If you've been itching for a new game to play on your Game Boy Advance, then we have some exciting news to share.
As recently spotted by Chronomoogle on BlueSky, it appears that Fore Stone's long-awaited Game Boy Advance homebrew shoot 'em up, Zion Advanced Mission, is finally ready for release and will soon be receiving a physical cartridge from the publisher Game Impact (which is set to release this March in Japan).
Zion Advanced Mission is a single-screen bullet hell shooter, which has been teased by its solo developer @Asteroid_1 on Twitter/X for several years now, and sees players taking control of a group of guardian gods (Zion, Purple, and Pink) to save humanity and Earth from an invasion from the Magic Empire, and a mysterious organization named the Crystal Cult. It is described as a "simple shooter" featuring six levels in total, and has players battle enemy waves, using the different abilities (speed and firing range) of the three main characters, and weapons such as bombs and charged shots.
According to a statement from the developer on the store page, the idea for the game was originally conceived due to their "personal attachment" to the Nintendo handheld, and their memories of playing games with their friends and sister. Soaking in the bath, one day, they wondered whether it was still possible to make games for the system, and decided there and then to set out on a multi-year-long quest to find out the answer.
As they go on to state, the game has almost entirely been created by a single person. That includes all the programming, music, and art. It, therefore, hasn't been easy to get to this point. Nevertheless, they say they never lost their desire to finish the game, and expressed their gratitude to their publisher for their support.
As Chronomoogle states in their original message, the game is sadly not available to order directly from Game Impact, but should be accessible with the help of a proxy if you desperately get your hands on it. It costs ￥9,800. More information can be found here.