Shonen Jump’s One Piece

I nearly break down in tears anytime I watch a minute of One Piece on Saturday mornings. The awful dubbed voices and extremely over-editing 4kids has done makes one cringe. I want to enjoy One Piece’s story and characters, without painful edits and horrific voice-overs. I had hoped the videogames would be different. Shonen Jump’s One Piece for GBA is tons better than the dubbed show, but it still leaves a lot to be desired.

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Zone Of Enders: Fist Of Mars

The Game Boy Advance seems to be THE system to go to in order to play top caliber strategy games. It has seen numerous hits with Tactics Ogre, Fire Emblem, Advance Wars 1 and 2…the list goes on and on. Even dubious titles, such as Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, are still considered quality titles. When all is said and done, the GBA has received a great deal of excellent strategy titles.

WarioWare, Inc. Mega Microgames

Wario is greedy. Always has been, always will be. But even he isn’t oblivious to the times; after several quests to get rich the old fashioned way (collecting coins and treasures while being transfigured by enemies), Wario has found a new way to make money: game design. After seeing a fictional (well, kind of, you’ll see what I mean) GBA game called Pyoro making big bucks, Wario decides to make his own video game. And it’s… indescribable. I am not exaggerating when I call this series the most bizarre that Nintendo has ever produced.

Rebelstar Tactical Command

When I was a child, I was fascinated by television shows that depicted aliens, UFOs, and abductions in the middle of the night. Part of that fascination was the fear that it could happen to me. Sure, there have been some decidedly stupid shows regarding aliens (*cough*Alien Autopsy*cough*), but as a ten year old, the thought of extra terrestrial contact had me up late at night, watching far more television than was healthy for my adolescent mind.

King Of Fighters EX2: Howling Blood

From time to time, a game comes out that causes me to stop everything I’m doing and refocus my attention on it completly. KoF EX2 is just that sort of game. Achieving Master Orochi with every character in order to unlock Sinobu and the other modes is a task unlike any challenge I’ve recieved in a fighting game previously. Seriously, I’ve bought at least 4 GBA games since I bought KoF EX2 and I find myself ignoring those games completly for “just one more round” of KoF.

Castlevania: Aria Of Sorrow

Before I start, I’ve got to mention that I’m a huge Castlevania fan. As such, this review may be a little biased and feature comparisons to previous Castlevania games on this system. I will, however, try to be as unbiased as possible.

Advance Guardian Heroes

“In the current state of the industry, popular characters or licences are more then ever the key for publishers. That is one of the main reasons for the choice of Guardian Heroes. If you go original, it is really hard to have your project accepted. We would like to go original but it is not always possible.” -Treasure Rep, September ’04 Issue of Edge Magazine

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I’m not really a fan of the new show; I’ve only seen it a few times, but I’m definitely a fan of the old shows and the old games. I used to watch the old shows every chance I could when I was young, but it wasn’t until I was older, that I actually got chance to play the old games. I managed to get through those without much challenge and this is the same. There are plenty of enemies however, and depending on your difficulty setting, there can be even more.

Tactics Ogre: The Knight Of Lodis

Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis is nothing short of a great game. The story follows a young knight in the Lodis Empire, named Alphonse, who has been dispatched to quell a rebellion on the island of Ovis. Upon arrival, he quickly learns that things are not as they seem and begins a long and dangerous journey to discover what is really going on behind the scenes, and who is ultimately manipulating the government for personal gain. Throughout this quest, he will gain many allies, and face many foes, all for the sake of peace. The plot never disappoints, but continues on and on, inevitably changing based on the decisions made by the player, and resulting in multiple endings and even deciding what characters will join your cause. And though this is another game in an extended series of the the Ogre Series, the story is fresh and anyone can pick it up. With over 40 hours of gameplay for one round, the replay value is incredible.

Golden Sun: The Lost Age

In 2001, Camelot brought us a splendid little gem of an RPG known as Golden Sun to the Game Boy Advance. Among the GBA’s slew of RPG adventures, it was arguably one of the better turn-based outings the genre had seen in a while. It was also rather lengthy for a GBA game, clocking in at an average of about 22 hours to finish to completion.