Probably the biggest thing to have happened in the world of the GBA since E3 has been the announcement that publishers THQ (the quantity over quality guys) will be bringing some of Microsoft's biggest franchises to the GBA. Well, I say biggest, yet only two games have been announced so far. Oddworld: Munch's Odyssey sounds the most promising of the two, the Oddworld series has had a dodgy life on handhelds so far (With two poor gameboy color conversions of the PSX games already released). But with the power of the GBA behind it, and without the necessity of being an exact port, this game has a chance to be great. Those who were disappointed with the 3D XBox outing could find satisfaction now that the series will (assumedly) go back to it's 2D roots.

Also coming to the GBA (Under the Microsoft/THQ agreement) will be Monster Truck Madness 2.0, not much left to the imagination with a title like that, it will probably be a middle-of-the-road racing title (Should keep all you Halo fans happy, eh?). No details have been revealed or developers named but Microsoft promises they will "introduce Game Boy Advance into the platform mix for our titles giving consumers another opportunity to experience our award-winning products and franchises". We expect further details and unintelligible PR babble in the coming months.

Other titbits of news include the fact that the Powerpuff Girls will be returning to the GBA after boring everyone last Christmas. Hopes are slightly higher this time though, with Maverick developers vicarious visions (Of Tony Hawk's 2/3 and Crash Bandicoot X/S fame). The game has been set a vague '2002' release date. And there have been some other note-worthy announcements in the last week too. Firstly, the highly regarded Sonic Advance will be getting a sequel, nothing has been seen of it yet, but Sega are expected to demo the game later this month along with their two Gamecube sonic titles. And for those of you who have been longing to be able to play MP3's on your GBA (I know I'm not one of them), you'll be excited to know that such a device is in development as we speak. Any other games coming our way that we didn't know about before? Well try Legends of Wrestling, Terminator 3, Dave Mirra XXX and Rocky. Here's hoping the next week yields an announcement for a totally ORIGINAL GBA title. But I doubt it.

THIS WEEK'S NEW RELEASES

The GBA has more games being released for it than any other system going, so which games will be vying for your money from this Friday?

First up is Next Generation Tennis from dodgy publishers Wanadoo. But despite evil Wanadoo's involvement, this isn't looking too bad really. Said to have plenty of different modes to keep you busy, it seems a viable option. The official Nintendo magazine scores it 8/10 and calls it "One of the best GBA tennis games available". It's four player too.

The second game out this Friday is called Pinball challenge deluxe. I have yet to uncover any information on this game. And websites that have heard of it don't even know who's publishing it or developing it. And, well, it's a pinball game so you draw your own conclusions. But with the promising Pinball of the Dead and the fun looking Muppets Pinball already doing big business in the US and out here soon, you should probably give this one a miss.

Thirdly comes Tiny Toons: Buster's Bad Dream. I don't know who's publishing or developing this either. But, unless it's the fabled Tiny Toons GBA game from Treasure (Which is unlikely) I imagine it will be a bog standard cartoon platformer, and the GBA has had enough of those. But pick up the box when you see it, and if the Treasure logo is on the back, buy it immediately.

Last of the lot is Top Gun from Titus and fluid studios. A single player flight simulation, it's not my type of thing, but for those of you who liked F14 Tomcat, it looks to be a solid but unspectacular flight sim.

THIS WEEK'S TOP 5: GBA PLATFORMERS

We've got our fair share of platformers on the GBA, but which are the best?
THESE are the best...

Klonoa
1. Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario world
2. Sonic Advance
3. Spyro: Season of Ice
4. Wario Land 4
5. Klonoa: Empire of Dreams

See you next week.