Posted on 20th Jan 2023 @ 3:46 AM

While the GBA needs no introductions, for people who may be new to this amazing handheld, here it goes.  The Game Boy Advance (GBA) was a popular handheld gaming console released by Nintendo way back in 2001. It was the successor to the Game Boy Color and featured improved graphics, a larger screen, and more processing power.  Many compared the GBA to being a portable Super NES system.  Though they were not the same, the reason for the comparisons was the high quality of the games that were possile on the new hand held.  The GBA was wildly successful, and sold over 81 million units worldwide. Even though the console was discontinued in 2010, it still has a dedicated fan base today, and many people continue to play GBA games on their original consoles or through emulation.

One of the most interesting aspects of the GBA community is the development of "homebrew" games. Homebrew games are games that are developed by independent developers and are not officially licensed by Nintendo. These games can be played with the help of flashcarts like the EZ Flash Omega Definitive Edition as well as the standard EZ Flash Omega cards.  These games are created using open-source development kits and can be run on original GBA hardware or through emulation.  The EZ Flash Omega makes playing these games on your favorite handheld as easy as can be.

Here are just few of the best GBA homebrew games that you can play today:

a Warewolf Tale

a Werewolf Tale is a truly fantastic Game Boy Advance homebrew game by the developer of two other fantastic homebrew GBA games, Holy Hell and .PowerPig, which are also on our list. This game however, differs quite a bit from the two previous games from this developer.  It designed to be extremely difficult to complete.  You can expect to be defeated over and over again and frustrations will run high - but in a good way.  The game is a beat-em up style game where you have to run along the walls of the room to defeat various creatures and enemies.  What makes the game so hard is that the creatures do a whole lot of damage every time you're struck.  According to the developer, the game is a metrodvania styled game but it seems ot be a lot closer to the populer games VVVVVV and N+, both of which are great games.

Goodboy Galaxy GBA

Goodboy Galaxy is a game in development for Game Boy Advance, PC and Nintendo Switch. And while this is not a full game, but instead only "Chapter Zero", we had to add it here because it was released in 2022 and is planned to be a cartridge release for the GBA if all goes well, and will be available in digital form too.  The game is an exploration focused platform game, similar to Metroid or Cave Story. It was originally made for the Ludum Dare 43 coding competitiondigitally for GBA and modern platforms.

This is a demo game, of what the developer calls Chapter Zero and this chapter is not going to be part of the main game itself, so this is the only way you'll be able to play for now.

Minicraft GBA Demake

This is a demake of Minicraft by Markus Persson (aka Notch) by developer Vulcalien.  Minicraft is a game made for Ludum Dare 22 in two days.

The developers aim is to make a version that is as close as possible to the original Minicraft. As stated by the developer, the GBA has some hardware limitations but, since the game isn't too complex, he was able to port it without too many problems. When the limitations were impossible to overcome, the developer had to hack a few things, change others, put limits and so on.  To improve the experience, Vulcalien also added a pause menu and a way to save and load the world.  We love this game here because, well, it's minecraft, but GBA Style.

There are countless other amazing GBA Homebrew games, and we love letting everyone know about these free games made by passionate developers.  Keep checking back for even more great GBA homebrew game news and updates.