My elementary school used to throw what they called "roller skating parties" where everyone at school was invited to attend the roller skating rink to mingle and have fun. And so off I'd go to these parties and would skate, even if it meant falling down every 5 seconds. Up to this point, my primary video game experience had included Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, among others. But then one day, the roller skating rink plugged in an arcade cabinet with the words "Double Dragon" on the side. This was another defining video game moment in my life.

Up to that point, I had never seen anything quite like Double Dragon in the arcades or anywhere else for that matter and so I was totally blown away by the game itself. The graphics were outstanding and the beat 'em up game play was like a breath of fresh air. I could hardly contain my excitement as I pounded thugs into the ground with my fists and baseball bats. The game was so unbelievably popular that long lines would form with kids just waiting to plunk their quarters into the machine.

This all meant the end of my roller skating career. Oh I definitely attended these roller skating parties alright, but I had no intentions whatsoever of roller skating. There was only one thing on my young mind; bring with me a whole bunch of quarters and take my place in the Double Dragon line.

Now enter the new millennium. The moment I first heard about Double Dragon Advance, I already made up my mind I was buying it. Up to this point, nobody had accurately produced a good rendition of the arcade classic, mainly due to the limitations of home consoles at the height of Double Dragon's popularity in the arcades. And so, upon viewing the first leaked screenshots of the game I was excited. Once the release date rolled around, I got my mitts on Double Dragon Advance, and it definitely brought back memories.

The story to Double Dragon really isn't all that important. All you really need to know is that some thugs captured your girlfriend, and your mission is to pound the face in of every single one until you get your girl back. In fact, Double Dragon really needs no story whatsoever to be enjoyed, but developers like to throw in things called "plots" to video games to add to the flavor and give a purpose to all the mayhem.

What is truly amazing is that Double Dragon Advance stays true to the arcade and reproduces the graphics very accurately on the Gameboy Advance. It's like a whole arcade cabinet that can fit in your pocket. There's something truly striking about the Gameboy Advance accurately rendering an arcade title. Remarkably, the graphics to the arcade version of Double Dragon hold up pretty well even in this day and age. Game developers tend to forget that we don't need 3D to have fun, which is unfortunate. At least we have things like Gameboy Advance to allow us to still continue to enjoy the bliss of 2D entertainment.

The sound is appropriate, but quite frankly, you'd have to go out of your way to ruin the sound for a game like Double Dragon. All the appropriate painful groans and grunts, as well as the smacking of your fists against faces are reproduced on the Gameboy Advance. The music is forgettable, but you're too busy playing the game to even care about the music. Sound isn't what Double Dragon is all about folks; it's all about the good, rock-solid beat 'em up action -- and it definitely delivers the goods.

Your arsenal, besides your fists and feet, consist of the ever popular baseball bat, as well as barrels, knives, and whatever else you can use to pummel your foes.

Double Dragon Advance mixes the old with the new. There are still the levels you know and love only they have been touched up and redone slightly to add new flavor and twists to hardcore fans such as myself. Even new baddies like the "agent" Matrix-style baddies add to the overall enjoyment to the game. In fact, they even went so far as to add whole new stages to the game that had never been in the arcade version. Now, you might think that Double Dragon purists would frown upon this, but let me tell you, it just adds to the enjoyment of the game. All the new levels and enemies fit right in with the arcade classic and do not detract from the experience at all. Also, it is worth mentioning that it seems they took advantage of the GBA's ability to display more sprites; therefore, you have more baddies that can appear on the screen at the same time, adding to the chaos.

The controls are tight and you can pull off your moves with ease. All your favorite moves are there ready for you to execute with style. Everything from the popular knee-butt to the head to the powerful elbow-punch is reproduced to give you an authentic Double Dragon experience.

The difficulty is pretty much dead on, although it would have been nice to have the option of more continues so you could play through the entire game without dying mid way through. Playing through the arcade Double Dragon with a single quarter was impossible, because that's the nature of the beast when it comes to coin-ops, and this carries over into Double Dragon Advance. So while the game is by no means too easy, the odds of you making it to the end and beating the game are reduced by limited continues. But quite frankly this doesn't bother me as I could play from the beginning over and over without a problem, as the action is essentially the same regardless of what level you're currently on. Maybe I have just not played it enough times through, but I have yet to beat Double Dragon Advance, but as I said, I'm still in gamer's bliss whenever I plug this game into my GBA.

If you didn't grow up with Double Dragon, or aren't a fan of beat 'em ups in general, then your mileage may vary with the game. But if there was ever a game to convert the masses, Double Dragon Advance would be it. It delivers what the hardcore fans of the series have always wanted, only in a pint sized edition that is for all intents and purposes arcade perfect along with the new material. It truly is an amazing experience playing an arcade port on your GBA and just goes to show you how far we have come technologically in terms of video game entertainment. Kudos to Atlus for having the foresight to bring this title to the light of day. I for one am thoroughly pleased with the product and feel that it is a great addition to my GBA library.