The GameBoy Advance is an interesting handheld that made a fair amount of impact despite its short overall life. While iconic Nintendo first-party titles were the main memories most have of the handheld, the GBA also housed several unique and obscure games, ranging from JRPG spin-offs to fan-translated goodies. Going a touch further are Japan-exclusive puzzle games. My main criteria was finding good Japanese GBA puzzle games that a) were navigable without any knowledge of the language and b) generally fun to play. In short, here are  three specific puzzle games worth recommending.

Author’s note: I emulated these games on my  Miyoo Mini Plus. Since these are GBA game, I imagine playing these on OG hardware wouldn’t make a massive difference in terms of gameplay quality, but just an FYI. 

Guru Logic Champ

Guru Logic Champ was one of the last games released by developer Compile, best known for creating the Puyo Puyo series. Eschewing the gooey tile-matching aspects of Puyo Puyo, Guru Logic Champ instead focuses on tactically moving and removing blocks to fill in specific spots within an image. The player controls duck-like creatures, the titular ‘Champs’, who are attempting to solve the problems of various locals in their city, which vary from turning on a faucet for an exhausted runner to helping a person open a jar of jelly. Some cursory internet sleuthing led to a fan translation of the game’s story on a random forum. 

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