THIS WEEK'S NEWS

Golden Sun 2 has been released! Well, in Japan anyway. For those of you who want to be able to play through it without any trouble (And I should imagine that's everyone), then there's a wait until early next year. Still, nice to know it's there. If anyone can speak Japanese, let me know how it is. What else has been going on? Well, not much I'm afraid. TDK Mediactive (Purveyors of filth such as Shrek: Swamp Kart Speedway and No Rules: Get Phat, as well as the not so bad Lady Sia) has announced the rights to publish games based on the upcoming Disney rides AND movies Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. Haunted Mansion will appear Halloween next year along with the movie, no date has been set for Pirates of the Caribbean. Not that you'd want it.

A new GBA is on the way! Well, to Japan (It seems most of my news items will start like this). As if those Japanese gamers weren't content with the numerous limited edition GBA models they've had thrown at them, Nintendo will be releasing a Pokemon emblazoned GBA for the upcoming Pokemon movie (I think this is the fourth one now). When I say 'Pokemon emblazoned' I mean 'There are two small pictures of Latias and Latios at the bottom. It does have one notable difference though. Although it keeps the normal purple colour for it's casing, all of the buttons are bright PINK. A hideous piece of work, and no mistake.

And in a quick round up of news: Pokemon Advance will be released this November in Japan, and there will be two different versions up for grabs, much like with both of the previous instalments. No US or Europe date has been announced. THQ will be bringing us another star wars GBA game! This one is a third person isometric adventure (Much like Jedi Power Battles) and is called Star wars Episode 2: The Droid Army. It's due in Q4 2002; I'm not optimistic about its quality. And a sequel to the popular Fire Pro Wrestling is being primed for release in Japan, BAM! will be releasing it in America this September. Since BAM! are based in the UK, I imagine a European release should come about not too long after.

THIS WEEK'S RELEASES

As I've said before, the GBA has a ridiculous amount of games being released for it. This week, however, there are only two.

Scooby Doo: The Motion Picture is based on the film that has been doing big business in America (And I saw a preview of it earlier this week, and quite pleasantly surprised. All go and see it!). It's from THQ and appears to be an isometric puzzle/adventure hybrid where you go around looking for clues and solving mysteries. I don't think it looks too bad myself but NGC Magazine scores it 44% and calls it 'A real old stinker'. I may still check it out anyway, I'll let you know what I think if I do.

The other option this week is Spirit: The Stallion of Cimarron from THQ once again (I'd say they had a pretty firm hold on the handheld software market). I couldn't find any info on this game. But it's based on the Dreamworks animation film starring horses and some sort of tribe. So I'm guessing a dull platformer with horses and some sort of tribe. Can you wait until Friday? That's the test!

THIS WEEK'S TOP 5: GBA racing games
If there's one area that the GBA seems to never stop improving in, it's this one. Let's take a look at the cream of the crop.

1. Mario Kart: Super Circuit
2. V-Rally 3
3. GT Advance 2
4. Krazy Racers
5. GT Advance

I'm off on holiday for two weeks now, but Conor should be looking after Advance Weekly until I get back.