the first RPG game I would grab down from my library and slot in to my GBP, but it has a sort of playful and innocent charm.

Those who played this growing up I’m sure will have pure nostalgic moments.

Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis

Ignoring the poor Star Wars imitating fading text in to space display at the very start, Tactics Ogre has some good RPG delights in store.

Based on another endless tale of strength being overcome by evil, this 2001 game by Quest has made it on to several top GBA RPG game awards.

The opening intro sequence starts in a market square with leader and knight discussing their adventure ahead.

Even here the graphics are particularly well designed and very quirky.

The player has the option to choose between four burdens; resolve, truth, sacrifice and affection.

Each option changes the nature of the game that lies ahead.

5 more option choices need to be made before the game starts, which although adds a unique aspect to the game, does drag out the start a little more than necessary.

Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis takes a long time to start. Rather similar to many of the RPG games in this list.

The graphics though are sublime. The detail and partial 3D aspect ratio has been expertly delivered.

Once the game starts it almost immediately launches into a battle sequence to fight the local army from the land you just arrived at by ship.

Although the graphics are extremely well designed, the controls are a little tricky. Battle sequences especially.

A very enjoyable GBA RPG epic.