GBAtemp game of the week- #29

[FAST6191]

GBAtemp book game club is back once again and with it we are delving back into some of the hidden gems on the GBA. Before that though the quick summary of the series concepts. In each edition a game is suggested by us and those that wish can play it or recall a past playthrough before discussing it among the others in the thread. Top ? games lists get somewhat boring and predictable very quickly so alongside the top flight games we also suggest the odd game with an interesting mechanic, a great score, a game that attempts a new genre either on the platform or in general, a game of note within the industry or something else along these lines. Usually the games come from one of the systems we traditionally covered around here but the suggestions come from any of the commercial releases, rom hacks, homebrew and other sources for these consoles. There are the occasional themed edition where some additional criteria such as budget releases (then or now), not released in certain regions, only available in a small run, release timeframe in terms of the console lifetime or the successor....) or special features for the edition (compare and contrast, first ? levels/minutes....).

#29- Car Battler Joe (GBA)

Released early on in the GBA lifetime this game comes to us from Ancient who are best known for RPG series The Story of Thor/Oasis series on older sega consoles and anime/manga spinoff games. This takes it back to the RPG side of things and more specifically to the simRPG side of things (think harvest moon) and those wanting a proper Zoids games should look at this as well.
The mode 7 like graphics date the game somewhat and it takes a while to warm up (as most RPGs and doubly so simRPGs do) but the underlying mechanics are so rarely explored that we hold it would be a contender for this series even if it were nearly unplayable (which is it not- you could be forgiven for calling the RPG elements somewhat basic by the standards of today but not bad).

Gameplay (some lets plays and more are available as well)

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A hidden gem of the GBA or another potential case of rose tinted glasses on our part?

ongoing discussion

gbagotw should get you other links in this series

 

[Bloodspoiler]

I had so much fun with this game. Unbelievably cool. Customization is great in this game. It's been a long time since I played this, so I will start picking it up this week.

 

[Vampire Lied]

Never heard of this.
From the boxart, it's definitely something I would've skipped over even if I had seen it in stores.
Just might give it a try now that I see it had some good reviews.

 

[MarkDarkness]

I used to love this game as a teenager, but something stopped working in it for me along the way, because when I replayed it last year, I found it "okay".

Still, a must-play, to at least feel what it's like. Pretty unique.