5 Game Boy Advance Games That Take Forever To Beat

Despite its technical limitations when compared to home consoles, Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance served as a home for some pretty big titles – not only in terms of popularity, but surprisingly, in length too. The handheld device was a revolution within the industry, officially bringing forth a new generation of games and possibilities to the industry, as an evolution of the Game Boy Color. Some of the best games on Game Boy Advance withstood the test of time and are still considered some of the best titles ever created.

An example of this is Pokémon’s Gen 3, which set a new standard for what the series could achieve, even if it was built around the original formula that exploded in popularity during the Game Boy Color era. The console was also the center stage for some other impressive titles, like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords. The games on Game Boy Advance tended to be shorter than the majority of those available on consoles like the PlayStation 2 or the GameCube, but there are some standouts that took forever to beat.

Fire Emblem

One of the lengthiest games on the platform is also one of the greatest RPGs for the Game Boy Advance. The Fire Emblem franchise had already been in existence for well over a decade since the release of Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light for the Japanese Famicom back in 1990. However, it only truly made its way into Western markets with the release of Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword for Game Boy Advance in 2003.

Known simply as Fire Emblem, the seventh title in the series brought a new type of tactical combat encounters for players to experience. Taking on the role of the heroes Lyn, Eliwood, and Hector, the player would engage in controlling both the armies across the grid, as well as characters in focused combat. With its popularization in new markets, the IP would continue to grow over the following decades to become a hit – soon, players will see the release of Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave for the Nintendo Switch 2.

Fire Emblem was one of the longest games available on the Game Boy Advance. According to How Long To Beat, it took you around 27 hours to beat the campaign – which was already the standard for RPGs. However, if you took the time to complete everything it had to offer, you’d be looking at an estimated 46 hours of playtime with this tactical RPG on the handheld console.

Phantasy Star Collection

Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, companies were already looking back at their portfolio and creating game ports for the more modern hardware available at the time. Phantasy Star Collection is an example of this. This title was a compilation of the first entries in the series. It was originally released for Sega Saturn in Japan in 1998, and was then released for Game Boy Advance in North America and Europe in 2002 and 2003, respectively.

The difference between the two versions is that the Sega Saturn edition contained the first four games in the series, while the Game Boy Advance release only contained the first three. Even so, this allowed many owners of Nintendo’s handheld console to experience the Phantasy Star franchise for the very first time. Each game, individually speaking, isn’t too long to beat, but the compilation offered by Phantasy Star Collection runs a bit longer.

According to How Long To Beat, it’ll take you around 63 hours and 35 minutes to beat all three games as part of the Phantasy Star Collection. An important thing to note is that there is only one polled entry for this game on the website, meaning that the playtime for the RPGs may vary significantly.

Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town

One of the most popular releases for the Game Boy Advance was Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town – in fact, it was so beloved that it received a remake called Story of Seasons: Friend of Mineral Town in 2020. The name change was due to licensing, but it was, indeed, a remake of the original title released for the GBA back in 2003. This was the very first Story of Seasons release for the platform, and curiously enough, it was itself a remake of the 1999 Harvest Moon: Back to Nature, released for PlayStation 1.

On the Game Boy Advance, Friends of Mineral Town allowed players to control a farmer who gradually expanded and improved his farm, tending to crops and raising animals. Effectively speaking, the main character inherits the farm from an old farmer, and then decides to live there. This game was, undoubtedly, the foundation for Stardew Valley – and many consider that Stardew Valley is better than Harvest Moon.

At the time, this was one of the longest titles you could play on the Game Boy Advance. As seen on How Long To Beat, wrapping up the campaign would take you around 27 hours, which isn’t exactly much. However, if you were to play through everything in Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, you could easily spend 99 hours within the virtual farmland.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

A game that ups the ante in terms of playtime requirements is Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Released in 2003, this is a successor to the original Final Fantasy Tactics from 1997, though designed exclusively for the Game Boy Advance. The game told a brand-new story, even if one set in the same world as the original title. This Square Enix RPG masterpiece was intended to offer the tactical experience from FFT, though in more contained combat encounters.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance offers different types of encounters as you progress through the game, some of which are tied to the campaign, while others are part of side quests. The title also brings forth a new mechanic called Law, which is overseen by a Judge, who creates restrictions on some actions during combat. This is easily one of the most overlooked games in the series, and it’s rather remarkable, especially as a handheld experience.

The cool thing about it is that Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is rather long, and you can spend a whole lot of time with it. According to How Long To Beat, beating the game by focusing on the main campaign alone will consume around 45 hours of your time. If you like to do everything you can in RPGs such as this one, you could potentially spend up to 113 hours with Final Fantasy Tactics, which is an impressive number for a Game Boy Advance title.

Pokémon Emerald

Game Freak

The first batch of Gen 3 Pokémon games set in Hoenn are some of the longest games you can play on Game Boy Advance. Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald offer hundreds of hours of gameplay, and Pokémon Emerald is the biggest of the three. Released in 2004, nearly two years after Ruby and Sapphire kicked off Gen 3, the Rayquaza-led title allows Trainers to return to Hoenn and experience the story from a similar, even if slightly different perspective.

Pokémon Emerald retains the majority of the big changes added by Ruby and Sapphire, while also bringing new elements of its own and making a few changes. For example, Emerald features both Team Magma and Team Aqua, and you can catch both Groudon and Kyogre. The title also allows you to get one of the three Gen 2 Pokémon starters, as well as access the postgame Battle Frontier area, which was not available in Ruby and Sapphire.

The fifth Gen 3 release is not too different from other titles, and you can easily spend hundreds of hours with it. How Long To Beat shows that the average playtime lasts around 51 hours, and focusing on the campaign alone can see it completed in 31 hours. Nevertheless, there is a lot to do and discover in Pokémon Emerald, and if you follow the completionist path, you may spend up to 219 hours in Hoenn, making this one of the longest Game Boy Advance titles ever made by Nintendo.

Brand

Nintendo

Original Release Date

June 11, 2001

Original MSRP (USD)

$99.99

Weight

4.9 oz