{"id":7166,"date":"2012-01-05T00:01:10","date_gmt":"2012-01-05T06:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamesanityblog.com\/?p=7166"},"modified":"2012-01-05T00:01:10","modified_gmt":"2012-01-05T06:01:10","slug":"3ds-ambassador-gba-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/05\/3ds-ambassador-gba-games\/","title":{"rendered":"3DS Ambassador GBA Games"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/snoticon.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-7167\" title=\"snoticon\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/snoticon-114x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"114\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>A few months ago I wrote a blog about the ten free <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamesanityblog.com\/2011\/09\/05\/3ds-ambassador-nes-games\/\">3DS Ambassador NES games<\/a><\/strong>.  Now I\u2019m going to do the same with the ten GBA ones.  It\u2019s a bit late, I know, but lots of stuff has been going on in the last few weeks!  So let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\n<p><strong>F-Zero: Maximum Velocity<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Out of the ten free GBA games, I was only disappointed with two of them.  And this is one of those.  I was hoping this was going to be the more modern GBA F-Zero game that came out later, but that was actually called F-Zero: GP Legends (Hey, I can\u2019t remember subtitles).   GP Legends was much better than the first GBA F-Zero game.  It had better control and tracks, and a cast of dozens like the more modern F-Zeroes.  The artwork and storyline for each character was based on the F-Zero anime.  Yup, did you know there was an F-Zero cartoon?  It was even brought to Saturday morning TV in the US for a while.  It wasn\u2019t very good, but it was interesting at least.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Maximum Velocity was a first generation GBA title, and it shows.  Like the original SNES game, you only had four characters to race as (a couple more were unlockable, though), and a limited number of uninteresting tracks.  And boy I don\u2019t remember the play control being this slippy-slidey!  I know I shouldn\u2019t complain about free games, and I\u2019m not, but I\u2019d rather have GP Legends.  Plus, GP had my favorite F-Zero characters: Super Arrow, Mrs. Arrow, and the fat samurai guy in the pink car!  Who are your favorite F-Zero racers?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Yoshi&#8217;s Island: Super Mario Advance 3<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yoshi\u2019s Island on the SNES was a very special game to me.  It was the game that got my roommate\u2019s girlfriend (now wife) in college into video games, and I also enjoyed playing it with my little brothers when they were younger.  Plus it\u2019s one of the best 2-D platformers of all time.  I hate to complain again, but while I do love getting ten free GBA games for being a 3DS early adopter, I almost wish we got ten free SNES games instead.  The GBA port of this one is great, but it loses a lot because of the lower resolution of the GBA screen.  But again, don\u2019t want to complain, the port is still a fine one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When Skyward Sword first came out, I wrote a <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamesanityblog.com\/2011\/11\/20\/carys-25th-anniversary-zelda-blog\/\">tribute blog about Zelda\u2019s 25th Anniversary<\/a><\/strong>, and listed my top five least favorite Zelda games.  And Minish Cap was one of them. Don\u2019t get me wrong, it\u2019s still a GREAT Zelda game.  But it was way too short and easy, and paled in comparison to the great GB ones in the series.  But I also said in my blog that I should give Minish Cap a second chance.  And now that it\u2019s on my 3DS, I have been replaying it.  I\u2019m almost done with it, too, and while it\u2019s still not any better, I have to say that with the fairy tale themes, it\u2019s great for younger players.  And the lower difficulty and shorter quest make it a great introductory Zelda game for newcomers.  And there\u2019s nothing wrong with that.  Still a great game and I\u2019m glad I got it for free.  Technically you can play five Zelda games on the 3DS now: Ocarina of Time, Link\u2019s Awakening, NES Zelda, Four Swords, and now Minish Cap!  Pretty neat, I say!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Aside from the F-Zero game, the Fire Emblem entry is the other GBA freebie that I was disappointed in. Not because it\u2019s a bad game, in fact after playing it for a bit I could tell it was a quality title.  But it\u2019s just not my cup of tea.  I\u2019m not really big into strategy RPGs, and the characters and premise are a bit too serious and \u201cLord of the Rings-ish\u201d for my tastes.  But there are a few anime styled characters with pink and blue hair, so that\u2019s kind of cool.  If this game came out when I was in high school and really big on 16-bit RPGs, I probably would\u2019ve liked this title more.  But for a freebie, I would\u2019ve rather had a GBA RPG like Mario &amp; Luigi: Superstar Saga instead.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kirby &amp; the Amazing Mirror<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Hey you can\u2019t go wrong with Kirby!  The neat thing about this game is the Metroid style layout of the map.  I wish they would do that with more games.  Only bad thing is they treat Kirby\u2019s copy abilities like the older Kirby games, meaning you can only do one thing with them instead of multiple moves.  But that\u2019s a minor complaint, really.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mario Kart Super Circuit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When Mario Kart 7 came out I wrote a <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamesanityblog.com\/2011\/12\/09\/mario-kart-7-track-tour\/\">blog<\/a><\/strong> about my favorite Mario Kart games in the series, and Super Circuit was number two, due to the fact that it felt like a direct sequel to the SNES one, which was my favorite.  So I\u2019m really glad it made the list here.  Since it includes ALL classic tracks from the SNES title, Super Circuit still has more tracks than any other Mario Kart.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mario vs Donkey Kong<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This was the sequel to the Game Boy Donkey Kong update.  I loved the original Game Boy Donkey Kong.  To this day I say it\u2019s still one of the best arcade classic updates out there.  You can download it on 3DS Virtual Console, and I highly recommend it.  Mario vs. Donkey Kong is still fun, but not as good as the first game.  Something about it feels a bit\u2026off, and I\u2019m not sure what it is.  I liked the DS Mario vs. Donkey Kong games better, as they took a more Lemmings approach with the Mini-Marios, and it was a better series because of that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Metroid Fusion<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Other M and Fusion are my least favorite Metroids in the series, which makes sense because both games have a lot in common.  A lot of the same characters and enemies, and gameplay was more story based and linear, which I didn\u2019t like.  But I remember still having lots of fun with Fusion anyway, so after I\u2019m done playing Minish Cap, I\u2019ll probably give Fusion a second chance, too.  Although I would\u2019ve much rather have had GBA Metroid: Zero Mission as a freebie.  Or if they were doing SNES games instead: Super Metroid.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wario Land 4<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Even though I liked Wario Land 2 and 3 more, the GBA entry is still a fun 2-D platformer and one of the best looking and sounding GBA games to this day!  WL4 is one of Nintendo\u2019s most quirky platformers out there, and you can tell that the same team went on to make the WarioWare series.  The reason why I liked WL2 and 3 more is because they emphasized more of Wario\u2019s abilities to change form from hitting enemies, and the fact that you couldn\u2019t die at all.  Lots of creative puzzles with that aspect.  Of course, WL4 has those, too.  But no Captain Syrup.  And last but not least, speaking of Wario\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgame$<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I love the WarioWare games and consider them to be one of Nintendo\u2019s best \u2018new\u2019 properties.  Even the more mediocre ones in the series, I\u2019ve enjoyed anyway.  But this was the very first one, and it won my Game of the Year back in 2003.  And then, when WarioWare D.I.Y. came out in 2010, that won my Game of the Year, too.  It\u2019s great to play the very first one again, although I don\u2019t remember it being so short.  But then, I know what all the mini-games are now, so that\u2019s probably why.  I love the WarioWare cast, too.  They should make a cartoon out of them, although it would make no sense!  My favorite characters are 9-Volt &amp; 18-Volt, Mona, and Kat &amp; Ana.  Brother Jeff\u2019s favorites are Dribble and Spitz.  Who are YOUR favorites?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>And those are all the free 3DS Ambassador GBA games.  What do you think of them?  What are your favorite GBA games that you\u2019d rather see as freebies?  Let me know in the comments section.  Next time on my blog, you\u2019re all invited to a special Zelda orchestra concert!  And after that will be my long-awaited KOF blog! &#8211;Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few months ago I wrote a blog about the ten free 3DS Ambassador NES games. Now I\u2019m going to do the same with the ten GBA ones. It\u2019s a bit late, I know, but lots of stuff has been going on in the last few weeks! So let\u2019s get started! F-Zero: Maximum Velocity Out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7166\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}