Been playing a lot of this beautiful title on my GBA SP.
Its pure old school 2D gaming goodness with stunning visuals:, it feels so uber-Japanese and anime-like-- totally soaked in rich manga environment. Most of the text is in Japanese but its a doddle to get the game going; you first start off with a very very small training sequence that lets you get accustomed to Astro Boy's different attacks ( L = mini gun that appears from the rear and proceeds to swivel 360 degrees, firing rounds in every direction, R = a huge laser that fires out of a Astro's shoulder, up+B = less powerful laser from the index finger, down+B = kick, B = punches (press repeatedly for PPK combo), A = jump, AA = jump then gain further height with booster jets). Once you've gotten through that, you're into the game proper.
Most stages are one big brawl going from left to right, in a huge fight with all manner of qute and quirky enemies. You rack up huge combos by beating the living daylights out of them using all the moves available to you. This is one of the game's most successful features; not only is it satisfying to knock the living daylights out of everything on-screen but its cool to watch enemies go flying into one another like skittles and bouncing off the edges of the screen.
Occasionally the game shifts into horizontally scrolling shoot em up mode. Since you're given a life-bar, its not as difficult as a true shmup but coming from veterans Treasure there are some tricky bullet patterns to negotiate. These sections are more than simply token extras, they feel in key with the rest of the game and are aguably as difficult as the other parts.
Boss encounters are straight out of an anime; the dimunitive Astro Boy frantically dashes about the screen avoiding huge blasts from armoured trains, screen-hogging mechs etc.
Treasure have done it again. This time there are no gimmicks or catches, this is plain old 2D action. It looks like a comic book and plays like a dream,
Its pure old school 2D gaming goodness with stunning visuals:, it feels so uber-Japanese and anime-like-- totally soaked in rich manga environment. Most of the text is in Japanese but its a doddle to get the game going; you first start off with a very very small training sequence that lets you get accustomed to Astro Boy's different attacks ( L = mini gun that appears from the rear and proceeds to swivel 360 degrees, firing rounds in every direction, R = a huge laser that fires out of a Astro's shoulder, up+B = less powerful laser from the index finger, down+B = kick, B = punches (press repeatedly for PPK combo), A = jump, AA = jump then gain further height with booster jets). Once you've gotten through that, you're into the game proper.
Most stages are one big brawl going from left to right, in a huge fight with all manner of qute and quirky enemies. You rack up huge combos by beating the living daylights out of them using all the moves available to you. This is one of the game's most successful features; not only is it satisfying to knock the living daylights out of everything on-screen but its cool to watch enemies go flying into one another like skittles and bouncing off the edges of the screen.
Occasionally the game shifts into horizontally scrolling shoot em up mode. Since you're given a life-bar, its not as difficult as a true shmup but coming from veterans Treasure there are some tricky bullet patterns to negotiate. These sections are more than simply token extras, they feel in key with the rest of the game and are aguably as difficult as the other parts.
Boss encounters are straight out of an anime; the dimunitive Astro Boy frantically dashes about the screen avoiding huge blasts from armoured trains, screen-hogging mechs etc.
Treasure have done it again. This time there are no gimmicks or catches, this is plain old 2D action. It looks like a comic book and plays like a dream,
. The game suddenly cuts to an on-foot stage to a shoot'em up stage and then again turns to another stage where you're floating mid-air, asking you to get used to a slightly different set of commands everytime. 
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