Your weekly GBA (and DS) update

OK, here's the deal. I'll fill you in on the latest GBA news, and you guys won't start shouting it has been over a month now since the last edition of Advance Weekly... Has it really been that long? Yes, so let's get started, we've got a month of news to discuss!

Let's start with a brand new Fire Emblem. Nintendo of Japan has announced a brand new game from the Fire Emblem series: Fire Emblem: Shouma no Kouseki. Apart from a minisite and a scan from a Japanese magazine, not much info is known yet. However, the scan from the magazine does show a mention to the upcoming GameCube version of Fire Emblem, so there's a pretty big chance both games will show some interactivity through the well-known GBA-GC link-up option.

Another big title mentioned during the last few weeks was Halo Advance. Relax, get back on your chair... this is NOT gonna happen. It all started a few weeks ago when a Japanese website claimed that they had read about Halo Advance in an English magazine. Microsoft was supposed to be working on the game for quite a while now already and the game was nearly finished, but still a big secret for the public.

A few days later, Microsoft decided to join in on the fun and spoke about the Nintendo DS and the GameBoy Advance. Microsoft declared that RARE nor Microsoft itself were working on Nintendo DS projects but that they did have a few GBA games in store. Not a word about Halo, but several websites and magazines went ballistic. Then IGN decided to put up their mailbag. In the mailbag, the question was popped whether IGN knew anything about a game called Halo Advance. 'Craig' decided to answer the question with an answer like "I already know this for a very long time (along with other things), but I wasn't allowed to talk about it. Rest assured, Halo will come" (not literally a quote, just the main point made out).

On the very same day something even more fun happened: Bungie, the developers of the original Halo, spoke. On their official website, 'Frankie' posted:

No Handheld Halo Recent internet reporting has suggested that a Game Boy version of Halo is in the works. We can officially lay that rumor to rest. There is no Game Boy version of Halo planned, and none in production. It's very unlikely that such a version would ever happen for all the obvious reasons, and the less obvious reasons, that the ColecoVision talks fell apart and The Bandai Pippin version is taking up all our development bandwidth...

So there we have it: No-one ever officially announced the game, we've got some rumours, a bragging guy and some developers owning the intellectual property on Halo who killed all rumours with one simple post.

More big titles came along. Capcom Japan decided it was time to put the minisite for Rockman EXE 4.5 (the latest edition from the Megaman Battle Networks-series) online. Not much info is known yet but as far as I understand, the 4.5 edition will be more tactical-oriented than the usual Battle Network games. Visit the (Japanese) website to take a look at the game yourself, Just click the top banner there and you'll be fine...

But now for maybe the biggest title mentioned in this Advance Weekly: Pokémon Emerald. A few weeks ago, serebii.net claimed that the next edition of KoroKoro Magazine would be used by Nintendo to announce a new Pokémon game. Shortly after, other websites speculated that the game would be Pokémon Emerald. One week passes and we're back at Serebii. Somehow they had got their hands on a small scan showing the cover of a Japanese magazine (shown below).

So what do we see here? First of all, in the center of the scan we can see the logo of the (not yet officially) announced Pokémon game. A little bit to the right of the logo we can see Brendan and May (the main characters from Ruby/Sapphire) in their new wardrobe. We can also see Rayquaza (the big green dude in the center), a Pokémon which starred in the last 'new' Pokémon games: Ruby and Sapphire.

So, there we have it:

1. 'Emerald', a name which looks like the follow-up of Ruby and Sapphire
2. Brendan and May, the stars from... Ruby and Sapphire
3. Rayquaza, one of the bigger critters from... Ruby and Sapphire

Is this reason enough to believe that Pokémon Emerald will be the Pokémon Yellow (or Crystal) of the latest series? I think so, but we'll know for sure within a week when the new KoroKoro Magazine will show the first images and official information on the game.

More news from Japan came from Nintendo, this time news that has actually been confirmed. Remember the Classic NES series? Well, in Japan they're busy releasing the third batch of games in their localized Famicom Mini series. A few days ago, Nintendo announced the batch, confirmed which games would be in it and showed the first screenshots.

So if you're eager to know which classic games this involves, here's a list for you:

1. Super Mario Bros. 2 (The Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 that is, also known as The Lost Levels)
2. Nazo no Murasame (I don't have a clue what this is)
3. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (No explanation needed, I think?)
4. Metroid (The original Metroid which was also one of the unlockable secrets in Metroid Fusion)
5. Palthena's Mirror (Kid Icarus)
6. Shin Onigashima (Again: I ain't got a clue)
7. Famicom Tantei Kurabu - Kieta Koukeisha (A detective game, or so I've been told)
8. Famicom Tantei Kurabu Part II - Ushiro ni Tatsu Shoujo (part two of the above)
9. Akumajou Dracula (The Castlevania it all began with)
10. SD Gundam World - Gachapon Senshi (SD Gundam World - Scramble Wars)

If you want to see all screenshots of these games, please click this link. If you're more interested in seeing the boxarts, screens and Japanese characters for each game, visit Nintendo of Japan's page

Ok, I know it wasn't that much for a whole month, but after E3 and with the summer holidays in sight, most publishers and developers keep themselves quiet. I do however have the usual short list with links to game-info, screens, scans and movies,

so here goes:

• Around the World in 80 Days (screens)
• Barbie as The Princess and the pauper (info)
• Final Fantasy I & II Advance (scans)
• Fire Emblem: Shouma no Kouseki (scans)
• Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Games (movie)
• Lego Knights' Kingdom (screens)
• Mario Pinball Land (screens)
• Nicktoons Freeze Frame Frenzy (info)
• The Urbz (screens)

And that was everything for this edition. Comments are welcome and can be send to [email protected], or simply drop a message at the boards. Maybe till next week!

Dennis Stam
(aka Blackbird on the boards)