Dragon Ball - Advance Adventure is one of those GBA gems that actually makes the old-school beat 'em up formula work. You start off as kid Goku, smashing through waves of enemies with his power pole, and it just feels right—the controls are snappy, and the sprites have that classic Dragon Ball charm.

What’s cool is how it mixes things up. Some levels are straight-up brawlers, others have you flying through the air dodging attacks, and the boss fights switch to a proper one-on-one fighting game style. The first time I fought Jackie Chun, I got wrecked because I kept trying to button-mash instead of actually learning the moves.

There’s a ton to unlock—30 characters if you count all modes, including some deep cuts from the original series. The story mode rushes through the early Dragon Ball arcs (sorry, no Red Ribbon Army mecha fights), but the gameplay makes up for it. And yeah, the plot’s not exactly faithful, but who cares when you’re collecting Dragon Balls mid-combo?

Even if you’re not into Dragon Ball, this one’s worth a shot just for how solid it plays. It’s one of the few licensed games that doesn’t feel like a cash grab.