Okay, so Adventures of Jackie Chan: The Legend of the Dark Hand is basically what happens when you take classic Jackie Chan movie energy and cram it into a GBA cartridge. You start off with this little pixelated Jackie doing flips and kicks that somehow still feel fluid—like, the animations are simple but weirdly satisfying when you pull off a combo.

It’s got that old-school beat-em-up vibe where you’re punching through waves of goons, but there’s also some light puzzle-solving (think: moving crates to reach higher platforms, because of course Jackie Chan would use crates as stepping stones). The controls take a second to get used to—jump kicks feel a little stiff at first, but once you get the timing down, you can chain moves together in a way that actually makes you feel like a martial arts legend.

Also, the soundtrack? Surprisingly catchy for a GBA game. There’s this one level where you’re sneaking through a museum at night, and the music nails that “don’t get caught” tension. Not gonna lie, I died a few times because I got distracted trying to see if Jackie could breakdance on the enemies (he can’t, but I had to test it).

If you’re into retro action games or just miss when licensed games actually tried, this one’s a solid time. Just don’t expect a deep story—it’s mostly an excuse to punch people in cool locations.