Did the GBA have better games than the DS?

[Marc_LFD]

The DS was more powerful than a GBA, but in terms of its game catalog, the GBA just felt more refined, polished, and quality games overall.



That said, the DS does have quality games though you have to do some research to find them as there's so much shovelware.

Same happened with the Wii versus the GCN.

Now, as for the 3DS it has definitely received a solid library that's vastly superior to the DS. Nintendo did a great job with the 3DS, no doubt.

 

[Robert Newbie]

I fall into Team GBA. It only had a few years before the NDS was released, but it amassed a healthy library of iconic games. Minish Cap, Sonic Advance series, Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission, the Final Fantasy Advance ports, Fire Emblem, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, you can name tons without much effort.

Maybe it's just nostalgia, but I feel like the GBA made its mark by being a portable SNES (in practice).

 

[emigre]

DS>>>GBA&3DS

GBA had far too many ports for my liking particularly SNES ports.

The DS was wonderful balance of games which you would use controls but opened it up for different gaming experiences with the resistive touch screen dual screen concept probably best seen with things like Hotel Dusk and Trauma center. This was once things, I always felt harmed the 3DS as it was smaller and didn't have the 3D gimmick, it got less attention. I also never liked how poor the resolution the 3DS was as well particularly at the time we had smartphones were starting to get highish screen resolution and quality which the DS and GBA didn't have to contend with at the time.

 

[DragonMals]

The DS is FAR superior than the GBA in terms of the multiplayer department and in the single-player department. Gen IV Pokemon rocked (and it's the first one that had a female champion that's underrated imo), Mario Prevailed during that generation with New Super Mario Bros along with SM64DS and Mario vs Donkey Kong (the GBA version is better don't get me wrong, the puzzle games are kinda forgettable), and the DS had overlooked titles that were great like Starfy, Monster Tale, Magician's Quest: Mysterious Times (Animal Crossing fangame created by Konami), and some other games.

But then again, Starfy started great on the GBA.... Alright this is actually a tough choice.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

The DS was more powerful than a GBA, but in terms of its game catalog, the GBA just felt more refined, polished, and quality games overall.



That said, the DS does have quality games though you have to do some research to find them as there's so much shovelware.

Same happened with the Wii versus the GCN.

Now, as for the 3DS it has definitely received a solid library that's vastly superior to the DS. Nintendo did a great job with the 3DS, no doubt.

The GBA might've had better games, but the DS had more of them. Ignoring all the shovelware, the sheer quantity of good games on the DS is impressive.
There's one thing it didn't have, and that's a decent Zelda game. Minish Cap is my favorite 2D Zelda game and the DS didn't have anything that could live up to that.
The DS had a lot of good Pokemon games, including the Pokemon Ranger spinoffs. Though Gen 3 remains my favorite, that's just one generation. The DS had several good ones plus a whole range of spinoffs that were all pretty good as well.
It also had one of my favorite Mario Kart games of all time.
Ace Attorney started on the GBA, and that deserves some recognition, though they were never localized until the DS.

To be honest, I feel like the GBA relied too heavily on ports. Since it was the first handheld powerful enough for SNES ports, that makes some sense, and being able to play all those games on a handheld for the first time was neat, but I think too much time was spent on those ports rather than on new games, and personally I preferred to play them on the big screen. I would've rather had a new Super Mario than ports of all the games that were already bundled in All-Stars, and the Donkey Kong Country ports were inferior to the originals so they weren't worth the trouble anyway.

 

[AdenTheThird]

The big thing here is direct content comparison. The GBA had the Mario Advance games, which were amazing glow-ups/ports of the originals... but the DS had NSMB, an entirely new and fresh mario game. GBA had Mario Kart Super Circuit, which was a fine game, but the DS had the critically acclaimed Mario Kart DS. The GBA had Minish Cap, but DS had PH and ST, so on and so forth...
There are some games on the GBA that I really enjoy as games (Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories as a great example) but on the whole the DS just has way, way more to offer. DS wins in both quality and quantity IMO.

Although I must concede that the GBA is the only way to natively watch Shrek on the go between the two devices...

 

[Robert Newbie]

Wow, I didn't realize how many NDS fans were out there! I'm hardheaded, so I'm going to try and make the case for the GBA. These are some of the original games (no ports) that I could find:

• Mother 3
• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
• Fire Emblem
• Golden Sun
• Sonic Advance 1, 2, and 3
• Sword of Mana
• Castlevania Aria of Sorrow and Circle of the Moon
• Mega Man Zero 1, 2, and 3
• Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission
• Drill Dozer
• Astro Boy: Omega Factor
• Ninja Five-O
• Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
• Gunstar Super Heroes
• Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
• Kirby & the Amazing Mirror
• Advance Wars

This is the best I can do for Team GBA.