Platform guide
All Zelda GBA games
Four Zelda cartridges came out for the Game Boy Advance in Europe — one original game, one port of the SNES classic with a multiplayer game attached, and two NES re-releases that most lists leave off. All four are Game Boy Advance cartridges you can still buy and play on original hardware, and none of them has a save battery to worry about.
The short answer
A Link to the Past & Four Swords (2003) → NES Classics: The Legend of Zelda (2004) → The Minish Cap (2004) → NES Classics: Zelda II (2005). Start with The Minish Cap. All four play on a Game Boy Advance, a Game Boy Advance SP, a Game Boy Micro and on the original DS or DS Lite — but not on a DSi, 3DS or 2DS, which have no GBA slot.
Every Zelda GBA cartridge, in release order
| Game | Year (EU) | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| A Link to the Past & Four Swords | 2003 | SNES port + new multiplayer game |
| NES Classics: The Legend of Zelda | 2004 | NES re-release |
| The Minish Cap | 2004 | Original game — Capcom |
| NES Classics: Zelda II — The Adventure of Link | 2005 | NES re-release |
Game by game — the buying notes
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords (2003)
The 1991 SNES game, largely untouched, with a second game bolted on: Four Swords, the first multiplayer Zelda, for two to four players with a link cable and a cartridge each. That requirement is why Four Swords is the least-played Zelda there is — and why the single-player half is what almost everyone buys this cartridge for. It is still the cheapest way to own A Link to the Past on original hardware.
NES Classics: The Legend of Zelda (2004)
The 1986 original on a GBA cartridge, unaltered — same maps, same secrets, same lack of directions. In Europe the line is branded NES Classics; the same cartridge is Classic NES Series in America and Famicom Mini in Japan, which is why searching the American name finds nothing here. Twelve titles came out in Europe, in two waves.
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (2004)
The last of the three Zeldas Capcom made, after the two Oracle games on Game Boy Color, and the best-looking 2D Zelda of the lot. Link shrinks to the size of an insect and walks through a world built at two scales. Europe got it on 12 November 2004, two months before America. The one to buy if you buy one.
NES Classics: Zelda II — The Adventure of Link (2005)
The side-scrolling sequel nobody expected in 1987 and few finished — experience points, towns, and a difficulty curve that stops being a curve. Came out in the second European NES Classics wave in January 2005, and is the scarcer of the two re-releases here.
Which console plays a Game Boy Advance Zelda?
Every Game Boy Advance model plays all four: the original from 2001, the backlit SP and the tiny Game Boy Micro. So does the first Nintendo DS and the DS Lite, both of which have a GBA slot on the bottom — the DS Lite is the most comfortable way to play these games today, with a lit screen and a rechargeable battery.
What does not work: the DSi, the DSi XL, any 3DS or 2DS, and the Switch. Nintendo dropped the GBA slot with the DSi in 2009 and never brought it back. If a listing tells you a GBA cartridge runs on a 3DS, it is wrong.
Or buy one that has already been checked
Game Boy Advance is the most counterfeited generation there is, so every cartridge we sell is opened, weighed and checked against the board code before it is listed, then play-tested and saved to on real hardware. We have been doing this since 2019, with 1400+ verified reviews at 5.0★, and we ship tracked to all 27 EU countries.
See how we check a GBA cartridgeQuestions we get asked
How many Zelda games are there on the Game Boy Advance?
Four cartridges in Europe: A Link to the Past & Four Swords (2003), NES Classics: The Legend of Zelda (2004), The Minish Cap (2004) and NES Classics: Zelda II — The Adventure of Link (2005). Most lists give only the first and third, because the two NES Classics cartridges are re-releases — but they are real, boxed GBA games you can still buy. Note the European branding: the same two are called Classic NES Series in America and Famicom Mini in Japan.
Which Zelda GBA game should I buy first?
The Minish Cap if you want an original Zelda built for the handheld, A Link to the Past & Four Swords if you want the SNES classic on a cartridge you can hold. Those two are the ones worth playing through; the Classic NES pair are for collectors and for people who want the 1986 and 1987 games exactly as they were.
Do Game Boy Advance Zelda games have a save battery?
No. These four use flash or EEPROM, which needs no power to hold a save — so a twenty-year-old cartridge still saves fine. The coin cell people worry about is the one in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald, and even there it runs the in-game clock rather than the save. Where saves genuinely go flat is on Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges, which is a different generation.
What do I need to play Four Swords?
Two to four Game Boy Advances, a Game Link cable for each pair and a copy of the cartridge per player. There is no single-player mode and no way around the requirement on original hardware. If you only have one GBA, buy this cartridge for A Link to the Past and treat Four Swords as a bonus you may never open.
Do GBA games work on a DS?
On the original DS and the DS Lite, yes — both have a Game Boy Advance slot underneath. The DSi, DSi XL, 3DS, 2DS and Switch do not have that slot, so they cannot play GBA cartridges at all. A DS Lite is the handheld that plays the widest range: GBA in the bottom slot, DS in the top.
Are Game Boy Advance cartridges region-locked?
No. A European GBA cartridge plays on an American or Japanese Game Boy Advance and the other way round. What differs is the language on the cartridge and the box — everything we sell is the European version unless the product page says otherwise.
Do you ship Zelda GBA games across the EU?
Yes — tracked shipping from the Netherlands to all 27 EU countries, no customs charges inside the EU, and 30 days to return an order. Your country’s exact rate appears at checkout before you pay.
One console up: both Zelda DS games, two up: all Zelda 3DS games — or the whole series in order. Same cartridge slot, different franchise: all Pokémon GBA games and all Mario GBA games.
Dutch reader? Game Boy Advance-games — het hele aanbod in het Nederlands.