Feature: Advance Weekly #37

Posted 24 May 2004 at 22:58 by guest

All the news and screens from E3

Written by Dennis

The usual amount of time has passed once more, and we've got a lot of GBA specific news to discuss. E3 alone was enough to fill up about 3 normal editions of Advance Weekly, but we've also got the pre-E3 madness and of course the 'normal' news.

Conor asked me not to discuss any Nintendo DS related stuff due to his recent E3-article covering most of it already, but I'll be naughty and show you a few things Conor missed out (or simply surfaced after he wrote his article). Without further ado, let's roll!

It all started in the week before E3. Tantalus, the developers behind Top Gear Rally, announced Trick Star. We already knew since ECTS 2003 that they were working on a new racer based on an upgraded version of the 3D engine used for Top Gear Rally, but now we got to see the final version at last. A fully 3D animated bike (including rider) while still remaining about 30 frames per second. 64 different courses, lighting effects, weather effects and multiplaying capabilities... Only a few of the facts Tantalus gave us (see the huge list below for all details).

Then the rumourmill started. Nintendo was said to finally show a new Legend of Zelda game, sub-titled 'The Minish Cap'. Almost two years ago, rumour was that Capcom was working on a new Zelda game. This time, Capcom's Flagship studios were mentioned as the developer of this title. It still sounded a little bit dodgy to me, I couldn't have been more wrong...

Nintendo of Europe acted as nothing unusual was about to happen and simply went on doing its work. They officially announced to release the Game Boy Advance SP "Classic NES Edition", along with eight original NES Classics for the Game Boy Advance on 9th July 2004 in Europe. The special edition SP will be sold for �90, the games themselves for �15 a piece.

Majesco joined the fun and announced two new pheripherals: the Wireless Link Adapter and the Wireless Messenger.

The Wireless Link, as it is called, will free you from tangled link cables to play multiplayer games with your friends. It simply plugs into the back of either a Game Boy Advance or Game Boy Advance SP and then looks for other Wireless Messenger units within range. No need for new methods, the adapter just uses the same port that would have been attached to the end of a Game Link cable.

Now I hear you think: what if there are other people within range, but I don't want to play with them? Majesco thought of the same problem and decided there can be 3 groups of people playing in the same area simultaneous but at different frequencies. By using a different frequency, the other groups won't get your signal and thus won't participate in your multiplaying game. Simple, yet effective.

Then there's the Wireless Messenger. This baby lets you chat in real time or exchange text messages right using your Game Boy Advance (SP). No need to worry about having to sit next to your the one you're chatting with: Majesco claims the messages will traverse distances up to 3 miles (that is, in an open area, in the city this range will be smaller)!

Using the Wireless Messenger is simple. Attach the Wireless Messenger, choose a friend from your list, select 'send a message' and then chat in real-time. Or, if your friend is offline, send them an email! Wireless Messenger uses free radio signals so it's totally free to use! No monthly charges! Ever.

One day before the real E3 madness started, Ubisoft put up the heat a little more. Splinter Cell 3 was apparently in the works for all platforms. No real information was given out just yet, guess they just wanted to keep us waiting. And so we do...

May, 11th... Today's the day Nintendo will hold their pre-E3 press conference. The crowd goes wild! No, not because of the conference, that one didn't even start yet... It was because of some photos GCAdvanced took while walking the E3 exhibition room. They took pictures of the GBA pods holding Gundam Seed Battle Assault, Mario Party Advance, Racing Gears Advanced The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap and DK: King of Swing. Looks like the new Zelda title was for real, but what is that new Donkey Kong title? Are we going to see a dancing monkey, or what? Pre-E3 madness, you gotta love it.

Hours of waiting, nerves, preparations for a live webcast were made, more nerves... Finally the Nintendo conference was about to start. WHAT will they have in store for us? Truely a Reggie-lution when Reginald Fils-Aime showed the Nintendo DS and the new 'realistic' Zelda game for the GameCube. However, the GBA had a fair share of the show aswell. DK: King of Swing is supposed to become a Kuru-Kuru Kururin-like game in which we'll try to swing our precious monkey through the jungle. While swinging you're supposed to do some puzzling aswell to open up doors, flip switches, avoid bolts (which will fall off if you swing them the wrong way), attack enemies, etc. It looks like a nice new game putting some fresh idea's into the Game Boy Advance.

Then it's time to see some rodent running. Ham-Ham Games will be like the olympics, but instead of athletes you'll have to settle with the critters from the popular Ham-Ham series. Hamtaro will show you synchronized swimming, diving, hammer throwing, jumping, sprinting, sailing, tennis, beach volleyball and a few more sports. The game looks a bit too cute if you'd ask me, let's hope they'll go for the fair-play award as well...

Next Nintendo game: Mario Party Advance. The game stays loyal to the previous N64 and GameCube versions of Mario Party: a boardgame, loads (60!) minigames, 'Gaddgets' and multiplaying fun. The game however focusses on single-player experience, so you can even play it without your friends...

Mario Pinball was next in line. Unlike typical pinball games, which employ a scrolling screen, all the worlds of this game are single-screen (using a 3-D isometric view). Colorfull and animated graphics, reminding you of Mario's adventures in Super Mario Sunshine. Not much to say about a pinball game actually, expect that this one will feature coins which allow you to buy different items like a destructive Thunderbolt (don't ask).

And then there it was. Undeniable proof of The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. Using the power of a mystical hat called The Minish Cap, Link will shrink down looking for some magical relics called Kinstones. These stones have been cracked into fragments and spread across the world, and by fusing them together can you solve puzzles and unlock secrets.

The story itself explains the shrinking-part a bit more: When Link discovers a magical hat called The Minish Cap, he gains the power to shrink down to the size of the Minish people, who are in grave danger. As he travels back and forth between their world and his, he'll solve puzzles, fight through dungeons and slowly uncover the evil behind their plight and vanquish it.

Movies of all the Nintendo games mentioned above can be found here. All assets on all the other games shown during E3 can be found in the list near the end of this article. This means information, screens and movies on Backyard Basketball, Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django, Catwoman, DK: King of Swing, Dragonball Z: Buu's Fury, Fairly Odd Parents Shadow Showdown, Gundam Seed: Battle Assault, Ham-Ham Games, Hot Wheels Stunt Track Challenge, I-Ninja, Jimmy Neutron: Attack of the Twonkies, Kill.Switch, Kim Possible 2: Drakken's Demise, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, LEGO Knights' Kingdom, Lilo & Stitch 2: Hamsterviel's Revenge, LOTR: The Third Age, Mario Party Advance , Mario Pinball, Megaman Anniversary Collection, Megaman Battle Network 4: Red Sun / Blue Moon, Megaman Zero 3, Metal Slug Advance, Nicktoons, Pokémon Fire Red / Leaf Green, SD Gundam Force, Shaman King: Master of Spirits, Spongebob Squarepants: The Movie, Super Star Tennis, Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus, That's So Raven, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, The Polar Express, The Urbz, Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King, Tokyo Xtreme Racer Advance, Tron 2.0 and Zoids: Legacy.

Even when E3 ended, it still wasn't all peace and quiet in the GBA scene. Developer Apex-Design and publisher DSI Games proudly announced that they had agreed on a publishing deal for Payback. Those who read the comments below the previous editions of Advance Weekly already know this game (thanks to Darkflame), but for those who never heard of this one before: Payback can be considered as a Grand Theft Auto clone. A gangster game with impressive 3D graphics. Complete missions set by the local crime lord or wreak havoc in the streets to gather points and reach the next level. Breaking the law will attract the attention of the police and rival criminals and will start chasing you. It's nice to see that a title with such great potential finally found a publisher. No specific release date has been set yet though.

Some worse news came from RARE. The developer spoke about two DS games in the works, but also pointed out the It's Mr. Pants was finished for a while now, but that publisher THQ was keeping the game 'on-hold' for a while.

Before I'll end with the promised (huge) list of game assets, I've got two more Nintendo DS matters to share with you. The first one came from Mezco Studios: Cerulean Dreams, which was supposed to become a GBA top-down flight shooter, has been moved to the Nintendo DS.

Cerulean Dreams is a flight shooter which combines the fast-paced action of traditional shooters with an immersive storyline, and RPG elements. Players will interact with other pilots and gain experience, levels, and new special attacks. As far as the developers could tell for now, all ships will be fully 3D modelled and shown on the top screen. The touch-sensitive bottom screen will hold all HUD information. These menu's can be scrolled through and accessed while the game is going, giving you more control over the game as you play. A first rough render (no textures added to the model yet) of one of the ships has been released already and can be found here.

The second DS topic I'd like to share is about Konami's Yu-Gi-Oh: Nightmare Troubadour. Nightmare Troubadour will follow the current Yu-Gi-Oh path, which means more card battles. Konami decided to display the game in two different ways: 1. The bottom screen (the touchscreen) will be used to display the table and card in a similar way as the current GBA Yu-Gi-Oh games: a top-view (bird perspective). Of course Konami also took advantage of the touch-sensitive element of this screen. Simply point to the card you want to use, or the deck if you want to draw.
2. The top screen will be used for displaying the table in a different perspective. This is where you want to watch if you're here for the graphics. The top screen shows a 3D version of the table; it will show 3D renders of the summons; it will show the battles. To see this whole idea in action, just watch the E3 trailer which Konami kindly put online.

So here it is, the promised list of game assets:

And that was everything for this edition. As usual: comments are welcome and can be send to advanceweekly at gba.n64europe.com, or simply drop a message at the boards.

Dennis Stam

(aka Blackbird on the boards)


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