The Legend of Zelda is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-releases have been outsourced to Flagship, Vanpool, and Grezzo. The gameplay incorporates action-adventure and elements of action RPG games.
Metroid is an action-adventure game franchise created by Nintendo. The player controls the bounty hunter Samus Aran, who protects the galaxy from Space Pirates and other malevolent forces and their attempts to harness the power of the parasitic Metroid creatures.
Sonic Advance, known as SonicN on the N-Gage, is a 2001 platform game developed by Dimps and published by Sega for the Game Boy Advance. It was the first Sonic the Hedgehog game released on a Nintendo console with Sonic Adventure 2: Battle on the GameCube, and was produced in commemoration of the series' tenth anniversary. The story follows Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy as they journey to stop Doctor Eggman from taking over the world. Controlling a character, players are tasked with completing each level, defeating Eggman and his robot army, and collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds.
2005 saw the release of many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, Resident Evil 4, Black & White 2, Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30, Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, Mario Kart DS, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Myst V: End of Ages, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, alongside prominent new releases including Brain Age, F.E.A.R., Forza Motorsport, Dinosaur King, God of War, Guild Wars, Guitar Hero, Nintendogs, Onechanbara, Shadow of the Colossus, Madden NFL 06, NBA Live 06, NBA 2K6, WWE Smackdown! vs. Raw 2006, and Sniper Elite. The seventh generation of video game consoles also began with the launch of the Xbox 360, while the Nintendo DS launched in PAL regions.
Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire is a 2003 pinball game developed by Jupiter and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance handheld game console. It was first revealed at E3 2003. The North American release was done to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the North American release of Pokémon Red and Blue. It is based on Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, and is a sequel to Pokémon Pinball for the Game Boy Color. In some ways, it plays like a traditional pinball game, where the objective is to get a high score by keeping the ball in play as long as possible and hitting bumpers. In keeping with the theme of Pokémon, it features Pokémon collection, where while the players play pinball, they must also capture the eponymous creatures.
Pokémon is a series of video games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company under the Pokémon media franchise. It was created by Satoshi Tajiri with assistance from Ken Sugimori, the first games, Pocket Monsters Red and Green, were released in 1996 in Japan for the Game Boy, later released outside of Japan as Pokémon Red Version and Blue Version. The main series of role-playing video games (RPGs), referred as the "core series" by their developers, has continued on each generation of Nintendo's handhelds. The most recently released core series games, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, were released on November 18, 2022, for the Nintendo Switch.
Mario Pinball Land, known in Europe and Japan as Super Mario Ball, is a pinball video game developed by Fuse Games and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance, released in 2004. It is the ninth Mario game for the Game Boy Advance and is considered a spin-off into the Super Mario series of games. The game also got a re-release for the Wii U Virtual Console.
The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius: Attack of the Twonkies is a 2004 video game published by THQ. The game is based on the American animated series The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, but specifically the special 2-part hour-long episode of the same name. The game was developed by THQ Studio Australia for the GameCube and PlayStation 2. A Game Boy Advance version was developed by Tantalus.
Spider-Man: Mysterio's Menace is a 2001 action video game based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision for the Game Boy Advance. The game is a standalone sequel to Spider-Man (2000) and Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro (2001). It was released on September 18, 2001 in North America, and on April 26, 2002 in Japan. The game was later re-released on a Twin Pack cartridge bundled with X2: Wolverine's Revenge in 2005.
WayForward Technologies, Inc. is an American independent video game developer and publisher based in Valencia, California. Founded in March 1990 by technology entrepreneur Voldi Way, WayForward started by developing games for consoles such as the Super NES and Sega Genesis, as well as TV games and PC educational software. In 1997, they relaunched their video games arm, placing the company as a contractor for publishers and working on a variety of licensed assets.
Chronos Twins, known in the PAL region as Chronos Twin, is an action-adventure game developed by Spanish studio EnjoyUP Games, released in the PAL region in 2007. It was also released in North America on January 18, 2010 and in Europe on May 14, 2010 as a download for the Nintendo DSi system. The game puts a different perspective on time travel than most games. Instead of revisiting an area in two different times, both screens show the same setting during two eras as gamers explore the land with a present-day hero. Chronos Twins was originally planned for release for Game Boy Advance, but after the rise of the Nintendo DS, the game's development switched to that system. An enhanced version for the Wii console entitled Chronos Twins DX was released in North America as a WiiWare download one week prior to the Nintendo DSi release. It was later released in the PAL region for WiiWare on April 2, 2010.
Orbital Media Inc. was a video-game company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada that was founded in 2003. It developed games mainly for Nintendo handheld platforms. It became defunct in 2014.
Pitfall: The Lost Expedition is a pair of action-adventure video games, one for the Game Boy Advance, and the other for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Windows. It is the sixth installment of the Pitfall series. It was released by Activision on February 19, 2004 in North America, February 20, 2004 in Europe, and February 23, 2004 in Australia. The Windows version was released on October 11, 2004 in North America. The game was also released on October 7, 2008 on the Wii as Pitfall: The Big Adventure. Pitfall: The Big Adventure was released under the brand Fun4All in Europe. It was followed in 2012 by Pitfall! for mobile devices.
The Polar Express is an action-adventure platform game based on the film of the same name. It was developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Microsoft Windows. A version for the Game Boy Advance was developed by Tantalus Media. All versions of the game were published by THQ. It was released in North America on November 2, 2004 and in Europe on December 16, 2004.
Kirby is an action-platform video game series developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo. The series centers around the adventures of a pink round hero named Kirby as he fights to protect and save his home on the distant Planet Popstar from a variety of threats. The majority of the games in the series are side-scrolling platformers with puzzle-solving and beat 'em up elements. Kirby has the ability to inhale enemies and objects into his mouth, spitting them out as a projectile or eating them. If he inhales certain enemies, he can gain the powers or properties of that enemy manifesting as a new weapon or power-up called a Copy Ability. The series is intended to be easy to pick up and play even for people unfamiliar with action games, while at the same time offering additional challenge and depth for more experienced players to come back to.
Multiple video games based on the 2000 Nick Jr. television show Dora the Explorer have been released. Most of these games have received a mixed critical reception. Unlike other video games, these were not released in Asia, due to the TV show having less interest in that continent than North America and Europe. A number of other video games were released exclusively for the Nick Jr. website, such as Dora's 3D Driving Adventure, and Dora's 3D Pyramid Adventure.
Adventure Time: Finn & Jake Investigations is a 2015 action adventure video game developed by Vicious Cycle Software and published by Little Orbit. It was released on Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Windows, Xbox 360 and Xbox One in 2015. This is the fourth game based on the animated television series Adventure Time following The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom, and the first action-adventure title in the series presented in full 3D graphics. The game was first announced on April 21, 2015, and released on October 20, 2015, in North America, and on November 6 in Europe.
