THQ has scored a doozy – the company has secured the publishing rights to MTO's outstanding racing title for the Game Boy Advance, Advance GTA. The company will release the game as-is with a new name, GT Advance Championship Racing.

GT Advance Championship Racing is an arcade racer that utilizes real car licenses for its line-up of vehicles – since the game's based on the Japanese version, you can expect a similar lineup from Mazda, Nissan, Toyota, Subaru, Suzuki, Honda, and Mitsubishi. Only half the game's garage is available – it's going to take skilled driving to unlock the other half, as the game will award a car for every track you complete in a first place finish. Some of the vehicles you'll know – Mazda RX-7, Toyota Corolla and Celica, Honda Civic. But then you'll get some very obscure cars you may never have even heard of – the Daihatsu Midget, the Nissan Cube, and the Toyota Vitz, to name just a few. Let's hope these cars make the US cut.

The game's focus is its Championship mode, where you'll have to come in first, second, or third in a three lap race against seven computer drones. The game has four different race classifications, each one harder than the last – the Beginner's circuit is a cinch to get first place in all the tracks, but I haven't been able to get better than second or third in the Professional courses. You don't have to start over from the beginning when you don't successfully place – you can restart any available race to your heart's content. But you'll never gain access to the next track in a specific class until you place in the gold, silver, or bronze position.

Development team MTO utilizes the system's hardware capabilities to good use – the road is the familiar Mode 7 effect like F-Zero or Mario Kart where you're riding over a scaling and rotating 2D plane. The cars are 3D modeled and converted into sprites at several angles to give as smooth a motion as possible for when the camera follows the action.

The game requires you to learn the art of the powerslide to get through the tracks at the fastest times possible – so you'll quickly realize this isn't a game where you mash down the accelerator until your wheels cross the finish line. You need to blip the gas and the break while turning so you can skid through the chicanes with little sacrifice in speed – it's the only way to victory in Advance GTA. Obviously it also depends on your car's abilities, and that's why you'll need to earn parts to upgrade your vehicle's traits. You'll need to have good acceleration, top speed, and handling if you want to get first place in the higher circuits.

THQ's shooting for a launch release with the Game Boy Advance – June 11th. They've got a winner on their hands…just as long as they don't mess with the proven formula laid out in Advance GTA.

-IGN.com