RPG Lineup on GBA

Game Boy Advance will hit Japanese stores on March 21, 2001 and a US release can be expected around July. So far, the colors shown below are the ones that will be available for the Japanese launch. As for the domestic release, nothing is concrete yet, but Nintendo of America is asking for fan input. If you go to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance page, you can vote for the launch titles you'd like to see in America and your favorite of the three GBA colors.

The following list of RPGs have been confirmed as GBA RPG titles. Nothing is certain regarding their released dates in the US or Japan or even if they'll be released in America at all.

Fire Emblem: Maiden of the Dark - 2 screen shots
The Fire Emblem series has been fairly popular on Famicom and Super Famicom, but it has never made its way to the US. On par with the graphics in the later Fire Emblem titles, this game has the potential to be an excellent handheld strategy RPG.

Golden Sun (Ougon no Taiyo) - 6 new screen shots, 1 new piece of artwork
Planned for a Summer release in Japan, Golden Sun was one of the first GBA RPGs announced. This traditional RPG has very colorful and cutesy graphics, while the battle engine has a bit of a 3D-ish look it it.

Magical Vacation - 4 screen shots
Developer Brownie Brown, composed of four ex-Square employees responsible for Secret of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 2) crafted this RPG. It's hard to tell for sure from the screen shots, but it may actually be an action RPG much like the Mana series.

Tactics Ogre: Gaiden - 4 screen shots
Looking much like its Super Famicom counterpart, this strategy RPG has the sharpest graphics out of the bunch. Hopefully, Atlus can be convinced to publish this title since they localized Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber last year.

These RPGs may look spectacular, but will the developers strive for stories, characters, and gameplay to match? One can only hope!

Date Updated:
January 16th, 2001

Time Updated:
11:47 PM

Stahn Mahn

Related Links:
  •   Nintendo of America