Game Boy Advance

By now, most Game Boy Advance owners should be comfortable with (or at least accepting of) reliving the past with the majority of releases 'revisioning' or outright porting the biggest hits of generations past. Konami helps this case of initial deja vu in its dark (in tone and luminance) Castlevania: Circle Of The Moon by mixing venerable 16-bit gameplay with an entirely new adventure.

Circle Of The Moon, a launch title for the Game Boy Advance, is an obvious throwback to the "run-and-jump platform" games of the past. The surprising thing, however, is that the many years since its original 8-bit release has done little to diminish the indelible trademarks of the series.

Game Description: Konami's Simon Belmont started hunting vampires back in 1987, and he hasn't quit yet. Now he's chasing them across the Game Boy Advance in Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. He'll use his trusty whip, as well as a few magical items, to combat Dracula and more than just a few foul minions. The game takes advantage of the GBA's rich color palette to create detailed, moody environments and intricate spell effects.

As Scott established in his review, Super Mario Bros. 2 was just a placeholder until the true sequel, Super Mario Bros. 3, was ready. What I find ironic is that Nintendo has re-used the same game for the exact same reason. The highly-anticipated port of Super Mario World, would not have been finished in time for launch (as of this writing, it is only a few months away) so Super Mario Bros. 2 was the substitute. Unfortunately, by taking such a shortcut, Nintendo has wound up with the same result. When it was all said and done, Super Mario Advance left me wanting a true Super Mario game.

Game Description: In Mario's debut on the Game Boy Advance platform, the swashbuckling plumber goes back to what he knows best: side-scrolling adventure. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad wander this richly colored fantasyland to fight new and original enemies by collecting items to throw at them (alas, the famous jump attack isn't enough to dissuade these foes). Players are allowed to choose which character they'll play as—you can even switch between levels—and each in the cast has different strengths. For example, Luigi can jump higher than his brother, Mario, but the plumber is faster. Super Mario Advance also has a multiplayer game where up to four Game Boy Advance units can be linked together via the separately sold communication cable, allowing you to wage friendly battles for collectible coins using Koopa shells.

The best reason to own the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color were Nintendos exclusive titles. For the last decade, Nintendo has been the only publisher consistently releasing not only good games for the handheld, but delivering great exclusive titles like Tetris, The Legend Of Zelda: Links Awakening, and the many shades of Pokémon.

R-P-G. In the world of video games, not only do these three letters stand for role-playing game, but its mere mention also evokes more loyalty, passion and debate than perhaps any other genre. Though I write that last sentence as if it were common knowledge, I ponder what made RPGs so endearing to me and millions of gamers around the world to begin with.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Mild Animated Violence