The Game Boy Advance is a 32-bit handheld console manufactured by Nintendo and during its life span from 2001 to 2008, the console has become a sort of a classic.
Numerous great titles have been released for Game Boy Advance, and while nowadays, there are no official releases for the handheld, the modding community dedicated to the system is still going strong, and many ROM hacks for the existing games are still being released and played by many.
The library of Game Boy Advance ROM hacks is vast and filled with high-quality mods of various games and while we certainly can’t cover all of them, we can go over some of the best ones out there.
1. Doom: PC Doom Total Conversion (2020)
Nintendo has always been viewed as a family-friendly company that produces fun video games meant to be enjoyed by audiences of all ages. While it is true that Nintendo has become more lenient in recent years, in the past, Nintendo was largely known for censoring and altering video games on its platforms.
Mortal Kombat for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System is probably the most widely known example of censorship in which all of the blood was replaced with grey liquid in an effort to resemble sweat. However, this is by far not the only one as many others including the 2001 release of Doom for Game Boy Advance which has all the red blood turned green.
This is a little strange, to say the least, considering the fact that this particular change doesn’t do much to tone down the violence that the Doom franchise is known for, and while the Game Boy Advance version of Doom features a few more minor changes, they also do very little to diminish the violence and the overall tone of the game.
Nevertheless, some very talented coders managed to release the PC Doom Total Conversion ROM hack for the GBA version, not only managing to bring back the red blood but improving the game in many other aspects such as textures, music, and increased framerates.
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2. Breath of Fire Improved (2020)
The Breath of Fire franchise made its debut appearance on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System console back in 1993 and ever since, became a huge hit among RPG fans. While we hadn’t seen a new installment within the franchise since Breath of Fire 6 was released on PC and mobile in 2016, the franchise still remains a well-known name among players.
Fortunately, the modding community has been hard at work keeping the game franchise alive and trying to improve the games, with the Breath of Fire Improved ROM hack being one of the most prominent mods out there. While this particular hack doesn’t improve the original game in a big way, it does tweak the game’s color palette, provides a brand new rewrite of the script, and provides balance changes for all characters.
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3. Pokemon Sword And Shield GBA (2019)
Pokemon Sword and Shield is one of many installments in the popular Pokemon video game franchise which was released by Nintendo back in November 2019 on their handheld console, the Nintendo Switch. However, could you imagine what would have happened if Pokemon Sword and Shield had come out on the Game Boy Advance? Well, thanks to the Pokemon Sword and Shield GBA ROM hack, you don’t have to.
The FireRed ROM hack allows the Pokemon Sword characters to make an appearance and lets players start with Poooka Pokemon. Those who install this ROM hack will have their main objective unaltered, them being traveling between cities and beating various gym leaders, however, it will provide them with a new task of keeping the Galar region safe from evil forces.
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4. Pokemon Kaizo Emerald
Pokemon Emerald is an RPG developed by Game Freak and one of the installments of the Pokemon franchise that received a Japanese release in September 2004, and a worldwide release in 2005.
Pokemon Emerald has the player travel through the Hoenn region while catching and training Pokemon on their adventure. The Pokemon Kaizo Emerald GBA ROM hack turns up the difficulty of the main game to eleven.
The ROM hack changes the game by making the opponents stronger and padding new Pokemon to areas in which they hadn’t appeared in the original game. Additionally, all Pokemon in the game have had their stats increased and their moves and abilities upscaled.
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5. Final Fight One: Arcade Remix (2020)
Final Fight One is a scrolling beat ‘em up that hit the arcades in late 1989 and instantly became a hit among players and one of the most iconic games of the genre. Due to its instantaneous success, it was almost certain that the game would receive a console port, however, due to technical limitations, that wasn’t possible at the time. Even the 1990 SNES version of the game launched in a pitiful state with many of the levels missing and not featuring all three characters.
The later GBA version of Final Fight One somewhat remedied the situation and featured all the original stages, all characters, and the multiplayer mode, however, the colors, various character details, and music weren’t exactly the same compared to the arcade version of the game. This is where the Final Fight One: Arcade Remix steps in and finally manages to return the game to its original arcade glory.
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6. Super Mario Advance 4: All 38 e-Reader Levels (2016)
Back in 2001, Nintendo released the Nintendo e-Reader, a Game Boy Advance accessory that was essentially an LED scanner meant to read specially encoded paper cards that featured extra video game content such as crossover characters, music, and sometimes entire games.
One such extra feature that never made it out of Japan was the Super Mario Advance: Super Mario Bros 3, a GBA add-on that featured 38 new levels which could be added to the game. Fortunately, the modding community created the Super Mario Advance 4: All 38 e-Reader Levels ROM hack which essentially adds the 38 extra levels to your game, along with a few other items and features that came bundled with the Japanese release.
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7. Advance Wars R: Advance Wars Returns (2021)
Advance Wars R: Advance Wars Returns is a fan-made ROM hack for the turn-based strategy game called Advance Wars which was released for the Game Boy Advance back in 2001.
Advance Wars R: Advance Wars Returns was created by a group of enthusiastic fans with the aim of providing the ultimate Advance Wars experience, and after two years of development, many would agree they succeeded.
The ROM hack introduces a bunch of new content to the game including new maps, more gameplay mechanics as well as a completely rewritten storyline.
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8. Pokemon Snakewood (2013)
Pokemon Ruby is one of the most beloved Pokemon games for the GBA and the Pokemon Snakewood ROM hack is probably one of the most popular GBA ROM hacks for this beloved role-playing game.
Pokemon Snakewood puts a whole new spin on the Pokemon Ruby game by replacing the pretty aesthetics of the game with those that look like they came out of a horror movie. In this ROM hack, zombies have invaded Hoenn and professor Birch’s daughter, along with the player’s brother has gone missing while attempting to find the source of the zombie invasion.
This ROM hack adds many new Pokemon to the game as well as new evolutions for those that already exist within the game. In addition, Pokemon Snakewood changes the environment of the game by adding new locations, changing the ones that already exist, and much, much more.
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9. Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced Battle (2020)
Final Fantasy Tactics is a tactical role-playing game that was released back in 1997 for the first PlayStation console. Ever since its release, the game rose in popularity, so much so that today, many players consider it to be one of the best RPGs for the GBA, and even one of the best RPGs of all time.
While the game is great on its own, this relatively new ROM hack called Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced Battle adds an extra feature to the game and allows players to tame monsters. With this ROM hack, players can now capture monsters, teach them new abilities and use the various new system that comes with this ROM hack. This gives the game a whole new feel and makes it feel like a crossover between Final Fantasy Tactics and one of the Pokemon GBA games.
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10. Pokemon Unbound
Pokemon Unbound is a Game Boy Advance ROM hack that uses Pokemon Fire Red as its basis and further expands upon it by adding a plethora of new content to the original game.
Pokemon Unbound is one of the most popular Pokemon ROM hacks out there that aims at providing players with a complete Pokemon experience. It does so by adding new Pokemon from every other Pokemon game such as Pokemon Red, Pokemon Blue, etc, and allows the player to catch and train them.
In addition to that, the Pokemon Unbound ROM hack adds gym trainers from various games whom you can battle against at your own leisure as well as addition two new types of Pokemon, them being Mythical and Legendary. These two new types of Pokemon are very difficult to catch, however, if you manage to do so, they are well worth it because of their power.
If you are a fan of Pokemon games and let’s be honest, who isn’t, then Pokemon Unbound is a ROM hack that you should definitely try out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m61f5t-N_fo
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11. Pokemon Gaia
Pokemon Gaia is yet another popular Pokemon GBA ROM hack that was made by the modding community and fans of the original game. Like many other Pokemon GBA ROM hacks on this list, the Pokemon Gaia ROM hack adds a whole bunch of new and interesting features to the original game.
The most prominent among these are the new Pokemon that were specifically made for this ROM hack. In addition, the Pokemon Gaia ROM hack brings an entirely new region to the game which players can freely explore as well as numerous new challenges for players to overcome.
It is worth noting that at the time of writing this, the Pokemon Gaia ROM hack is still in its beta phase, however, despite a couple of reported bugs, this ROM hack has been praised by many players for its quality of content.
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12. Castlevania Harmony Of Dissonance: Revenge of the Findesiecle (2007)
Castlevania first came out way back in 1986 and since its release, it became one of the most popular video game series out there. Three Castlevania games are available for the Game Boy Advance including Circle of the Moon, Aria of Sorrow, and Harmony of Dissonance which is where this ROM hack comes in.
Castlevania Harmony Of Dissonance: Revenge of the Findesiecle ROM hack uses the original game as its foundation and adds a ton of additional content to it such as brand new color palettes, music, and most notably, new sprites from other video games as playable characters among which are Mario, Mega Man and Simon Belmont.
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13. Pokemon Korosu
Pokemon Korosu is a GBA ROM hack created by Crizzle that lets the player assume the role of a young female protagonist who loses her family and gets kidnapped by a gang. Upon escaping the clutches of her captors, the player is tasked with helping her take revenge on those who harmed her.
The events of the game take place in the Sevii Islands and Kanto Regions, and the ROM hack features all Pokemon up to Gen 3 as well as some from Gen 4.
Pokemon Korosu is one of a few mods that deal with such dark themes and features a lot of violence and death, so it is definitely meant for mature audiences.
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14. Pokemon Victory Fire
Pokemon Victory Fire is a Pokemon ROM hack that has the player assume the role of either a male or female protagonist who dreams of setting out on an adventure to become the best Pokemon master.
Taking place in the Tyron region, the player starts out by visiting professor Ivan who gets attacked by a mysterious gang known as Team Mirage. Nobody truly knows what are the goals of this gang, but whatever they are up to, it can’t be good.
It is up to the player to stop the evil efforts of Team Mirage while at the same time battling and catching Gen 4 and Gen 5 Pokemon.
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15. Metroid: Spooky Mission (2018)
Metroid is one of the most popular video game franchises in the world. The first Metroid game was released way back in 1986 for the Japanese Family Computer Disk System and later ported to the NES. However, there are two titles in the franchise available on the GBA, Metroid: Zero Mission which is a remake of the first game in the series with additional content, and the GBA exclusive Metroid: Fusion.
While on the subject of Metroid games, we can’t help but mention that the series is one the first to feature a female protagonist, Samus Aran, as well the fact that the game helped inspire a whole genre of video games later dubbed Metroidvania, so it comes as no surprise why a Metroid: Zero Mission ROM hack made it to this list.
Dubbed Metroid: Spooky Mission, this GBA ROM hack completely changes the aesthetic and the setting of the Metroid: Zero Mission game by replacing the original levels with castles, forests, and other spooky settings, making it feel more like you are controlling Samus who is trapped inside of a Castlevania game.
In addition to the new settings and environments, the Metroid: Spooky Mission GBA ROM hack also adds a humorous side to the game, which it usually lacks, as well as a secret NSFW ending that players can achieve.
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16. Pokemon Outlaw
Created by Crizzle, Pokemon Outlaw is a ROM hack of Pokemon Fire Red that puts the player in the shoes of a fifteen-year-old boy who lives in a run-down part of the Kanto Region and has his sights set on becoming a Pokemon master one day.
Unlike most of the Pokemon ROM hacks on this list, Pokemon Outlaw covers much more serious topics such as poverty and other hardships of life. The Kanto Region is portrayed as a dreary place with its inhabitants being rude, mean, and sometimes even violent.
While Pokemon Outlaw is not a joyful story, nevertheless it puts a different spin on the usual Pokemon themes and is just as enjoyable, as long as you are willing to deal with the mature content and topics that it covers.
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17. Pokemon Clover
Pokemon Clover is another popular ROM hack of the original Pokemon Fire Red game for Game Boy Advance. The events of the game take place in the Tandor Region and task the player with putting a stop to Steam Steam which is bent on taking over the world.
In terms of content, Pokemon Clover massively expands the original game by adding numerous features to it including new Pokemon to catch, new characters to interact with, and new regions for players to explore.
Additionally, Pokemon Clover is more difficult compared to the original game, making this RIOM hack an excellent challenge for experienced players who are looking to test out their Pokemon skills.
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18. Fire Emblem: The Last Promise (2013)
Fire Emblem is a fantasy tactical role-playing video game franchise that had its first game in the series released back in 1990. The series is still going strong today with its most recent release being Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes and a brand new upcoming game titled Fire Emblem Engage scheduled to be released in January 2023.
Fire Emblem: The Last Promise ROM hack began as a fan project called Fire Emblem Universe Game and is pretty much a brand new Fire Emblem game that hacks every single aspect of the game including the story, characters, animations and so much more, making the Fire Emblem: The Last Promise ROM hack feel like an official sequel to the original game.
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19. Pokemon Rocket Edition
Pokemon Red Version and Pokemon Blue Version are role-playing games that were released by Nintendo back in 1996 for the original Game boy and are the first installments of the Pokemon video game franchise.
The ROM hack for the Pokemon Red and Blue versions called Pokemon Rocket Edition expands the original games by adding various Pokemon that were not obtainable in them. The Pokemon Rocket Edition GBA ROM hack also adds a new storyline to the game and significantly increases the difficulty of the game so if you are somebody who enjoys a challenge, then this ROM hack should be right up your alley.
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20. Pokemon Nameless Edition
Finally, we have Pokemon Nameless Edition, a ROM hack of the original Pokemon red game that launched way back in 1996. The events of Pokemon Nameless Edition take place in the region of Tallon which was heavily inspired by the state of Florida.
Created by a group of fans of the original game, this Game Boy Advance ROM hack brings many new features to the game including various new Pokemon, improved graphics, and a completely new storyline.
Many players have praised the Pokemon Nameless Edition for its charming new graphics and the improvements it made to the gameplay aspects of the original game. It is truly a ROM hack beloved by many and a must-play for every Pokemon fan.
