Guilty Gear X Advance Edition

"An overrated case of "Good game, disappointing port"."

Let it be well known that I generally liked the GG games I've played so far. I highly enjoyed Guilty Gear X and I LOVED Guilty Gear X2: Midnight Carnival for the arcade. I knew that this title wasn't going to be exactly like the arcade game due to how limited the GBA can be but THIS is getting ridiculous on how it went...

But first things first the positive, all the characers from the original GGX are here and still cool. Despite all things from this disappointment of a game they are still nicely stylish to me. It has plenty of common but varied gameplay features and unlocking Dizzy and Testament is very easy. However the ONLY thing that this thing has over its arcade counterparts is the winquotes are not only ACTUALLY in English this time BUT are well-written and generally better written then most of anything that Capcom and SNK has done. (Though its also kinda sad on how winquotes and the like are for the most parta highlight in this.) And unlike the other console versions this has a very nice and low price tag. (And even though there are better ways to spend your 12 bucks at the game store there are at least still worse things you can do with it.)

However what could've been a decent port is seriously hampered by bad porting. Like I said before I knew that the game's graphics were going to be weaker since the GBA's capabilities aren't as good as the Arcade. But this sadly went even weaker than I expected. And while its arcade counterpart didn't exactly have the best in gameplay I will admit but its even weaker here. The botched-up use of music and awful sound effects certainly didn't help either. Overall while it says that its a port made for the GBA one can almost wonder if it was really for the Game Boy Color. (Then again I would've slightly increased my rating score a bit if THAT was the case.) Maybe I'm not a big enough fan of the GG series but this still disappoints me nevertheless.

Overall its one of the most disappointing fighting games I've played in a while. It maybe a first for the GG on the GBA but it wasn't a very good first try. However its far from being one of the worst games I've played. (Such as Actraiser 2 and the like *shudders*.) But they could've done a MUCH better job. I do however hope that Sammy does a MUCH better job on porting Guilty Gear XX: Midnight Carnival on the GBA. (Or better yet on Nintendo's next portable.)

Have I been too harsh on this game? Have I set my standards too high? Maybe so, but this is still overall a below average disappointment of a game that while it may have a low price tag it still might feel a bit too much...

+ All the characters are still in it and are still cool...
+ Unlocking Dizzy and Testament is suprisingly easy
+ It has plenty of features in this game
+ All the winquotes are in English and suprisingly well-written
+ It has a VERY cheap price tag on it.
- The graphics, gameplay are music are EXTREMELY condensed and poorly so...
- Only the really more forgiving fans of the GG series will go for this.
- Despite the low price its really only recomended if there isn't anything better to buy with similar prices.
- There are MUCH better Guilty Gear games out there...

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 12/24/03, Updated 02/02/04