It's been more than a year since Nintendo released Game Boy Advance -- a much, much more powerful Game Boy with a bigger, color screen and several times more processing power.

Nintendo has sold more than 10 million units of the system worldwide and the number should hit 15 million soon.

Game Boy Advance is backward compatible and plays the thousands of games that were published for the original Game Boy, including such greats as "Tetris," "The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening," and "Bomberman." But for the most part, Game Boy games have generally ranged from bad to fair. Quantity in this case does not mean quality.

Understand that unlike other consoles, which generally disappeared after seven years, Game Boy had an 11-year life span. It outlived and outsold all other systems, and it had more games than any other system. More importantly, Game Boy, and now Game Boy Advance, are made for travel.

Game Boy games do not have the depth, the graphics, or the size of GameCube, PlayStation2, or Xbox games.

Even taking the limitations of hand-held games into account, there are an awful lot of cartridges for the Game Boy Advance that are just unacceptable.

The following is a rundown of notable games for Game Boy Advance -- the good, the bad, and the great to look for this summer.

Greatest on Advance

Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2
Publisher: Nintendo
One of the greatest games released for the Super Nintendo became a contender for the greatest game ever to appear on any hand-held game system just by virtue of its existence.

Players help Mario explore a huge world as he jumps platforms, dodges ghosts, and searches for the missing princess.

Castlevania: Circle of the Mood
Publisher: Konami
Released during the launch of Game Boy Advance last fall, "Circle of the Mood" stood out as the only great gave available at the time of launch.

In this one, players assume the role of a whip-toting hero exploring an enormous castle in search of Dracula.

Good, but not forgotten

SpyHunter
Publisher: Midway
Players take control of a sports car that fires rockets and machineguns, morphs into a boat, and glides in the air as they attack the evil cars and boats of the evil Nostra Corporation.

Midway released a vastly superior version of this game for PlayStation2, but the Game Boy Advance version stands out as above average on this system.

Earthworm Jim 2
Publisher: Majesco
Earthworm Jim, the world's most macho worm, returns to game action in one of the wackiest games ever conceived.

This game includes such off-the-wall activities as catching puppies tossed from a building and riding a motorized chair up a staircase while avoiding falling grandmas.

Britney's Dance Beat
Publisher: THQ
This is a music game in which players help Britney Spears learn new dance moves by pressing buttons to the beat. If you can send e-mail messages on your cell phone without looking, this could be the game for you.

High Heat: Major League Baseball 2003
Publisher: 3DO
In this solid baseball game, players can play exhibition games or play the full MLB season.

The graphics are a bit weak, the fielding is unpredictable, and you cannot prevent the computer from stealing bases, but the game is not bad overall.

Worst of the bunch

Punch King
Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment
Made in the vein of Nintendo's "Punch Out," "Punch King" is a game in which players guide a boxer as he fights 12 different opponents and tries to earn his way to the top. The controls are unresponsive, the animation is jerky, and the overall fun factor is entirely missing.

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
Publisher: THQ
This side-scrolling button-fest has great graphics and nothing else.

You play as Obi-Wan and Anakin -- it's hard to tell which is which in this game -- as they walk from side-to-side, jumping and swinging their light sabers. What a bore!