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Music Games for the GBA

Music games are a rare thing on Nintendo's Gameboy Advance. With its outdated graphics and sound, this 2001 handheld gaming system is not an ideal delivery system for a rich music experience. The few music games it has are mostly rhythm games where the player must press a certain button or sequence of buttons at a specific time.

American Idol
- The 2003 GBA "American Idol" title is based on the TV show, but the player doesn't have to sing. Players must press the "A" and "B" buttons at the proper time as they rotate around a character. It has a "Rehearsal Mode" for practice and an "Endurance Mode" that plays every song back-to-back. "Competition Mode" is the game's main feature. The judges critique the player's "singing" skills and the audience votes on whether you advance. Between each round, you'll get new wardrobe and hairstyle choices to mix up your appearance.
The Cheetah Girls
- "The Cheetah Girls" is a time-based rhythm game released in 2006. It has three separate story lines that revolve around the characters from the Disney show. While you're usually pressing certain buttons at timed intervals to pull off dance moves, you can also design outfits and unlock hidden areas for more challenging gigs. The button combinations get more complicated and the time limits to enter them get shorter as the game progresses.
Britney's Dance Beat
- Released in early 2002, "Britney's Dance Beat" is based on singer Britney Spears and her training for a tour. You use the D-pad and the buttons to execute properly timed dance moves. The game has five Britney Spears songs, including the hits "...Baby One More Time," "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "Oops!... I Did it Again." In his 2002 GameSpot.com review, Frank Provo wrote the graphics and audio are as good as they can be on the GBA, even though the lyrics were stripped from the songs.
Mary-Kate and Ashley: Girls Night Out
- In this 2002 rhythm-based game, button commands and combinations fall from the top of the screen, and you must enter them at the correct time to make an Olson twin dance. It has multiple difficulty levels. There are few commands to enter at the lower levels, but you must use the "L "and "R" shoulder buttons in the higher levels. You can also change the wardrobe of the Olson twin you control, but it doesn't have any impact on game play.
Pocket Music
- "Pocket Music" isn't really a game, but an application to create music using your GBA. This app, released in 2001, has a track editor where you put together riffs using the cartridges sound samples. Samples then go into a riff editor for further editing and fine tuning. A 2002 EAGB.net review said the controls felt "difficult" to navigate. The review suggested wearing headphones as the GBA's mono speaker doesn't do the app justice.

Game Boy