I assume that this is probably generally known among people who frequent this forum, but the people at Analogue finally announced that they‘ll be releasing the Pocket, their luxury Game Boy that can also play Neo Geo Pocket, Game Gear, and Lynx games. I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time, because I still have a sizable number of the games I loved most growing up, but my GBAs and DS Lites are in mostly terrible conditions. I haven‘t started a thread here yet, so I hope this is all okay, but I was curious if you guys had any recommendations for more obscure titles playable on this system that might be worth looking into? I’m familiar with the “canon,” (advanced wars, castlevania, golden sun, metroid, etc), but I am sure there were all sorts of weird games released on the GBA in particular that have been largely forgotten. Also just wanted to make a general thread about it because i've been kind of excited and curious if any of you had intersting perspectives about it.
Astro Boy: Omega Factor is a good one. Speaking of Treasure, I remember liking Gunstar Super Heroes a lot, but other people I‘ve talked to don’t seem that fond of it. I might just remember it gooder cause I played it as a tiny baby
Both of the Summon Night Swordcraft Story games are fun dungeon crawlers with Tales Of style combat and some social interaction based story telling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj5oYVslN4Q
Riviera The Promised Land has an interesting RPG on rails game design with rogue-like weapon degradation, the dating-sim parts of it aren't too obtrusive in my memory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W88ahXNMqVQ
I think it‘s also worth mentioning the GBA ports of the SNES Final Fantasy games, even if the games themselves are far from obscure. YMMV on IV and VI, but it’s hard to deny Final Fantasy V Advance is the best way to play that game in English. I‘m sure that smart phone version they put on Steam probably has the same translation and extra jobs/bonus dungeons (I’ve never checked) but if you played that one, you'd have to look at it, and nobody wants that.
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(mostly I just like this font)
FFIV Advance also comes close to being the definitive version of that game for me, but it suffers from some pretty serious glitches that are difficult to ignore. I've always heard the UK version fixed most of them, though.
Not gonna recommend any games right now, but I think the analogue pocket is a great idea! I‘m very much a get rid of everything kind of person. The pocket is a chance to checkout all these games int a modern form factor you’re more likely to use. My only complaint is the battery doesn‘t seem easily replaceable (you can’t buy extras), and maybe it‘s a bit expensive when you include all the extras. Though if the build quality is extremely high then I don’t see the price point as a problem.
Not the most obscure game in the world, but I'm having a great time playing Drill Dozer on GBA at the moment.
https://youtu.be/7XcOZQhg7QA
I really wish the Analog Pocket plus all the things I want to get for it (dock, all the cart adapters) cost less than $400 
But you pay for quality I reckon! I‘ve been stocking up on lynx and game gear carts in anticipation, because I’ve got enough functional GBAs.
As for GBA software, some folks are already doing the good insert credit work for me and already mentioned a lot of the exact games I would have (summon night swordcraft story, riviera, drill dozer).
Here's some more hot ones which may or may not count as obscure, but nevertheless I think are underappreciated (or underplayed due to expensiveness):
Ninja 5-0 - just a pure action game with amazing movement and snappy feeling that really has a rhythm and flow to it. It feels like it was designed for precision play and speed running. You just can't beat it for action movement. Also, so much GBA music sounds bad to me now, and the synth sounds in this one hold up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaLtX6PTcKo
Darius R - sort of a "remix" of darius but all the stages after stage 1 are exclusive to this title.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTK3Lc2oFEw
KOF EX2 - gets a bad rap, I think, and is a pretty decent game. You'll have more fun playing it on an analog pocket too, with the four face buttons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HowMnTOmlpk
Kururin paradise - got to love that irritating stick! Also, it's by Eighting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naTMFWRDneI
Racing Gears - if you like euro style top down rally arcade games, this is a good one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LZbL6_me70
Onimusha Tactics - a simple but very well done tactics RPG that I continue to sing the praises of for ever. distinctive sprites and unique poses help differentiate all the characters for me, even though they're often bunched up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfN8q1yYYZ0
Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure - combo-based action side-scroller with a huge number of moves and special attacks, which makes for a more varied experience than most dragon ball games. I would say this is "the good one" on GBA, since there are so many DB/Z games on here. Main downside for me is it's quite long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPc85uVCo7A
That's what I got!!
Honorable mention to the Catwoman game which has really interesting movement? I recommend everybody give it a try, even if the game itself is rather pedestrian. it feels really good to scale buildings and jump around things, surprisingly so!!
I'm excited to play the Bit Generations games on this thing.
yeah, I thought about putting that orbit one on my list, that was my favorite of all of them… I think!?
Metal Slug : 2nd Mission for NGP is great.
As for bit generations, I was ridiculously addicted to Digidrive back in the day to the point of having dreams about it.
What I'm actually looking forward to playing on this, though, is MGS : Ghost Babel and Rhythm Tengoku.
also, i don't think Astro Boy (GBA) is obscure here (on IC, pretty sure i found out about it from the forums in the mid 00's) but it sure is a good game. The same goes for gunstar super heroes (just forget the megadrive game to really enjoy it).
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51T47YTY7JL._AC_SY400_.jpg
I don't know if this is rare, it's definitely underappreciated. I'm not sure how it'd work with the form factor though as it's really built for the GBA SP.
@exodus#3639 I feel the same way about the cost, but it ends up being cheaper than the fancy refurbished/upgraded original GBA I was considering since my vanilla GBA, my GBA SP, and my GBA Micro are all in bad shape. I‘m just hoping it won’t be a ‘sold out in 30 seconds’ feeding frenzy when preorders go live.
I'm not sure I can add too much to the already excellent suggestions (especially Drill Dozer! and Riviera, an excellent, under appreciated gem), but here are two minor ones.
Mr. Driller Ace, for me just about the peak of a series I never expected to enjoy as much as I do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIzPGKNslF0
and Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival, certainly not the best version of the game, or anything approaching the ideal way to play it, but it includes some unique content and it's pretty wild to play SSF2T in any for on a GBA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtS3FjPmdoo
I'm hoping folks will share some Game Gear recs at some point since it's the only major handheld system I've never owned!
Preorders are currently going! I haven't done it yet because I had to pay $8k in taxes this month.
I could make a separate game gear recs thread since this one's GBA-oriented!!
nah, pre-orders are starting next monday. there was a bit of confusion, because they announced that they were doing something this past monday, but it ended up only being an announcement of the actual pre-order date. i kind of doubt it‘ll be a situation where it sells out immediately, because they’re clearly anticipating a higher demand than they‘ve ever received before, but i’m still going to try to get in there immediately myself.
i would be very curious for a game gear thread, i‘m not sure there’s enough released for it to justify the purchase any of the adapters myself.
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@crumble#3655 i kind of doubt it’ll be a situation where it sells out immediately
Oh, I am sure scalpers will ruin all the fun. And Analogue doesn't have the best track record on this front. It’s very hard to predict the proper demand anyway.
I am feeling like the fact I can buy a super nt or mega sg from their store right now should indicate if I wait a year or something I'll still be able to get one…!?
@exodus#3661 they said that they‘ll be doing multiple runs, which is what they’ve done for the SuperNT and the MegaSG. I assume the first run will sell out entirely, but I‘m sure you’ll be fine if you wait and keep abreast of what they‘re up to. I think they always give a heads up before they do pre-orders. The SuperNT is actually out of stock, just fyi. I’ve been contemplating getting one whenever they re-up them, but I assume covid is slowing down the manufacturing of them.
@golok#3662 looks like I am wrong about that!
dang, maybe I'll have to actually preorder one. heck
Pinging of the Racing Gears recommendation, I think the best game that studio (Orbital Media) did is Scurge Hive. A breezy isometric metroidvania with a strong aesthetic / soundtrack. The DS version is technically better, but its perfectly playable on GBA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdeYRzb8C38
Sadly, their other game Juka and the Monophonic menace certainly looks nice, but is a real slog to play.
I heard so much good stuff about Scurge Hive but never got into it - I should really give it a go. Somehow the box/logo always turned me off from the game.