24 years ago, Nintendo released its full-blown follow-up to the wildly successful Game Boy handheld console, the Game Boy Advance. With its superior processor and full-colour display, those sweetly playable games were now a wonder to look at, with the vibrant pixelated screens offering a visual feast for the eyes. As Bitmap Books celebrates Game Boy Advance art with The GBA Pixel Book, join Graeme Mason as he picks out six of his favourite GBA exclusives.
Ecks vs Sever
Publisher: BAM! Entertainment
Developer: Crawfish Interactive
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The background behind this Game Boy Advance exclusive is a little convoluted, so stay with us. Back in the early Noughties, the phenomenal success of The Matrix inspired several films, including the sci-fi thriller Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever. A year before its theatrical release, American publisher BAM! Entertainment acquired the licence to create a Game Boy Advance interpretation via developer Crawfish Interactive. Based on an early script, the movie had not even begun significant production when the Game Boy Advance game was released, to solid reviews, with IGN citing it as one of the best first-person shooters on the handheld. Technically impressive, it’s a noble attempt to bring fast FPS action to the Nintendo machine before the movie, complete with a different script and name appeared in 2002. Sadly for all the creatives involved, Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever bombed badly, which probably didn’t help BAM!’s second adaptation, bearing the official name and an updated storyline matching the movie. See also: Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever
Rebelstar: Tactical Command
Publisher: Namco/Atari Europe
Developer: Codo Technologies (Julian and Nick Gollop)
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The Gollops had enjoyed decent success during the Eighties with their series of tactical combat games based around a band of futuristic rebels. With the ZX Spectrum market declining, they pivoted to the X-COM series before returning to Rebelstar in the mid-Noughties, merging the two IPs. Aesthetically similar to X-COM, Tactical Command’s gameplay is pared-down in comparison, emphasising combat over resource management and base building. In its portentous plot, aliens have enslaved the human population, ferreting them away at the age of 30 to an unknown fate. The player leads a band of rebels as they seek to overthrow the alien menace and discover their nefarious plans for humankind. While its turn-based gameplay is unlikely to convert action fans, Rebelstar: Tactical Command is one of the best examples of sci-fi strategy gaming on the Game Boy Advance, a compelling story enhancing its uncomplicated and thrilling combat mechanics. See also: Advance Wars
Pinball Of The Dead
Publisher: SEGA/THQ
Developer: WOW Entertainment
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What do you get if you cross a well-known light gun franchise with a videogame pinball game? SEGA answered this question back in 2002 with its genre mash-up, The Pinball Of The Dead. Another Game Boy Advance exclusive, The Pinball Of The Dead takes the visual elements from The House Of The Dead and transposes them to a series of manic pinball tables inspired by locations from the zombie series. While the basic gameplay is naturally similar to its peers, The Pinball Of The Dead differs by offering boss battles, zombies to kill and special bonuses for hitting particular objects. After SEGA’s earlier HotD spin-off, The Typing Of The Dead, perhaps this peculiar combo shouldn’t have come as a surprise – either way, it’s rollicking good fun reducing zombies to mushy green viscera with that shiny silver ball. See also: Muppet Pinball Mayhem
Ninja Cop (Ninja Five-O)
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Hudsonsoft
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This superb platform/run-and-gun game takes familiar videogame tropes – ninjas, cops, platform jumping and so on – and blends them into a perfect mix of wonderfully fine-tuned gameplay. Sprightly and agile, the player is Joe Osugi, the eponymous combination of ninja and police officer, on a mission to stop an evil force and its reign of terror throughout the city. Bank robbers, terrorists and more await Joe over six missions and twenty stages – fortunately he wields a mighty sword and can fling deadly shurikens, upgradeable to fireballs and lightning bolts. A sleeper hit upon release, Ninja Cop is today a feature of most top Game Boy Advance games lists, a status it thoroughly merits. See also: Metroid Fusion
Kuru Kuru Kururin
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Eighting
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As with the original Game Boy, puzzle games were a cornerstone of the Game Boy Advance software catalogue. This oddly addictive physics puzzler rubbed shoulders with fellow GBA launch titles Super Mario Advance and Castlevania: Circle Of The Moon, and it’s presented in a unique Japanese art style. Kuru Kuru Kururin’s bizarre nature begins with its premise: the player controls a slowly spinning stick, which they negotiate through increasingly convoluted mazes. Mastering the behaviour of the stick is stress-free at first, but after a set of deceptively easy training lessons, Kuru Kuru Kururin quickly becomes a most devious action puzzle game. See also: Wario Ware Twisted
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Intelligent Systems
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There are three exclusive Fire Emblem games on the Game Boy Advance: The Binding Blade, The Blazing Blade and The Sacred Stones. While similar, each has its virtues and preference among fans, although this third effort, The Sacred Stones, departs the most from the standard setting. A tactical role-playing game, this is almost a side game set in a separate world from the main Fire Emblem games. The player (or players) take on the role of royal siblings, defending their land from an invasion of hostile enemies. The gameplay and visuals are not vastly different to the previous two games, but there’s a darker undertone and a well-written narrative to draw the player in. See also: Tactics Ogre: The Knight Of Lodis
That’s Graeme’s picks – what are your favourite Game Boy Advance exclusives? Don’t forget you can check out all these and dozens more gorgeous Game Boy Advance games in The GBA Pixel Book, available now with worldwide shipping.