GT Advance Championship Racing

Short description: 2001 video game

GT Advance Championship Racing

North American packaging artwork

Developer(s)| MTO
Publisher(s)|

* JP: MTO
* WW: THQ

Designer(s)| Hiroshi Kitayama[1]
Series| GT
Platform(s)| Game Boy Advance
Release|

* JP: March 21, 2001[2]
* NA: June 11, 2001
* EU: June 22, 2001

Genre(s)| Racing
Mode(s)| Single player, multiplayer

GT Advance Championship Racing, known in Japan as Advance GTA (アドバンスGTA, Adobansu GTA),[1] is a racing game developed by MTO and published by THQ. It was a launch title for the Game Boy Advance.[3][4] The game's sequel, GT Advance 2, was released on June 30, 2002 in North America.

GT Advance features forty-five Japanese cars and places the player in races on thirty-two tracks.[5] Due to positive reaction to the game in Japan, THQ purchased publishing rights for the North American and European releases to the game after a reported bidding war,[6] and added in a controversial password save system into the game to cut costs.[7]

The game was received with mostly positive reviews from critics that praised the game for its fun gameplay,[8] but THQ was criticized by most reviewers for adding passwords to the game when the Japanese version had battery-backed saves.[7][9]

## Contents

* 1 Gameplay
* 1.1 Graphics
* 1.2 Save system
* 2 Development
* 3 Reception
* 4 Notes
* 5 References
* 6 External links

## Gameplay

GT Advance Championship Racing is a customizable experience, including 48 cars from 8 car manufacturers, and 32 courses.[5][7] Some of the cars featured in the game are exclusively found in Asia, such as the first-generation Nissan Cube.[5] The courses vary between paved and dirt roads, requiring the player to adapt their driving to meet the conditions of the course they're driving on.[5]

The game's championship mode features four levels of play, three cups of varying levels, and an unlockable "kart racing mode".[7] Upgrades earned through gameplay can be added to the player's car,[5] and in some cases, they can change the physical appearance of the vehicle.[7] The game contains multiplayer support, allowing two people to play against each other using a Game Link Cable.

Controls are simple, with the A and B buttons controlling the player's gas and brakes respectively. The R and L buttons shift the car up or down a gear in manual control, and the D-Pad controls the car's steering.[7] The game requires the player to master the powerslide technique to skid around corners and to reduce their lap time.[5]

### Graphics

A car powerslides through a turn.

The roads in the game are painted on a flat plane, which allows the game to progress at a smooth rate, but makes it harder for the player to see upcoming turns in the road. The problem can be remedied by playing through a track multiple times to gain familiarity with the turns in a course.[7] The cars are rendered through sprite frames, giving the impression of 3D graphics in the game.[7]

### Save system

The Japanese version of the game, Advance GTA, had save support. However, THQ pulled the battery RAM out of the North American and European releases of the game, and utilized passwords to save data instead.[1][5][7] The system forces players of the North American and European releases to enter a sixteen digit code consisting of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols into the game to retrieve their data.[7] Many critics blamed THQ for what was perceived to be a cost-cutting measure.[5][7][9] It was the only major change from the Japanese version of the game.[1]

## Development

MTO began development on GT Advance Championship Racing about a year before the release of the game in Japan.[1] The game was first announced in August 2000, under the name of Pocket GT Advance.[10] With the exception of a new password save system, tweaking was kept to a minimum for the North American version of the game.[1] The choice was made in the Japanese version to use mostly English in the game[6] so it would be playable outside Japan.[1]

The Japanese version of the game, Advance GTA, was praised by critics and the anticipation for the North American and European releases of the game grew.[11][12][13] A reported bidding war between United States publishing companies to release the game in the US began after the positive feedback from the Japanese version.[6] THQ later gained the publishing rights for the game's North American and European releases.[3][4][12]

## Reception

Reception

| Aggregate score

Aggregator| Score
Metacritic| 82 of 100[8]
Review scores
Publication| Score
Edge| 6 of 10[14]
EGM| 8.83 of 10[15][lower-alpha 1]
Eurogamer| 7 of 10[9]
Famitsu| 26 of 40[16]
Game Informer| 6 of 10[17]
GamePro| [18]
GameSpot| 7.3 of 10[7]
GameSpy| 84%[19]
IGN| 8 of 10[5]
Next Generation| [20]
Nintendo Power| [21]

GT Advance Championship Racing received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[8] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 26 out of 40.[16]

Critics garnered praise for its overall gameplay, but the inclusion of a password save system by THQ into the North American and European releases was heavily criticized. IGN's Craig Harris praised the high quality graphics engine and the entertaining powerslide system, but panned the password system.[5] GameSpot called GT Advance as robust and graphically impressive racing game. Despite praising the gameplay, GameSpot recommended that players buy a Japanese import version of the game instead, since it was in English and included a battery save feature.[7] Eurogamer wrote that even though GT Advance was hampered by passwords, it recommended the game for fans of racing genre.[9] NextGen praised the selection of cars and tracks, and called the graphics and sound as "passable", but was critical that some tracks are short and that the game has issue with collision physics.[20]

Responding to criticisms of the password save system, THQ later re-instated the battery save feature into the two sequels of the game, GT Advance 2: Rally Racing, and GT Advance 3.[22][23]

## Notes

1. ↑ In Electronic Gaming Monthly's review of the game, two critics gave it each a score of 9/10, and the other gave it 8.5/10.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Harris, Craig (May 11, 2001). "Interview with MTO". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/05/11/interview-with-mto.
2. ↑ "アドバンスGTA" (in Japanese). https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/software/ag7j/index.html.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Harris, Craig (April 10, 2001). "THQ Grabs Advance GTA". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/04/10/thq-grabs-advance-gta.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Shahed, Ahmed (April 11, 2001). "GT Advance confirmed for the North American GBA". Red Ventures. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gt-advance-confirmed-for-the-north-american-gba/1100-2707140/.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 Harris, Craig (June 14, 2001). "GT Advance Championship Racing". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/06/14/gt-advance-championship-racing.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Harris, Craig (March 30, 2001). "First Impressions: Advance GTA". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/03/31/first-impressions-advance-gta.
7. ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 Ajami, Amer (June 7, 2001). "GT Advance Championship Racing Review". Red Ventures. https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/gt-advance-championship-racing-review/1900-2770808/.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "GT Advance Championship Racing for Game Boy Advance Reviews". Red Venures. https://www.metacritic.com/game/gt-advance-championship-racing/critic-reviews/?platform=game-boy-advance.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Bramwell, Tom (June 12, 2001). "GT Advance Championship Racing". Gamer Network. https://www.eurogamer.net/r-gtadvance-gba.
10. ↑ Sato, Yukiyoshi Ike (August 18, 2000). "Pocket GT for GBA announced". Red Ventures. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/pocket-gt-for-gba-announced/1100-2617380/.
11. ↑ Harris, Craig (April 11, 2001). "GT Advance Championship Racing (Preview)". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/04/11/gt-advance-championship-racing-2.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Delbart, John (April 11, 2001). "GT Advance announced". http://www.gamershell.com/news/788.html.
13. ↑ Gerstmann, Jeff (March 22, 2001). "Advance GTA Hands-On". Red Ventures. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/advance-gta-hands-on/1100-2700394/.
14. ↑ Edge staff (June 2001). "Advance GTA". Edge (Future Publishing) (98): 79. https://retrocdn.net/images/e/e9/Edge_UK_098.pdf. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
15. ↑ Sewart, Greg; Hager, Dean; Chou, Che (July 2001). "GT Advance Championship Racing". Electronic Gaming Monthly (Ziff Davis) (144): 94. https://retrocdn.net/images/e/ea/EGM_US_144.pdf. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "アドバンスGTA [GBA"] (in ja). Famitsu (Enterbrain). https://www.famitsu.com/cominy/?m=pc&a=page_h_title&title_id=12220&redirect=no. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
17. ↑ "GT Advance Championship Racing". Game Informer (FuncoLand) (99). July 2001.
18. ↑ Bro Buzz (June 12, 2001). "GT Advance: Championship Racing for Game Boy Advance on GamePro.com". GamePro (IDG Entertainment). http://www.gamepro.com/nintendo/gameboy_advance/games/reviews/14523.shtml. Retrieved February 13, 2008.
19. ↑ Hiscock, Josh (June 14, 2001). "Gt Advance Championship Racing Review". IGN Entertainment. http://www.sportplanet.com/features/reviews/gtadvance/.
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "GT Advance Championship Racing". NextGen (Imagine Media) (79): 64. July 2001. https://archive.org/details/NextGen79Jul2001/page/n65/mode/2up. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
21. ↑ "GT Advance Championship Racing". Nintendo Power (Nintendo of America) 146. July 2001.
22. ↑ Harris, Craig (June 18, 2002). "GT Advance 2 Races to Shelves". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2002/06/18/gt-advance-2-races-to-shelves.
23. ↑ Harris, Craig (November 26, 2002). "GT Advance 3 (Preview)". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2002/11/26/gt-advance-3.

## External links

* GT Advance Championship Racing at MobyGames

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