Best Strategy Games on the GBA

Strategy Games are one of the things the Game Boy Advance is genuinely for. The ones worth playing start with Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

The GBA and Strategy Games

A portable SNES with a better colour palette, and the last great 2D library before handhelds went 3D.

This is one of its strengths. 2D action, strategy RPGs and metroidvanias. Advance Wars, Fire Emblem and the Castlevania trilogy are all here, and all near the top of their genres.

Filtering to strategy means you want to be making decisions rather than executing them. It is the right filter when what you liked was the planning.

The Strategy Games Worth Playing

  1. 1. Fire Emblem

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  2. 2. Advance Wars

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  3. 3. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  4. 4. Advance Wars 2 Black Hole Rising

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  5. 5. Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

What Makes a Good Strategy Game

Losing that teaches you something. A good strategy game makes the reason you lost legible, so the next attempt is different rather than just longer.

Pace and immediacy. Strategy games are slow by design, and the good ones expect you to sit with a screen for a while before anything happens.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best strategy game on the GBA?

Fire Emblem is the usual first answer, and there are 5 in the library we cover.

Was the GBA good at strategy games?

Yes — it is one of the things the machine is known for, and there are 5 in the library we cover.

What is the difference between strategy and tactics?

Scale. Tactics is one battle, unit by unit. Strategy is the campaign around it — economy, territory, and which battles to fight at all.

Do strategy games work on a controller?

Turn-based ones, yes; the genre started on consoles. Real-time strategy is genuinely worse without a mouse, with a handful of exceptions built for the pad.

How is this list put together?

From the games this site covers on the Game Boy Advance, matched against hand-mapped gameplay categories rather than a storefront's genre tag. A page only exists where there are at least four, which is why some console and genre combinations have no page at all.

Strategy Games on Other Consoles

More From the GBA

Or browse the whole Game Boy Advance library.