While the GBA only sports four buttons in total, this clearly does not hinder the gameplay at all. You use the L and R triggers to execute flip and grab moves, while the B and A buttons are assigned for jumping and grinding respectively. Of course, you can always change this if you're uncomfortable with it, but I found that the layout was really intuitive and easy to use. What's surprising is how Vicarious Visions was able to cram the entire movelist into that little GBA cart; for those who thought they were going to miss their beloved Shove It 360s or their Benihanas, think again, as they're all faithfully recreated on the small screen, not to mention the classic gameplay that only Tony Hawk delivers. While the game isn't as crazy as its PS and Dreamcast brothers when it comes to combos and points, it can definitely hold its own. The absence of having two buttons to rotate your skater really hurts the game if you're trying to achieve a high score, but that's far from Vicarious Visions' fault, try blaming Nintendo for that oversight.

Like in earlier versions, you have several different gameplay modes available to you. The Career Mode is pretty standard, as you take your chosen skater through 7 different areas in a quest to rack up as much cash as humanly possible. Many of the goals in this version are identical to their 32-bit counterparts, such as executing an Ollie over 3 hydrants in New York, or collecting all 5 of such and such icon in many of the stages. Better yet, Vicarious also implemented some new goals to be accomplished in each stage, each with the purpose of attempting to improve the way you play the game. While Nosegrinding over a halfpipe may not be the hardest thing in the world for a lot of people, it's nice to know that someone is looking out for the newbies that'll most likely pick up the game. As far as hidden goodies go, there are plentiful and they're sure to keep you occupied for at least a couple of months. Two secret characters, a secret stage as well as other hidden modes when you finish the game with each skater make the game worth playing even after a hundred times.

Graphically, this is probably the best looking GBA game available right now, bar none. The animation is frighteningly similar to its bigger brothers, and most of the tracks have been faithfully created using simple 2D graphics, something I'd never thought would be possible. You know what's even scarier? All the characters are polygonal in order to mimic the PS/DC versions to a T when it comes to animation. The Gameboy Advance, a polygon pusher? You could've fooled me. Aurally, well, it would be foolish to think that the GBA could produce CD-quality soundtracks, but what we're given isn't too shabby either. The sound of the songs ranges from hard rock to chillin hiphop beats, something for everyone really. The sound effects seemed to be ripped straight from the original versions, with every grind, bail and special move accompanied by their classic tones.

Never to be one to rest on their laurels, Vicarious Visions have clearly put some extremely hard work into making THPS2 for the GBA the best it could possibly be. Barring any revisions of the GBA hardware on Nintendo's part, I'm hard pressed to find anything that could be improved on in this game, save for new courses and skaters of course. Throughout the years, Mario 64 made my jaw drop, so did Super Smash Brothers Melee at E3 2001, and now THPS2 has done the same as well. For being such a small game of the portable king, it's sure is in some legendary company now.

· · · Reno