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[I'm new be nice]

Take Boktai for example, it makes you harness the power of the sun. While that would be hard to emulate on a console,(as it's kind of hard to play outside) it'd work much better for smartphones. Yes, you'd have to emulate the solar sensor with a camera that takes into account the amount of light and the colours in the room but I think it would be a worthwhile development.

The emulator "My Boy!" is actually programmed with this feature on Android. You can tell it to use your phones light sensor to emulate the solar sensor, and it works really well, it's not overly sensitive or anything (although you can calibrate the sensor in-game too).

And now here's the best part: Boktai 3 never came out in America, just Boktai 4 for the DS, but fans translated the third game, and you CAN run the patch into My Boy! So we can now actually complete the trilogy in a fashion similar to how the game was originally intended to be played rather than just manually adjusting the suns intensity (which to me defeats the magic of playing Boktai).

The only thing that was a minor annoyance was that you have to find unpatched ROMs for Boktai 1 and 2 without the adjustable solar intensity. All patched ROMs seem to have a splash screen indicating they have been patched so it's not too difficult to rummage through a few sites to find the original unpatched ROMs thankfully.

Yeah man, everything you want exists, and more.

 

[Shotgun Kiss]

I do think the GBA was a bit overrated, but I wouldn't say it "wasn't that great".

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Wario Ware
Wario Ware: Twisted
Metroid Fusion
Metroid Zero Mission
Golden Sun
Golden Sun 2
Advance Wars
Advance Wars 2
Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World
Mario Advance 3: Super Mario Bros. 3
Chu Chu Rocket

Also, although we didn't get them until they were re-released on the DS, it's important to remember that the first three Ace Attorney titles were actually GBA games in Japan. That alone makes the GBA a brilliant system.

 

[MrBadger]

Dkc3 port was actually good or am I misremembering?

I thought it was good. The downgraded art wasn't nearly as unappealing as the DKC1 and 2 ports, it had an extra world and David Wise made a new soundtrack for it. I actually prefer it to the SNES version.

Different soundtrack (David Wise said it was easier to do that than re-work the existing ones*...makes me wonder where he was for DKC1 and 2).

Apparently there were too many low notes in the 3 soundtrack for him to just make another version that was more high pitched without it sounding bad. 1 and 2's music didn't have this issue.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

Dkc3 port was actually good or am I misremembering?

Different soundtrack (David Wise said it was easier to do that than re-work the existing ones*...makes me wonder where he was for DKC1 and 2). Gameplay I imagine has a few issues due to 1:! and screen sizes.

*-In particular things like being able to hear the full range via speakers. You have soundtracks like golden sun which you need headphones for the full audio range.

 

[elhav]

I think you mean "epitome"

Yep. Must have been tired as fuck when I wrote this.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

I still have my original GBA in a bag in my closet, oh how I regret buying that thing at around launch. Might have regretted it less if the screen wasn't terrible but still the money I put into it could've been spent better elsewhere.

 

[SocksForWoks]

I agree, I enjoyed the GBC more than the GBA.

The GBA was pretty bad in all aspects. The SP and Micro models helped the overall experience though.

 

[TheDarkStark]

Metroid Fusion
Metroid Zero Mission
Zelda Minish Cap
Advance Wars
Advance Wars 2
Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

Those alone are well worth the price of admission, then add in all the awesome SNES ports, how can you say it's not great?

 

[Rogue Agent]

Was the GBA compatible with GB/GBC games? I remember playing with all those on my SP.

If I'm remembering things right, then the backwards compatibility is really great.

 

[Baron von Loathsome]

Was the GBA compatible with GB/GBC games? I remember playing with all those on my SP.

If I'm remembering things right, then the backwards compatibility is really great.

Advance and SP were. I don't know about the Micro.

 

[Wolfe]

Advance and SP were. I don't know about the Micro.

Micro is not.

 

[Adam Prime]

Metroid Fusion
Metroid Zero Mission
Zelda Minish Cap
Advance Wars
Advance Wars 2
Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

Those alone are well worth the price of admission, then add in all the awesome SNES ports, how can you say it's not great?

I read the title, agreed with the OP. Then read this post, I agree with this guy. I don't think its widely held consensus that GBA is the GOAT, but it deserves its recognition as a really great handheld.

 

[Warewolf]

It's no DS but for a handheld console that was only around for about three years it had some serious stand out games and arguably the DS might not have been what it was without the GBA, Everything looks different in retrospect.

 

[_Ryo_]

The emulator "My Boy!" is actually programmed with this feature on Android. You can tell it to use your phones light sensor to emulate the solar sensor, and it works really well, it's not overly sensitive or anything (although you can calibrate the sensor in-game too).

And now here's the best part: Boktai 3 never came out in America, just Boktai 4 for the DS, but fans translated the third game, and you CAN run the patch into My Boy! So we can now actually complete the trilogy in a fashion similar to how the game was originally intended to be played rather than just manually adjusting the suns intensity (which to me defeats the magic of playing Boktai).

The only thing that was a minor annoyance was that you have to find unpatched ROMs for Boktai 1 and 2 without the adjustable solar intensity. All patched ROMs seem to have a splash screen indicating they have been patched so it's not too difficult to rummage through a few sites to find the original unpatched ROMs thankfully.

Yeah man, everything you want exists, and more.

Does the emulator use solar light or just any light? Can't seem to get it to work on my phone. Also don't talk about piracy on the forums. Especially rom sites.

I think an original port would be the best option.