best original action title on GBA

User Rating: 9.9 | Metal Slug Advance GBA
some may feel that the game is too short with only five levels, but there's more under the surface. there are a hundred prisoners and a hundred cards - most of which enhance gameplay. some cards effect the character stats, others effect the strength of your weapons and the ammount of ammunition picked up, and there's ones that allow you to transform your metal slug into all of the forms seen throughout the series. metal slug is one of those series that you can just pick up and play and still enjoy it like the first - just not five, i hate that game. for the power of the gameboy, it's surprising that there is practically no slow down unless the action is overwhelming the screen. generally that's the thing everyone knows about metal slug with the insane action, and it holds up to the other titles fairly well. sound in this game is also great. there's only one single thing that could have made this game better; character cards having function. you collect cards that have pictures of individual characters and it would have been great if you could play as the characters. the entire time i played this game i wished i could play as marco or tarma. if you find this game and you enjoy a challenge, you really should pick up this game - but with the collection of cards the game eventually gets easier. a simple run and shoot has never had as much depth as this game, and who knows if there ever will be. this and the original castlevania are all i need for my gameboy.