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"Gameboy gets Advanced"

It has been out nearly a year now and the Gameboy Advance, although selling a bucket load, has come under a bit of scrutiny. The console launch way back in June of last year with Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2, Super Mario Advance and F Zero Maximum Velocity as its main titles. The launch could be said to have been a disappointment in a way, no new Mario, Zelda or Pokémon title in view and what we did get was an “OK” port of Mario Brothers 2. It mirror’s that of the Gamecube’s line up in a way, no killer ap but a whole host of awesome titles, Mario Advance = Luigi’s Mansion, F Zero Maximum Velocity = Wave Race: Blue Storm and Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 = Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 (surprisingly). But although we wanted a new Pokémon, Zelda or Mario we did get the highly addictive Mario Advance, which isn’t what we wanted but a damn good alternative, the same with the Nintendo Gamecube, we wanted Mario, Zelda or one of the many other smash hit Nintendo games but instead we are left with Luigi’s Mansion and addictive and highly enjoyable game. But it didn’t take long before the Gameboy Advance got some brand new, enjoyable games, soon after we got Mario Kart: Super Circuit as with the Gamecube we will enjoy Super Smash Brothers: Melee. And then the posts dried up, there was nothing else, a few posts about how the GBA would link up to the Gamecube and that was about it. But now the Gameboy Advance can live up to its name as an Advanced Gameboy.

First Person Shooters:

When Nintendo stated that the Gameboy Advance “Cannot play 3D games” a group of wiseass developers set about proving them wrong, and they did. The first person shooter war began before Christmas with three games; the first of these was Backtrack, developed by Telegames, Backtrack is the worst of the 3 titles, it may be a brilliant multiplayer experience but Bactrack’s single player game is slow, dull and annoying. The game seemed rushed and was an inevitable disappointment, it really needed a little longer in development but Telegames must have felt that releasing it before the other competition would have given it a decent head start. Doom appeared and it had a head to head fight with another First Person Shooter called Ecks vs. Sever, it is a good solid effort of a first person shooter. Bam! Entertainment has designed a graphically impressive title in which you either play the good guy Ecks or the bad guy Sever. This title went head to head with Doom this game has spectacularly been re-created on the Gameboy Advance; it was the eventual winner although some people still swear by Ecks Vs. Sever. The game looked great, it played brilliantly and fought off its opposition. Dark Arena a technically good game appeared a few months later but it was too late, no where near as good as Ecks Vs. Sever or Doom, the next first person shooter on the format to look forward has to be Wolfenstein, a faithful conversion of the title that started it all. The Gameboy colour could never have done first person games like this, these titles truly show how the Gameboy has Advanced in this new era.

Platformers

Shortly after the battle for the best First Person shooter the battle for the greatest Platformer began something that is still going on around us. The GBA had only Mario Advance, the awesome Wario Land 4 and Spyro the Dragon: Seasons of Ice, this game was different from the other titles, it used an almost 3D isometric view point similar to that used in Tony Hawks and what will be used in the highly anticipated Banjo Kazooie: Gruntilda’s revenge released later this year. This is what the GBA had to show what it was capable of in the platform front, but now in the matter of a few months 3 popular names in the Platforming industry have been released on the Gameboy Advance kick starting the Platforming war. One of which is an old Playstation favourite. Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure was released not so long ago and received good reviews from the likes of Gamespot, NGC, Advance magazine and Nintendo Official Magazine. But as good and as popular as Crash is he can’t really stand up to the other two massive titles released along side it, Sonic Advance and Super Mario World: Mario Advance 2. Sonic Advance is a brand new 2D Sonic platforming game, something that fans have been crying out for, for a long time. You can play as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy in a relatively small but addictive game. The title has received huge praise and will be the first in both American and Europe to incorporate the Gamecube link up. The game will link with its inferior bigger brother on the Gamecube to allow the transfer of a Chao, the idea is taken from the Dreamcast with the VMU but the Chao can now explore a beautiful 3D world. Despite being a brilliant must own title it is going head to head with its arch rival yet again (although never before on the same console), Super Mario Advance 2 is technically not as good as Sonic Advance, it is a simple port with minor upgrades. These upgrades include Luigi being playable throughout the single player (he was only accessible in multiplayer before) and now he can jump higher than Mario but is slower. Also as in the original Mario Advance, the Mario Brothers arcade game has been added in for further multiplayer fun (making it essentially two games in one). The game though is a port of Mario World and Sonic Advance is a brand new game but despite this Mario Advance 2 is a port of the greatest game ever (probably). The Sonic team would have put in much more effort but Nintendo have wisely re-released one of their best ever titles, with every magazine and website scoring it higher than Sonic and I’m putting money on it selling better as well. The game gets its European release on Friday and I for one won’t miss snapping this baby up.

RPG

Bomberman was the only RPG adventure that the GBA was proud to have before we had a mini RPG war set just after the first person shooter one and before the Platforming one. It was between the highly anticipated Golden Sun and Capcom’s re-release of Breath of Fire. This one is the toughest to call out of all of the wars, Breath of Fire and Golden Sun both have their downfalls (although minor) and are both brilliant. Camelot’s (maker of Mario Tennis and Mario Golf) Golden Sun was announced along with the Gameboy Advance, the graphics were stunning then and they still are now, this huge title has a bit of a cliché filled storyline but an enjoyable role-playing experience and defiantly worth buying. Breath of Fire is an awesome title returning from the SNES era. This one is a tough one to call but I would pick Golden Sun, the game is marginally better and the 3D battles add an extra element to the fun. Also Capcom have confirmed that Breath of Fire 2 is due this summer so it might be best to wait for that. Towards the end of the year you can expect an even larger RPG war between the new Pokémon and Final Fantasy.

I still hear to this day that the Gameboy Advance is not so Advance but I am inclined to disagree, whilst reading the above may make you see the Gameboy Advance as a portable SNES I can tell you that you are wrong. Yes SNES classics such as Mario and Breath of Fire are being re-released and Megadrive masterpieces such as Comix Zone and Sonic are also appearing (Sonic maybe a new title but it is similar to its older counterparts) but there is so much more to the GBA. The addition of the first person shooter genre, and new classics such as Pokémon, Tony Hawks and Tekken. Awesome Strategy games that would never have worked in the past are working now in the form of games such as Advance Wars (probably the best GBA game), great games such as Broken Sword are being released, a title that would never have worked on the SNES. The fact is the GBA is everything and will be everything all in one. There is nothing wrong with a portable SNES especially for me who was brought up in that era, old classics like Final Fantasy Tactics, Mario, Breath of Fire, Metroid James Pond, Earthworm Jim and Comix Zone are now capable of going on holiday with me and these used to be and still are my favourite games ever. But the old are mixing with the new, Super Monkey Ball and Crazy Taxi two titles that have been present at the start of this new era of gaming are being released by SEGA, we have just seen the brilliant Tekken get the Advance treatment, Zone of Enders is making an appearance along with Rainbow Six and Smugglers Run. These are all games that are part of this generation all-mixing with titles from the old generation.

And that’s not the only thing the console is mixing together, we have Nintendo’s best (new and old), along side SEGA’s best (new and old), we have the best Playstation games such as Tekken, GTA, Crash Bandicoot and Smugglers Run and we have a brilliant mix of Adult and Children’s games. Something that the parents aren’t worried about getting their kids and something that some adults aren’t worried about buying for themselves. The Gameboy Advance not only has a huge array of titles that are sure to please retro gamers, new gamers, Playstation fans, Sega fans and Nintendo fans but it also links up with the Gamecube for an added “advanced” element and there is that E-card reader, which I expect we’ll see a lot more of in the future. The GBA is also at the forefront of the new “tilting” craze that has seemed to struck Nintendo consoles Kirby tilt and Tumble and Super Monkey Ball are all appearing on the Gameboy Advance. The Gameboy Advance is the pinnacle of modern day gaming and we have barley scratched the surface, as of yet we haven’t heard from the best 2D RPG/Action game that is Zelda, we haven’t seen much from what is probably the greatest Gameboy title Pokémon and who knows what Squaresoft have in store (more Final Fantasy? Secrets on Mana? Mario RPG?). RARE have yet to make an impact on the console yet as we wait for Banjo Kazooie, Saberwulf and Diddy Kong Pilot. Right now it is probably the greatest console on earth and in the future it will be even greater, all Nintendo need to do now is sort out the problem with the screen and they will rule the world once again.

Here’s to the future

Dringo.

Meka Dragon wrote:
> What I like about the GBA is the way that developers seem much more aware of the
> habits of the handheld gamer, and are altering games to cater for this.

Many
> games have the ability to save the game frequently, simply because we might only
> be playing for a short while, or may be low on batteries.


Does anyone know how Golden Sun saves? I REALLY want that game...

True, though I hate the minority of games that still use the "Password" save feature, which technically isn't saving and requires you to find a piece of paper and a pen to write down these passwords.... (then people post them on SR as cheats)

What I like about the GBA is the way that developers seem much more aware of the habits of the handheld gamer, and are altering games to cater for this.

Many games have the ability to save the game frequently, simply because we might only be playing for a short while, or may be low on batteries.

I like picking up Wario Land 4 for a quick game, as I can save my progress half way through a level, and continue it later, very handy.

It has been out nearly a year now and the Gameboy Advance, although selling a bucket load, has come under a bit of scrutiny. The console launch way back in June of last year with Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2, Super Mario Advance and F Zero Maximum Velocity as its main titles. The launch could be said to have been a disappointment in a way, no new Mario, Zelda or Pokémon title in view and what we did get was an “OK” port of Mario Brothers 2. It mirror’s that of the Gamecube’s line up in a way, no killer ap but a whole host of awesome titles, Mario Advance = Luigi’s Mansion, F Zero Maximum Velocity = Wave Race: Blue Storm and Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 = Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 (surprisingly). But although we wanted a new Pokémon, Zelda or Mario we did get the highly addictive Mario Advance, which isn’t what we wanted but a damn good alternative, the same with the Nintendo Gamecube, we wanted Mario, Zelda or one of the many other smash hit Nintendo games but instead we are left with Luigi’s Mansion and addictive and highly enjoyable game. But it didn’t take long before the Gameboy Advance got some brand new, enjoyable games, soon after we got Mario Kart: Super Circuit as with the Gamecube we will enjoy Super Smash Brothers: Melee. And then the posts dried up, there was nothing else, a few posts about how the GBA would link up to the Gamecube and that was about it. But now the Gameboy Advance can live up to its name as an Advanced Gameboy.

First Person Shooters:

When Nintendo stated that the Gameboy Advance “Cannot play 3D games” a group of wiseass developers set about proving them wrong, and they did. The first person shooter war began before Christmas with three games; the first of these was Backtrack, developed by Telegames, Backtrack is the worst of the 3 titles, it may be a brilliant multiplayer experience but Bactrack’s single player game is slow, dull and annoying. The game seemed rushed and was an inevitable disappointment, it really needed a little longer in development but Telegames must have felt that releasing it before the other competition would have given it a decent head start. Doom appeared and it had a head to head fight with another First Person Shooter called Ecks vs. Sever, it is a good solid effort of a first person shooter. Bam! Entertainment has designed a graphically impressive title in which you either play the good guy Ecks or the bad guy Sever. This title went head to head with Doom this game has spectacularly been re-created on the Gameboy Advance; it was the eventual winner although some people still swear by Ecks Vs. Sever. The game looked great, it played brilliantly and fought off its opposition. Dark Arena a technically good game appeared a few months later but it was too late, no where near as good as Ecks Vs. Sever or Doom, the next first person shooter on the format to look forward has to be Wolfenstein, a faithful conversion of the title that started it all. The Gameboy colour could never have done first person games like this, these titles truly show how the Gameboy has Advanced in this new era.

Platformers

Shortly after the battle for the best First Person shooter the battle for the greatest Platformer began something that is still going on around us. The GBA had only Mario Advance, the awesome Wario Land 4 and Spyro the Dragon: Seasons of Ice, this game was different from the other titles, it used an almost 3D isometric view point similar to that used in Tony Hawks and what will be used in the highly anticipated Banjo Kazooie: Gruntilda’s revenge released later this year. This is what the GBA had to show what it was capable of in the platform front, but now in the matter of a few months 3 popular names in the Platforming industry have been released on the Gameboy Advance kick starting the Platforming war. One of which is an old Playstation favourite. Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure was released not so long ago and received good reviews from the likes of Gamespot, NGC, Advance magazine and Nintendo Official Magazine. But as good and as popular as Crash is he can’t really stand up to the other two massive titles released along side it, Sonic Advance and Super Mario World: Mario Advance 2. Sonic Advance is a brand new 2D Sonic platforming game, something that fans have been crying out for, for a long time. You can play as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy in a relatively small but addictive game. The title has received huge praise and will be the first in both American and Europe to incorporate the Gamecube link up. The game will link with its inferior bigger brother on the Gamecube to allow the transfer of a Chao, the idea is taken from the Dreamcast with the VMU but the Chao can now explore a beautiful 3D world. Despite being a brilliant must own title it is going head to head with its arch rival yet again (although never before on the same console), Super Mario Advance 2 is technically not as good as Sonic Advance, it is a simple port with minor upgrades. These upgrades include Luigi being playable throughout the single player (he was only accessible in multiplayer before) and now he can jump higher than Mario but is slower. Also as in the original Mario Advance, the Mario Brothers arcade game has been added in for further multiplayer fun (making it essentially two games in one). The game though is a port of Mario World and Sonic Advance is a brand new game but despite this Mario Advance 2 is a port of the greatest game ever (probably). The Sonic team would have put in much more effort but Nintendo have wisely re-released one of their best ever titles, with every magazine and website scoring it higher than Sonic and I’m putting money on it selling better as well. The game gets its European release on Friday and I for one won’t miss snapping this baby up.

RPG

Bomberman was the only RPG adventure that the GBA was proud to have before we had a mini RPG war set just after the first person shooter one and before the Platforming one. It was between the highly anticipated Golden Sun and Capcom’s re-release of Breath of Fire. This one is the toughest to call out of all of the wars, Breath of Fire and Golden Sun both have their downfalls (although minor) and are both brilliant. Camelot’s (maker of Mario Tennis and Mario Golf) Golden Sun was announced along with the Gameboy Advance, the graphics were stunning then and they still are now, this huge title has a bit of a cliché filled storyline but an enjoyable role-playing experience and defiantly worth buying. Breath of Fire is an awesome title returning from the SNES era. This one is a tough one to call but I would pick Golden Sun, the game is marginally better and the 3D battles add an extra element to the fun. Also Capcom have confirmed that Breath of Fire 2 is due this summer so it might be best to wait for that. Towards the end of the year you can expect an even larger RPG war between the new Pokémon and Final Fantasy.

I still hear to this day that the Gameboy Advance is not so Advance but I am inclined to disagree, whilst reading the above may make you see the Gameboy Advance as a portable SNES I can tell you that you are wrong. Yes SNES classics such as Mario and Breath of Fire are being re-released and Megadrive masterpieces such as Comix Zone and Sonic are also appearing (Sonic maybe a new title but it is similar to its older counterparts) but there is so much more to the GBA. The addition of the first person shooter genre, and new classics such as Pokémon, Tony Hawks and Tekken. Awesome Strategy games that would never have worked in the past are working now in the form of games such as Advance Wars (probably the best GBA game), great games such as Broken Sword are being released, a title that would never have worked on the SNES. The fact is the GBA is everything and will be everything all in one. There is nothing wrong with a portable SNES especially for me who was brought up in that era, old classics like Final Fantasy Tactics, Mario, Breath of Fire, Metroid James Pond, Earthworm Jim and Comix Zone are now capable of going on holiday with me and these used to be and still are my favourite games ever. But the old are mixing with the new, Super Monkey Ball and Crazy Taxi two titles that have been present at the start of this new era of gaming are being released by SEGA, we have just seen the brilliant Tekken get the Advance treatment, Zone of Enders is making an appearance along with Rainbow Six and Smugglers Run. These are all games that are part of this generation all-mixing with titles from the old generation.

And that’s not the only thing the console is mixing together, we have Nintendo’s best (new and old), along side SEGA’s best (new and old), we have the best Playstation games such as Tekken, GTA, Crash Bandicoot and Smugglers Run and we have a brilliant mix of Adult and Children’s games. Something that the parents aren’t worried about getting their kids and something that some adults aren’t worried about buying for themselves. The Gameboy Advance not only has a huge array of titles that are sure to please retro gamers, new gamers, Playstation fans, Sega fans and Nintendo fans but it also links up with the Gamecube for an added “advanced” element and there is that E-card reader, which I expect we’ll see a lot more of in the future. The GBA is also at the forefront of the new “tilting” craze that has seemed to struck Nintendo consoles Kirby tilt and Tumble and Super Monkey Ball are all appearing on the Gameboy Advance. The Gameboy Advance is the pinnacle of modern day gaming and we have barley scratched the surface, as of yet we haven’t heard from the best 2D RPG/Action game that is Zelda, we haven’t seen much from what is probably the greatest Gameboy title Pokémon and who knows what Squaresoft have in store (more Final Fantasy? Secrets on Mana? Mario RPG?). RARE have yet to make an impact on the console yet as we wait for Banjo Kazooie, Saberwulf and Diddy Kong Pilot. Right now it is probably the greatest console on earth and in the future it will be even greater, all Nintendo need to do now is sort out the problem with the screen and they will rule the world once again.

Here’s to the future

Dringo.