Summary
Square and Enix merged on Jun 24, 2025, to become Square Enix. Before the merger, both sides had developed games on the Game Boy Advance which lacked the Square Enix logo. For example, there wasChocobo Land: A Game of Dice,Dragon Quest Characters: Torneko’s Great Adventure 2 – Mystery Dungeon, andDragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart.
Then there wasFinal Fantasy Tactics Advancewhich was developed and published by Square in Japan but rebranded under the Square Enix title when it was shipped to North America. Since that was made first under just Square, it, and the other examples, don’t count. Separate from those early games, Square Enix developed or published eight games on the GBA and here they all are ranked on quality.
8Torneko’s Great Adventure 3 Advance
A Shopkeeper’s Final Run
Torneko’s Great Adventure 3 Advanceis a demake of the PS2 game,Dragon Quest Characters: Torneko’s Great Adventure 3 – Mystery Dungeon. It’s the final spinoff starring Torneko who first appeared as a playable party member inDragon Quest 4: Chapters of the Chosen.
All three Torneko-based games are roguelikes. Players will go into dungeons, fight monsters for loot, and continue the grind. The port to the GBA was a wise choice as portability can help with the grind in a roguelike. It was never released outside of Japan and there is no English fan patch for it.
7Vigorous Slime Dragon Quest: The Shocking Tail Squad
A Top-Down Action Adventure
Vigorous Slime Dragon Quest: The Shocking Tail Squadis the rough translation of the first game’s title in the Slime Morimori series. Of the three out there, North America only received the second title on the DS,Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime.
There have been no fan translations for the game, making it tricky to recommend to non-Japanese readers. However, there isn’t a lot of text and the action-based gameplay is easy enough to pick up. The best part about the game is the pixel art though whichlooks good for a GBA gameand it’s just adorable too.
Final Fantasy 1 & 2: Dawn of Soulscollected the first two games into one package. This wasn’t the only time they were collected though as thePS1 hadFinal Fantasy Origins. That was the first timeFinal Fantasy 2was made available outside of Japan. While the remakes were good for that collection,Final Fantasy 1 & 2: Dawn of Soulssmoothed over the rough patches.
The pixel art was much cleaner, there were additional bonuses, and it ran better without the trouble of disc-based loading. They may not be the most story-heavy games in the series, but they are still easy to pick up and play and this collection is the definitive way to experience them.
Final Fantasy 5 Advancereduced the party size from Final Fantasy 4 to a small crop of four. The game made up for this by implementing a Job system to make progression more interesting. Players could learn newJobs inFinal Fantasy 5from the elemental crystals in the world from mages to ninjas to strong warriors.
Final Fantasy 5 was another game introduced to North America via a PS1 collection,Final Fantasy Anthology. Final Fantasy 5 Advance was a much better introduction though which helped with loads of other things and it too is the definitive way to play the game.
4Final Fantasy 4 Advance
A Dramatic Step Up In Story
Final Fantasy 4 Advanceis not the best way to experience this original SNES classic as it was fully remade for the DS after this. Still, the GBA version is a solid entry in one of the more popular entries in Japan.
It was the first game to push the story forward and offered many characters to join and leave as the game progressed.From Cecil goingfrom dark to light to Rydia time-skipping into an older body, there are many memorable bits. It also featured a five-party system which hasn’t happened often in the franchise.
Sword of Manais a remake ofFinal Fantasy Adventurewhich was the firstManagame in the series. This one fixes a lot of issues with the original like making the action flow better between melee and magic. There’s a bit more story too but not so much that it gets in the way of the exploration loop.
Players also had the opportunity to choose two different characters, which hasn’t been done in any other versions of the game. It’s a shame that remakes like this are closed behind walls because it has never been made available outside of the GBA which is why it ranks so high as it is unique.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memorieswas remade for the PS2 which was a good version as is the remaster that came after. However, the pixel art cannot be outdone in the original. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and the rest of the cast have never looked better.
At the time, fans were split because this sequel retread old ground sort of like a demake of the first game. The card combat also may have thrown fans for a loop but over time this entry has received more respect. Riku’s storyline, the aforementioned great pixel art, and theintroduction of Organization 13can be thanked for raising it.
No matter what console or portableFinal Fantasy 6ends up on, it’s going to rank high. It was the grand finale of theSNES era ofFinal Fantasywhich improved the story, characters, world, music, battle system, and more. Squaresoft pulled out all the stops to make it a memorable experience andFinal Fantasy 6 Advancejust heightens what was already fantastic.
It did fix some minor issues like the script and added in some cut content too like the Kaiser Dragon boss battle. It’s a must-play for sure for anyone who wants to jump into the series new but it can be hard to find this version admittedly.
