The Game Boy Advance came out in Japan on March 21, 2001, and reached North America on June 11 and Europe on June 22. It felt like a Super Nintendo you could put in your pocket, and the first games leaned into that. Nintendo had a racer that scaled and rotated its track the way the old console did, and a brand new Mega Man series started on day one in Japan.
Not every region got the same shelf. Kuru Kuru Kururin skipped North America until 2016, and Americans waited four years for Mr. Driller 2. This list sticks to games that were on sale on launch day in Japan or North America. Here are the 9 best GBA launch games.
9. Mr. Driller 2 (2000)
Mr. Driller 2 started out in 2000 as a Namco arcade game and is the direct sequel to Mr. Driller. The Game Boy Advance version was out in Japan on March 21, 2001, launch day, but North America did not get it until April 12, 2005. You dig down through a stack of coloured blocks. Falling blocks stick to the first block of the same colour they meet, so one careless dig can bury you. Besides the main Mission mode you get Endless Driller, Time Attack and a two-player mode over the link cable.
It is the smallest game here, and nobody will pretend otherwise. A handful of players still name it among their GBA favourites. That makes sense, because a round takes a few minutes and you always want one more.
8. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (2001)
Vicarious Visions wanted to move on to the Game Boy Advance after its Spider-Man game for the Game Boy Color, and this was the result. It was a launch title in North America and Europe in June 2001, after a year of work. To fit in the tricks from the PlayStation, the team built a 3D engine with polygonal skaters. The licensed songs were too large for a GBA cartridge. Manfred Linzner wrote an original soundtrack in the style of the series instead. Multiplayer was cut for time.
Some critics had trouble with the camera angle and the controls. Others have called it one of the best GBA games and a model for how to port a console game to a handheld. The same engine later ran Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 on the GBA.
7. Namco Museum (2001)
Namco Museum was a launch title in North America on June 11, 2001, and only reached Japan and Europe that December. It has five Namco arcade games that first appeared on Namco Museum Vol. 1 and Vol. 3 for the PlayStation: Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Galaxian, Dig Dug and Pole Position. It was also one of the first Namco Museums to drop the virtual museum, so you pick a game from a menu and play.
That makes it the least fussy cartridge on this list. There is no story and no unlocking, only five arcade games you probably already know by heart. Players still name it next to much bigger GBA games when they talk about what they play. For a five-minute round of Galaga on a train, it is hard to beat.
6. Fire Pro Wrestling (2001)
Spike developed Fire Pro Wrestling and published it in Japan, where it was a launch title. BAM! put it out in North America and Europe. The roster has masked luchadores next to martial artists, and everybody is fair game for a pile driver. There are exhibition modes where you change the rules and the music. The create-a-wrestler mode has more than 1,200 techniques and hundreds of body parts to build from.
Wrestling fans who still play on the GBA mostly point at the sequel, Fire Pro Wrestling 2. This first one is where the handheld series started, and building your own wrestler move by move is still the best part. If you have ever wanted a luchador with a dentist's haircut, this game will let you make him.
5. F-Zero: Maximum Velocity (2001)
Nintendo published F-Zero: Maximum Velocity as a launch title for the Game Boy Advance, and it was one of the first games made by NDcube. Like the Super Nintendo original, it fakes 3D by scaling and rotating flat pictures of the track. It has brand new vehicles and tracks made for the GBA, and up to four people can race over the link cable. In single cart mode only one player needs the cartridge. Everyone then drives the same generic craft on one track, Silence, which has no background music.
GamePro said it was "every bit as good, if not better, than the amazing SNES version". It is fast and hard, and the later GBA F-Zero games built on it. It still turns up on players' lists of GBA favourites.
4. Kuru Kuru Kururin (2001)
Kuru Kuru Kururin came out in Japan on March 21, 2001, and in Europe and Australia on June 22, as a launch title both times. North America never got it on the GBA. It first came out there on February 11, 2016, on the Wii U Virtual Console. You fly the Helirin, a stick-shaped helicopter with a slow-spinning propeller, and steer it around corners without touching the walls. Director Masato Toyoshima got the idea from carrying long tables through the corners of rooms whenever he moved apartments. Eighting, the studio behind Bloody Roar, made it, and it sold 265,250 copies in Japan.
Players who found it say a simple idea grew into a full game that kept them hooked for a long time. Easy mode cuts the stick to half its size, which helps more than you would think.
3. Mega Man Battle Network (2001)
Mega Man Battle Network came out in Japan as a GBA launch game on March 21, 2001, and reached North America and Europe later that year. It was the first game in the series. Producer Keiji Inafune said the team wanted it to speak to younger players, with a world that looks like ours and a mix of action and RPG play. Lan sends Mega Man.EXE into the network from his PET to fight computer viruses in real time. You collect over 175 Battle Chips to use as weapons.
Critics liked the battle system. Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com was harder on it years later and pointed at its terrible plotting and unbalanced design. Players love the series, though they mostly send newcomers to Battle Network 3. This first one is rougher, but the battle grid already works.
2. Super Mario Advance (2001)
Super Mario Advance was a launch title in every region, starting in Japan on March 21, 2001. It is an updated Super Mario Bros. 2, based closely on the Super Mario All-Stars version. Nintendo added voice clips, with Charles Martinet as Mario and Luigi and Jen Taylor as Toad and Peach. The cartridge also has a remake of the Mario Bros. arcade game for up to four players over the link cable. By July 2001 it had sold 592,897 copies in Japan.
Some critics felt it offered less than Super Mario Bros. Deluxe on the Game Boy Color. Nintendo went on to make three more Super Mario Advance games, and players recommend the whole series as a set. This is the one where you pull up giant turnips and throw them at a frog king.
1. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (2001)
Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe made Circle of the Moon as a launch title for the Game Boy Advance. It came out in Japan on March 21, 2001, and in North America on June 11. It was the first Castlevania built on the exploring and levelling style of Symphony of the Night, with Dracula's castle as one big connected building. Nathan Graves only uses his Killer Whip, but the Dual Set-up System lets you pair two cards for new magic. A fire card can set the whip alight or summon a fire demon. It sold over 500,000 units, with over 300,000 in North America.
The man behind the follow-up, Harmony of Dissonance, later named its controls and dark graphics as flaws. Players who list their GBA favourites name all three GBA Castlevanias together, and this is the launch game they recommend most.
Which one to play
There you have it, the best games you could buy on the GBA's first day. Two of them started series that ran for years.
If you want a big adventure, start with Circle of the Moon. For a quick game with friends, play F-Zero: Maximum Velocity, where four people can race off one cartridge. If you like puzzles, Kuru Kuru Kururin is the one, and Mr. Driller 2 is close behind. RPG players should try Mega Man Battle Network. And if you grew up on Mario, Super Mario Advance is the easy pick.
