Game of the Month: December 2005

As much as we'd like it, we know that everyone on the planet can't show up on IGN's Game Boy channel on a daily basis. So for those people that can't get here regularly, we certainly sympathize when you're suddenly assaulted on all sides by a massive flood of games during the interim between the last time you showed up here. It makes it difficult to tell just what's the cream of the crop, especially when you're trying to budget for that one or two titles every month. Game Boy Advance games aren't expensive...and too many games can just take up way too much room in one's pocket.

We're here to help. At the end of every month, we'll offer our choice for the Game of the Month for the Game Boy Advance system. Sure, you can certainly look through our review scores and read up on all the great games released on the system, but like many readers, maybe you're curious which one we'd choose over the other...even if one received a higher score. We've received hundreds upon hundreds of emails asking questions like, "If you only had the money for one game, which one would it be?" This is our way of answering this question.

After we've finished evaluating every game to come down the pipeline, we put our heads together and decide on a single "best of" winner that's worthy of the title "IGN Game of the Month". Pretty simple, don't you think? Now that we have the guidelines out of the way, let's move on and congratulate this month's winner...

Why We Picked It: Not an easy decision, Mario Tennis Power Tour just barely takes this one home over Final Fantasy IV. In the end it was the explosive presentation and addictive gameplay that kept up coming back for more. Mario Tennis manages to keep our attention to the GBA shelves for one more month, and though the amount of quality GBA titles may be diminishing December was still a great time to be a pocket gamer. Camelot manages to be nothing but gold thus far, and Power Tour is no different, delivering a performance that beats out even the greatest RPG series of all time. Kudos Nintendo, GBA lives on.

Reader's Game of the Month: Final Fantasy IV Advanced

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Square

Release Date: December 12, 2005

Reader Review quote: This was the first game I had ever played where I truly cared about the characters. That I felt I knew them and that they were my friends. The story is amazing and I think it is better than many modern ... br>

Read the full review

-- submitted by pipe_it

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