15 Best Puzzle Games For GameBoy Advance

Tetris on the original Game Boy forever transformed the world of puzzle games.

This resulted in a fantastic legacy that other portable puzzle games struggled to match.

But the Game Boy Advance heroically rose to the occasion.

The Game Boy Advance has one of the most extensive puzzle game libraries among portable consoles, featuring copies of classic games as well as brand new titles that mix and combine puzzle components with mechanics drawn from other genres.

This results in a one-of-a-kind mix of games that is still astonishing today. If you’re looking to travel back to the early 2000s, these puzzlers are for you.

15. Pokemon Puzzle Challenge

Pokémon is everywhere, and for all the right reasons, no matter how hard you try to avoid it on Nintendo devices.

Pokemon Puzzle Challenge on the Game Boy Color was a perfect fit for one of the most popular video game series ever.

Unsurprisingly, only characters from the Pokémon world, like Pikachu, Chikorita, Pichu, Cyndaquil, and more, show up in the game as your “heroes.”

Overall, the game was mostly about collecting Pokémon by fighting ads to unlock new Pokémon that could be used in the game.

As with most puzzle games, the goal was to reach a goal or get a high score without letting the computer or another person win. There were three different ways to play the game: single-player, training, and online.

You could play in a mode called “Marathon,” which kept the game going until one person lost, or you could play against another player in a mode called “Challenge.”

Players had to try to get a high score before time ran out in the Time Zone mode.

Overall, emPokémon Puzzle Challenge/em had different ways to play, and there was enough variety to keep people going back to the Game Boy Color, as it is often considered one of the best games of all time for that system.

14. Microsoft Puzzle Collection Entertainment Pack

Microsoft’s emMicrosoft Puzzle Collection/em was first released as a set of puzzle games for PC computers.

The company later put a copy of the set on the Game Boy Color, which made it a lot of fun to play on the go.

The best parts of the game were made portable, and there were around six games with hundreds of levels and three different levels of challenge.

On a gameboard with only four colors, Jewel Chase asked you to steal as much “loot” as you could before the computer-controlled robber could steal more than you.

In one stage of Fringer, you had to untie all of the knots on the screen before your time ran out, which meant the end of the game.

Today, these puzzle games might seem simple compared to more recent puzzle packs, but when they came out in 2000 for the Game Boy Color, puzzle fans were thrilled.

How could any Game Boy Color fan not like a game called Rat Poker where you had to line up rats of different colors until you got them in a certain pattern?

13. Denki Blocks!

Denki Blocks! was a very fun puzzle game for the Game Boy Color that came out in 2001. It was all about moving different colored blocks around.

The goal is to move all of the game blocks around the grid that makes up the game board. Every move is one step, and when two blocks, called “gumblocks,” meet, they form a “clump.”

The goal is to connect as many clumps as possible until there are no more blocks of the winning color.

If it sounds easy, you’d be wrong. The game gets harder with each level, and you have to solve a lot of puzzles to make sure you can match each color before you run out of time.

The cutesy art style fit right in on the Game Boy Color, which had fun graphics and figures that got excited when the player did well.

It might sound easy to try to make a square out of four different pieces, but you can be sure you’ll be hitting the reset button over and over.

12. Klonoa: Empire of Dreams

When combined with puzzle game components, even simple platform games can evolve into something more.

Klonoa: Empire of Dreams would have been a cute but very simple platform game… if it hadn’t been for the smart puzzle game aspects of changing foes into stepping stones to reach all around the area.

Playing Klonoa: Empire of Dreams properly demands both a fast thinking and quick fingers, as finishing Visions requires finding three stars carefully buried within each stage.

This creates a really unique and engaging experience for puzzle and platform game fans alike. Definitely worth a look.

11. Puyo Pop Fever

A timeless classic delivered in a timeless handheld format.

Puyo Pop Fever couldn’t have happened any other way!

Puyo Pop Fever was released on every major gaming console in the early 2000s. But the fundamentals have never changed.

To win this game, you must combine three or more gummies of the same hue that fall from the top of the screen, while also sending rubbish gummies to your opponent to confuse them.

The key difference between this and conventional Puyo Puyo is the Fever mechanics, which induce a frenzy by clearing enough candy, resulting in chains that can be devastatingly powerful.

Saturday Night Fever, make way for the true 2000s Fever!

10. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo

When Guile’s theme begins to play in the background, you know things are about to get serious.

Hello, and welcome to Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo.

Despite the absence of the renowned Street Fighter II character in this fantastic puzzler, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo is a serious experience that will keep you occupied for a long time.

It has fast-paced gem matching and breaking mechanics that are uncommon in games.

While the game hasn’t altered much for the Game Boy Advance, the portable Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo experience is still as enjoyable as ever.

Also owing to an ingenious multiplayer function that may be played on the same console.

A powerful Dragon Punch for connecting wires and numerous copies of the same game!

9. Boulder Dash EX

When excavating tunnels becomes far more difficult than intended, you just get out the best tools for the job.

Boulder Dash EX adds a wacky Japanese anime story and a slew of new mechanics to the original’s tunnel-digging formula, including a variety of power-ups like bombs and grapple arms, new enemy types that use gravity to their advantage, and clever level designs that ease you into the experience.

At first, it was simple. Only to come back and smack you hard later.

Boulder Dash EX is truly EX in every sense of the word, with the inclusion of the original game in all of its classic beauty, as well as choices for 4-player multiplayer.

8. Super Bust-A-Move

Every self-respecting console should have its own version of Bust-A-Move in its collection.

Or a Super version.

Super Bust-A-Move plays similarly to its predecessor, with you using the launcher at the bottom of the screen to shoot colored bubbles and matching them with ones of the same hue to bust them.

The game’s normal puzzler mode feels like a sequel to one of the best puzzle games of all time, thanks to the fantastic range of power-ups and additional obstacles.

If you can’t stomach modernism, you can go back to basics using traditional mode.

The best of both worlds, right in your hands.

7. It’s Mr. Pants

Bring out your best crayons because it’s time to battle the crayon snake!

Despite the fact that one of the game’s three play modes includes a crayon snake, the idea of “It’s Mr. Pants” is not as ridiculous as that.

This unusual snake is used to liven up the basic formula, which entails clearing rectangles of varying sizes with blocks fashioned like the classic Tetriminoes.

While the basic experience will not light your fire, It’s Mr. Pants has a puzzle mode that will.

In this mode, you must clear various rectangle layouts using only the set blocks provided.

Given the vibrant backdrop of the game, this is a shockingly difficult brain-teasing mode.

6. Dr. Mario and Puzzle League

Is there a doctor on the premises? We have a Tetris Attack going on here!

Dr. Mario and Puzzle League combine the experiences of two puzzle games into a single explosive portable product.

While Dr. Mario’s slow and methodical pace may not be for everyone, the star of the show is Puzzle League (also known as Tetris Attack on the Super Nintendo).

This provides its panel matching and chain reactions experience, as well as the many various play modes, all with ingenious variants on the core experience that are still among the most addicting for all types of players today.

Puzzle League is better than drugs. Excellent work. Excellent work!

5. Kuru Kuru Kururin

I honestly don’t know how to say Kuru Kuru Kururin.

But I do know that it’s a bloody good game.

You must navigate through several colorful courses while controlling Kururin’s Helirin, a weird spinning blade vehicle, to retrieve his scattered siblings.

The level design is probably one of the game’s highlights, as it’s plenty of twists and turns that push you to position yourself perfectly, lest you strike the walls and lose time.

Something that will happen rather frequently in the later phases, which are truly unforgiving.

This puzzler is a doozy, in stark contrast to its cheerful exterior. Never believe what you see!

4. The Lost Vikings

These Vikings had been missing for some years. They have yet to return home.

The Lost Vikings Game Boy Advance port is a flawless conversion of the Super Nintendo edition.

You accompany Erik, Baleog, and Olaf back home. Making certain that each member of the trio’s distinct abilities are used to complete the many riddles included in the game’s 37 stages.

Despite its age, The Lost Vikings remains a thrilling experience.

Truly a timeless experience, just as these Vikings remain firm against their alien adversaries. Welcome to Valhalla!

3. Chu Chu Rocket!

These Vikings had been missing for years. And they have yet to return home.

The Game Boy Advance port of the popular puzzle platform game The Lost Vikings is an exact replica of the Super Nintendo edition.

You accompany the agile Erik, the muscular Baleog, and the robust Olaf back home.

Making certain that the many riddles included in the game’s 37 stages are completed using the distinct abilities of each member of the three.

Despite its age, The Lost Vikings remains an engrossing experience.

This is an experience that has endured the test of time as much as these Vikings have stood their ground against their unearthly adversaries. To Valhalla!

2. WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ is a terrifying glimpse inside Nintendo’s collective mind.

Minds full of silly yet always entertaining thoughts.

WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ is entertaining in its most basic form. And a celebration of Nintendo in general.

The game includes a slew of short and sweet challenges inspired by the best original Nintendo games.

These challenges entail executing seemingly simple tasks such as avoiding items and attacking foes.

However, the fast speed of the challenges, the pure delight they provide, and the wonderfully stylish design of the entire experience make the voyage into lunacy enjoyable in a way that few other GBA titles provide.

Definitely worth investigating, especially for die-hard Mario fans.

1. Mario Vs. Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong may appear to be a basic ape. He does, however, know how to cause havoc.

Mario Vs. Donkey Kong is a natural progression from the traditional Donkey Kong experience.

Only this time, Mario isn’t out to save a damsel in distress, but rather the Mini-Mario toys that have been stolen from his freshly constructed factory.

You undoubtedly remember the advertising for this game if you were a kid in 2004. They were fantastic.

To save his beloved Mario toys, the famed plumber-turned-entrepreneur will have to go to several locations and finish three distinct sorts of stages, each with its own set of skill requirements:

• Steep platforming
• Masterful puzzle-solving
• Relentless boss fights

With an impeccable level design that offers a genuinely varied experience that’s easy to learn but harder to master, the eternal war between Mario and Donkey Kong has never been this fun.