First, the news that Cube Europe has already reported on: that Rare will still release games for the GBA. The future of their highly anticipated GBA titles (Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers, Diddy Kong Pilot, Banjo Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge and Sabrewulf) was in doubt ever since their alliance with Microsoft was rumoured. It is unlikely that Diddy Kong Pilot and DK coconut crackers will make it (the latter was canned long ago) since they use Nintendo licenses, but (admittedly unproven) internet sources suggest that Sabrewulf (And Banjo Kazooie as well maybe) are finished games as we speak. It is not known who will publish them, I couldn't see Microsoft doing it. Perhaps THQ are a likely candidate, they already have a deal with bringing Microsoft's franchises to the GBA, and have worked with Rare before, bringing Conker's Bad Fur Day to Europe. But anyway, this is good news all round. There's no GBA info on the Rare website, but I'd expect to see something before the end of the year at the very latest.

Nintendo have finally given a name to (And released a bunch of shots of) their new GBA Kirby game. It will be called Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland, and the screens suggest the excellent skill-combining abilities of the otherwise dull N64 version and the breezy, fun level design of the original (far too easy) gameboy version. I'd suggest checking the screens out, some of the background art is amazing. It's funny, I could have sworn there was a sequel to the excellent GBA platform game Klonoa, and that I'd seen shots of it and everything, is it out in Japan already? But what turned up at the TGS was a top-down perspective RPG. The GBA could use some more RPG's, but I was still hoping for another platformer, we'll see what happens.

Otherwise, the Tokyo Games Show seemed to hold no surprises whatsoever. Final Fantasy Tactics was unveiled playable for the first time to much fanfare and went down very well with critics, with their Chocobo board game (Reported on last week) seeming to do well with the Japanese public. I'm still not crying at the lack of a European release though. Telegames (A company responsible for bringing some of the oddest ideas to the GBA, such as Urban Yeti) has announced yet another weird sounding GBA title. Called Santa Claus Saves the Earth, it's an action platformer where you play as Santa himself. With no developer yet announced, it's due out - you'd never guess - this christmas.
A number of Acclaim's games have slipped. The console versions of dark-styled platformer Vexx have been delayed until February next year. Why is this relevent? Well, it's long been rumoured that there will be a GBA version of the game to go along with them, it even appeared on EB's website release list. Also the GBA version of BMX XXX (Previously Dave Mirra XXX) has been cancelled, but we'll still see Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX this November

THIS WEEK'S NEW RELEASES

It seems Electronics Boutique are toying with me these last couple of weeks. No sooner do I announce that a new Barbie game is coming to the GBA, I find out it's actually due this week. Fear not Barbie fans, you shall have your 'Barbie's Groovy Games' this week. Otherwise it looks like the summer drought is truly over, as there are quite a few games for release this week. I'm not looking forward to writing this bit of the article next week when an obscenely huge TWELVE games are being released.

BARBIE'S GROOVY GAMES: EB say it best themselves: Hit the town with Barbie and her friends for fun and adventure! With nine games to choose from, you'll have hours of on-the-go-fun! Cruise to the beach for a game of draughts, or stop by the toy shop to play hangman a whole new way! Only Barbie can give these cool favourites a totally new style! 2-player fun - challenge one of your friends to a match!

MAGICAL QUEST STARRING MICKEY MOUSE: This is a SNES port of a Capcom platformer, and a fairly good one. I own the original version of this and, although I enjoyed it quite a bit, I wouldn't really recommend it unless you're really desperate for another platformer. It's better than the trash out there like Rugrats and Wild thornberries, but it's far from the greatness of yoshi's island and it's ilk. You may want to buy it to link up with the Cube version, although I have to say that looks pretty dismal.

FROGGER ADVANCE - THE GREAT QUEST: Yet another platformer, this one from Crash Bandicoot X/S developers Vicarious Visions. IGN says "a solid, generic platformer with nothing terrible about it...except for maybe how short and easy the game is." and gives it a decent 7.0. One to consider for platformer fans.

MEGAMAN ZERO: The first of two big Capcom games this week, Megaman Zero retruns the bluer bomber to his old school side scrolling-action roots after two (Very good) handheld RPG's. I'm nopt the one to ask about this, as I've never been a Megaman fan, so we will once again refer to IGN: "Outstanding 2D sidescroller, even with the Mega Man-esque gameplay limitations. There's lots of challenge here. It's hard but not overly so". They score it a very good 8.8.

SUPER GHOULS AND GHOSTS: Another resurrection of a Capcom classic, I've never played this but it's famous for being incredibly difficult and very addictive. Gamespot (Who I've found to be annoyingly inconsistent with scoring, hugely overating some games, and hugely underating others on a regular basis) says "Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts is a tight game that experiences a few technical difficulties along the way." and then scores it 7.4. doesn't sound too bad at all really.

THIS WEEK'S TOP 5: Disappointments

So many games have promised so much and delivered so little, let's take a look at the biggest failures:

1. Star X
2. Dark Arena
3. Speedball 2
4. Mortal Kombat Advance
5. Dragonball Z: Legend of Goku (Released here next week).