Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest

Release Date: Spring 2004

Super Mario Advance
Super Mario Advance is really two games in one: a souped-up version of Super Mario Bros. 2 and an action-packed four-player version of the original Mario Bros. arcade game. In Super Mario Bros. 2, you get to control either Mario, Luigi, Peach or Toad in a vegetable-flinging platform game filled with fantastic enemies. In the classic Mario Bros. game, you can either play alone or compete against three friends in a fast, hilarious battle. It's a great way to break in your new Game Boy Advance!

Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2
Super Mario World is the fourth game in the Super Mario Bros. series. The game was originally released on the Super Nintendo a decade ago, serving as a pack-in for the system. In many ways, the game is merely a refinement and expansion of the concepts introduced to the series in Super Mario Bros. 3. Still, the game served as an excellent way to usher in Nintendo's new system. Now, Nintendo is cashing in on its past successes by delivering a version of its amazing platformer for the Game Boy Advance. The game holds up fabulously, and the slight modifications that Nintendo has made to the game for its handheld release make it even better.

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
For most of the 1980s, there really wasn't such a thing as "prerelease hype" in the video game industry. But that all changed with Super Mario Bros. 3, which not only packed a strong print and television campaign in the US, but had the promotional help of The Wizard, a video-game-themed motion picture that promised frothing young gamers a peek at the next installment in Nintendo's masthead series, before its release. The hype may have been manufactured, but it turned out the game more than deserved it. It delivered interesting new tweaks to the fundamental platformer formula that the original Super Mario Bros. had staked out, and it created the single largest, most fully-realized Mario world that had been seen up to that point. Nintendo has now repackaged and gussied up SMB3 for its GBA release as Super Mario Advance 4, updating the graphics and throwing in a few bonuses. The result is a package that is, more often than not, true to the original game, which still stands up as a rock-solid platformer 14 years after its original release.

Super Monkey Ball Jr.
Few games can boast a concept as simple as that found in Sega's Super Monkey Ball series. Monkeys are trapped inside of spherical balls that allow them to roll around like marbles. These monkey marbles are stuck high in the air atop a lofty maze. Your job is to roll the monkey to the goal at the end of the maze before the time limit elapses and without falling off the edges of the maze. It's pretty easy, in theory. For as simple as it sounds, however, rolling the monkey to the goal is not an easy task. But it sure is a lot of fun.

Double Dragon Advance
Double Dragon Advance retells the story of Billy and Jimmy Lee. The premise of the game is simple: Billy's girlfriend is kidnapped by thugs, and he and his brother intend to get her back by any means necessary. "Any means necessary" in this case means by punching and kicking dozens of thuggish gang members. Experts in martial arts, Billy and Jimmy have more than just punches and kicks at their disposal, though. They can use elbow strikes, head butts, throws, jump kicks, and a variety of other moves to deal with the superior number of enemies out to get them.

Double Dragon Advance is clearly inspired by the original arcade version of Double Dragon as well as its sequel and features redone graphics and sound that nonetheless are very reminiscent of the graphical style found in the 1987 classic. At the same time, this new game features a number of new moves, enemies, weapons, and locations--and even some great-looking cutscenes featuring nice full-screen artwork and some snappy dialogue. Double Dragon Advance of course also features optional two-player simultaneous gameplay, as well as a unique gameplay mode in which you have control of both Billy and Jimmy and can toggle between directly controlling the two of them. Unfortunately, the player not under your direct control simply stands still--ideally, the AI would exercise at least some degree of control over your companion.

Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Revenge

Release Date: Q2 2004
Crash will meet up with Spyro the Dragon in this cross-over platformer.

Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy

Release Date: Q2 2004
Spyro will team up with Crash Bandicoot in this action platformer.

Leveraging its library to extremes, VU Games said today it would double the pleasure of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon fans. It is planning two Q2 releases on Game Boy Advance that place Crash and Spyro in each other's game.

Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage and Spyro Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy are in development at Vicarious Visions, an upstate New York developer with a deep pedigree of muli-platform titles. The studio just released SpongeBob SquarePants for the GBA, and came in for kudos for the GBA version of Tony Hawk's Undergound.

Both Ripto's Rampage and The Cortex Conspiracy will support linked gameplay for up to four gamers as well as single-player mode. In their press release, VU Games was quick to point out the combined sales of both franchises since their release now tops 42 million units across all platforms.

Donkey Kong Country
This is a Game Boy Advance version of Donkey Kong Country for the SNES. In addition to the original game, Donkey Kong Country for the Game Boy Advance features two new minigames: Funky's fishing, which requires players to catch as many fish as possible within a given time limit, and Candy's dance studio, which is basically a simple rhythm game. Both minigames can be played with two players. Donkey Kong Country for the Game Boy Advance also includes character art, a stat tracker, the ability to save anywhere, and a Donkey Kong attack mode, in which a player's in-game performance is judged according to a number of different factors.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
This is a Game Boy Advance version of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the SNES, one of the greatest Zelda games or any game for the matter. This game also supports the Game Boy Advance's multiplayer capabilities by incorporating a special four-player multiplayer mode called "the four swords." In this mode, the ultimate objective is to grab the greatest number of rupies possible, but at various points in the dungeon, players will have to work together in order to progress.

NBA Jam 2002
NBA Jam 2002 for the Game Boy Advance is Acclaim's seventh attempt to give the NBA Jam series a respectable showing on a handheld system. Due to a variety of questionable design choices, as well as a few omissions, it's certainly not going to appease jaded enthusiasts who're still searching for a perfect portable rendition of their favorite extreme basketball game. However, NBA Jam 2002 does manage to offer a satisfying dose of two-on-two, no-rules, full-court roundball, complete with large, well-animated players and irreverent announcer comments.
Speacial Features:

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom
Based on the kids show, you are able to play as SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick StarFish and Sandy Cheeks, each with their unique moves and abilities. You have to stop the evil Plankton's plans as you "tongue-board" down huge mountains, "underwear bungee jump" off tall cliffs or ride in a guided "cruise bubble", having as much fun as a hero can.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Revenge of the Flying Dutchman
Aye, mateys! SpongeBob is back in an all-new action game that's soaked to the gunwales with the full-fathom-five fry-cook's unique brand of silliness.

When the game begins, SpongeBob's pet snail, Gary, runs away. While following his slimy trail, you find a mysterious treasure chest. Inside lies the spirit of the Flying Dutchman, who sends you on a treasure hunt that will take you all over the pleasant burg of Bikini Bottom.

Using SpongeBob's bubble-blowing skills, you will search high and low for keys to treasure chests. Collecting special bubble bottles will give your bubbles special abilities. Some bubbles will carry you up to high ledges, while others will smash through walls. Choosing the right bubbles for each situation is the key to victory.

Along the way, you will encounter many of SpongeBob's fishy friends like Patrick, the simpleton sea star, and Squidward, the grumpy invertebrate. THQ has done a fine job capturing all the wacky humor of the SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon with sharp, colorful graphics.

SpongeBob SquarePants: SuperSponge
Based on the episode "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy," SpongeBob Squarepants: SuperSponge tosses SpongeBob to the depths of Bikini Bottom, where Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy put him through a series of side-scrolling trials before they'll condescend to give him their autographs.

The 20-level adventure features zany quests, zanier weaponry and enemies that are still zanier. In the quests dept., SpongeBob must climb a tree by bouncing off bird's nests.

The five weapons include a Jellyfish Launcher and a Bubble Wand. Ka-razy power-ups like Spatulas and Underpants give SpongeBob extra lives. Enemies include Robotic Sub-Shark and the Flying Dutchman.