|
It's kind of funny that I'd end up liking the Game Boy
Advance as much as I do, when you consider my opinion of the
previous Game Boy systems. I enjoyed the original system
at first, but around the time I bought my Genesis I started to
notice just how weak both the Game Boy's hardware and software
really were. Super Mario Land is a perfect example,
being far inferior to its much older NES counterpart and
hideously ugly thanks to the system's limitations. Even
when the games got better, I wasn't that interested in the
Game Boy... I felt that Nintendo's customers deserved
something a little more, well, advanced than what they were
getting.
Nevertheless, the Game Boy was hugely popular for many
years, and Nintendo didn't really think about a real upgrade
until 1998, when game magazines spilled the beans about
Project Atlantis. This system was supposed to be a huge
step up from the wimpy, wimpy, wimpy Game Boy... but what we
actually got in 1999 was the underwhelming Game Boy
Color. It was twice as fast as the original system, and
true to its name, it offered color output.
Unfortunately, the hardware was still very limited, and
Nintendo's most popular games didn't take full advantage of
its color display. To add to the disappointment, there
were a lot of great titles shown for the Game Boy Color at
1999's Electronics Entertainment Expo, but a few months after
its launch the console was drowned in a flood of terrible
games with equally lousy licenses.
Defying all logic, the Game Boy Color was exceptionally
popular, crushing its only competitor the Neo-Geo Pocket
without even acknowledging its existence. Fortunately,
Nintendo showed more mercy to its customers than it had SNK,
retiring the wretched Game Boy Color in a couple of years
rather than forcing players to put up with another substandard
portable for almost a decade. Its replacement was the
Game Boy Advance, exactly the system I expected the Game Boy
Color to be. People who refer to the Game Boy Advance as
a handheld Super NES are half right... it's got a similar
graphics processor, so its games are just as bright and
detailed, but it's much faster, so titles like Doom and Street
Fighter Alpha, which the Super NES couldn't quite handle, are
no problem for the Game Boy Advance.
Its only flaw, it seems, is the inflexible screen which not
only makes it tough to see in most lighting conditions, but
prevents you from resolving the problem with a reflective
coating that mirrors any lights you shine directly on
it. The best solution I've found is playing the system
in a public place with flourescent lights. That way,
everything's evenly lit and the lights are too far above you
to reflect from the screen. You can also play the games
on an emulator (Visual Boy Advance is my favorite one so far),
or buy a special adaptor for your system that lets you hook it
up to a television set.
Whatever you do, you're not going to want to miss some of
the software available for the Game Boy Advance! Here's
a list of brief reviews that should help you pick out the
games you'll enjoy most.
THE GAME
RATING SYSTEM...
|
|
Game Boy
Advance. A handheld classic that will
stand the test of time for many years to come.
There's no doubt about
it... you simply must have this! |
|
|
Neo-Geo
Pocket. Hey, this is really good!
It may cater to a specific audience, but it puts on one
heck of a show for them. Go ahead, give it a
try! |
|
|
Game
Gear. It's flawed in a number of ways,
but still pretty entertaining. You might have to
play it for a while to really appreciate it,
though. |
|
|
Wonderswan. You know they
could have done better... in fact, a lot better.
What the heck, though... as long as it's there, you
might as well play it! |
|
|
game.com. A miserable
failure with nothing to redeem it. Don't buy it,
don't rent it... don't even borrow it from any friends
dumb enough to be stuck with
it. |
(Disclaimer: Every game
reviewed on this page is for the Game Boy Advance, and only
the Game Boy Advance. These pictures are intended to
illustrate the quality of each game reviewed. The
Gameroom Blitz will not assume responsibility for damage done
to any Game Boy Advance games you try to force into your
game.com. If you were dumb enough to buy a game.com in
the first place, that's your
problem.)
|
ATARI ANNIVERSARY
ADVANCE
CLASSIC COLLECTION |
ATARI (DIGITAL
ECLIPSE)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Who would have ever guessed twenty
five years ago that gamers of the future would have enough
room in their pockets for six arcade hits, with just enough
space left over for a flashy trivia
challenge? Well, we know now what our poor,
deprived ancestors didn't know then, thanks to Atari
Anniversary Advance. The Game Boy Advance doesn't have
the muscle to fully emulate the hardware of coin-ops like
Tempest and Centipede, but Digital Eclipse came up with a
brilliant compromise, which they've dubbed
meta-emulation. The graphics and sound are all handled
natively, taking stress off the system's sluggish processor,
but the basic routines that handle character AI and movement
are preserved, resulting in a stunningly faithful arcade
experience. Whether you're blasting flippers and
spikers in a series of tubes (not a dump truck), or
clearing the sky of missiles launched by a rival superpower,
you'll feel like there's a tiny window to the past in
your hands. Just remember to bring
along some headphones! You won't hear
the rumbling explosions in Asteroids and
Battlezone without them.
|
CRAZY FROG
RACING
RACING |
DIGITAL TAINMENT POOL
(DENARIS)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
I'd love to spend the entirety of this review telling
you how much I hate the
anatomically-correct-but-not-really-since-he's-a-frog star of
this game, but I can't. That's mostly because that
would leave me with less time to express my raging contempt
for all the OTHER idiotic characters in Crazy Frog
Racing! This game makes it official... they'll let just
about anyone behind the wheel of a go-kart these
days, including janga-smoking great danes (zoinks, Scoob!) and
chickens who will make you an offer you can't refuse (playing
something else, maybe?). Just because they're hopping
aboard this train wreck doesn't mean you have to, though!
Drab graphics, mechanical control, inscrutable
power-ups, and frustrating five kart pile-ups make Crazy Frog
Racing not only the worst game in a crowded field of lame
Mario Kart clones, but the worst thing you can put into your
Game Boy Advance next to a pick axe or a gallon of boiling
water.
|
FANTASTIC 4: FLAME
ON!
ACTION |
ACTIVISION
(TORUS)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Flame On! is the perfect vehicle for its cocky young star
Johnny Storm. It's got absolutely no depth or
substance, but it sets the Game Boy Advance ablaze with some
of the flashiest fighting action you'll ever see on the
system. As Johnny, better known as The Human Torch,
you'll use your fiery fists and feet to blaze a
trail through an army of alien thugs. Whether
you're launching a scorching blast of flame at your
foes or snatching gems as you soar through the sky, you
can count on animation that's as smooth and striking as a
sledgehammer slathered in butter (mmm... painful!).
The only thing that threatens to put a chill on the white-hot
graphics is a lack of shading, especially in the
backgrounds. However, they're a lot more appealing
than the monotonous techno music waiting for you in
each level... it's as persistent as Dr. Doom himself, and
twice as evil! Somewhere in the middle lies the
gameplay... it won't set the world on fire, but it's
entertaining enough despite the predictable level design and
limited variety of enemies.
|
FINAL FANTASY TACTICS
ADVANCE
ROLE PLAYING /
STRATEGY |
NINTENDO
(SQUARE-ENIX)
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
This game's earned every last word of bad
press it's received. The judgement system is a constant
annoyance during fights... when the chocobo-riding
referee isn't getting in your way, he's blowing the whistle on
your mistakes while turning a blind eye to the computer
opponent's own violations. The laws you're expected
to abide by in each battle are supposed to add a layer of
strategy to the gameplay, but all they wind up doing is
getting on your nerves... especially when you're dropped in
prison for a crime you didn't even realize you
committed! Nevertheless, after you've spent nine
straight hours completing missions and strengthening a small
army of characters, it becomes clear that Square-Enix must have done SOMETHING right with
this game. In keeping with the Final Fantasy
tradition, the graphics are rich with color and detail, and
there are plenty of subtle but welcome twists to
the turn-based gameplay. Perhaps the best of
these features is the ability to assign jobs to your
heroes, then take the skills they've learned in that
profession and carry them over to more
exciting careers. Can't decide if you want
your favorite character to bust heads as a soldier, or
heal wounds as a cleric? Now you can have
both!
|
PAC-MAN PINBALL
ADVANCE
PINBALL / ACTION |
NAMCO (HUMAN
SOFT)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Pac-Man's never had much luck in the world of
pinball, and this half-hearted release by Human Soft (not
to be confused with the folks who first gave the world Fire
Pro Wrestling) does little to break that losing streak.
Like Mario's own pinball game on the Game Boy
Advance, Pac-Man Pinball Advance
blends rudimentary adventure elements into the
traditional flipper-flapping action, then throws in a heaping
cup of computer rendering to give the finished
product a 21st century sheen. They may have had the
same recipe Nintendo used to make Mario Pinball Land, but
it only takes one bite to realize that
Namco and Human used store brand ingredients in their own
creation. The graphics in Pac-Man Pinball are kind of
fugly, with a table that teeters back and forth as if it's
been drinking heavily, and the player never really understands
what needs to be done in order to make progress. Strike
all the targets you want, and eat all the dots and ghosts you
like, but chances are, you'll be stuck on the same table for
the remainder of the game, listening to the
same bewilderingly dramatic background music. If
you already have Pokemon Pinball, the crown standard of silver
ball sims on the Game Boy Advance, feel free to let this
one roll down the drain.
|
ACTIVISION ANTHOLOGY
CLASSIC
COLLECTION |
ASPYR (ACTIVISION, VARIOUS
OTHERS)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
I had my doubts about this collection at
first... developers Aspyr made the daring decision to emulate
the 2600 hardware itself, rather than merely translating the
games to the Game Boy Advance. Although emulation is the
best way to ensure that the games are accurately reproduced,
emulating the quirky 2600 hardware is asking a lot of the Game
Boy Advance. Not only have the graphics been compressed
to fit on the system's smaller screen, but the most
graphically demanding titles in the collection run more slowly
here than they did on a real 2600.
Despite this, Activision Anthology has a lot to offer the
player... namely, fifty of the best games released on Atari's
most popular system. You'll find it hard to pull
yourself away from intense classics like Megamania and Spider
Fighter, whether you're just playing them for fun or gunning
for the hidden patches, accessible by reaching predetermined
target scores.
|
ADVANCE GUARDIAN
HEROES
ACTION / FIGHTING |
UBI SOFT
(TREASURE)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
As heartbroken as I am to say it, this sequel to Guardian
Heroes is missing a lot of what made the first game
great. The intuitive but surprisingly complex gameplay,
the boldly drawn artwork, the exceptional character design...
none of that's here. What you WILL find is an out of
place futuristic setting, a generic cast of fighters who
look more like they belong in Treasure's first game Gunstar
Heroes, and awkward new play mechanics. Oh, but that's not
all! You get slowdown, and a whole lot of it. You remember
slowdown, right? The result of poorly optimized programming
that made a frequent appearance in dozens of Super NES games?
Well, it's back, and it's as annoying as ever. All this plus
unresponsive control and outrageously cheap enemies who can
kill you with one blow (in the first round!) makes it pretty
clear why Treasure usually keeps a safe distance from sequels.
They sure as hell shouldn't have made this one.
ADVANCE WARS 2
STRATEGY |
NINTENDO (INTELLIGENT
SYSTEMS)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
As if there was any doubt, Advance Wars 2 is that much
better than the first. The Black Hole Army's back and they're
pissed and they wanna take over everything, but it doesn't
matter because you are the Orange Star Army and warring is
your BUSINESS, foo'. Heh. Adding to Advance Wars 2's strategic
mix is that you will have to play as two officers at once in
some parts of the game and that adds a whole new level of
cerebelic (is that even a word?) pain. I mean that in a good
way. Seriously. Everything that was in the first game is
back and improved in some way, especially the way the story is
handled in the cut scenes. Graphically, the cut scenes still
make the game and the dialog between the commanding officers
is still pretty decent. Even more new units (Neo Tanks?
YAAAAAAAAAY!), a pretty good AI that doesn't always feel
cheap, and an increasingly difficult and innovative campaign
mode, along with the already impressive multiplayer and map
editor modes (for your own filthy map designs to torture your
friends with) make this one of the games you simply must own
for the Game Boy Advance.
|
ALIENATORS: EVOLUTION
CONTINUES
ACTION, SHOOTER |
DIGITAL
ECLIPSE
1
PLAYER
|
|
You're not going to hate this as much as the film (judging
from the reviews I've read, I don't think that's possible...),
but this side-scrolling shooter just isn't that
interesting. Digital Eclipse proves that they're the
best Game Boy Advance design firm this side of Japan by giving
this release crisp, bright graphics, solid gameplay, and a
soundtrack that's straight out of a movie (a good movie, not
Evolution). However, they forgot the one thing that made
similar games like Contra and Gunstar Heroes much more
exciting... intensity. In those games, it was a struggle
to survive, because each round was packed with relentless
enemies. The only thing you'll struggle to do here is
stay awake, because the mutants in Alienators aren't very
aggressive, and they're not exactly in abundant supply
either.
|
ALADDIN
ACTION |
CAPCOM
1
PLAYER
|
|
If you've played any of Capcom's other
Disney-licensed games, you know what to expect from this
one. In addition to the gorgeously colorful graphics
(faithful to the film right down to your simian sidekick Abu
trailing your every move), lively music, and solid but
unremarkable gameplay, Aladdin features an emphasis on the
title character's athletic prowess. Aladdin swings from
poles and surprises his foes with a leaping handstand attack,
making the game more stylish than your average side-scrolling
platformer... but also more awkward. It's more difficult
than necessary to guide Al safely to the ground after he's
bounced off the shoulders of an enemy. Fans of the film
will still be satisfied with the game despite this quirk...
but most everyone will agree that Capcom's original efforts
are better.
ALTERED BEAST
BEAT 'EM UP |
T*HQ (SEGA, 3D6
GAMES)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
The game you might have gotten with your Genesis
is the one game you won't want to get for
your Game Boy Advance. The new Altered Beast is closely
patterned after the first one, which means that the gameplay
is extremely basic and straightforward... undead creatures pop
out of the ground and you put them back where they belong with
well-timed punches and kicks. The process repeats for
what seems like a lifetime until you transform into one of the
game's many anthropomorphic creatures and battle a large,
powerful boss. While you'll definitely notice
improvements over the original Altered Beast, they don't
alleviate the monotonous gameplay, and in fact make it even
worse thanks to the increased number of rounds.
Furthermore, the computer rendered graphics are painfully ugly
and lack the personality of the hand drawn artwork in the
original game... the clever and varied death animations were
one of the few reasons to play the Genesis version
of Altered Beast. Sega should have just let this
one "Stay... in its grave."
ARMY
MEN: OPERATION GREEN
ACTION,
SHOOTER |
3DO (POCKET STUDIOS)
1
PLAYER
|
|
This is my first taste of Army Men, and believe it or not,
I actually came away from the experience without any permanent
psychological damage. In fact, I was impressed with this
hybrid of Desert Strike and Commando... it's got a convincing
military atmosphere despite the cast of toy soldiers, with
large, nicely detailed playfields and explosions that shake
both the screen and your eardrums. The only thing that's
missing is the smell of napalm in the morning!
Unfortunately, the silly control scheme hurts- not ruins, but
hurts- the gameplay. I guess Pocket Studios wanted to go
for a Doom like feel with the strafing and turning, but it
just doesn't make sense in an overhead view shooter. If
Operation Green had borrowed Commando's style of control in
addition to most of its other ideas, it would have been
great... maybe even outstanding. As it is, though, Green
won't change many peoples' perceptions about the Army Men
series.
ASTERIX AND OBELIX: PAF! THEM ALL
ACTION
PLATFORM/FIGHTING |
INFOGRAMES
1
PLAYER
|
|
Infogrames takes you to a time in history where, believe it
or not, the French are mighty warriors who take a stand
against a seemingly unstoppable force bent on taking over the
world. Yes, once upon a time, the Viking-like Gauls
faught to defend their land from the Romans. In Asterix,
the cartoon based on these battles, Asterix led the Gauls in
their struggle against Julius Ceasar, along with his bloated
buddy Obelix and their tiny pet Dogmatix. The cartoon
was popular enough to inspire several video games, and this is
the latest. Actually, Paf! Them All gives you a
selection between a new title exclusive to the Game Boy
Advance called Asterix and Cleopatra, and a side-scrolling
platformer called Asterix and Obelix that was previously
available on the Sega Genesis. Despite crisp, cartoony
graphics, the new game is pretty weak... it's a Golden Axe
clone that's even more simplistic and repetitive.
Fortunately, the platformer is more fun, although it can be
frustrating and the graphics are a little washed out.
The draw to both games is the French artwork that's charmingly
silly... it's a little like what you'd see on the Smurfs, but
with better detail and more exaggerated poses.
|
ASTERIX AND OBELIX: XXL
3D
PLATFORMER |
ATARI (VELEZ/DUBAIL)
1 PLAYER
|
|
When you see a game that's based on an obscure
French cartoon like Asterix, you'd expect it to be just
another generic side-scrolling platformer. Not this
time, though... surprisingly, Asterix and Obelix: XXL is a
generic three-dimensional platformer, thanks to the always
impressive efforts of Fernando Velez and Guillaume
Dubail. You may recognize these guys from their previous
Game Boy Advance titles V-Rally III and Stuntman, and they're
once again shifting the system into overdrive with a polygonal
graphics engine so advanced, you half expect the system to
blow a fuse after fifteen minutes. The graphics may
impress you, but the gameplay probably won't... your time is
evenly split between mindlessly punching out Roman guards and
picking up their helmets to use later as currency for the
shopkeepers hidden in some stages. The ability to switch
between spritely Asterix and his chubby buddy Obelix does keep
the game from getting too dull, but for the most part, it's
just another 3D tech demo by Velez and Dubail, which dazzles
more than it entertains.
|
ASTRO
BOY
ACTION/PLATFORM |
SEGA (TREASURE,
HITMAKER)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Get ready for a double dose of nostalgia!
Whether you loved the cartoon from animation legend Osamu
Tezuka or are just a fan of Treasure games like Silhouette
Mirage and Gunstar Heroes, you'll have a blast with Astro
Boy. If you enjoyed them both, there's absolutely no
doubt that you should buy this. It's a straightforward
action game with heavy emphasis on the
action... Astro Boy is constantly surrounded by
enemies, and to survive, he'll have to beat the
crowd (literally!) with punches, kicks, and powerful
super moves. Along the way, you'll find dozens of
characters from the Astro Boy cartoon series... each one
gives you a point which can be used to boost the titanium
tyke's abilities, making him faster and stronger. The
graphics and sound are vintage Treasure, with bright, colorful
artwork and fittingly high-tech music, but the
game eventually becomes repetitive thanks
to its linear levels and limited selection of
enemies. Still, it's the best thing to come from
Treasure in a long time, and the Astro Boy license gives the
game a refreshingly different look.
|
ATARI ANNIVERSARY
ADVANCE
CLASSIC COLLECTION |
ATARI (DIGITAL
ECLIPSE)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Who would have ever guessed twenty
five years ago that gamers of the future would have enough
room in their pockets for six arcade hits, with just enough
space left over for a flashy trivia
challenge? Well, we know now what our poor,
deprived ancestors didn't know then, thanks to Atari
Anniversary Advance. The Game Boy Advance doesn't have
the muscle to fully emulate the hardware of coin-ops like
Tempest and Centipede, but Digital Eclipse came up with a
brilliant compromise, which they've dubbed
meta-emulation. The graphics and sound are all handled
natively, taking stress off the system's sluggish processor,
but the basic routines that handle character AI and movement
are preserved, resulting in a stunningly faithful arcade
experience. Whether you're blasting flippers and
spikers in a series of tubes (not a dump truck), or
clearing the sky of missiles launched by a rival superpower,
you'll feel like there's a tiny window to the past in
your hands. Just remember to bring
along some headphones! You won't hear
the rumbling explosions in Asteroids and
Battlezone without them.
|
BANJO-KAZOOIE: GRUNTY'S
REVENGE
ACTION/ADVENTURE |
T*HQ
(RARE)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Rednecks rejoice... your hero has
returned! After Microsoft purchased Rare, nobody was
sure if Banjo-Kazooie would be released for the Game Boy
Advance. However, thanks to a licensing deal with T*HQ,
it's finally arrived. You're probably wondering if the
game was worth the long wait. If you were a big fan of
the N64 versions of Banjo-Kazooie, then the answer is yes...
although the polygonal playfields have been replaced with
unattractive computer rendered backgrounds, the Game Boy
Advance extension of the series offers the same silly fun you
remember from the first two Banjo games. The rest of you
may not be as enthused with the tedious item collecting
and the main character, a bear so brain dead he speaks in
gape-jawed "duhs" and must be taught simple skills like
climbing to proceed through the game. Come to think of
it, the game as a whole just isn't as clever as Spyro the
Dragon or its sequels... you're better off playing those
first.
BOMBERMAN TOURNAMENT
ACTION,
STRATEGY |
ACTIVISION (HUDSON)
1-4
PLAYERS TO ONE CART
|
|
It's nice to have a portable version of Bomberman handy,
but it's tough to settle for this after you've played the
Saturn version. Bomberman Tournament's battle mode is
much more bland, featuring fewer options and characters.
It seems that Hudson Soft spent more time with the single
player game, which was a big mistake, because it's
relentlessly boring, basically a role-playing game with a
sprinkling of traditional Bomberman elements. It's a
light sprinkling indeed, because you've got to let cute,
abstract characters called Karabon fight for you in three
round battles. Shameless? Yes, very.
Nevertheless, the Karabon could have been fun to collect if
you could ride on them or better yet, use them in the versus
mode. Perhaps this will be a feature in the
sequel...
|
BOOKWORM
PUZZLE |
MAJESCO
(POPCAP)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
If you've become hopelessly addicted to Popcap's
selection of quirky Internet games, but aren't quite ready to
drop a thousand bucks on a cumbersome laptop so you can play
them anywhere, there's good news. Now, there's a version
of Bookworm on the Game Boy Advance that'll keep your
withdrawl symptoms under control while you're out of the house
and away from your computer. Oddly, Bookworm on the Game
Boy Advance lacks the polish of the Flash game that inspired
it... the tiles are blandly drawn, and it'll take some time to
adjust to the control, as the cursor jumps from one tile to
the next instead of smoothly gliding over them. However,
you'll still find yourself drawn in by Bookworm's gameplay,
which borrows heavily from the board games Scrabble and Boggle
but throws in just a touch of the frantic danger you've come
to expect from puzzlers like Tetris and Bust-A-Move.
Finally, the hilarious drawings at the end of each level are
worth a mention... they illustrate your current rank with
everything from a teenaged clerk peppered with zits to a
pointy-headed German soldier burning books (and his own
hand!).
|
BREAKOUT / CENTIPEDE /
WARLORDS
CLASSIC COLLECTION |
DSI
(ECi)
1-4
PLAYERS
|
|
Here's one more reason to kick yourself if you missed out
on the Game Boy Advance port of Activision Anthology.
Breakout / Centipede / Warlords tries to bring back those fond
memories of the Atari 2600, but instead of leaving you with a
warm sense of nostalgia, all you'll get from this cartridge is
a sense that something's missing. None of the games in
this collection are emulated... instead, they're imperfect
collections of three Atari coin-ops, with prettier graphics
but obnoxious flaws that make the games a lot less fun to
play. Centipede, for instance, coats the screen with
mushrooms, making the serpentine bug an easy target as
it's forced downward by the thick patches of
fungus. Predictably, Breakout suffers from the Game Boy
Advance's lack of analog control, but the programmers made no
effort to compensate for this with a speed button that would
have let your paddle zip across the screen to catch stray
balls. Finally, there's Warlords, the best game on the
collection. This is a competitive four player game of
Breakout with enhanced graphics and more complex
gameplay. It doesn't suffer from the lack of a dial the
way that Breakout does, thanks to the fact that your shield
has less ground to cover, but the inclusion of the arcade
game's screen overlay obscures the action, making it more
difficult to see the fireballs as they come dangerously close
to your castle. Despite this flaw, Warlords is a pretty
entertaining game, and the only good reason to purchase this
collection.
|
BROTHER
BEAR
ACTION/PLATFORM |
UBI SOFT (VICARIOUS
VISIONS)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Brother Bear wasn't as memorable as Disney's
previous animated films, so it's fitting that the video game
doesn't compare favorably to those based on other
Disney movies like Aladdin and The Jungle
Book. Brother Bear starts out as a generic
side-scrolling action game, best described as a more rustic
Super Mario Bros. Instead of finding coins
hidden inside blocks, the title character Kenai gathers
raspberries from rotting tree stumps. This
continues until you stumble upon your sidekick Koda, who adds
a little more depth to the gameplay. In some stages,
you'll play as both Kenai and Koda, solving puzzles using each
character's special skills. In others, Koda clings
tightly to Kenai's back and the game once again becomes a
straightforward platformer. No matter how you play
Brother Bear, you'll probably agree that you've had
better... the computer rendered graphics are grainy and lack
definition, and the gameplay is largely devoid of challenge
and depth. It's fine for the kids, but those with more
mature tastes will want to stick with the Super Mario Advance
games.
BRUCE
LEE
ACTION |
UNIVERSAL (VICARIOUS
VISIONS)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Vicarious Visions might be spreading itself a
little thin lately, but their Game Boy Advance
titles (all three dozen of 'em) have still been
consistently good. Bruce Lee, a side-scrolling
platformer with a heavy emphasis on fighting, is no
different. You may remember that Bruce Lee was one of
the worst games on the XBox, but the legendary dragon's claws
are much sharper here. Bruce gets the chance to test
both his fighting skills and his agility here... when he's not
smacking around foes with his trademark backhand and
split kick, he's leaping off walls, hanging from platforms,
and sliding down poles. The overall experience is solid,
but not exceptional... the somewhat plain rendered graphics
take some of the excitement out of the game, and the fighting
can become monotonous and frustrating. However, it does
do the martial arts master justice, and if that's all that
matters to you, you'll be satisfied with this game.
BUST-A-MOVE
PUZZLE |
RUSS PRINCE (OF
BEL-AIRE?)
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
It's nice to know that someone can do this game
justice on the Game Boy Advance, even if it isn't the company
that created it. Russ Prince's conversion of the
original Bust-A-Move is just amazing. Homebrews
have a tendency to look and feel sloppy, but that's not the
case here... Russ has faithfully reproduced nearly
every detail from the coin-op. The arrow spins
the way it should, the bright, colorful bubbles richochet
off the sides of the playfield the way they should, and
there's even a tremor when the wall is about to
drop, although it only seems to affect the bubble you're
about to fire rather than the entire screen. The
only thing that's really missing is Bub and Bob sweating
bullets when the bubbles get too close. Aside from that,
Russ' conversion of Bust-A-Move is perfect, and a whole
lot more impressive than what Altron had done to- er, WITH-
Super Bust-A-Move. If we're really lucky, perhaps Taito
will buy the rights to Russ' work and make this game available
on the upcoming GBA card reader.
|
CARTOON NETWORK
SPEEDWAY
RACING |
MAJESCO
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
Yep, it's another kart racer featuring
popular licensed characters. You have to wonder if
there's anyone left on television who HASN'T starred in one of
these games. Anyway, compared to the dozen or so
competitive racing titles on the Game Boy Advance, Cartoon
Network Speedway is dead average. It's far better than
Shrek Speedway, yet not as fun or as charismatic as the king
of the genre, Mario Kart: Super Circuit. Part of the
problem with Cartoon Network Speedway is that it doesn't do
much to impress either video gamers or fans of the popular
cable channel. It's underwhelming as a kart racer
because it isn't professionally designed... the weapons are
tough to use and the graphics could be more polished.
It's lacking as a Cartoon Network product because many of the
channel's best shows aren't represented... instead
of Robot Jones or Samurai Jack, you're given washed up
characters like Johnny Bravo, who haven't appeared on the
network's prime time schedule in years. The only thing
that'll keep you behind the wheel of this run-of-the-mill
racing game is a challenge mode that lets you unlock new
characters by beating the high scores set for each stage.
CASTLEVANIA: ARIA OF
SORROW
ACTION/ADVENTURE |
KONAMI
1
PLAYER
|
|
The question on every Game Boy Advance player's
mind seems to be this: "Which of the system's Castlevania
games are the best?" Personally, I don't think the
question is all that important, because no matter what game
you choose, you'll be taking home a fantastic
experience. In fact, you could argue that your
collection just isn't complete without all three Castlevania
titles, as they're among the best games released on the
Game Boy Advance. Aria of Sorrow holds its own against
the other games in the series, but its appeal has nothing to
do with the futuristic setting. Frankly, there's very
little indication that it happens thirty years from now rather
than centuries ago, which is disappointing when you consider
all the opportunities Konami missed to really make this game
stand out. Fortunately, Aria of Sorrow has all the
qualities that made Symphony of the Night a classic, plus a
fantastic new weapon system that lets you claim an ability
from nearly every enemy in the game. This gives the game
as much variety as Circle of the Moon, but also some of the
frustration. You'll have to defeat some monsters
repeatedly before they'll relinquish their powers, and not all
of them are worth keeping.
CASTLEVANIA: CIRCLE OF THE MOON
ACTION,
ADVENTURE |
KONAMI (KCEK)
1
PLAYER
|
|
I'm still not sure if this was the best or the worst thing
that ever happened to the Game Boy Advance. On one hand,
it takes the best ideas from the Castlevania series
(especially Symphony of the Night) and adds a card combination
system which gives you a huge variety of attacks and useful
abilities. On the other hand, Circle of the Moon
singlehandedly sparked peoples' complaints about the Game Boy
Advance's dark, reflective screen. It doesn't really
matter WHERE you play the game... you won't be able to see it
because of the tiny characters and backgrounds filled with
purples, blacks, and the deepest of browns. It's
frustrating, but Circle of the Moon is worth the hours of
squinting thanks to its depth, variety, and addictive
gameplay.
CASTLEVANIA: HARMONY OF
DISSONANCE
ACTION/ADVENTURE |
KONAMI
1
PLAYER
|
|
I guess I'm the only one who wasn't disappointed
with this sequel to Circle of the Moon. Yes, the music
is surprisingly primitive, and yes, the weapon system is
more limiting than those in Circle of the Moon and the
recently released Aria of Sorrow. However, it's worth
noting that Harmony of Dissonance has better graphics than the
previous game... everything's brighter now, and both the death
animations and weapon effects are greatly improved. It's
also got a feel that's evenly balanced between the Castlevania
games of the past and today's longer, more complex
adventures. Juste Belmont's whip is a more effective
weapon than any of the dozens offered in Aria of Sorrow, and
the music (although admittedly simplistic) is wonderfully
reminscent of the soundtracks in the NES Castlevania
games. Even with its flaws, Harmony of Dissonance is a
highly addictive and impressive game that's strongly
recommended to any and all Game Boy Advance owners.
CHU
CHU ROCKET!
ACTION, PUZZLE |
SEGA (SONIC TEAM)
1-4
PLAYERS
|
|
How many rockets could a Chu Chu chew if a Chu Chu could
chew... aw, forget it. Anyway, this is the Game Boy
Advance version of the overlooked puzzle game that was
released on the Dreamcast a few years ago. I actually
prefer the handheld game, not only because there are new
random events and a customization mode that lets you create
your own cats and mice, but because it's just better suited to
a portable system. The only thing that's missing from
the original on the Dreamcast is the spinning polygon that
announces random events... everything else is here, though,
and it's a lot more impressive on the Game Boy Advance.
COLUMNS CROWN
PUZZLE |
SEGA (WOW)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
I wouldn't be surprised if they released this in the United
States as "Columns... For Girls!" or "Mary Kate and Ashley's
Totally Radical Gem Hunt". Each of the game's modes is
centered around a plot involving a princess who needs to find
all 24 gems to complete a crown which will allow her to take
her mother's place on the throne of the kingdom. Of
course, being a princess, she doesn't actually hunt for most
of the jewels herself... she leaves that job up to her two
friends Ruby and Jade. All of the game's modes are
integrated into the plot... you've got to play everything to
shake Columns Crown for every last stone. It's a great
idea, because players can choose their favorite play styles
but are given some incentive to try the others. But are
any of them worth playing? I'd say yes, even though I'm
not a fan of Columns... the game plays smoothly, the graphics
are nice (I like how the girls pop into the air every time
they make a match in Flash Columns), and there's a lot of
variety... you can even use power-ups against your opponent in
the versus mode.
COMIX
ZONE
ACTION, FIGHTER |
SEGA
(VIRTUCRAFT)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
People have complained in the past that the Game
Boy Advance gets far too many Super NES translations. I
not only disagree, but feel that the system should be
getting just as many ports of great Genesis games.
Finally, that's starting to happen... Sega's treated us to a
portable translation of its inventive yet overlooked
side-scrolling fighter Comix Zone. Best of all, it
improves upon the original with smaller, less detailed
characters, a clumsy control scheme, frustrating collision
detection, and... wait just a cotton pickin' minute!
Those aren't improvements! Well, uh, anyway, this was
SUPPOSED to be an improvement over the Genesis game, but the
ugly dithering that should have been cleaned up on this more
advanced system was actually made worse. True to form,
Virtucraft screwed up a lot of other things, but even they
couldn't flush this once awesome but now merely decent game
down the toilet.
CONTRA: THE ALIEN WARS EX
STUPIDLY FRUSTRATING
SHOOTER |
KONAMI
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
Tired of waiting for a Game Boy Advance version
of Gunstar Heroes? Willing to settle for anything else
as long as it doesn't star cute space aliens or dinosaur
hunters? Don't mind if the vein in your head grows to
the point of nearly exploding? Then have we got the game
for you! It's Contra: The Alien Wars EX, a lackluster
conversion of the Super NES launch title with everything you
loved (dual weapon handling, super bombs) taken out and crappy
"new" rounds from the Genesis dud Contra: Hard Corps thrown
in! Never mind that the lack of color in these rounds is
plainly obvious when you compare them to the original
stages! Never mind that the music is even WORSE
than it was on the Genesis, or the NES, for that matter!
Never mind that the game is simplistic and primitive when
compared to any of the shooters it inspired! Just sweep
all those colossal mistakes, shortcomings, and
omissions under the rug, because this game's got
everything you really want... jumping, frustration,
shooting, frustration, frustration, aggravation (for a little
variety), and even more frustration! We guarantee that
this is the most painful thing you can do with your Game Boy
Advance that doesn't involve Midway or a proctologist.
If we're wrong, you get your money back... that is, if you
haven't already smashed the cartridge to bits with a
hammer!
|
CRAZY FROG
RACING
RACING |
DIGITAL TAINMENT POOL
(DENARIS)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
I'd love to spend the entirety of this review telling
you how much I hate the
anatomically-correct-but-not-really-since-he's-a-frog star of
this game, but I can't. That's mostly because that
would leave me with less time to express my raging contempt
for all the OTHER idiotic characters in Crazy Frog
Racing! This game makes it official... they'll let just
about anyone behind the wheel of a go-kart these
days, including janga-smoking great danes (zoinks, Scoob!) and
chickens who will make you an offer you can't refuse (playing
something else, maybe?). Just because they're hopping
aboard this train wreck doesn't mean you have to, though!
Drab graphics, mechanical control, inscrutable
power-ups, and frustrating five kart pile-ups make Crazy Frog
Racing not only the worst game in a crowded field of lame
Mario Kart clones, but the worst thing you can put into your
Game Boy Advance next to a pick axe or a gallon of boiling
water.
DARIUS R
SHOOTER |
PCCW (TAITO)
1 PLAYER
|
|
There was only one Darius game I enjoyed,
and this sure ain't it. The Game Boy Advance version of
Darius is based on the very first, very flawed game in
the series, a horizontal shooter with a playfield so large it
stretched across three screens. Darius R is
groundbreaking in the respect that it's the first Game Boy
Advance translation that actually benefits from the
system's limited resolution. Thanks to the single screen
format, Darius players can now see the action all at
once, rather than catching bullets and bad guys out of the
corner of their eyes a split second before they collide with
them. Darius R offers other improvements as well, like a
less demanding power up system and more forgiving gameplay,
but this still isn't enough to give it an edge over the
ultimate Darius game, Sagaia. The graphics in Darius R
are badly dated, the power up system is still frustrating
(grabbing four consecutive items just to power up one
weapon? Gee, that's not asking too much...), and
the soundtrack is tainted with the fruity opera themes
from Darius Gaiden. Who needs all that hassle when
you can find shooters you'll actually like to play on this
system?
DISNEY'S LILO AND
STITCH
ACTION/SHOOTER |
UBI SOFT (DISNEY
INTERACTIVE)
1
PLAYER
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
Sometimes, the best surprises come in the strangest ways.
Lilo and Stitch is not one or two, but three seperate games.
For most of the game, you play as Stitch, shooting up alien
law enforcement (Yeah! Take that, MIB fuzz!) and bombing the
hell out of anything that move with exploding pineapples in a
distinctly Metal Slug-esque shooter. You even get a bad
ass walker-mech you can use to blow stuff! Then the action
will switch to Lilo sneaking around a spaceship hiding from
guards in a Oddworld-like manner, which is really fun because
she hides behind plants and such and the animation is
pretty good. THEN it switches back to Stitch in his
spaceship trying to save Lilo in a shooter that's
like Gyruss. Wow. That's a lot of game. Thankfully all
three are pretty good, with the Gyruss shooter being the
weakest... that's all right, though, because you only play it
a couple of times. The graphics (including the obligatory low
res movie clips- not stills!) are all of really good quality,
which what you'd expect from a Disney product, and the sound
includes a nice Hawaiian beat and lots of alien pummeling. If
you're a fan of the movie, or of variety for that matter, you
can't do much better than this.
DOUBLE DRAGON ADVANCE
SIDE-SCROLLING BEAT 'EM
UP |
ATLUS
(MILLION)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Reviewers have complained that this game doesn't
have enough variety and that it will only appeal to fans of
the popular beat 'em up from the 1980's. What they DON'T
tell you is that while Double Dragon Advance is based on the
first game in the series, it's also greatly improved.
There's a much larger selection of moves this time... now, the
Dragon brothers can duck, run, and block incoming attacks, as
well as fight back with stylish new weapons and
attacks. There are also new stages and enemies which
keep the game entertaining long after its arcade counterpart
became boring. The fighting does eventually get
repetitive- after all, there are only so many green Abobos you
can fight before you start to lose your patience- but
nevertheless, Double Dragon Advance is a great update to a
classic fighting game, and it deserves more respect for the
improvements it's brought to the original formula.
|
DRAGONBALL Z: SUPERSONIC
WARRIORS
FIGHTING |
ATARI (BANPRESTO, ARC
SYSTEMS)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Hey, whoa! This is actually...
good?! You'd better believe it. Most of the other
Dragonball Z fighting games have had critical flaws.
However, Supersonic Warriors manages to rise above all of them
thanks to the efforts of Arc Systems, the creators of the
Guilty Gear series. The arial combat
that distinguishes Dragonball Z from other versus
fighting games didn't always work very well in the past, but
in Supersonic Warriors, it's brilliantly executed. The
gameplay is briskly paced, and you're never too far from
your opponent to battle them effectively, a serious issue with
previous Dragonball Z games. The artwork makes the game
even more exciting... the characters were hand-drawn
rather than awkwardly rendered, so they're every bit as
sleek and colorful as they were in the television
show. Even if you feel you've outgrown the cartoon,
Supersonic Warriors will have no trouble holding your
attention with its fast, frantic gameplay and flashy
audiovisuals.
DUAL
BLADES
FIGHTING |
METRO 3D (VIVID
IMAGE)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Still waiting for a Game Boy Advance version of
Samurai Shodown? Well, this is about as close as you'll
get right now. It's clear that Dual Blades wants to be
Samurai Shodown... it's got everything from the subtle,
atmospheric music to the death blows at the end of each
match. Unfortunately, it's missing a lot of what made
Samurai Shodown a classic... the memorable characters in SNK's
game are generic or even downright unlikable here, and the
graphics in Dual Blades don't even meet the standard set by
the first Samurai Shodown... frankly, the game looks more like
Time Killers thanks to its ugly, washed out backgrounds and
awkwardly drawn fighters. However, the reasonably fun,
surprisingly complex gameplay (with ideas from both
the Samurai Shodown series and Street Fighter
III) keeps Dual Blades a step ahead of mediocre Game Boy
Advance fighters like King of Fighters EX.
EARTHWORM JIM
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
MAJESCO
1
PLAYER
|
|
Granted, I didn't care for the original Earthworm Jim...
the sequel had better level design, more weapons, and much
funnier jokes. However, I was willing to cut this game a
break if the conversion was faithful to the Genesis and Super
NES versions. It's not. Earthworm Jim on the Game
Boy Advance looks and feels very cheap... some of the
animation is missing, and the physics aren't even remotely
realistic. There's no arc to Jim's jump, and when you
blast enemies, the bits fly off in a straight path rather than
being properly affected by gravity. It's pretty obvious
that neither David Perry or Doug TenNapel had any direct
influence on this translation, aside from the work they'd done
on the original seven years ago.
EARTHWORM JIM 2
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
MAJESCO (SUPEREMPIRE)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Dammit, Majesco! I was really looking forward to this
game, but you just HAD to hire an incompetant programming
team to port it to the Game Boy Advance. I'm ashamed to
have my name hiding in the middle of yours. Anyway...
this is Majesco's second attempt at an Earthworm Jim
translation, and just like the last one, it's lousy.
Yeah, yeah, Jim's larger this time, and the graphics are more
colorful, but the physics are so rotten you'll think about
popping the original black and white Game Boy version of
Earthworm Jim into your system instead. Y'know,
Majesco, if you're going to
hire cut-rate programming teams to make these ports,
could you at least spring for one that's taken a few
college math classes? In fact, here's a better idea...
just stop making games entirely. We have more than
enough fly-by-night, license hungry publishers making crappy
Game Boy Advance titles as it is.
|
FANTASTIC 4: FLAME
ON!
ACTION |
ACTIVISION
(TORUS)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Flame On! is the perfect vehicle for its cocky young star
Johnny Storm. It's got absolutely no depth or
substance, but it sets the Game Boy Advance ablaze with some
of the flashiest fighting action you'll ever see on the
system. As Johnny, better known as The Human Torch,
you'll use your fiery fists and feet to blaze a
trail through an army of alien thugs. Whether
you're launching a scorching blast of flame at your
foes or snatching gems as you soar through the sky, you
can count on animation that's as smooth and striking as a
sledgehammer slathered in butter (mmm... painful!).
The only thing that threatens to put a chill on the white-hot
graphics is a lack of shading, especially in the
backgrounds. However, they're a lot more appealing
than the monotonous techno music waiting for you in
each level... it's as persistent as Dr. Doom himself, and
twice as evil! Somewhere in the middle lies the
gameplay... it won't set the world on fire, but it's
entertaining enough despite the predictable level design and
limited variety of enemies.
|
FINAL FANTASY TACTICS
ADVANCE
ROLE PLAYING /
STRATEGY |
NINTENDO
(SQUARE-ENIX)
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
This game's earned every last word of bad
press it's received. The judgement system is a constant
annoyance during fights... when the chocobo-riding
referee isn't getting in your way, he's blowing the whistle on
your mistakes while turning a blind eye to the computer
opponent's own violations. The laws you're expected
to abide by in each battle are supposed to add a layer of
strategy to the gameplay, but all they wind up doing is
getting on your nerves... especially when you're dropped in
prison for a crime you didn't even realize you
committed! Nevertheless, after you've spent nine
straight hours completing missions and strengthening a small
army of characters, it becomes clear that Square-Enix must have done SOMETHING right with
this game. In keeping with the Final Fantasy
tradition, the graphics are rich with color and detail, and
there are plenty of subtle but welcome twists to
the turn-based gameplay. Perhaps the best of
these features is the ability to assign jobs to your
heroes, then take the skills they've learned in that
profession and carry them over to more
exciting careers. Can't decide if you want
your favorite character to bust heads as a soldier, or
heal wounds as a cleric? Now you can have
both!
FINAL
FIGHT ONE
ACTION, FIGHTING |
CAPCOM
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
It's a pretty good translation of the popular arcade game,
with well sampled voices and perhaps the most brightly colored
artwork of any of the Final Fight games. However, the
music really puts the Game Boy in Game Boy Advance, the
screens are rather cramped, and it's Final Fight. If
you've outgrown the simplistic gameplay, you'll be a lot
happier with Super Street Fighter II Revival, and even if you
do still like the Final Fight games, there's no guarantee
you'll want this one... it's missing a lot of breakables, and
the dominatrix Poison isn't here either (really, Poison... you
can come back out now. Nobody remembers Final Fight
Revenge, honest!). Finally, as the editor of Toastyfrog
mentioned, there's no two player mode available if you've only
got one cart. Even if there were memory concerns, it
sure seems like Capcom could have added a three screen versus
mode like the one in the Sega CD game...
FIRE
PRO WRESTLING
WRESTLING |
BAY AREA MARKETING
(SPIKE)
1-4 PLAYERS
|
|
If you're a fan of wrestling, and I mean the kind of fan
who knows the sport is fake but loves to watch it anyways,
you've got to have this. Fire Pro Wrestling features a
lot of options the other wrestling video games always seem to
miss, and when you play a few matches you'll realize that
they're a whole lot more important than huge digitized
characters or a popular license. The freedom Fire Pro
Wrestling offers is refreshing... you can throw opponents out
of the ring, wrap their arms around a turnbuckle for a free
hit, drag them away from the ropes, and even dive out of the
ring for an attack that's risky but oh so satisfying if it
connects. The game literally has more moves than you'll
ever see, and nearly a hundred suspiciously familiar
characters. If "suspiciously familiar" doesn't cut it
for you, just add real wrestlers with the edit mode!
Even with all these options, Fire Pro is surprisingly
user-friendly. In fact, its only real flaws are the
aforementioned lack of a wrestling license and tinny (but
still pretty entertaining) music.
FLAMES OF RECCA
FIGHTING |
KONAMI
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Gee, this came out of nowhere. You'd think Konami had
something to hide, but there's no reason to be ashamed of a
game like this. Recca plays like the fast and loose
fighters based on other anime series like Dragonball Z and
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, making it ideal for novice players
who want an exciting martial arts experience without all the
work. They'll like the straightforward but intense
gameplay, set against enormous playfields that offer more
freedom of movement than most of Recca's competitors.
Fighting game experts may not be as appreciative of the simple
controls and lack of technique, but even they'll enjoy the
superb graphics, featuring well detailed backgrounds, cleanly
drawn characters, and even a slick win sequence where a
collage of rough comic book sketches, all of the soundly
thrashed opponent, is dropped behind the victor.
FLINTSTONES: Big Trouble in Bedrock
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
CONSPIRACY
1
PLAYER
|
|
Look out, Fred Flintstone™! The evil Dr. Sinister™
has kidnapped your best friend Barney Rubble™ and, even worse,
trapped you in a Game Boy Color quality game where you run
around like an idiot collecting shells, stomping on
pterodactyls, and absolutely nothing else! Never fear,
though, because friends like Wilma™, Dino™, and that
outrageous alien Kazoo™ are here to give you a hand!
See, they're waving at you! That's lending you a hand,
right? Past that, it's up to you and you alone to save
your buddy Rick Moranis, er, Stephen Baldwin... uh, I mean
Barney Rubble™. Can you find him and put a stop to Dr.
Sinister™'s evil scheme before the owner of the Game Boy
Advance angrily rips the cartridge out of his system and
replaces it with Prehistorik Man? Find out in The
Flintstones™: Big Trouble in Bedrock™! Fred Flintstone™,
Dr. Sinister™, Wilma™, boring gameplay™, and Ted Turner™ are
all registered trademarks of Hanna-Barbera, Ltd. All
rights to grab the Flintstones cartoon by its ankles and shake
it for every last penny reserved.
|
FRANKLIN THE TURTLE
GAME
COLLECTION |
THE GAME FACTORY
(ARTEX)
1
PLAYER
|
|
If the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are at the
peak of the evolution of shelled reptiles, Franklin is still
crawling along at the bottom of the hill. He's a
slow-witted, dull-eyed child with a couple of androgynous
parents and a handful of animal friends who are best described
as "weenies". Franklin was once satisfied to remain in
the children's book section and Nick Jr.'s early morning
television line-up, but now he's packed up his shell and moved
to the Game Boy Advance, setting the civil rights movement for
video game turtles back twenty years. The real bitch is
that it'll at least fifty years for them to recover
all that lost ground... Er, anyway. What we
have here is a collection of games that, like Franklin,
aren't very deep or fast-paced. There are bike
races, hockey shootouts, and coloring contests (where the
computer seems to do all of the work for you), ultimately
leading up to a simplified puzzle game that bears a striking
resemblence to Sega Swirl on the Dreamcast. The graphics
are bright and colorful, but the gameplay is slow, dull, and
predictable. After slogging through a few of
the game's mercilessly boring challenges, you'll
agree that it's best left to Franklin's
biggest, dumbest fans.
FROGGER: TEMPLE OF THE
FROG
ACTION |
KONAMI (KCEA, SOUND BY FACTOR
FIVE)
1 PLAYER
|
|
I don't like the new Frogger character designs, and I
didn't like the idea that Konami's American branch would be
making this game... but regardless of all this, I have to
admit that this is pretty good. It's not up to the
standards of the unreleased Game Gear version of Frogger, but
it does seem inspired by it in some respects. For
instance, the playfields are much more expansive than they
were in the arcade original, and you've got to collect items
(coins this time, not other frogs) scattered throughout each
of them. Like Frogger on the Game Gear, the backgrounds
and playfield objects have more depth and color than they did
in the arcade game. In fact, I'd go so far as to say
that this is the best looking version of Frogger ever released
thanks to its detailed and very bright pastel graphics.
On the down side, some of the enemies seem out of place (hell,
so does the anthropomorphic main character...) and the game
isn't quite as fun as it was on the Game Gear, playing like an
overhead version of platformers like Super Mario Bros. rather
than a legitimate sequel to the arcade game. Nevertheless,
Frogger on the Game Boy Advance is much better than I expected
it to be.
F-ZERO: MAXIMUM VELOCITY
(MINIMUM
ENTERTAINMENT) |
NINTENDO
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
I've always resented this game... when it was released for
the Super NES, people would constantly brag about how great
the 3D effects were, how you'd never see this on the Genesis,
and blah blah freaking blah. Now, I just hate it because
the gameplay is rigid and miserably frustrating.
Apparently, someone forgot to rope off all of those beautiful
Mode 7 enhanced tracks, because you'll sometimes hit ramps
sending you flying over the edge of the courses, instantly
destroying your vehicle and forcing you to restart the
race. Hey, Nintendo, if you wanted to translate a
gimmicky, overhyped Super NES launch title, it should have
been Pilotwings... at least you're SUPPOSED to be in mid-air
while playing that one.
|
GEGEGE NO
KITARO
ACTION/PLATFORM |
KONAMI
1
PLAYER
|
|
It's ooky, spooky, and much better than any
Addam's Family game... it's Gegege no Kitaro, an
action/adventure title based on a long-running Japanese
cartoon. This isn't the first game starring the creepy,
bug-eyed Kitaro, but it's likely the best thanks
to complex level designs and a variety of weird weapons,
ranging from flaming wooden sandals to Kitaro's own
hair. Despite the Japanese text, the game is easy to
pick up and play thanks to signs scattered throughout the
first two stages, which illustrate how to use Kitaro's
abilities to defeat enemies and overcome other
obstacles. The audiovisuals are nearly as satisfying as
the gameplay, with crisply drawn, imaginative characters and a
playful soundtrack that blends nicely with the constant light
clacking of Kitaro's shoes. If you've looking for a
lighthearted journey into the spirit world, but the immense
difficulty in Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts makes your blood boil,
you'll be a whole lot happier with Gegege no Kitaro.
GRADIUS GALAXIES
SHOOTER |
KONAMI (MOBILE 21)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Devoted Konami fans will appreciate this one most... it's a
sequel to a series of terrific shooters which, unfortunately,
aren't given the attention they deserve. While this
particular Gradius game isn't as amazing as Gradius Gaiden for
the Playstation or even Gradius '90 on the X68000 computer, I
doubt many fans will care... neither of those games were
released in the United States, so they'll happily take what
they can get. Besides, Gradius Galaxies is one of the
better (if not the best) games in the series, with crisp
graphics, great level design, and even a Mars Matrix-style
hint mode. It's also the best shooter on the Game Boy
Advance, and that's not going to change until either Konami
releases a sequel or Treasure ups the ante with a portable
version of Radiant Silvergun (please please please!).
GUILTY GEAR X
FIGHTER |
SAMMY (ARC SYSTEMS)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
You're getting warmer, guys, but this still isn't
perfect. Guilty Gear X has all the action of its hard
rockin' Dreamcast counterpart, but the impact just isn't there
thanks to compromised... well, compromised everything,
really. Remember how I described the backgrounds in the
Dreamcast game as "living paintings"? Well, they're
quite dead here... not only did the designers limit themselves
to a handful of colors, they picked the very worst colors they
could find, then threw them together in the hope that they'd
vaguely resemble the artwork from the Dreamcast game.
The characters are tiny and undetailed in comparison to the
fighters in Super Street Fighter II Revival... frankly, they
don't even look as attractive as their super deformed
counterparts in the Wonderswan version, Guilty Gear
Petit. Finally, the music is frustratingly inconsistent,
wavering between pulse-pounding rock and Game Boy Color
quality schlock. Yes, it plays well and there are plenty
of modes to choose from, but Guilty Gear X on the Dreamcast
was largely dependant upon making a good first impression, and
this translation just doesn't do that.
|
GUNSTAR SUPER HEROES
ACTION /
SHOOTER |
SEGA
(TREASURE)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Twelve years ago, independent game developer Treasure
built a strong foundation for itself with the release of
Gunstar Heroes, a spectacular shooter that restored gamers'
faith in the Sega Genesis after suffering through a year of
miserable movie and television-licensed bombs. Now,
Gunstar Heroes is back to do the same for the Game Boy
Advance, in a sequel that's packed with the sensational
special effects and heartpounding action that's been
largely absent from the handheld's library for nearly a
year. There's some give and take in this eagerly awaited
follow-up to the fantastic Genesis game... on one
hand, the lock button lets you anchor your character
in place while firing, and the graphics are vastly
improved. If you thought it couldn't get any
better than the original Gunstar Heroes, the sequel's
more detailed characters and extensive use
of scaling and rotation will be a pleasant
surprise! On the downside, you can no longer throw your
adversaries (you'll have to settle for a wimpy laser knife
instead), and the stages don't flow together as well as
they had in the first game. There are even a few scenes
you'll wish Treasure had left out, like piloting an oversized
helicopter through a city densely packed with
indestructible skyscrapers. Flaws like these set
Gunstar Super Heroes a notch below the Genesis original, but
on the Game Boy Advance, it blows all of its competitors
away!
HAMTARO: HAM HAM
HEARTBREAK
ADVENTURE/PUZZLE |
NINTENDO
1 PLAYER
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
It's cute, almost to the point of vileness. And you're
going to LOVE playing it. Simply put, Hamtaro rocks. A vicious
little hamster named Spat is causing trouble for all the Ham
Hams and it's up to Hamtaro and Bijou to set things right. I'm
not lying when I say this is fun... Nintendo loves
making innovative games and this one is no
different. The bulk of the game is Ham-Chat, a system in which
your team of hamsters learn new words and vocabulary to
progress past obstacles in their way. Let me give you an
example... say there's a fire. Hamtaro HIF-HIFS (smells) it
and then Bijou tells him that it is a GASP-P (scary)
situation. You would then talk to all the other hamsters and
eventually you would need to find the correct vocabulary
to resolve the situation (which would probably be someone
saying it needs to be SOAK-P, or made wet). It works
wonderfully and the graphics and sounds are all great too,
nothing less than what you'd expect from Nintendo. Throw in
some minigames along the way plus collecting that lasts
long after you've won and you've got some time wastery like no
other. If nothing else, you'll eventually learn Go-P and
urinate on stuff. That's worth something.
HOT
POTATO
PUZZLE |
BAY AREA MARKETING
1
PLAYER
|
|
Hot Potato is a combination of two of my least favorite
puzzle games, the pointless Quarth and the boring
Columns. The characters, a bunch of disturbing
multicolored spuds who blow kisses at potential mates, make
this ill-conceived hybrid even worse. After seeing some
of their animations and their overall grotesque appearance I'm
not sure I want these horny hash browns to
reproduce.
HUGO:
THE EVIL MIRROR
ACTION, PLATFORM |
ITE
MEDIA
1
PLAYER
|
|
Hugo could have been a great game, and in many
ways, it is... it's solidly designed and loaded with
goofy European charm. However, this Bubble Bobble
derivitive can't hold up against its inspiration, or other
games in the genre, because there simply isn't enough
complexity to the gameplay. The designers missed a
lot of opportunities to make the game more satisfying and
enjoyable... for instance, when you freeze enemies in place,
you can push them off platforms to shatter them, but shoving a
frosty goon into his friends won't defeat or even stun
them... you've got to freeze each bad guy individually to
finish them off. That leaves you with a pretty
monotonous game without Bubble Bobble's rewarding
opportunities... you're never given the chance to cluster a
half dozen enemies together and take them all out with a
single shot, earning a huge bonus for your efforts.
Perhaps the creators should have taken this into consideration
rather than spending so much time with the impressive
full-motion video and the clever artwork seperating one dull
set of stages from the next.
INSPECTOR GADGET
ACTION,
PLATFORMER |
LIGHT AND SHADOW
1
PLAYER
|
|
I've seen dozens, maybe hundreds, of side-scrolling
platformers like this, but I have to admit, it doesn't seem as
contrived as many of them thanks to its high quality design.
Best of all, it has nothing to do with the film, or even
worse, Gadget Boy. It's based on the original cartoon,
and stars not only Inspector Gadget but Penny, Brain, and even
the commissioner that always gets blown up and Dr. Claw's
moronic henchmen, the thin one and the fat one. Even
though the characters are very small, you'll still recognize
them from the cartoon, because they're well drawn, very
colorful, and cleverly animated... if you look closely,
you'll notice that Gadget's legs spring out a little whenever
he jumps. My only problem is that these characters have
a lot of potential that just isn't tapped in a game this
generic... somehow, I imagined a puzzle game like Lemmings or
Whistler's Brother instead, with Penny guiding her dimwitted
uncle through each of the stages. If the designers had
insisted on making this a platformer, they could have at given
Inspector Gadget a lot more of his abilities from the show...
and for that matter, his voice. Even he couldn't save
Gadget Boy, but Don Adams would have made this game a whole
lot more fun.
INVADER
SHOOTER |
XICAT
(FORMULA)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Looks like Gradius Galaxies is no longer the
shooter to beat on the Game Boy Advance... after almost a year
without any serious challengers, it's finally been outgunned
by the likes of Invader. Formula's vertically
scrolling shooter delivers more bullets, brighter graphics,
faster gameplay, and a much better soundtrack than anything
else on the Game Boy Advance, and that sadly includes Gradius
Galaxies. However, Invader doesn't quite compare
with the best console and arcade shooters. Formula's a
fairly new team of designers, and their relative inexperience
leaves Invader with a lot of annoying flaws. The worst
of these is that the game is much too hard... Invader floods
the screen with bullets and enemies even in the easiest
difficulty level, and the bosses take forever to
destroy. Also, the weapons aren't well balanced (Rabbit
and Dragon are very effective, while Scorpion and Tiger are
almost worthless), and the item shop used to power them up is
accessed by pressing the start button, encouraging the player
to frequently stop the action. If Formula addresses
these issues, Invader's sequel has a pretty good shot at being
next year's best Game Boy Advance shooter, even if it has to
compete with the astounding Iridion II for that title.
IRIDION 3D
SHOOTER |
MAJESCO (SHIN'EN)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Holy spectacular visuals, Batman! I never thought I'd
play a handheld game with graphics this incredible.
Outstanding rendered backgrounds, fully animated bosses that
fill the entire screen, a totally convincing illusion of 3D
movement... it's more than you'd ever expect from a Game Boy
Advance game, and that's saying a lot. However, if
you're looking for complex, addictive gameplay, man have you
come to the wrong place! Iridion 3D is pretty basic
stuff, similar to Space Harrier or Afterburner but without
much thought put into the round or enemy designs.
JACKIE CHAN ADVENTURES
ACTION,
FIGHTING |
ACTIVISION (TORUS GAMES)
1
PLAYER
|
|
I would never have guessed in a million years that this
game was worth playing, but it turns out that it's even
better than Final Fight One. Seriously! As you
might imagine, Jackie Chan's a lot more agile than Mike
Haggar, and he can pull off moves like backflips, cartwheels,
and somersaults that weren't even available to Cody or
Guy. He's also given a lot more to break... unlike Final
Fight One, which dropped just a couple of oil cans and tires
into each round, there are all kinds of items Jackie can
smash, and they're in much greater supply. In addition
to this, Jackie Chan Adventures has smoother animation...
instead of simply bending down to grab a weapon, Jackie uses
his feet to kick it into his hands, just like in his
films! That's about all you'll find from the films,
sadly, but Jackie Chan Adventures is at least faithful to the
animated series, and it's better than any of Jackie's previous
video games.
JIMMY
NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
T*HQ
1
PLAYER
|
|
The great thing about generic game engines designed to
promote a movie is that you can swap out that film's cast and
drop in new characters whenever you want to make a quick,
(sl)easy buck on the latest fad flick. That's the lesson
learned from Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. This game
reminds me a whole lot of Home Alone for the Super NES and
especially the Genesis... T*HQ just took some of the play
mechanics out of the Genesis game and added a computer
rendered glaze to the graphics. I guess you could be
thankful that Macauley Caulkin's gone, but Jimmy Neutron, the
boy with the Dairy Queen hair and grotesquely oversized head,
isn't an improvement. Both Jimmy and his junkyard dog
Goddard run around houses with boring level designs,
collecting items and stunning enemies (damn, people... even
chess let you remove opposing pieces from the
playfield!). The only conclusion one can come to is that
little Jimmy is not much of a genius if he's willing to star
in a game T*HQ barfed up for another flash-in-the-pan
celebrity ten years ago.
JUSTICE LEAGUE: INJUSTICE FOR
ALL
ACTION |
MIDWAY
1
PLAYER
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
Goddamn it, I can't believe I spent money on this crap.
It's got awful character animation and TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE
dialogue. Since when do heroes addressing each other in
copyright friendly ways, anyway? "SUPERMAN™, we must go stop
that tank! Okay, WONDER WOMAN™! You lead the way!" I know it's
just a quick cash licensed product and a really flimsy one at
that, but GODDAMN, have any of you programmers ever WATCHED
THE SHOW? These people aren't robots! They don't
talk like moronic 5 year olds! The fact that it's simply not
fun to play piles even more dung onto this crapfest. All you
do is punch, punch and punch some more. You don't even need
the "special" attacks. You won't get to use each
of League members' special talents, like Batman's
detective crime solving or Martian Manhunter's mind reading
(note to the programmers: running up a wall is NOT a special
talent). There's no multiplayer support either. This
goes back to the commonly held belief that there will really
never be a decent comic book game, and when there IS one, it's
few and far between. This sort of game proves that Midway will
never be like they were in the 80's and early 90's, and that
they should follow 3D0 out the door and not let it hit
them on the ass on the way out.
KAO
THE KANGAROO
ACTION, PLATFORM |
TITUS
1
PLAYER
|
|
Silly me. I thought Titus was trying to make a new
reputation for itself after Superman 64. It seemed that
way after playing Prehistorik Man, anyway.
Unfortunately, Kao the Kangaroo demonstrates that they had no
intention of reforming themselves. I've heard Titus
plans to replace their old mascot with this one... well, there
may not be much to like about Titus the Fox, but Kao is
definitely not a step up. He's laughably generic, and
his game follows suit, with barely disguised versions of all
the conventions you'd expect from a side-scrolling
platformer. Hell, they didn't even bother to replace the
coins! If you're willing to forgive the unoriginal game
design, you won't cut Kao a break for his frustrating attacks,
which serve the dual purpose of missing the enemies and
leaving him open to their own cheap shots. Playing this
game after Prehistorik Man is kind of like that episode of The
Simpsons where Homer reaches into a kangaroo's pouch and pulls
out a hand covered with mucus. It's disappointing, a
little surprising, and most of all, just plain icky.
KID
KLOWN IN CRAZY CHASE
ISOMETRIC
PLATFORMER |
KEMCO
1
PLAYER
|
|
Folks, you've got a second chance to play this
unique, charming platformer... don't screw it up! You'll
really be kicking yourself if you miss it this time, because
it's even better than it was on the Super NES. Kemco has
added entirely new rounds as well as bonus stages with special
items as a reward for the players who can finish them.
Even without this new content, the Game Boy Advance version of
Crazy Chase would be excellent... it's got the same sharp
gameplay and all the hilarious antics of the Super NES
version, plus improved music. Yep, the game is
entertaining on a comedic level, too... Kid Klown's got a
comical reaction to every painful injury in the book. If
the thought of watching a clown get charred, frozen, and
spiked repeatedly doesn't convince you to buy this game,
nothing will... I can't think of a stronger argument for Crazy
Chase than that!
KIKIKAIKAI ADVANCE
ACTION,
SHOOTER |
TAITO (ALTRON)
1
PLAYER
|
|
This will be released in the United States with the name
"Pocky and Rocky", but don't be fooled... despite the same
characters and theme, this has none of the charisma that
Natsume added to the Super NES games. Because of this,
my friend and I agreed that the games should be split into two
series... the first, Kikikaikai, is a basic no-frills shooter
with a Japanese theme. The second, Pocky and Rocky, has
better graphics, more warmth, and is a lot more fun to
play. We also agreed that this Game Boy Advance release
falls into the Kikikaikai category.
KIM
POSSIBLE
PLATFORM |
UBI SOFT (DIGITAL
ECLIPSE)
1
PLAYER
|
|
This is a pretty standard, and fairly
simplistic, side scrolling platformer that's greatly
strengthened by its association with the excellent Disney
cartoon Kim Possible. The game just couldn't work
without it... it would be much too bland if it weren't for
Kim's slick moves (including the most gorgeous wall climb
animation you've seen anywhere), the stylized background
artwork, and full motion video footage directly from the
series. Fans of the show definitely need to check this
out... the game and cartoon complement one another
marvelously. Everyone else will see Kim
Possible for what it is- a generic platformer with nice
animation- and won't give it more than ten minutes of their
time.
|
KIM POSSIBLE
2
ACTION/PLATFORM |
DISNEY
(A2M)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Teen superspy Kim Possible sets out to defeat
her bumbling arch nemesis Drakken for the last time in this
sequel, subtitled The Demise of Drakken. Like the
previous game, Kim Possible 2 is a side-scrolling
platformer based on the Disney animated series. However,
this has more depth thanks to larger, less linear levels and a
grappling hook which gives you the freedom to explore
them. It's often extremely difficult to reach
higher ground with the grappling hook, but persistence will
ultimately reward you with hidden items, like cards which
reveal more information about the stars of the Disney
cartoon. However, the game just isn't as
satisfying as Konami's Ninja Cop... while the characters
are larger and more detailed, the level design lacks that
sadistic genius that made Ninja Cop so addictive. It's
good enough for Kim Possible fans, but even they will start to
lose their patience with the game when they're forced to guide
animal sidekick Rufus through a frustating gauntlet of
claustrophobic air vents and spinning fan blades.
KING
OF FIGHTERS EX
FIGHTING |
SAMMY (MARVELOUS, ARTOON)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Don't put away those Neo-Geo Pockets just yet, folks...
you'll still find the best portable version of King of
Fighters on that system. The problem with KOF EX on the
Game Boy Advance is that it wasn't designed by SNK... Pinobee
creators Artoon took the reins instead, and made a lot of the
same mistakes that Virtucraft did with Mortal Kombat
Advance. The backgrounds are washed out, the characters
don't move very smoothly, and the gameplay is responsive but
more confusing than necessary. EX also suffers from its
own unique flaw... uneven design. Characters will open
their mouths to talk, yet nothing will come out. You'll
hear almost realistic instruments mixed into the near-NES
quality soundtrack. There are plenty of strikers but
you'll have a hell of a time coaxing them out. By the
time you're finished fighting Geese Howard (three times in a
row...), you'll sweat bullets worrying about how Guilty Gear
X, Sammy's next fighter for the Game Boy Advance, will turn
out.
KING
OF FIGHTERS EX 2: HOWLING
BLOOD
FIGHTER |
MARVELOUS, PLAYMORE
(SUN-TEC)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Disappointed with King of Fighters EX?
Well, just about everyone was, but luckily, the sequel is so
much better that its only real rival on the Game Boy Advance
is Street Fighter Alpha 3. It's tough to decide
which of these fighting games comes out on top, but that will
depend largely on the player's preference for Capcom or SNK
style gameplay. If you're a big fan of the Neo-Geo, this
is the game you'll want the most. I can't imagine an SNK
supporter who wouldn't want Howling Blood, since
it's so faithful to the arcade games, yet offers new artwork
and characters that weren't available in any of
them. Howling Blood isn't quite as good as King of
Fighters 2000, the game it uses as a template, but it does
outperform earlier KOF games on the Neo-Geo, and in comparison
to the unfortunate previous release on the Game Boy Advance,
there's no contest... Howling Blood is far superior.
KLONOA: EMPIRE OF DREAMS
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
NAMCO
1
PLAYER
|
|
Klonoa's first adventure on a handheld was one of the few
games that kept the original Wonderswan from being totally
useless, and this one, presented in full color, is
better. However, you're going to be disappointed if
you're comparing it to Klonoa's Playstation games, which had
beautiful graphics with stunning 3D perspectives and
challenging puzzles. The puzzles are here, but the great
graphics are not... they're pretty average, with small
characters and minimal shading. The game plays pretty
well, but as always, Klonoa's abilities are very
limited. It's hard to get excited about endlessly
inflating enemies after you've played the much more varied
Wario Land 4.
KONAMI ARCADE
ADVANCED
ACTION |
KONAMI (SOUND BY FACTOR
FIVE)
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
I know, you're still angry about what Midway did to their
classic games collection. I am too, but those games were
already given all the respect they deserved on other
portables, particularly the Lynx. Meanwhile, other
classics like Time Pilot, Gyruss, and Scramble had never been
translated to any handheld, an oversight which has only
recently been remedied by Konami Arcade Advanced. As
penance for making us wait so long, Konami has added new
features to each of the six games on the cartridge.
You'll be surprised by what they've added, too... remember the
two player mode for Yie Ar Kung Fu that they hinted about in
Konami Arcade Classics? Well, it wasn't in the
Playstation game, but it IS here, and you won't even need a
second cartridge to take advantage of it. Scramble and
Frogger fans are even luckier... they get enhanced versions of
their favorites that look and sound nearly as good as Konami's
standalone versions of Frogger and Gradius (remember,
according to Gradius Galaxies, Scramble fits into the series'
timeline). Even with all these bonuses, the game isn't
as airtight as its Playstation counterpart... Yie Ar Kung Fu
has major sound issues, Time Pilot's graphics are a little
small, and Rush 'n Attack is, well, Rush 'n Attack.
Still, you'll want this in your collection RIGHT NOW if you're
a fan of Konami or any of its games from the early to mid
1980's.
KONAMI KRAZY RACERS
RACING |
KONAMI
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Wai wai wai wai wai why would you want this game if you've
already got Super Mario Kart: Super Circuit? Well, for
starters, it's faster. The extra speed translates into
extra challenge for the player, a plus for anyone who felt
that Super Circuit was too easy. Speaking of challenge,
it also seems like the opponents in Krazy Racers are more
aggressive... you'll find yourself struggling to hold your
place against them, if you're lucky enough to dodge their
constant attacks. The weapons in the game are worth
mentioning, too... they're pretty unusual for a kart racing
game, ranging from lightning strikes to portable holes.
These in turn lead to some very cartoony sight gags, which
helps distinguish Krazy Racers from other games in
the genre. The Konami characters also help create some
distance between this game and Super Circuit, but they have
the unfortunate side effect of making Krazy Racers seem a
little forced. Don't get me wrong... I love Konami and
I'm quite fond of their characters, but it seems like the
cast was poorly chosen and shoehorned into a game that doesn't
really suit them (there's no possible way you can convince me
that the ninja from Metal Gear Solid belongs
here). Nevertheless, Konami Krazy Racers is good to
have around if you're a little too familiar with the tracks in
Super Mario Kart: Super Circuit.
LADY
SIA
ACTION, PLATFORM |
TDK MEDIACTIVE
1
PLAYER
|
|
If you grew up playing games on an Amiga, boy are you going
to love this. Lady Sia's got a very European, almost
Psygnosis-like feel to it, with exaggerated background
artwork, muted colors that strike a middle ground between
pastels and earth tones, and well animated, slightly silly
characters. Even the music will sound very familiar to
you... although you probably won't be too impressed with
it. Fortunately, Lady Sia isn't as demanding as most
British games, and there's more freedom as well... there are
no Shadow of the Beast moments where taking the beaten path
will get you beaten to death. Sia isn't overflowing with
technique or hidden items, but you might want to consider
spending some time with this lady if you're interested in a
more straightforward and approachable side-scrolling
platformer. Speaking of ladies, women will really
appreciate this game, because Sia's a princess with a backbone
who's cute yet modest... you can climb her up that ladder a
hundred times and you're never, ever going to get a panty shot
out of the deal.
LORD
OF THE RINGS: THE TWO
TOWERS
RPG/ADVENTURE |
ELECTRONIC ARTS
(GRIPTONITE)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
It's as close as you're going to get to Diablo on the GBA.
That's the best way to sum up Lord Of the Rings: Two
Towers. The developer, Griptonite, did a fantastic job of
fitting the Lord Of The Rings theme into the Diablo mold. Even
more amazingly, it's multiplayer! You can personally customize
your character quite a bit and there's five of them to choose
from, including Legolas, Aragorn, Frodo, Gandolf and
Eowyn. There's a lot of playtime right there.
Graphically, the game fares well and the music is
appropriately moody and at times sinster. Likewise, the
control is pretty solid, save for some minor and
infrequent hit detection problems. As with most other
movie-based games, there's also some movie clips to
watch, but there's not much in the way of extras beyond that.
Also, a lot of the story has been trimmed away, but this is
probably for the better, as it speeds up the gameplay.
The designers must figure that if you don't know the
story, why are you playing the game? Fair enough, I suppose.
Still, for a multiplayer Diablo clone on the go, you could do
a lot worse. It's definitely worth the money, and worth
bugging your friends to buy a copy so they can tag along on
your quest to dump the ring in Mount Doom.
|
MARBLE MADNESS / KLAX
ACTION
/ PUZZLE |
DSI (FRAME
STUDIOS)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Take a specialized action game that was never well suited
to handhelds, then combine it with a quirky puzzle title
that's a perfect fit for portable gaming, and you've got this
modest collection that offers an equal mix of satisfaction and
disappointment. The disappointment comes from an
unplayable conversion of Marble Madness that suffers not only
from the Game Boy Advance's lack of a trackball, but from
lousy physics that leaves your marble rolling at light speeds
down inclines and over the edge of the nearest cliff.
The marble doesn't steadily pick up speed as it rolls like it
did in the arcade game, resulting in gameplay that's sloppy,
unrealistic, and above all else, incredibly frustrating.
Fortunately, Klax comes to the rescue with a more than
adequate conversion of the creative puzzle game that briefly
distracted gamers from Tetris in the early 1990's. The
colors aren't as striking as they were in the arcade game, but
the gameplay is right on target... your tile catcher slides
across the bottom of the conveyor belt with all the razor
sharp precision you WON'T find in Marble
Madness. If there's any reason to purchase this
collection at all, Klax is it... it's not the first
conversion of the game on a Game Boy system, but it's
certainly the best.
MARIO
AND LUIGI: SUPERSTAR
SAGA
ACTION/RPG |
NINTENDO (ALPHA
DREAM)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
I've never been fond of role-playing games, but
there's something about the Mario RPG series that always keeps
me coming back for more. Is it the clever writing?
The battles that require both smart decisions and sharp
reflexes? The wide selection of enemies, taken from
games dating as far back as the original Mario Bros.?
Or the fresh ideas introduced in every new
sequel? It's tough to say just what makes the Mario RPG
games so appealing, but you'll find plenty of that
magic in Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga. The latest
game in the series features both Mario and Luigi, working
together to defeat a new enemy who threatens the Mushroom
Kingdom. The brothers must cooperate to reach
the top of high walls, cross wide gaps between
platforms, and perform devastating attacks.
Unfortunately, the control scheme used to guide both brothers
through the game is complicated and confusing, tarnishing an
otherwise fantastic experience. The worst part is that
although Mario and Luigi lends itself extremely well to
being enjoyed with two players, it's just not possible...
the only way you can experience the game with a friend is
to invite him to play Nintendo's all-too familiar remake of
Mario Bros.
|
MARIO PINBALL
LAND
PINBALL |
NINTENDO
(FUZE)
1
PLAYER
|
|
The rivalry between Mario and Sonic continues with Mario
Pinball Land, Nintendo's answer to last year's Sonic Pinball
Party. This time, it's Mario's turn to come out on top. Mario
Pinball Land has its faults (tiny playfields being number one
on that list), but it's more fun and a whole lot more
impressive than either of Sonic's pinball titles on the Game
Boy Advance. As Mario (squashed into an even rounder shape),
you'll save Princess Peach in the usual manner, by defeating
enemies, collecting the items they drop, and finding clever
ways to defeat enormous stage bosses. It takes patience and
excellent hand-eye coordination to beat some of the rounds...
in one, you'll have to knock a quartet of snowmen dizzy,
striking all four quickly before any of them can recover from
the attack. In another, you'll open trap doors containing
bombs, then use your flippers to hurl the explosives at a
menacing blowfish. You'll need to do all this while keeping
Mario in play, which makes the game pretty tough. Fortunately,
you can purchase familiar items like size-increasing mushrooms
and drain-blocking pipes to keep you from, heh, losing your
marbles. Overall, the game is pretty solid, but most people
will agree that the great graphics in Mario Pinball Land are
what really sells the package. They're rendered, but they're
also a lot sharper and more colorful than you'd expect.
|
MARIO VS. DONKEY
KONG
ACTION/PUZZLE |
NINTENDO
(NST)
1
PLAYER
|
|
People are going to hate me for this, but
nevertheless, it must be said. Mario's lacking
something in his latest adventure, and that something is a set
of reproductive organs. He's not even rescuing
damsels in distress anymore... in Mario vs. Donkey Kong, he's
trying to save a bunch of toys from the clutches of the
gorilla who helped make him famous. Yes, toys.
This has to be Mario's most testosterone-free adventure yet,
but fortunately, it's so full of fun that you'll barely find
yourself wondering just when Nintendo had their popular mascot
spayed and/or neutered. Anyway, to pursue the big
ape and rescue your (ugh...) toys, you'll need to bring a key
from one part of each stage to a door residing
elsewhere. It sounds easy, but the spikes, switches, and
enemies in each stage will force you to come up with clever
ways to get from point A to point B. The great graphics
(rendered though they may be) and sound will keep you in a
good mood even when you find yourself frustrated by the game's
more difficult puzzles, and the battles with Donkey Kong will
make you glad you stuck it out to the end of each level.
The game is an altogether rewarding experience... even if
it seems like at least part of Mario is missing.
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE
ISOMETRIC
ACTION |
TDK
1
PLAYER
|
|
C'mon, admit it. You loved the He-Man
cartoon when you were a kid. I know I did! I was
really excited when I heard the big guy was making a comeback,
but I didn't have high expectations for his video game.
I wasn't disappointed when I finally played this dumbed down
Diablo clone based on the Masters of the Universe license, but
I'd still leave it on the shelves along with the Orko action
figures. Why? Well, for starters, it's kind of
ugly. Instead of drawing crisp, clean characters,
the designers copped out and used computer rendering
instead. As is typical on the Game Boy Advance, the
rendered characters are poorly defined and lack color.
If it weren't for the detailed isometric backgrounds, Masters
of the Universe would be a complete eyesore. The
gameplay fares better, but it isn't entirely solid... although
you can count on He-Man to leap over gaping chasms, he's lousy
with his sword, getting tagged repeatedly by enemies as he
struggles to defend himself. The only part of the game
that's truly manly is the soundtrack... the majestic themes
are extremely impressive by Game Boy Advance standards and fit
the license perfectly. Other than that, He-Man's muscles
look pretty weak and flabby in comparison to other action RPGs
on the system, including Zelda: A Link to the Past and Shining
Soul.
|
MEGA MAN BATTLE CHIP
CHALLENGE
STRATEGY (sort
of...) |
CAPCOM
(INTIGRAPHICS)
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
I gave this game a chance, I honestly did.
I played it for hours, thinking that I was stuck in some kind
of training mode, until I came to the bitter realization that
I was never going to have any control over my character or his
attacks. Now, I understand that strategy games aren't
exactly packed with action, but they DO offer the player a
chance to interact with the game and help determine its
outcome. Unfortunately, you never get that opportunity
in Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge. You purchase chips
before each battle, slot them into a branching path, then
enter battles with opponents. From this point until the
end of each match, the only reason you'll need to hold the
Game Boy Advance is to skip each line of dialogue as your Net
Navi clashes with its opponent. You're given two chances
to offer some assistance, but past that your digital sidekick
is on its own. After "playing" this for an hour, you
start thinking that Capcom threw this together just to
use all the graphics they had left over while making
the Mega Man: Battle Network games.
MEGAMAN BATTLE NETWORK
ACTION,
RPG |
CAPCOM
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Capcom's latest reinvention of the Mega Man series has a
bit of Digimon flavor to it... a bunch of kids run around
fighting evil with their best friends, living software that
exists in a parallel world on the Internet. Many of the
characters you remember from the Mega Man series are here as
well, but they've been completely redesigned, looking more
threatening and futuristic. The style of gameplay is
quite different, too... it's split between Lan's reality and
Mega Man's adventures in cyberspace, with each character's
actions benefitting the other. For example, Mega Man can
unlock computer controlled doors in a school held hostage, and
Lan can disable the trap that holds Mega Man in place like
some kind of virtual fly paper. Only Mega Man can fight
enemies, and his battles are a weird cross between the
previous Mega Man games, a standard RPG, Atari's Tempest, and
the card game Uno. Yes, that'll actually make sense
after your first handful of battles, and you'll even have a
lot of fun fighting the bosses. However, the constant
fights get incredibly irritating when you're just trying to
reach a door or an important item, and the perplexing round
designs don't help matters either. Who's the webmaster
in this city anyway, MC Escher? I'd still recommend
Battle Network, though... the characters have a lot of
personality, the graphics are amazing (your eyelids will
spring open when you see the transition from Lan's world to
Mega Man's!), and the soundtrack is better than anything I've
heard from the Mega Man series in a long time.
MEGAMAN AND BASS
ACTION |
CAPCOM
1
PLAYER
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
It took you long enough, Capcom... we
waited roughly five years for this, but thank
you. Really. Thank you, for taking an old game that wasn't
released here in the States and making it new for
us Americans (the scary thing is, the mock up Jess had on
the site was pretty close). Essentially Megaman 9,
Megaman and Bass has the same high standards as most Megaman
games and the same tried and true method of "beat the boss,
get a power". And whoa! It isn't Wily running around,
but some new guy named King Robot has declared himself....uh,
king of the robots. Cool, I guess. What really IS cool
are the game's great cartoony graphics and the chance to
collect CDs to form a database on all the robot bosses EVER. A
Super Famicom game only recently ported to the GBA (don't play
coy, as if you didn't know), Megaman and Bass is another fine
offering from Capcom. It's a little more difficult than most
of the Megaman games in the first series, but not
impossible... and with the collection feature, you can be sure
that good times will be had by all.
MEGA
MAN ZERO
RIDICULOUSLY HARD ACTION |
CAPCOM
1
PLAYER
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
I know Capcom was trying for a hard game here, but come on!
Easily one of the hardest games ever created, Mega Man
Zero is just ridiculous. The nice anime inspired
graphics, pretty good controls and intriguing Megaman X side
story (hey, we found Zero! And Megaman X is apparently CRAZY!
WOOOOOOOOOOOO! GO FUTURE!) mean nothing when paired with the
stupid hard difficulty. Powerups are few and far between
(levelling up your weapons by constantly shooting enemies is
NOT fun), and the nearly worthless Cyber-Elf powerup system
adds to the already high level of frustration. So what if you
get a password and ranking to see how well you did? Nobody can
beat the damn thing except for those who GameSharked
it. You may have thought Rayman was bad, but Rayman has
NOTHING on this game. A word to the wise... unless you like
screaming, try something easier on your blood pressure because
Megaman Zero is definitely NOT it.
|
METAL SLUG ADVANCE
ACTION /
SHOOTER |
SNK
PLAYMORE
1
PLAYER
|
|
It looks just like Metal Slug, and it sounds just like
Metal Slug, but this Game Boy Advance release is very
different from the military shooters that were so popular on
the Neo-Geo in the 1990's. This time, you won't get far
by relying solely on your trigger finger and a pocket bulging
with quarters. Success in Metal Slug depends on your
ability to both memorize and navigate the rough terrain,
littered with enemy soldiers and instantly fatal pits.
Unlike the previous games, you're given a small health bar
that will cushion you from a few hits. However, once the
health bar is emptied, you can't jump back into the
action at the exact spot you died... you're sent back to a
checkpoint, and robbed of all the hidden items you uncovered
in the stage. This makes Metal Slug Advance a much
different experience from SNK's money-hungry arcade
games... an experience that isn't quite as satisfying thanks
to the weak level design. The stages
are frustratingly linear, and lack the distinctive
details and organic scenery that helped make the original
Metal Slug a classic. Instead of marching over
sandy shores, scaling to the top of rickety scaffolding,
and driving your tank over shimmering waterfalls, you get
a seemingly neverending stretch of drab forest, followed by a
dimly lit cavern lined with piles of stones. Despite its
shortcomings, Metal Slug Advance's sharp control and a
punishing difficulty level will keep fans of the series
occupied until they've given the real thing sometime next
year.
METROID FUSION
ACTION |
NINTENDO
1 PLAYER
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
It's here, and it's freaking beyond sweet... but there's
something wrong with having a linear Metroid that
takes under five hours to beat. Part of Metroid's
original appeal was that you were free to explore a very
large area. Metroid Fusion isn't strictly linear, but you
do have to follow a set path to get anywhere.
That doesn't stop the game from being terrifically fun, with
moments that are right on par with the other Metroid
games. A couple of scenes with the SA-X are straight out
of Resident Evil 3's crib notes (it might as well have been
chanting "S.T.A.R.S."...), but I was left wanting the SA-X to
actually ATTACK me. There's no way Nintendo could screw up the
way the game looks and sounds... Samus's new suit looks
bio-creepy cool, the bosses are fantastic, the music gets you
going and the story is much more pronounced than in previous
Metroids. That's due in part to the linear play, I
suppose so that's not a terrible thing. Even though the
game is dreadfully short, it's still a worthy buy for the fact
that it's fun and you can use the data you earned in Metroid
Prime for the GameCube. God bless GameCube/Game Boy Advance
connectivity!
|
METROID
ZERO
ACTION/ADVENTURE |
NINTENDO
1 PLAYER
|
|
Ignore what you've heard... this is no mere
remake of the original Metroid. It sure seems like one
at first, but spend some time with Metroid Zero and you'll
discover that it's an entirely new adventure. Everything
you remember from the first Metroid has been changed... Samus
has abilities taken from the other games in the series and the
levels are even more massive and deviously designed than
before. There are challenging new
bosses guaranteed to take you by surprise, and the
original cast of characters have been made more
theatening. If you're expecting Kraid to be the
puny runt he was in the NES game, boy are you in for a
big, BIG surprise! Despite all these differences, this
game does have one thing in common with the original... it's a
more traditional Metroid game than Metroid Fusion. There
are no X viruses floating around, no evil Samus clone
relentlessly pursuing you, and none of the suffocating
linearity that made Fusion beatable in a couple of days.
MIDWAY ARCADE
CLASSICS
ACTION |
MIDWAY (POCKET STUDIOS)
1
PLAYER
|
|
This is awful! What kind of sad excuse for a
collection IS this, anyway? Considering the consistantly
high quality of the previous Midway Arcade Classics games, I
thought it was a guarantee that this would be worth
buying. It looks like I was sadly mistaken. Midway
was just as foolish to hire someone other than Mass Media or
Digital Eclipse to make this game, because the conversions of
Robotron, Sinistar, Joust, and Defender are sloppy, tough to
play, and riddled with flaws. Joust has inaccurate
character artwork and unrealistic physics. Robotron's
got a piss-poor control scheme and cheap special
effects. It's nearly impossible to aim in the super
cramped Sinistar, and Defender? Bleh, who wants
that? If they had to give us a game in that series, it
should have been Stargate. The only thing mindblowing
about this misbegotten collection is that the Super NES and
Genesis versions were better... a whole lot better.
MORTAL KOMBAT
ADVANCE
FIGHTING |
MIDWAY (VIRTUCRAFT)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Listen up, Midway. You might have been able to get
away with releasing lousy software on the Game Boy Color, but
things are different now. The Game Boy Advance is a more
powerful machine with an older fan base... there are adults
playing this system, and they've seen enough quality Game Boy
Advance games to know what it can do. They'll consider
Mortal Kombat Advance an insult, which is the only conclusion
they could come to after playing the worst conversion of
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 ever made. I haven't played a
fighting game on the Game Boy Advance that wastes the system's
power as masterfully as MKA, and with any luck, I never
will. The game is an eyesore in comparison to the Super
NES and Genesis (yes, Genesis) versions of UMK3, with
hideously washed out backgrounds and small, anorexic
characters. The physics are a mess, and the gameplay is
even worse... if you thought the other Mortal Kombat games
were cheap, you'll go mad when you watch your character bounce
around the screen from being juggled to death, often because
the computer opponent keeps repeating the same move. I
guess Midway can't be bothered to make an enjoyable Mortal
Kombat game for a lowly handheld system, so let's not trouble
them any further with our money. After all, they might
have to take it all the way down to the bank or something.
MORTAL KOMBAT: DEADLY
ALLIANCE
FIGHTING |
MIDWAY
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
Wow... I never thought I'd actually say this,
but I think I'm gonna miss the old Mortal Kombat. Deadly
Alliance has many of the trademarks of previous Mortal Kombat
games, but the gameplay was left behind in favor of something
new and different... but not necessarily better. There
are no more lightning fast, adrenaline-pumping battles...
you're given close range combat in the Virtua Fighter vein
instead. Traditional Mortal Kombat attacks like
Sub-Zero's iceball and Scorpion's harpoon help close the gap
between distant players, but these classic moves are less
effective than before now that players can dodge
them with a simple tap of the up or down
button. The gameplay is solid, but the major
changes to the Mortal Kombat engine might tear your heart
out (both figuratively and literally) if you're a devoted fan
of the series. Furthermore, Deadly Alliance's design
makes unreasonable demands of the Game Boy Advance hardware,
resulting in some of the ugliest graphics on the system since
Tekken Advance.
MR.
DRILLER 2
ACTION, PUZZLE |
NAMCO
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Yowza! The sequel to Mr. Driller sounds as good as
Iridion 3D looks... in addition to adorable music, there's
more spoken dialogue than you'd ever expect from a
portable. It's even more amazing than the theme song
from Faselei! for the Neo-Geo Pocket, and a whole lot more
clear, too. However, with the sound turned down, it's
just as clear that the game is pretty simplistic, just like
the first Mr. Driller. There's a new character (with no
apparent advantages over Susumu other than a less obnoxious
voice), and you'll find one ups hidden deep within the stacks
of colorful blocks, but there's still no trace of what the Mr.
Driller series needs the most... challenging puzzles.
Still, even though you could play this game with the D-pad
taped down, there are a lot of people out there who dearly
love Mr. Driller, and I suspect they won't be disappointed
with this sequel.
MR.
NUTZ
ACTION |
INFOGRAMES
1 PLAYER
|
|
Back when it was first released, Mr. Nutz was a
charming platformer, certainly not on Mario or Sonic's level
but nevertheless impressive with its vibrantly colored
backgrounds and solid gameplay. These days, it's much
harder to appreciate Mr. Nutz... its linear levels and lack of
variety make it seem rather drab, even with its appealing
graphics. It's still fun, though, in a fruity European
sort of way. If it gives you any idea, Mr. Nutz spends a
lot of time battling such intimidating foes as
incontinent porcupines, dancing thistles, mop-topped fairies,
and catapillers who seem determined to steal your Cookie
Crisp. If you grew up with an Amiga, none of this
will strike you as odd, but if you spent your childhood
playing NES or Genesis games it may take you a while to
adjust to the very British presentation.
MONSTERS, INC.
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
T*HQ (NATSUME)
1
PLAYER
|
|
I get it now! It's all a terrible mistake!
Natsume was supposed to make Pocky and Rocky for the Game Boy
Advance, and ALTRON was originally hired to design this,
except the projects were somehow mailed to the wrong
companies! That perfectly explains why Natsume's obvious
talents were wasted on this adaptation of the film that looks
and sounds terrific, but is about as fun as, well, running
around a convoluted house picking up stale pieces of candy
while avoiding enemies you can never actually kill. Even
if it's got a Disney license, a game automatically loses
points with me if it's got foes you can't eliminate. It
takes a lot away from the game, and the playfields that don't
offer much freedom of movement leave you with even less as a
result. If you liked the film enough to waste your money
on cheap products with the Monsters, Inc. logo stamped on
them, head to the local toy store and get a stuffed Sulley toy
instead. At least you can be sure HE'LL have John
Goodman's real voice.
MUCHA
LUCHA: MASCARITAS OF THE LOST CODE
SIDE-SCROLLING
BEAT 'EM UP |
UBI SOFT (DIGITAL
ECLIPSE)
1
PLAYER
|
|
I didn't think anyone could make a
side-scrolling beat 'em up that's even more boring and
pointless than Super Duper Sumos, but Digital Eclipse has
somehow managed to do it. Uh... congratulations?
Anyway, Mascaritas of the Lost Code is based on a cartoon
starring a handful of kids training to be Mexican
wrestlers. You'd think this would have some promise as a
video game, but you won't find anything that even remotely
resembles wrestling in Mucha Lucha. Your fighter has
none of the graceful, stylish moves you'd expect from a
luchador... just punches, kicks, and a not-so-special special
attack that takes forever to charge. The only thing that
differentiates Mucha Lucha from Super Duper Sumos is that the
graphics are horrible, perhaps the worst you'll ever see on
the Game Boy Advance. In fact, it's safe to say that
Mucha Lucha is both the worst fighting game and
the worst wrestling game on the system.
NAMCO
MUSEUM
ACTION |
NAMCO (MASS MEDIA)
1
PLAYER
|
|
I guess this makes up for Mass Media's other Namco Museum
ports. It's got a few of the same flaws, but they're
forgivable; perhaps even necessary on a portable system.
Besides, the games are all well translated... Ms. Pac-Man in
particular is better here than it was on the Dreamcast or
N64. Galaga and Galaxian don't look quite as nice, but
the aliens, as small as they are, are still just as graceful,
flying in all the beautiful formations you remember from the
arcade games. Dig Dug, on the other hand, looks just
like the original thanks to a scrolling playfield.
Every game plays well, and nothing's been removed or
drastically changed... even the sound effects and most of the
music were perfectly recreated.
|
NAMCO MUSEUM 50th
ANNIVERSARY
CLASSIC COLLECTION |
NAMCO (DIGITAL
ECLIPSE)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
It's awfully hard to imagine a scenerio where it would make
sense to buy this, but here goes! All right, say you
didn't have a PSP and couldn't play the fantastic Namco
Museum: Battle Collection, which contains all the games
on Namco Museum 50th Anniversary plus a whole lot
more. Let's also say that you couldn't find used copies
of the original Namco Museum and Pac-Man Collection for the
Game Boy Advance, which are also quite good, and together
would cost about the same as this more recent release.
Now let's assume that you've got an allergy to PC
emulation and home game consoles that makes you break out in a
painful rash... that rules out MAME and the three home
versions of Namco Museum 50th Anniversary. Finally,
let's pretend that you grew up playing nothing but Pac-Man and
Ms. Pac-Man, and didn't really care how the other games
on the cartridge turned out. If all of these
hypothetical situations were true, then maybe, just maybe,
you'd have a good reason to run out and buy this
cartridge. However, it's a lot more safe to assume that
you'll be disappointed with the lackluster conversions of Dig
Dug, Rally-X, and especially Galaga, which suffers from
compressed graphics and a shaky frame rate. Pac-Man and
its sultry sequel hold up a little better, comparing favorably
to the translations on Pac-Man Collection and the
original Namco Museum, but it just isn't smart to waste good
money on conversions that are as good, but not
better, than what's appeared on previous Namco collections.
|
NICKTOONS FREEZE FRAME
FRENZY
ACTION |
T*HQ
(ALTRON)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Other reviewers will proclaim this to be one of the most
original games on the system, but don't you believe 'em! The
truth is that Nicktoons Freeze Frame Frenzy is closely
patterned after Photograph Boy, a Japanese release for the
Turbografx-16. It was never released in America, but its wacky
characters, hilarious comedy, and deliciously different
gameplay made it a big hit on the Internet. It's no wonder
that Altron brought this formula to these shores on the Game
Boy Advance, and it's not much more surprising that they'd
associate it with the Nicktoons license... after all,
Photograph Boy looked just like a Nickelodeon cartoon anyway.
Nicktoons Freeze Frame Frenzy plays just like the game that
inspired it... it's a side-scrolling platformer which forces
you to keep your character safe from harm while taking
snapshots of everything that moves. The graphics are fantastic
and the game is extremely faithful to the license, even
borrowing jokes from shows like The Fairly Oddparents and
Spongebob Squarepants, but sadly, Nicktoons Freeze Frame
Frenzy just isn't as fun as Photograph Boy due to a lack of
challenge and mediocre level design.
NICKTOONS RACING
RACING |
INFOGRAMES (CRAWFISH)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
I didn't actually think I'd LIKE this. I mean, the
last Nicktoons Racing, released for the Game Boy Color, was a
long way from being spectacular. However, this comes
pretty darn close to being as good as the other kart racers
available for the Game Boy Advance. The playfields in
Nicktoons Racing are a little plain, but roadside details such
as the hydrants in Catdog's stage actually rotate as you drive
around them, and there's a really cool effect when you drive
over speed strips... the screen zooms out slightly as
a jet of flame shoots out of your kart, almost as if the
camera's having trouble keeping up with your character as they
zip past their opponents. In addition to the impressive
graphics, the game plays well and is pretty challenging,
although just like Konami Krazy Racers, part of that challenge
is derived from the aggravating pits liberally placed on the
tracks. Still, it's safe to say that you'll really enjoy
this if you're a fan of the cartoons on Nickelodeon...
although even the most devoted Nick viewers may have a tough
time figuring out what the oddball weapons have to do with
their favorite shows.
NINJA
COP
ACTION |
KONAMI
1
PLAYER
|
|
Looks, and for that matter, names can be
deceiving. Ninja Cop's lackluster title and bland
graphics, well below typical Konami standards, will convince
you that there's nothing special about this game.
However, play it for a while and you'll find yourself hooked
by addictive gameplay that's an equal mixture of two classic
action games. Peeking over crates and
tossing shuriken at gun-toting thugs will remind you of
Shinobi, probably more than the "real" thing recently
released on the Game Boy Advance. Catching
platforms with a chain and swinging onto them is straight out
of Capcom's Bionic Commando. The two styles come
together to form a more complex, well-rounded game, and one of
the better action platformers on the system. The
graphics and sound lack the flair you'd expect
from Konami, but you'll be so wrapped up in the game
you'll barely notice.
OLD
AND NEW BUBBLE BOBBLE
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
TAITO (MEDIAKITE)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Old, new... I'll take my Bubble Bobble any way I can get
it! Fortunately, both versions of the game are
excellent... I'd go so far as to say that Mediakite's
translation of the original is better than Acclaim's rather
disappointing Saturn version of Bubble Bobble, thanks to
its large, crisp characters and reliable control.
However, the sound is disappointing, thanks to the
inconsistent quality of the instruments playing the classic
Bubble Bobble theme. That's all right, though, because
the new version of Bubble Bobble picks up the slack with a
really impressive, pepped up remix. Bub and Bob, now
redrawn and looking surprisingly thin, can even talk, shouting
"Babu!" and "Yay!" whenever they collect items. Aside
from this and the more detailed backgrounds, New Bubble Bobble
isn't much different from the original, with the same
rounds and a very handy zoom option that lets you view
the game in full detail or keep track of all onscreen enemies
on the fly.
PAC-MAN COLLECTION
ACTION, MAZE,
PUZZLE |
NAMCO (MASS MEDIA)
1
PLAYER
|
|
I wouldn't have expected this from Mass Media after playing
their rather lousy Dreamcast conversion of Namco Museum.
This is an excellent collection, though... I'd go as far as to
say that it's the best one on the Game Boy Advance. It
not only features Pac-Man Arrangement, the fun arcade game
with plenty of variety and some downright cuddly monsters, but
the best home version of the original Pac-Man I've ever
played, and a decent puzzle game for those times when you've
munched all you can munch and you can't munch no more.
There's also Pac-Mania, but trust me, you don't want that.
|
PAC-MAN PINBALL
ADVANCE
PINBALL / ACTION |
NAMCO (HUMAN
SOFT)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Pac-Man's never had much luck in the world of
pinball, and this half-hearted release by Human Soft (not
to be confused with the folks who first gave the world Fire
Pro Wrestling) does little to break that losing streak.
Like Mario's own pinball game on the Game Boy Advance, Pac-Man Pinball Advance blends rudimentary
adventure elements into the traditional flipper-flapping
action, then throws in a heaping cup of computer rendering to
give the finished product a 21st century
sheen. They may have had the same recipe Nintendo
used to make Mario Pinball Land, but it
only takes one bite to realize that Namco and Human used store
brand ingredients in their own creation. The graphics in
Pac-Man Pinball are kind of fugly, with a table that
teeters back and forth as if it's been drinking heavily, and
the player never really understands what needs to be done in
order to make progress. Strike all the targets you want,
and eat all the dots and ghosts you like, but chances are,
you'll be stuck on the same table for the remainder of the
game, listening to the same bewilderingly dramatic
background music. If you already have Pokemon Pinball,
the crown standard of silver ball sims on the Game Boy
Advance, feel free to let this one roll down the
drain.
PHALANX
SHOOTER |
KEMCO (ZOOM)
1
PLAYER
|
|
This generic side-scrolling shooter is nowhere near as
polished or memorable as Gradius Galaxies, but it does have a
few things going for it. First of all, it's a fairly
accurate translation of the Super NES game (wait, is that a
compliment?). Another plus is that it's fast paced, so
you won't have time to think about how ridiculous the enemies
look and how similar the game is to dozens of other
shooters. Finally, the weapon system is interesting...
you can hold up to three guns, and each one has a built in
desperation attack you can use to defend yourself (if you
don't mind losing that weapon afterwards). It's tough to
offer much else in this game's defense, though.
|
PITFALL: THE MAYAN ADVENTURE
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
MAJESCO
1
PLAYER
|
|
Well, that's a relief. After playing Earthworm Jim, I
thought Majesco's second Super NES port was doomed, but this
is actually very close to the original. The animation is
still fantastic... the vines that were already impressive on
the 2600 version of Pitfall! look a whole lot better here, and
there's even a subtle reference to the film Terminator 2 when
Harry Jr. sinks into a mudhole. The gameplay is also
quick and smooth, although using the shoulder buttons for some
of the weapons is a little clumsy. The only thing that
seems to be missing from the Super NES version of The Mayan
Adventure (aside from the hidden version of the original
Pitfall!, but you can thank the lawyers at Activision for
this) is a lot of color. The backgrounds are so washed
out that even the color deficient Genesis version looks more
attractive.
PINOBEE: WINGS OF ADVENTURE
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
ACTIVISION (ARTOON)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Y'know, I had a soft spot in my heart for this one; at
first, anyways. I was won over by the ability to aim
your character's stinger at not only the bad guys but annoying
non-player characters as well. Better yet, after he
attacks one of the useless morons, Pinobee takes time to brag
about it in his diary, sometimes describing that he stung them
because they were too bossy. I could sure use a guy like
him in my party the next time I play one of those generic
RPGs... those annoying townspeople would think twice before
demanding that I find their stupid little trinkets! But
oh yeah, back to the review. I can't get into Pinobee
now that Sonic Advance has been released... the graphics that
were once an impressive demonstration of the Game Boy
Advance's color palette just look blurred and messy now.
The gameplay is similarly out of focus... Pinobee's got a half
dozen ways to cheat gravity but only a couple of attacks, and
the enemies just aren't aggressive enough to make the game
exciting. Sonic Advance has raised the bar for
platformers on the Game Boy Advance, and now matter how high
he flies, a second rate mascot like Pinobee will never be able
to clear it.
PINOBEE AND PHOEBEE
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
HUDSON
(ARTOON)
1
PLAYER
|
|
I don't know why Hudson Soft kept this a
secret... it's the first Pinobee game people might actually
want to play. In this sequel to the underwhelming
original, the quest of heart passes from Pinobee to his
freshly manufactured sister Phoebee after a nasty looking
villain tears it out of her chest (viva la Mortal
Kombat!) and scattered the pieces throughout several
stages. Both Pinobee and Phoebee are playable, and each
have advantages that give the player an incentive to switch
between the two characters. You can close the gap
between their abilities by collecting CDs in each round, then
using them to improve the bees in a variety of areas.
It's a much more logical and intuitive power up
system than what was in the first Pinobee, and makes the game
a lot more fun and addictive. In fact, just about
everything in Pinobee and Phoebee is better than in the first
game... the graphics are more crisp, there are a lot more
cutscenes (sometimes in the rounds themselves rather than
just between them), and there's no irritating head bloat
once your character runs out of boost power- you're
given an easy to read meter instead. There's still
too much computer rendering going on for my tastes, but
Pinobee and Phoebee has everything else you'd expect from the
best Game Boy Advance platformers, right down to the cute
sidekick.
POKEMON RUBY/SAPPHIRE
RPG |
NINTENDO
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
Love it or hate it, Pokemon has clung to the belly of
America and won't let go. Now in its third original version,
the Pokemon series is, pardon the term, evolving into a much
more streamlined RPG. New to this version is much more in
depth stats and powers for your monsters, dual battles (two on
two, although unfortunately these battles are few and far
between, plus they aren't mandatory) and a much higher overall
difficulty. You can't cheat and bring in the old monsters you
raised, and you can't exploit some game glitch. Welcome to
Painsville... population, you and your bitch ass monsters. You
will have to do some old- fashioned level up tricks, but
that's part of the Pokemon appeal... watching your creatures
grow and eventually changing them into more powerful
forms. Although a lot has changed, it doesn't look much
different. It just looks like there's better use of the color
palette and there's a bit more animation in battles. It would
have been nice to see a bit more...pizazz added to a Game Boy
Advance Pokemon title instead of such a "safe bet approach".
Oh well, as it stands, it's not just for kids and it's a time
consuming RPG, what more could you want?
|
PONG / ASTEROIDS / YAR'S
REVENGE
CLASSIC COLLECTION |
DSI
(ECi)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Just how many of these lackluster classic collections is
Destination Software planning to release, anyway? I hope
this'll be the last one, because I just don't think I can
take the heartbreak. Anyway, this is a conversion of two
Atari arcade games, along with a 2600 classic that was the
system's first killer app. Unfortunately, Yar's Revenge
doesn't fare nearly as well on the Game Boy Advance... while
all the raw sound effects are accurately reproduced, the
gameplay lacks the frantic pace that made the original so
intense. Your mutant fly no longer darts around the
screen, instead sluggishly wading through it like he's stuck
in a puddle of thick intergalactic molasses. Asteroids
is a more acceptable translation, although its fuzzy vector
graphics and cheap animation put it a step behind the port
included in Atari Anniversary Collection. Finally,
there's Pong, which is... well, Pong. The conversion
doesn't disappoint, but then again, it's doubtful that anyone
would approach a game this old with high
expectations. Put these three games together, and you're
left with the most underwhelming classic collection on a
handheld system since, er, the last one Destination Software
released.
POWERPUFF GIRLS: Mojo Jojo
A-Gogo
SHOOTER |
BAM (SENNARI)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
I'm a little tired of the sentence you'll invariably read
in reviews of licensed games... you know, where the reviewer
claims that "fans of (insert cash cow film or television
series here) will enjoy this." I've always felt that, if
a game is crappy, nobody should be subjected to it,
even if they can name all the droids in the Star Wars series
and found ET in the Phantom Menace before everyone else.
Anyways, as much as I hate to do it, I've got to start this
review by saying, "fans of The Powerpuff Girls will enjoy
this." If I liked the cartoon, I probably would have
been willing to forgive this game's primitive animation and
ugly backgrounds, and would instead talk about the great
music, well drawn cut-scenes, and the play mechanics that are
reminescent of long forgotten shooters like Air Zonk and
Rabbit Punch. I can't get too excited about any of this,
though, because I think The Powerpuff Girls are overrated...
and I can't blind myself to the fact that the gameplay (as
innovative as it may be) is flawed, simplistic, and
occasionally frustrating. If Sennari includes Mojo Jojo
A-Gogo's promising play mechanics in an improved sequel, they
might come up with a game that everyone will enjoy.
PREHISTORIK MAN
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
TITUS
1
PLAYER
|
|
I didn't expect much from this game... the title character
looked pretty ridiculous, and besides, it was by Titus!
Yes, they're the Superman 64 guys. They're also the
Xena: Warrior Princess guys, the Blues Brothers guys, and the
guys who couldn't get the rights to Sonic but tried to
embarrass Tails anyway with their own cheesy fox mascot.
With this in mind, you'll wonder how Prehistorik Man turned
out so uncommonly good. It's got the bright, detailed,
cartoony graphics you remember from the best Super NES games,
plus solid gameplay, great voices and music, and a variety of
items that helps add to the game's challenge (beware... finish
the round without a lot of goodies and the village elder will
read you the riot act). If you like stone aged side
scrollers, you'll be really happy with this one... Prehistorik
Man feels less stiff than Chuck Rock, looks sharper than
Bonk's Adventure, and has more depth than Joe and
Mac.
PUYO
PUYO ADVANCE
ACTION, PUZZLE |
SEGA (SONIC TEAM)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Sega seems to be the only company that can bring a great
puzzler to the Game Boy Advance without compromising it or
adding disturbingly weird characters (you know, like the ones
in Hot Potato). Considering that Puyo Puyo is one of the
few Sega games the Japanese really appreciate, I suppose they
felt they couldn't drop the ball- or rather, the blob- on this
new edition of the series. Anyway, a little girl named
Arle and her pet Karbunkle wander past a gate and meet a
series of monsters who battle the duo in puzzle matches.
Blobs rain down in each player's section of the screen, and to
remove them, you just touch four like-colored blobs
together... it doesn't matter how, just make sure they gel
together. Puyo Puyo encourages you to be more aggressive
than that, though... frankly, the only way you'll win is by
attacking opponents with layers of transparent (and therefore
unmatchable) blobs, which can only be created by making
brainstrainingly complex chains of matches. It may be
too tough for most gamers, but experienced puzzle game fans
will find it just as hard to go back to the rather plain
Tetris after their first Puyo Puyo match.
|
PUYO POP
FEVER
PUZZLE |
SEGA (SONIC TEAM,
COMPILE...?)
1-4
PLAYERS
|
|
Inspired by Super Bust-A-Move, Sega took its
Puyo Puyo series in a new direction with Puyo Pop
Fever, replacing the decade old Arle and Karbunkle with a
fresh cast of brightly colored, boldly drawn
characters. The difference is that, unlike Super
Bust-A-Move, Puyo Pop Fever actually benefits from
these changes... the characters are adorable and
imaginatively designed, but they're never so abstractly drawn
that it's impossible to tell what they're supposed to
be. As for the gameplay, there doesn't seem to be any
major changes to it... at first. However, you'll
eventually notice that the colored blobs you're dropping
sometimes congeal into different forms even before they've hit
the ground, creating a variety of exquisite patterns.
More importantly, using chain reactions to match
colors fills a meter in the center of the screen.
Once this is full, you'll enter fever mode, a frantic bonus
round which doubles as a secret weapon against your
opponent. Keep clearing away the patterns of blobs the
computer sends your way and you'll overwhelm your opponent
with a devastating rain of screen-filling
debris! Fever mode is an exciting feature that
helps make this otherwise familiar puzzle game stand out from
the crowd.
RAYMAN ADVANCE
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
UBI SOFT (DIGITAL ECLIPSE)
1
PLAYER
|
|
MUST... SMASH... GAME BOY ADVANCE!!! Oh, er,
sorry. Remember how obnoxiously hard Rayman was on the
Saturn and Playstation? Well, the system may have
changed, but the frustration remains the same. Digital
Eclipse may have taken steps to make this game less blood
boilingly aggravating, but they didn't do enough... giving
Rayman more hit points and lives is a step in the right
direction, but they don't help much when you've stepped off
the edge of a cliff. It's worth mentioning that many of
the game's rounds are BLANKETED with pits and spikes, and of
course, any contact with them means instant death. Don't
be seduced by Rayman's gorgeous backgrounds and smooth
animation... if you want your Game Boy Advance around to play
other games, you won't buy this one.
ROAD
RASH: JAILBREAK
RACING |
DSI (ELECTRONIC
ARTS)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Don't let the title scare you... this has
surprisingly little to do with the abysmal game released for
the Playstation a couple of years ago. Actually, it
doesn't have much in common with any of the other Road Rash
games, playing more like the kart racing titles that are all
too common on the Game Boy Advance. The number of racers
has been pared down from sixteen to a mere four, and it's
tougher to be knocked off your bike... now, collisions with
cars and buildings merely leave you dazed for a few seconds,
rather than throwing you off your ride. Although you can
still fight with your opponents, it's much more effective to
collect items from the boxes scattered throughout each
track. These range from handy oil slicks to a
devastatingly powerful shovel... use this on a fellow rasher
and you can guarantee that he'll be left in the dust.
The biggest difference of all from the original Road Rash
games is that Jailbreak has much better graphics... the roads
still twist and buckle like an angry rattlesnake,
but they scroll more smoothly and feature more detail than
they ever did on the Genesis. If you haven't already had
your fill of competitive racing games on the Game Boy Advance,
you'll want to make room on your plate for Road Rash:
Jailbreak.
|
REVENGE OF
SHINOBI
SIDE-SCROLLING
PLATFORMER |
T*HQ (SEGA, 3D6
GAMES)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Now here's a strong argument for Game Boy
Advance ports if I've ever seen one. An original game
might not be such a good thing if they turn out like
this. The rather questionably named Revenge of Shinobi
isn't like the Genesis game at all, but rather a generic new
adventure by a team of relatively inexperienced American
designers. I guess T*HQ thought that if the game had
ninjas in it, that was enough reason to call it Shinobi.
Sorry, guys, but that's not good enough for most fans of the
series. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of games fit
that description, but there's only one Shinobi, and this ain't
it. This isn't even a good side-scroller in its own
right... it's just another licensed Game Boy Advance game with
grainy rendered graphics and uninspired level
design. Even the music, an admirable collection of
Japanese instrumentals, is much too generic, bearing little
resemblence to the intense themes in Sega's own Shinobi
games.
|
RIVER CITY RANSOM
EX
FIGHTING/ADVENTURE |
ATLUS
(MILLION)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
After fifteen years, Alex and Ryan have returned
to River City for a high school reunion. If you were a
fan of their fantastic yet sadly overlooked fighting game for
the NES, I'd suggest you attend as well. As the name
suggests, River City Ransom EX is an enhanced version of the
original game, with sharper graphics, more weapons and
attacks, and bosses that are more than just headswaps of all
the other characters. On the downside, the additional
levels from the X68000 computer version were not included, and
the clanking of metal pipes and wooden sticks as they hit the
ground lack the impact they had on the NES. Also, Atlus
may have gone overboard with the new moves... some of the
martial arts skills available in the bookstores make you
practically unstoppable. Fortunately, they can be turned
off in the options screen if you find yourself abusing them
too much. Overall, River City Ransom EX is a good,
solid port of the classic NES game... but a true sequel
would have been even more satisfying.
|
SIGMA STAR
SAGA
SHOOTER/ADVENTURE |
NAMCO
(WAYFORWARD)
1
PLAYER
|
|
First, allow me to clear up a few misconceptions about this
game. Contrary to what you've heard elsewhere, Sigma
Star Saga is not The Guardian Legend. It is not a sequel
to this unsung hero of the NES software library, nor is it a
spiritual successor. Yes, Sigma Star Saga combines the
rapid-fire action of a shooter with the slower pace and more
complex gameplay of an adventure game, but Wayforward's
approach to merging these two genres is entirely different
from Compile's... and frankly, not as effective. Sigma
Star Saga plays out like your typical role-playing game, but
instead of turn-based battles, you're frequently
teleported into a ship to blast airborne creatures in a
low-rent shooter hobbled by some very poor design
decisions. The ship you're given during each battle is
chosen at random, ranging from speedy space fighters to
titanic garbage scows, and the stage design is both bland and
repetitive... once you've seen one battle, you've seen them
all. However, the other half of Sigma Star Saga redeems
the package. The storyline is excellent, full of
original science-fiction concepts and snappy dialogue, and the
weapon customization system has promise... or would, if it
weren't weighed down by the mediocrity of the shooter
scenes. Fans of adventure games looking for something
fresh and new will want to take to the skies with Sigma Star
Saga, but if you're waiting for the next Guardian Legend, keep
waiting.
SILENT SCOPE
LIGHT GUN SHOOTER (YEAH,
REALLY!) |
KONAMI
1
PLAYER
|
|
What can I say? I'm even more impressed
with this game than I was with the Dreamcast version.
They're both great translations, but the scope mechanics
people thought couldn't be done on the Dreamcast are that much
tougher to do on the less powerful Game Boy
Advance. Konami really came through, though,
making a fully functional Game Boy Advance version of
Silent Scope with tighter, more intuitive control than its
sometimes frustrating Dreamcast
counterpart. Nintendo's portable obviously comes up
short in the graphics department, but
they're still quite good thanks in part to
the magnifying lens of the scope, which reveals
everything from sinister terrorists to ladies in
compromising positions (who reward you with extra health
despite being both ogled and targeted with a sniper rifle at
the same time).
SNOOD
PUZZLE |
DIGITAL
(REBELLION)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Can I just say that I personally find this game
offensive? It geniunely bothers me that Snood is more
widely recognized by the public than Bust-A-Move,
the puzzle game that it so shamelessly
rips off. The designers of Snood may have had a lot of
success stealing Taito's ideas, but they can never make their
game as fun or as charming as Bust-A-Move. Snood will
always be a cheap clone, with an unappealing cast of
characters, unprofessionally drawn graphics, and a soundtrack
that seems like it would be more at home on a Commodore 64
than a Game Boy Advance. There's nothing wrong with the
gameplay... in fact, it seems like it's easier to line up
shots in Snood than it is in Bust-A-Move. Despite this
slight advantage, I still have to wonder why anyone would
settle for this cheap clone when they could play the real
thing for the same price (or a whole lot less, if
they download Russ Prince's great Game Boy Advance port of the
first Bust-A-Move).
SONIC
ADVANCE
ACTION, PLATFORM |
SEGA (SONIC TEAM)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Before the Game Boy Advance, Sega didn't take their
handheld versions of Sonic too seriously. If you need
proof, just look at Sonic on the game.com. However, Sega
can't afford to laugh off any game system these days, even the
smaller ones. Knowing this, the designers at Sonic Team,
along with the creators of Sonic Pocket Adventure for the
Neo-Geo Pocket, handled Sonic Advance with the utmost
care. They added more playable characters, more special
effects, more detailed backgrounds, and more animation than
has ever been in a side-scrolling Sonic game, and ended up
with a contender for both the best Sonic game AND the best
Game Boy Advance title ever made. It's fun, it's
inventive, it's charming, and it's even got the virtual pet
simulator from Sonic Adventure. After playing this, you
start to wonder if Sonic joined forces with Mario just so he
could humiliate the fat little plumber on his own turf.
SONIC
ADVANCE 2
ACTION |
SEGA (SONIC
TEAM)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
Holy smeggin' crap. As if Sonic Advance wasn't amazing
enough, Sega comes along and throws out this gem (seriously,
no Chaos Emerald joke intended). The graphics are great,
with fine detail in the running and standing animations, plus
there are awesome cutscenes, tons of stuff to unlock, and a
new character... go Cream! Also back is the tiny Chao Garden
for more digital pet caretaking. There are even
more multiplayer modes, and nothing can improve a game
quite like multiplayer link support, even when it isn't
necessary. The only thing weighing this awesome package down
is insanely hard stages, some with indeterminate paths
and others that force you to collect all the SP rings (collect
all the SP Rings? You're drinking...). The
action's also a bit too fast for the Game Boy Advance,
but otherwise it's completely worth your money.
You'll definitely be sitting for hours playing it anyways,
considering how hard it is. How else will you earn Amy,
dammit?
SONIC
PINBALL PARTY
PINBALL |
SEGA (SONIC
TEAM)
1
PLAYER
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
You'll play it. You'll say to yourself you wanna like it,
but something just isn't there. That's the feeling you're left
with after playing Sonic Pinball Party. It's
got three clever tables based on Sonic Team's most
popular titles (Sonic Adventure, NiGHTS [Damn you for the
NiGHTS tease, Sega!] and Samba De Amigo), but the control and
the ball physics just aren't there. It doesn't prevent you
from having fun; it just detracts from the package, which is
unfortunate because it's typical Sega goodness. The story mode
(in a pinball game?) is lackluster, mostly due to the
fact that some of the goals (fifteen million in five
minutes?!) are ridiculous. The bells and whistles are
definitely there, however. There's music from three
of Sonic Team's games and a few others (imagine my
surprise hearing Chu-Chu Fever on the Samba table...), and all
the cool little modes in the game (there's a hidden Samba mini
game, plus a great new puzzle game in the Tiny Chao
Garden. YAY!) makes it still worth getting.
Add the fact that it's a Target store exclusive, and
you have a potential collector's item plus along with
a neat time waster.
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
T*HQ (CLIMAX)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Wow... it's a Nicktoons game by T*HQ, and it's actually
good! Thank goodness for outside developers! As
you may know, I love the cartoon, but the first Spongebob game
(on that video game landfill commonly referred to as the Game
Boy Color) was so rotten that even I couldn't stand it.
This, however, is definitely an improvement. Sure, it's
just a Mario/Sonic clone, but it's done well, and episodes of
the show aren't just mentioned in passing... they're actually
part of the gameplay. For instance, in Sandy's air
bubble, you've got to jump in pans of water to keep Spongebob
from turning into Spongedust. The only thing that's
missing is the humor... the music is still wacky, but the
dialogue is boring, and although Spongebob is well animated,
it's not the kind of over the top cartoon animation you'd
expect from Stephen Hillenburg.
|
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS VOL.
ONE
VIDEO |
MAJESCO (UNITED
PLANKTON)
1
VIEWER
|
|
Many were convinced that Majesco's series of
videos for the Game Boy Advance would instantly obsolete the
VideoNow player. After testing out a couple of these
cartridges, however, I've got to say that Hasbro shouldn't
worry too much about its future in the portable video system
wars. Yes, Majesco's cartridges are in color, and yes,
they've crammed a lot of video into each one, but the blotchy
video and missing frames of animation wring most of the fun
out of shows like Spongebob Squarepants. The interface
is actually pretty keen... you can preview clips of each
episode in a tiny window before you select them, but the
designers are going to have to greatly improve the overall
video quality before these cartridges can become the VideoNow
killer that Majesco intended them to be.
SPYRO: SEASONS OF ICE
ACTION,
PLATFORM |
UNIVERSAL (DIGITAL ECLIPSE)
1
PLAYER
|
|
Oh, yeah... 'tis the season to be jolly, especially if you
find this in your stocking! Spyro's latest quest on the
Game Boy Advance is extremely faithful to the excellent
Playstation games, and the isometric perspective that some
Spyro fans were worried about isn't an issue at all... it
never impedes your movement or hides items you need to finish
each of the rounds. In fact, this viewpoint offers
plenty of benefits, including great graphics and the freedom
of movement that made the Playstation games so popular.
In short, Seasons of Ice looks, feels, and especially sounds
(thanks to a Stewart Copeland inspired soundtrack and
perfectly sampled effects) like a legitimate Spyro the Dragon
game. As far as I'm concerned, that's exactly what it
is.
SPYRO: ATTACK OF THE
RHYNOCS
ACTION/ADVENTURE |
UNIVERSAL (DIGITAL
ECLIPSE)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Who wants Spyro? I do, I do! And you
will too, if you like adventure games. You'll find
plenty to do in Spyro's latest quest... after a nutty
professor's mistake brings the nasty Ripto and his goons back
to Dragon Shores, you'll need to collect a handful of
hearts with the power to drive the Rhynocs back to their
own land. Of course, the owners of the
hearts won't just let you have them... you'll have
to run dozens of errands before you'll get a shot
at Ripto himself. Why don't the non-player
characters in these games ever realize the gravity of the
situation and just let you have the items that will
ultimately save their lives and the world? Who
knows. Just be glad the journey for the hearts is filled
with vibrant graphics and inventive play mechanics... for
instance, to open vaults containing valuable items, you'll
have to locate and press two hidden buttons within the span of
thirty seconds. The isometric perspective can make it
difficult to judge the position of platforms, and the
constant item collecting can get tedious, but it's still worth
taking flight with this superb Spyro sequel.
STAR
WARS: JEDI POWER BATTLES
ISOMETRIC
PLATFORMER |
LUCASARTS (HOTGEN)
1
PLAYER
|
|
No matter what console you own, you can't escape games
based on the Star Wars films. Believe me, I've tried...
when even the 3DO got one, I gave up and accepted the fact
that the Force will always be with video game fans, whether
they want it or not. Even if you don't like Star Wars,
you've got to admit that Jedi Power Battles is a great idea
for a game, letting you race through scenes pulled straight
from The Phantom Menace as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui Gon Jinn, or
Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson gets a lot more legwork here,
unlike in the film where he could have used a cardboard cutout
as a stand-in). Unfortunately, just like the film, Jedi
Power Battles has a lot of irritating problems.
The Jedi Masters don't have enough attacks, and despite the
fluid animation that distinguishes their fighting styles,
they're too much alike... each character should have had his
own special abilities rather than sharing the same basic light
saber attacks and worthless laser deflect. Furthermore,
the feeling of being overwhelmed by droids that was in Phantom
Menace isn't here... the most you'll find onscreen at once is
five or six, and they're not particularly dangerous.
That is, of course, until they start shoving you into
pits. That's when Jedi Power Battles turns to the dark
side... there are sections where you'll have to leap over
chasms, and even if you make it across, a punch or laser beam
from a droid might send you into the abyss anyways. I've
said it a million times, and I'm not afraid to say it again...
game designers, people don't LIKE to be thrown into
pits. That's also why they won't like Jedi Power
Battles, even though it's faithful to the Star Wars films
right down to the excellent (unlike everything else the man's
written lately) John Williams soundtrack.
|
STREET FIGHTER ALPHA
3
FIGHTER |
CAPCOM
(CRAWFISH)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
Only the most unreasonable gamer
could complain about this exceptional conversion of Street
Fighter Alpha 3. The late, lamented design team Crawfish
had to take out a few features from the Dreamcast and
Playstation versions, but the game still has a great deal to
offer, including an immense selection of characters, crisp,
colorful backgrounds, and superb animation. Most
importantly, the gameplay is still intact... it's fast,
smooth, and fun, just the way Capcom fans like it. The
only legitimate complaint one could weigh against the game is
that the sound doesn't have as much impact as the graphics or
gameplay. The voices are heavily recycled and the music
manages to be both hit AND miss at the same time thanks to
inconsistent instrument quality, but explosions and hit
effects still carry the same weight as they had in previous
versions. Overall, Street Fighter Alpha 3 was more than
worth the long wait... it's just a shame that its design team
didn't last long enough to outdo themselves with Game Boy
Advance ports of other Capcom fighting games.
SUPER
BUST-A-MOVE
PUZZLE |
UBI SOFT (TAITO, ALTRON)
1-4
PLAYERS TO ONE CART
|
|
Oops, Altron did it again. They made
another game for Taito that was just good enough to put on
shelves but not enough to impress fans of either the Game Boy
Advance or the game they were translating to the system.
Their latest half-effort is Super Bust-A-Move, a watered down
port of the Playstation 2 version of Bust-A-Move which, it's
worth mentioning, isn't even the best game in the Puzzle
Bobble series. The basic gameplay is good enough, the
still pictures and backgrounds are vivid, and the music is
faithful to the Playstation 2 game... but like the similarly
disappointing Neo-Geo Pocket version of Bust-A-Move, the
bubbles and just about everything else is so damned
tiny. I suspect that a punch to the face would hurt your
eyes less than playing this on an actual Game Boy
Advance.
SUPER
DUPER SUMOS
ACTION |
MIDWAY
1
PLAYER
|
|
I've never had the "pleasure" of
watching the cartoon that inspired this game, but if it's even
half as stupid and insulting as this, I think it's safe to
scratch it off my viewing list. Super Duper Sumos
stars a trio of sumo wrestlers... the first is Japanese, as
you can tell from his slanted eyes and tendency to punctuate
every sentence with the word "honorable". The second is
a painfully stupid white guy, and the third is a token black
dude, apparently inserted at the last minute to ensure that
every race is equally insulted. They fight the forces of
evil in the appropriately named Generic City, using the power
of "phat" and other predictable sumo stereotypes. The
game itself is just as uninspired as the premise... it's a
side-scrolling beat 'em up that's competantly designed but
unbelievably boring. You'll be hard-pressed to find any
difference between the three heroes, and it's even harder to
find a reason to keep playing after you've knocked out the
millionth big-chinned thug. With Double Dragon and River
City Ransom EX currently in development for the Game Boy
Advance, why would anyone even consider buying this
dreck?
SUPER
MARIO ADVANCE
ACTION, PLATFORM |
NINTENDO
1-2 PLAYERS TO ONE
CART
|
|
What's so special about a portable version of a Super Mario
Bros. game most players have already spent hours with on the
NES and Super NES? Well, not much, really.
However, there's just enough included in this remake to
rekindle your interest no matter how many times you've beaten
the original. The designers added a couple of new
features that make this already tricky game even more
challenging... for instance, there are five (sadistically
placed) Yoshi Eggs that you can collect in each stage, but to
keep 'em, you've got to finish the round without dying.
The game also keeps score now, giving players the incentive to
knock out as many enemies as they can with one Shyguy
toss. Finally, the graphics and sound are better they've
ever been... they're similar to the Super NES remake but with
more scaling, rotation, and voice. Not everyone
appreciates the voice-overs, but I was OK with them after
finding out that Clawgrip sounds like Mr. Crabbs from
Spongebob Squarepants!
SUPER
MARIO ADVANCE 2
ACTION, PLATFORM |
NINTENDO
1-2 PLAYERS TO ONE
CART
|
|
You know it, you love it, you've beaten it at least three
times already... it's Super Mario World, with an unwelcome
side order of Classic (?!) Mario Bros. This time,
Nintendo didn't add much Game Boy Advance exclusive content to
this port of the Super NES game... about the best you're going
to get is the inclusion of Luigi rather than a second Mario in
green overalls. Yes, there is a difference.
Luigi's thinner, for starters, so he stays in mid-air a little
longer than his brother. The downside is that it takes
more effort to land him safely afterwards. He's more
awkward to use than Mario, but I'm sure Luigi fans who felt he
got shafted in Mario 64 and the RPGs will be happy to get used
to his quirks. Past that, this game is a 95% accurate
translation of Super Mario World... Mario and Luigi are drawn
in drab pastels and the music hits the occasional sour note,
but it's still the same exceptional game you remember on the
Super NES.
SUPER
MARIO KART SUPER CIRCUIT
RACING |
NINTENDO (INTELLIGENT
SYSTEMS)
1-4 PLAYERS TO ONE CART
|
|
This is the best kart racing game on... well, forget about
the Game Boy Advance for a second. This is the best kart
racing game on anything. I didn't even like the Super
NES version, but that's the beauty of this sequel... it's
faster and a lot less flat than Super Mario Kart. The
courses are longer and more complex, the computer opponents
are more fun to race against, and there are more features,
including the ability to record a race and go head to head
against yourself! The control is terrific as well...
Intelligent Systems didn't cut any corners while designing
this game, just to make sure that you can. The music
isn't the least bit compromised, and even the voices are
enjoyable (finally, a Game Boy Advance game where Luigi
doesn't sound like the spawn of Satan!). Super Circuit
is of such high quality that you might think about making it
your first GBA purchase, even if you weren't really shopping
for a racing game.
SUPER
MONKEY BALL
PUZZLE |
SEGA (WOW
ENTERTAINMENT)
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
You have to at least give Sega and WOW Entertainment credit
for converting the GameCube game... you know it wasn't going
to be easy at all. Seeing the same textured
polygonal floors, tilting and tumbling monkeys and Dole
bananas on the Game Boy Advance is a joy, but unfortunately,
wonky controls (B and A control the rolling speed and
substitute for the analog control) overshadow the absolute
insanity that this could be ported to the GBA so accurately.
Furthermore, the aggravating turning time is only made worse
by the faked analog. It's too bad, because Super Monkey Ball
on the go is a fine idea. It's just not meant to be played
without an analog control and that's final. Even still, the
game is a pretty faithful conversion of the GameCube game
and there's still mini games to unlock... those are still
pretty good even without the analog control. Maybe next
time...
SUPER
PUZZLE FIGHTER 2 TURBO
PUZZLE |
CAPCOM
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
One of the best puzzle games ever made has arrived
on the GBA, and... unfortunately... it's simply nothing
special. Don't get me wrong; Puzzle Fighter is a fine
game, and it's FAR better to buy it on the Game Boy Advance
than shell out eighty to a hundred dollars for the Playstation
version. Still, for a game that's been out for
roughly three or four years, you'd think Capcom could have
added some sort of extra bonus SOMETHING. Unfortunately,
there aren't any bonuses here. No additional characters
have been added, no new modes were included, there aren't
any new ways to play... there aren't even new gallery shots
for Crimminy's sake (although with the bad compression, I
guess I should be glad). You just get the same modes
that were in the Playstation and Saturn versions. That's
really disappointing, but at least the game is there right?
Well, yeah, but the graphics look really washed out, like they
took them straight from the Playstation version and compressed
the hell out of them. Thankfully, the sound isn't scaled down
too badly for a handheld, still retaining some of the
voices from the original. I suppose if it ain't broke, don't
fix it or bitch about wanting it fixed. Besides, it
could always be worse... it could be like Altron's version of
Super Bust a Move. Brrrr... scary.
SUPER
STREET FIGHTER II REVIVAL
FIGHTING |
CAPCOM
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
I know... you're holding out for Street Fighter Alpha 3,
right? Well, don't. I'm sure that game will be
great, but who knows when it'll be released? You might
as well play this while you're waiting for it. You'll be
glad you did, too, because Super Street Fighter II Revival
features exclusive new rounds and astounding full screen
character portraits. The gameplay hasn't changed,
however... it's just as good as Capcom's other Super Street
Fighter II conversions, and the control scheme is a big
improvement over the mode switching they'd used in other
systems with a limited number of buttons. Even with
Alpha 3 around, you'll kick yourself if you miss out on this
outstanding portable fighting game.
TANG
TANG
ACTION, PUZZLE |
TAKE TWO STUDIOS
1
PLAYER
|
|
Hey, I'm really thirsty... I could go for some Tang Tang
right now. Oh wait, you're talking about the crappy
Solomon's Key clone on the Game Boy Advance. No, I don't
have an appetite for THAT at all. I loved the Solomon's
Key games but even I can't get excited about a contrived
rip-off like this one. Instead of an elfen dungeon
explorer, Tang Tang gives you a quartet of suspiciously
familar robots. Instead of memorable medievel enemies
like spinning demon heads and hunchbacked trolls, you get
orbs, spiked orbs, and floating orbs (the variety in this game
is just overwhelming). Instead of a wide variety of
helpful items and valuable treasures, you get some spinning
golden ring gem things and the occasional bag of gold..
And finally, instead of getting addicted to the game and
playing it for hours, you'll drop Tang Tang in your cat's
litter box and hope he buries it, recognizing it for the turd
it is.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA
TURTLES
ACTION |
KONAMI
1
PLAYER
|
|
I'll be honest with you... I would have been
much happier if Konami had released a conversion of
the original TMNT arcade game or the Super NES
version of Tournament Fighters. However, this new
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles release, based on the most recent
animated series, is a decent game in its own right. It's
got all the bells and whistles you've come to expect from
Konami, including a catchy soundtrack inspired by the tunes in
the television show and dynamic animation that helps make the
somewhat repetitive gameplay more exciting. That
gameplay is what keeps TMNT from being as memorable as
Konami's previous Turtles releases... you're not given the
free range of movement that you had in the classic arcade
game, and the fighting is never as deep or strategic as it was
in Tournament Fighters.
TEKKEN ADVANCE
FIGHTING |
NAMCO
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
From now on, if anyone asks me what I hate about Tekken,
I'll just point to this cartridge and leave it at that.
I guess I should be impressed that Namco tried to port this
game to the Game Boy Advance, but all they've done is make the
series' flaws that much more obvious. Fans of Tekken
would call the games raw and intense. Personally, I'd
use the term "ugly", and Tekken has never been uglier than it
is on the Game Boy Advance. The playfields are
overflowing with dull browns and greys, and the characters
move even more stiffly and awkwardly than they did on the
Playstation. The constant scaling just adds a whole new
dimension of ugly to the game... after a few rounds you'll be
begging for the N64's blurry anti-aliasing, or at least a belt
sander to take the edges off the blocky fighters. Tekken
Advance even PLAYS ugly thanks to the single punch and kick
which further encourages players to mash buttons for
combos. The music seems to be the only thing that
benefits from the Tekken treatment (punk is junk, heavy metal
rules!). Even with its high-impact tunes, I'm not
complimenting Tekken Advance when I say that it's a faithful
adaptation of the arcade and Playstation games.
THE
INCREDIBLE HULK
ACTION |
UNIVERSAL
VIVENDI
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
Is it written in stone on some hillside somewhere that most
movie licensed games (and comic games for that matter) must be
sub-par? That seems to be the case here... unfortunately,
while the home versions of The Incredible Hulk are great, the
GBA version is blah. Middle of the road graphics and
repetitive gameplay have done this one in. See Hulk Punch! See
Hulk Bash Open Door! See Hulk Throw a Barrel! See Hulk....sit
on my dresser because I'm not playing him. There IS a
multiplayer game, but it doesn't look all that great to me. On
the whole, the game is not that terrible as some of
the animations are pretty fun to watch (like soliders flailing
as you beat on them), and so is seeing "SUPER SMASH!" float
across the screen as you thunderously clap and lay waste to
the army. Come on, though, there's way better
platformers out there and the Game Boy Advance version
of Spiderman clearly shows that a superhero game CAN be
really good. It's not hard to see that they tried a little
(Multiplayer Hulk....oooooooookay), but for today's
discriminate GBA shopper, they didn't try hard enough.
TINY
TOONS: BUSTER'S BAD DREAM
ACTION,
FIGHTING |
CONSPIRACY
(TREASURE?!)
1
PLAYER
|
|
When a company with a strong reputation releases a dud
like, say, Buster's Bad Dream, some reviewers feel obliged to
cut them some slack, since they've made so many great games in
the past. Not this reviewer, though. In fact, the
quality of their previous games is exactly the reason I
won't let them get away with releasing something that
doesn't measure up to their normally high standards. In
this case, it doesn't matter that this is Treasure's first
Game Boy Advance game, or that it's chained to an old,
withered license like the Tiny Toons. Buster's Bad Dream
is not what I would have expected from this company... it's
repetitive, simplistic, and frustratingly linear. The
straight side view offers little freedom of movement, and the
short, blandly designed rounds offer little else but the same
three enemies for Buster and his friends (called out for
brief attacks a'la Marvel vs. Capcom) to fight. The only
compliment I can give this game is that it's true to the show
and cartoons in general, with well drawn and animated
characters set against brightly colored backgrounds.
Past that, Buster's Bad Dream is just a bad clone of Guardian
Heroes. C'mon, Treasure, you can do better than
this. You CAN still do better than this, right?
TONY
HAWK'S PRO SKATER 2
ACTION, SPORTS |
ACTIVISION (VICARIOUS
VISIONS)
1 PLAYER
|
|
Well, Mr. Hawk, I don't get too excited about
skateboarding, but if you're good enough at the sport to get
your own game series, and responsible enough to make sure
every game in the series turns out great, you can count me as
a fan. Handheld ports of popular Playstation games
aren't usually a good idea, but the Game Boy Advance's
limitations actually make this better than the original.
The playfields are much easier to navigate now that they're in
2D, and the instrumentals are a lot more imaginative than the
generic heavy metal and rap tunes in the game's Playstation
counterpart. Finally, since you've got fewer buttons to
deal with, the control isn't as intimidating to Tony Hawk
newbies. Instead of just watching slackjawed while my
friends pull off dozens of great tricks, I actually have a
shot at performing a few of them myself.
|
TONY HAWK'S PRO SKATER
3
SKATEBOARDING |
ACTIVISION (VICARIOUS
VISIONS)
1
PLAYER
|
|
This is the last of the old-school Tony Hawk
games, back when the game was all about skateboarding, rather
than satisfying the demands of obnoxious non-player
characters. It's also my opinion that this is the last
Tony Hawk title that really works on the Game Boy
Advance... the levels translate well to an isometric
perspective, unlike the next two games which went overboard
with the rooftops and wires. On top of that,
the control isn't as complex in Tony Hawk 3 as it is in
the two sequels, so it plays more intuitively on a system with
only four action buttons. So, how does the game
compare to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2? Well, the levels
are longer and the character models are more detailed, but at
the same time the music lacks variety... it's all heavy metal,
rather than the even blend of hip-hop and head banging rock
that was in the previous game. In the end, Tony Hawk 3
comes out on top thanks to its introduction of Bam
Margera to the cast. He's almost as hilarious in the
game as he was on the television show Jackass!
|
TY THE TASMANIAN TIGER 2: BUSH
RESCUE
ACTION / PLATFORM |
ELECTRONIC ARTS
(KROME)
1
PLAYER
|
|
All right, I admit it. I don't like Electronic Arts. No,
scratch that... I didn't have a problem with the Electronic
Arts from the 80's and early 90's... that was the company that
gave designers the credit they deserved for creating fun and
innovative games like Seven Cities of Gold and Archon.
However, sometime after the release of the Playstation,
Electronic Arts got lazy and arrogant. They started calling
themselves EA, because it sounded cooler, and they stopped
making original games because the ones based on hit movies and
professional golfers and plus-sized sports commentators made
them a lot more money. The new EA even turned their backs on
Sega, the company that helped establish them in the video game
industry, after they refused to build the Dreamcast with
Electronic Arts' crappy 3Dfx technology. You'd think that
because of all this, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2 wouldn't have a
chance of getting a good rating on this web site. You'd be
wrong, though... Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2 doesn't have a
chance of getting a good rating because it's not a
particularly good game. It's an average side-scroller with
ugly rendered graphics, an unappealing title character, and
dull racing scenes wedged between the already boring
platforming stages. Good luck trying to tell the difference
between Ty 2 and all those other titles on the Game Boy
Advance that fit that description.
ULTIMATE MUSCLE: PATH OF THE
SUPERHERO
WRASSLIN' |
GODDAMN PIECE OF SHIT
BANDAI
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
Why? Why does everything Bandai touches have to be utter
crap? I swear they are the Japanese 3DO. How they
survived for as long as they have is beyond me. But enough
about that, this game sucks. That's terrible, because
the game stood a chance with neat characters (wrestling
superheroes! Tell me where that could go wrong and nobody
mention Los Luchadores), decent color commentary from the
announcers at the bottom of the screen, pretty innovative
moves from the villains (like the sign guy's detour attack...
it makes you crash into the ringpost) and almost passible
graphics. It even has a pretty good training mode, so
you can practice not playing this game. Unfortunately, the
goddamn controls and filthy, rotten ultra cheating
computer bodyslam this thing before it even gets going. Ugh,
the damn computer. A good example of this is when you perform
a grab in the game. A meter shows up on the side indicating
when you can perform a grab. Well, the computer will perfectly
execute throws within a split second of the grab at
times. Also they use super moves WAY too quickly, sometimes at
the start of the match. It's a damn shame really, because like
I said, this had potential to be really fun. The multiplayer
no doubt is a little better, but the controls rough it up a
bit. Pass this jobber by and head straight for Fire Pro
Wrestling 2.
URBAN
YETI
ACTION |
TELEGAMES/CAVEBARN
1 PLAYER
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
Even stranger than Wario Ware, this has to be the one game
on the system most likely to make you shout, "What in the
name of all that is righteous and holy IS that supposed to
be?" You play...as a yeti, looking for a mate in the
city. Let me repeat that for those of you in the back who
didn't hear that. You play a YETI. Who's looking for
YETI BOOTY. Riiiiiiiiiiight. So anyways, you run around the
city, dodging the police and riff-raff, rummaging through
dumpsters for half eaten hotdogs, and trying to find your
mate. The events leading up to this meeting are hilarious, and
even though the game's standard perspective (similar to
the first two Grand Theft Auto games) isn't too hot, the
mini games that you play when not prowling around the city are
pretty fun, especially since they're based on old arcade games
such as Toobin', Tapper, and Tron Deadly Discs. The graphics
are pretty pixelated, but the sound is crazy with burps
and digitized voice all over the place. If you can't
think of any other reason, you could always get this game just
to say to your friends, "Yeah, I went out and bought....URBAN
YETI."
V.I.P.
PLATFORMER/SHOOTER |
UBI
SOFT
1
PLAYER
|
|
Attention, Rolling Thunder fans... until Namco
releases the long overdue sequel to their excellent Namco
Museum, this is as close as you're going to get to a Game Boy
Advance version of your favorite side-scrolling shooter.
Yes, it's an embarassing license. Yes, Pamela Anderson
looks even more ridiculous in this game than she does in
the show. You're just going to have to suck it up and
take it, because no other game on the system reproduces the
feel of Rolling Thunder as well as V.I.P. It even
improves upon Namco's game by offering you a larger selection
of playable characters, each with their favorite weapon and
close range attacks. The graphics are only slightly
more detailed than the plain artwork in the Rolling
Thunder games, and the boss fights are pretty crummy (usually,
you've got to gun down a thug who mindlessly tosses grenades
from behind a crate), but you'll still be surprised that the
programmers put as much effort as they did in V.I.P.
After all, the only thing more embarassing than admitting that
you own a copy of a game based on a silly television series is
acknowledging that you helped design it.
VIRTUA TENNIS
SPORTS/TENNIS |
SEGA/THQ
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
REVIEW BY RUSS BELESKI
Those who played this on the Dreamcast will be on familiar
ground because this version is extremely similar to the much
beloved title (actually it's more like the 2002 edition, not
the first one). The World Tour mode is where it's at, with all
the training mini games and RPG-like aspects of powering up
your player for tournaments to win prize money for better
gear. It's extremely involving watching your players slowly
get better as their individual stats go up. But don't get
me wrong, the tennis is here. Virtua Tennis plays a solid game
of tennis on the Game Boy Advancee, although the early matches
are painfully easy. The computer simply doesn't try hard
enough until you've beaten it a few times, then it says "Okay,
I've been nice to you long enough. Let's play." Graphically,
there's no detail on the players, but high detail shouldn't
really be expected on this system. The animation is smooth
enough, but the sound is definitely nothing to write home
about. Fortunately, it's still really, really fun.
You'd be amazed how you'll blow an hour just powering up your
player. Seeing as you can find this game on clearance, I
highly recommend getting a copy.
V-RALLY III
RACING |
INFOGRAMES/ATARI
1
PLAYER
|
|
Holy crap, who put this Playstation game in my Game Boy
Advance? I didn't even know it had a CD drive.
Huh? You're saying that this beautiful rally game with
incredible texture mapped polygons was designed specifically
for the Game Boy Advance? No way. I mean, look at
it! I can't believe the system can actually do this...
the option screens alone are just astonishing. Well, you
do make a point... the game IS a little more sluggish than
Super Mario Kart, and there's never more than one car onscreen
at a time. And yeah, I did notice there's no music while
I'm driving, even though the techno tracks in the options
screens are almost as amazing as the graphics. But
still, I never thought the Game Boy Advance could be pushed
this hard... the game looks even better than Iridion
3D! Heh, yeah, you're right... it IS a lot more fun to
play, too.
|
WADE HIXTON'S COUNTER
PUNCH
BOXING |
DSI GAMES
(INFERNO)
1-2
PLAYERS
|
|
If you thought Little Joe had it rough
when he had to fight Mike Tyson in his prime,
consider the plight of one Wade Hixton.
This scrawny redneck has to battle everything from seven
foot tall gorillas to the minions of Satan himself before
he can stand victorious in Counter Punch, the latest Punch
Out!! clone for the Game Boy Advance. This
game was in development for a long, long time, but when
you play it, you'll quickly realize it was worth the
wait. When it comes to boxing titles on the Game
Boy Advance, Counter Punch is in a weight class all its
own... competitors like Punch King and Ready 2 Rumble
don't even come close. The characters are
absolutely massive, filling over half the screen, and the
graphics are a happy marriage of Don Bluth's exaggerated
animation and the loud, sharp-edged artwork made popular by
the web comic Penny Arcade. The gameplay is pretty good,
too, although it doesn't quite measure up to the standards set
by Punch Out!!... all the characters seem to have the same
fighting style, and it takes exact precision to
avoid their most damaging body blows and right
hooks. Nevertheless, even Punch Out!!'s biggest fans
will have to admit that Wade Hixton's Counter Punch puts up
one hell of a fight.
WARIO
LAND 4
ACTION, PLATFORM |
NINTENDO
1
PLAYER
|
|
Let's face it, folks... Mario's a great character, but he's
not a very realistic plumber. Instead of a polite little
Italian with an innocent crush on the princess he's always
saving, wouldn't you expect someone fatter, greedier, and more
surly? Well, Wario's that guy. And instead of
living in a shiny happy place where even the bad guys are two
steps away from starring in a Care Bears episode, Wario's land
is filled with weird characters like a bald archeologist that
doubles as a projectile and a huge, incredibly angry baby
eggplant that'll make you think twice about digging into last
night's lasagna. If that's not enough to differentiate
Wario Land 4 from the Super Mario Bros. games, try this on for
size... sometimes, you'll HAVE to be hit by enemies to finish
rounds, because the cartoony side effects will let you reach
items you couldn't get otherwise. Because of this,
you'll need to think outside the box and inside the looney bin
to finish Wario Land IV's long, convoluted rounds.
WARIO
WARE
ACTION |
NINTENDO
1-2 PLAYERS
|
|
Wario's been around for a while, starring in
great games for over a decade, but this is his fastest, most
exciting, and, um... weirdest one yet. It's
designed for the world's shortest attention spans, with dozens
of very short mini-games that play in rapid succession.
If you're looking for depth, you won't find it here... many of
these games end with a single button press. You won't
find a Game Boy Advance title more diverse (or more
intense!) than this one, though. You'll blast
spaceships, devour an apple, play ancient Nintendo games, and
shake hands with a collie, all in the span of thirty
seconds. The best part about Wario Ware is the metric
ton of hilarious jokes and in-jokes packed into the
game. Nearly every chapter of Nintendo's history is
covered here... you'll even find references to the toy
guns they made in the 70's, before their introduction to the
video game industry. The worst part of Wario Ware is
that no matter how complete the games look, you won't be
able to play them for more than a few seconds. That's a
shame, because a few of them look and feel very authentic.
AND WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED
TODAY?
- Japanese RPGs have way, way, way, way, way too much plot
outlining. Yes, it's even more annoying than that last
sentence.
- If we judged them from their voices, Luigi would be ten
times more evil than Wario, at least.
- Even the nerdiest fanboy couldn't keep up with all the
cartoons that are currently popular in Japan.
- Maybe using computer rendered graphics instead of
traditional hand drawn art isn't such a great idea after all
(want proof? Look at Altered Beast).
- Game Boy Advance ports of great Playstation games don't
have to suck, nor should they.
- Neither do games based on Nicktoons, although they
usually will anyway.
- Filemirrors is a darned good place to download Game Boy
Advance software (perfect for really cheap web site
editors!).
- The above link is subject to change at any given moment.
- Every Super Mario Advance game ever made will have that
embarrassing "translation" of the first Mario Bros. built
into them.
- Great graphics do not a great game make... but they sure
don't hurt!
- The Game Boy Advance is a great place for crusty old
video game stars to make a comeback.
- A little scaling and rotation goes a long way... with
this in mind, most Game Boy Advance games could stretch
around the planet fifteen times. F-Zero could make it twenty
seven times.
- Japanese RPGs have way, way, way, way, way too much plot
outlining. Yes, it's even more annoying than that last
sentence.
- If we judged them from their voices, Luigi would be ten
times more evil than Wario, at least.
- Even the nerdiest fanboy couldn't keep up with all the
cartoons that are currently popular in Japan.
- Maybe using computer rendered graphics instead of
traditional hand drawn art isn't such a great idea after all
(want proof? Look at Altered Beast).
- Game Boy Advance ports of great Playstation games don't
have to suck, nor should they.
- Neither do games based on Nicktoons, although they
usually will anyway.
- Filemirrors is a darned
good place to download Game Boy Advance software (perfect
for really cheap web site editors!).
- The above link is subject to change at any given moment.
- Every Super Mario Advance game ever made will have that
embarrassing "translation" of the first Mario Bros. built
into them.
- Great graphics do not a great game make... but they sure
don't hurt!
- The Game Boy Advance is a great place for crusty old
video game stars to make a comeback.
- A little scaling and rotation goes a long way... with
this in mind, most Game Boy Advance games could stretch
around the planet fifteen times. F-Zero could make it
twenty seven times.
WISHFUL THINKING...
ADVANCED
| TMNT: Tournament
Fighters |
It's a shame Konami lost the rights to
the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles license, because I'd
love to play this on the Game Boy
Advance. |
| Black Tiger |
There's no better time or place to
resurrect this fun, fast-paced arcade game than right
now, on the Game Boy Advance. |
| Donkey Kong |
I won't hold my breath for this one,
but it'd be nice to have a real conversion of the
coin-op rather than yet another Donkey Kong
Country. |
| Rockman &
Forte |
I think the Game Boy Advance could
really do this Japanese Super NES game justice.
It'd have to be better than the Wonderswan
version! |
| Shaolin's Gate |
Konami's already working on a classic
collection for the Game Boy Advance, but unfortunately,
this game won't be included on it. |
| Metal Gear 2 |
This was created by Juan Soler, who
tells us that the original game on the MSX computer was
very similar to Metal Gear Solid. |
| Wizard of Wor |
I imagine this to be part of a Midway
collection (hopefully not by Pocket Studios) including
Gorf, Omega Race, and Satan's Hollow. |
| Bosconian |
The enhanced X68000 version of this fun
omnidirectional shooter would be a great addition to a
Namco Museum Advance sequel. |
| SD Snatcher |
Reader Mark Nicholson sent this one
in... he felt that Snatcher, the digital comic
by Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, deserved a special
Game Boy Advance edition. |
| NightWarriors |
I threw this mock screen
shot together pretty quickly, but I hope the folks
responsible for this port would take their time.
Hey, Crawfish... you think you guys could make
this? Please? |
| Omega
Race |
Maybe this shooter's too simplistic to
justify releasing it on a cartridge, but it
would fit perfectly onto a handful of Nintendo's
e-cards. |
| Snow Bros. |
Toaplan's Bubble Bobble clone is
great, and that's snow lie! Snow lie, get
it? Hey, how come you're not
laughing...? |
TMNT: The
Arcade
Game |
Now that Konami once again has control
of the Turtles license, they should give some
thought to porting their superb coin-op to the Game Boy
Advance. |
Garou: Mark
of the
Wolves |
Luke O'Sullivan brings us this concept
art of Garou: Mark of the Wolves, the best Fatal Fury
game since... well, the best Fatal Fury game SNK's ever
released! |
| Terra Cresta |
Phil Estes thought a Nichibutsu game
collection would be a lot of fun on the Game Boy
Advance, and I'd tend to agree... so long as this
fantastic shooter was included. |
| Crazy Climber 2 |
Here's another candidate for inclusion
on a Nichibutsu classic collection. Hey,
anything's better than another strip mahjong
game. |
| The Legend of Zelda 2: Adventures of
Link |
Chris Kohler created this concept
artwork, which illustrates what The Adventures
of Link might look like on the Game Boy Advance.
Note the reflective stair
steps. | |
