12 Best Licensed GBA Games

Revenge of the Sith came out on May 5, 2005, the same day as the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo DS versions. The handheld games were developed by Ubisoft's Montreal studio, and each one was built around its own machine. On the GBA you control multiple heroes and lean on Force powers as you follow the film's story. The DS got exclusive 3D space battles, so the GBA game is a straight lightsaber brawler.

The film tie-in got mixed reviews overall, but the GBA version has a quieter fan base. It keeps turning up when players list the GBA games worth picking up today, often next to other licensed games from the same years. For a Star Wars fan with a GBA, it is the one to get.

The Legacy of Goku II came out in North America on June 17, 2003. It picks up where the first game left off and runs until the end of the Cell Games Saga, when Gohan defeats Cell. It added transformations, a scouter for checking other characters' stats, and charged melee attacks. Despite the title, it has the most limited play as Goku in the whole series. The music is based on Bruce Faulconer's score for the FUNimation English dub.

It is the only Dragon Ball Z game developed in the United States to be released in Japan, where it came out on July 23, 2004. Fans tend to recommend the Legacy games as a set, and this middle one is the one critics liked best.

Master of Spirits is an action adventure game developed by KCEJ and published by Konami in 2004. You play Yoh Asakura from the Shaman King manga and anime, and like the show, the game is about his battles to become the Shaman King. It was developed to accompany the English dub by 4Kids Entertainment, so the voices match the show kids were watching.

On the shelf it looked like one more anime tie-in, which is fair to say about most games on this list. Players who did pick it up still recommend it, and it comes up when people go looking for the GBA games the rest of the list forgot. If you liked the show, start here.

The GBA got its own 2D game of The Two Towers, made by Griptonite Games, and it came out in November 2002. It covers the first two Peter Jackson films, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, and you play as Aragorn, Gandalf, Frodo, Legolas, Eowyn or Gimli. Electronic Arts published it on every platform, and across all its versions The Two Towers sold almost four million units.

It is a different game from the console version. One player summed it up in three words: "Basically handheld Diablo." Players keep it on their lists of GBA games to pick up, and it is a movie game that took its job seriously.

Urban Jungle is based on the episode "Urban Jungle" from the Nickelodeon series, and it is the second Danny Phantom game, after The Ultimate Enemy. A new eco-ghost called Undergrowth has turned Amity Park into a real urban jungle, and Danny has to fight through thorns and monstrous vegetation to stop him. He travels to the Ghost Zone to learn a new freeze power and pilots the Fenton Flier along the way.

The box promises "frenzied shooter action", and that is more or less what you get. A cartoon game from late in the GBA's life had no business being on a list like this. Players keep naming it anyway, often on the same lists as Astro Boy. It made it here the honest way.

The Third Age on the GBA shares its name with the role-playing game released for GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox, but it is a turn-based tactics game. It came out in 2004 from Electronic Arts. There are two campaigns, Good and Evil, and in each you pick a commander. As you finish missions, you spend experience points on skills and equipment for your heroes.

The best touch is "Sauron Mode", where heroes who fall in battle are gone for the rest of the campaign. It is Fire Emblem rules with orcs. Players rank it above The Two Towers, which makes it the top Lord of the Rings game on the system, and the one to play if you like strategy.

Ham-Ham Heartbreak came out in Japan on May 31, 2002 and in North America on April 7, 2003. It was the second Hamtaro game released in America and Europe, but the third in Japan. A meddling troublemaker called Spat is telling fibs and causing heartache everywhere, and it is up to Hamtaro and Bijou to follow him and get everyone back on talking terms. Spat and his opponent Harmony are new Ham-Hams that only appear in this game.

The game is built around Ham-Chat, the Ham-Hams' own words, and yes, that is as cute as it sounds. Players who played it as kids still swear by it, and they tend to sound a little surprised at how well made it is for a game based on a kids' show.

TMNT is a beat 'em up developed by Ubisoft Montreal and based on the 2007 CGI movie. It came out in North America on March 20, 2007, which makes it one of the last games published for the GBA, at a time when the Nintendo DS was already halfway through its best years. Every other version of TMNT is a 3D game. This one is a 2.5-D side-scrolling beat 'em up with no three-dimensional play at all.

That is the reason to own it. It is the brawler the Turtles were always meant to have on a handheld, and it came out when almost nobody was still looking at GBA shelves. Players who found it later list it among the GBA games worth tracking down.

Advanced Adventure goes back to the original Dragon Ball, before the Z. You play as Goku in his very first adventure as he defends the earth from the relentless Red Ribbon Army, and the game follows him from an ordinary boy toward the champion he becomes.

Extra characters are hidden as portraits inside the levels, and finding each one unlocks that character to play. Fans who name it often call it their favorite Dragon Ball game on the system, and some still play it today. It ranks highest of the Dragon Ball games that are not part of the Legacy series.

The Legacy of Goku came out in North America on May 14, 2002, published by Infogrames. It covers the story of Dragon Ball Z up until the destruction of planet Namek, and Goku is the only playable character. You gain experience by beating enemies and finishing simple missions, and in the final stage Goku turns Super Saiyan to defeat Frieza. It is also one of the first GBA games to feature full-motion video.

The sequel had a better reception from critics but fewer sales. Players still put this first game ahead of it. It started the trilogy, and its ten hour quest is still the best way into the series.

Buu's Fury is the third and final game in the Legacy of Goku series, released on September 14, 2004 and only in North America. It covers the battles with Majin Buu. It added equipment, let you allocate three stat points per level, and gave you a block on the R button. Fusions and Super Saiyan 3 are in, and the English dialogue is very similar, and sometimes identical, to the dubbed cartoon.

Critics were lukewarm on it. Players disagree: it is the Dragon Ball game they recommend most, ahead of both earlier Legacy games. In 2006 it was re-released on a two-pack cartridge with Dragon Ball GT: Transformation.

Omega Factor is based on Osamu Tezuka's manga and anime franchise Astro Boy. It was co-developed by Treasure and Hitmaker, as a collaboration between Sega and Tezuka Productions. It came out in Japan on December 18, 2003, and the North American release was delayed to August 17, 2004 to coincide with the premiere of the new Astro Boy TV series. During the delay, Treasure made some improvements to the North American version.

Astro has seven super abilities and faces more than 40 other characters across an original seven-episode story. Critics praised the visuals most of all. Players recommend it more than twice as often as any other licensed GBA game, and they put it with Golden Sun and Metroid Fusion when they list the console's best.