The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is the fourth handheld Zelda game and the only one set in Hyrule. Like the twin Game Boy Color games, Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages , Nintendo outsourced this game's design to Capcom. As with those Oracle games, Capcom nailed it. The central gimmick of Minish Cap is that a magical hat can temporarily shrink Link to a miniscule size. Dotted throughout Hyrule are strange portals at which Link can change size by pressing R. While tiny, Link converses with little people called Minish or Picori, whom only children can see. He can't cross any kind of obstacle, such as roads, raised floors, grass, or shallow water. As a result, shrinking is always limited to a small area; once Link has accomplished whatever he needed to do, he must enlarge himself. Little doors and passages enable puzzles, such as going through a little door to bypass a shut, full-size door, then pressing a button to unlock that door. The Minish Cap is heavy on puzzles (simi...

F-Zero: GP Legend was added to Switch Online + Expansion Pack this fall, not quite in time for its 20th anniversary. It's the sequel to F-Zero Maximum Velocity , which was essentially a sequel to the original F-Zero . Both Maximum Velocity and GP Legend recreate the 16-bit graphics of the SNES original for the handheld Game Boy Advance. The GBA was a gold mine of a system for fans of the SNES. As in all F-Zero games, you first choose your hovercraft, then engage in single-player racing against computer-controlled racers going at breakneck speeds. At first, you'll probably find yourself bouncing off walls, losing energy, and then exploding, forcing you to restart the race. You get four extra lives before it's Game Over. To avoid this, you don't want to go around the game's many sharp turns at full speed. You should instead tap the gas (A button) rapidly to hit the sweet spot between going too fast or too slow. That was a surprise to me, and I wonder if I should try r...

When I bought a Game Boy Advance at launch, I was stoked to play Super Mario Advance, because  Super Mario Bros. 2  was one of my favorite childhood games. Super Mario Advance is a sort-of sequel to Super Mario Bros. Deluxe . That game had brought the original Super Mario Bros. to the Game Boy Color with some bells and whistles; Super Mario Advance did the same for SMB2. It also includes an updated version of the original Mario Bros .! Super Mario Bros. 2 was already remade for the Super Nintendo as part of the  Super Mario Bros. All-Stars  four-in-one cartridge. That version serves as the foundation for Super Mario Advance, but numerous further improvements have been made. For example, characters no longer begin stages in their Super form with two hearts; they begin small. This and other changes were made to bring the game more in line with its Super Mario Bros. brethren. In addition, you can now change characters whenever you die. This makes the game easier as you...

Twenty years ago today Metroid: Zero Mission reinvented the original Metroid for a new generation. Improving upon the original by leaps and bounds, it's not so much a remaster as an entirely new game.  Metroid literally defined the "Metroidvania" genre, so you know what you're getting here. The protagonist, Samus Aran, clad in her armored, yellow Power Suit, explores a claustrophobic planet. She shoots alien monsters (like the iconic Rippers and Zoomers) with her arm cannon and, collecting upgrades and new laser beams along the way. These weapons and abilities allow her to access new areas. For example, bombs destroy certain blocks and floors. Missiles open locked red doors. She must locate and defeat the bosses of the nefarious Space Pirates: the monstrous Ridley and Kraid. Doing so unlocks the final area, where flying jellyfish called Metroids try to latch onto her and drain her life. At the end, she must defeat the Mother Brain living computer, then return to her ...

Today is the 20th anniversary of the first WarioWare game: WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$. It contains a huge variety of extremely short games played at increasingly breakneck speeds. This game worked for me for two reasons: I like high-score chasing and old NES games, and this has both. In a way it's the predecessor of NES Remix . WarioWare, Inc. contains a huge number of minigames, served up at random and in very rapid succession. At first, each game lasts about five seconds, but the speed ramps up quickly. Most of the games are reflex-based. The instruction for each game is a simple imperative: pick! Eat! Dodge! Squash! Jump! Often you just have to press the A button at the right time; other times you have to press it a certain number of times before time runs out. For example, keep tapping A to eat a fruit; stop the cursor at the right moment; press A immediately after a stimulus, such as a cat closing its eyes. Some use the d-pad rather than the A button, and a few use both....

The Game Boy Advance received a trilogy of Castlevania games, beginning with Castlevania: Circle of the Moon in 2001. It was a launch title for the handheld console. It was influenced by the non-linear exploration-adventure design of the PlayStation game, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Previously I had only played the NES and SNES Castlevania games. With Circle of the Moon I was struck by how the map and non-linear design reminded me of Super Metroid . As the main character, Nathan Graves, explores Dracula's castle, he acquires relics that grant him abilities. These abilities allow him to enter previously inaccessible parts of the castle. For example, a necklace allows him to double-jump, winged boots empower him to wall-jump, and the wing of a roc lets him fly. All the parts of the castle are interconnected as a single map, rather than different areas connected by stairs, elevators, or portals. Different sections are identifiable by changing backgrounds and music. The game ev...

Mario Kart Super Circuit takes elements from Mario Kart 64 and combines them with the 2D racing of the original Super Mario Kart . The result is a great handheld version of Nintendo's best-selling racing-combat franchise! Mario Kart games are intuitive and require little explanation. If you've played any Mario Kart game, you know how to play all of them. But for the uninitiated, let me explain: you race a go-kart against seven other racers. You select one of three speeds at which to compete: 50 CC, 100 CC, or 150 CC. The A button accelerates and the B button brakes. The latter is rarely done, though a well timed tap of the brakes can prevent you from spinning out after hitting an obstacle such as a banana peel. The R button lets your kart do a tiny hop, though this also isn't often needed. Tracks are littered with yellow coins. The more you collect, the faster your top speed becomes (and unlike in other Mario Kart games, it's not capped at ten). If you have no coins, b...

Metroid Fusion is a great sequel to a beloved classic, and after twenty years it now can justly be called a classic in its own right! After eight years, a sequel to Super Metroid , one of the greatest video games of all time, was worth the wait. Unlike previous Metroid games, Metroid Fusion contains many cutscenes and messages (and even some inner thoughts of Samus) that spell out a detailed plot. Samus Aran has returned to the Metroid homeworld, SR-388 (where Metroid II: Return of Samus took place). There she is attacked by a dangerous parasite, dubbed X, which damages her cybernetic Power Suit. Her life is saved thanks to a vaccine made from the baby Metroid (also from II). But then a mysterious explosion rocks the space station, and Samus must investigate... The X parasites are the game's central villain. They can mimic any living being they come in contact with. The space station is like a menagerie, but the X parasites run amok and begin duplicating everything. Because of the...