Must-Have GBA Games For Big Screen?
Thanks to several readers for pointing out the IGN Pocket summary picking their 15 must-have GameBoy Advance titles for those who've bought the GameBoy Player add-on for the GameCube, and so are getting a chance to play GBA games on their TV sets for the first time. The authors have "..gone through the GameBoy Advance library, and hand-picked 15 titles in the collection that we'd consider 'can't miss' games on the handheld." Picks include obvious class acts like Advance Wars 2 and Castlevania: Aria Of Sorrow, as well as less well-known titles such as Ninja Five-O and Puyo Pop.
If any of you liked Advanced Wars and want a fantasy slant to it, pick up Fire Emblem when it gets released over here. If you have played Shining Force, you know what Fire Emblem is going to be like. Personally I cant wait!
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Golden Sun: The Lost Age
Konami's Collectors Series: Arcade Advance
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
Metroid Fusion
Ninja Five-O
Pokemon: Ruby Version/Sapphire Version
Puyo Pop
Sonic Advance 2
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2
Wario Ware: Mega Microgame$
Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3
I liked AW2. It's definitely more of the same; they haven't done anything startling or revolutionary to the game. But it's such a *good* same that it's worth getting. The new campaign is very good, with nice new scenario concepts. You have the new unit, the neotank, which actually doesn't shake things up that much. It's a better medium tank, but it doesn't dominate mediums the way mediums dominate small tanks. New terrain, including fortifications (which only show up for Black Hole in the campaign, alas), volcanos and most interestingly, pipes. Pipes completely block movement (even air), but some pipe squares are "seams" that can be destroyed by attacking them. It makes a very interesting addition to terrain strategy. Eight new COs, the existing COs have been profitably tweaked for better balance, and you now have CO "super powers" where you can forgo using your regular power and let your meter continue to fill to get a *really* devastating effect. And the AI has been nicely improved; it's no longer quite so fixated on APCs and is generally harder to decoy. Still cheats some in fog of war, though.
Chris Mattern