Gamertell

Title: Anguna: Warriors of Virtue v0.94
Price: Free ($10~15 on a cartridge)
System(s): Gameboy Advance
Release Date: July 9, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Game by Nathan Tolbert, art by Chris Hildenbrand
ESRB Rating: N/A
Pros: It’s a free, well-executed action RPG for a system which is no longer receiving commercial releases
Cons: There are no towns to visit and only five dungeons to explore.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb down, 75/100, C, ** 1/2 out of 5

Anguna: Warriors of Virtue is a Legend of Zelda style RPG that simply offers an enjoyable, dungeon crawling experience. Some amazing homebrew GBA games exist on the internet and Anguna is one of them. It may not have all of the features of a full-fledged action RPG, but Nathan Tolbert has put together an extraordinary game that deserves a play-through.

Defeat the Dragon

Anguna doesn’t have much in the way of story or character development. You’re a hero who begins the game in the Prison Dungeon. You have to fight monsters and escape four other dungeons on your quest to defeat the Dragon king.

Although the hero doesn’t have the luxury of towns to visit, people to talk to or assistants, he is heavily armed with a standard sword, bow and arrows, a bear trap and all sorts of accessories and power-ups.

Simple, Sweet and Short

I like to think that Anguna excels, in part, because it is so simple. It provides a classicly challenging dungeon crawling experience with just enough features and options to keep things entertaining. There are quite a few different background themes and character art by Chris Hildenbrand is detailed and expressive. The dungeons are laid out with a nice selection of hidden areas, rewards and enemies.

Only three things about Anguna bother me. First, it is very straightforward. All there really is to do is defeat the dungeons, so there’s very little replay value or need for exploration. Second is that there aren’t any places to visit. The world of Anguna must be very hostile, because while there are shops, there are no real towns or civilian NPCs to interact with. My last complaint is the length - you can probably beat Anguna in about three hours.

When you consider that this whole game is the work of two men, however, you appreciate the quality and experiences that Anguna offer. Both Tolbert and Hildenbrand should be commended for the game and sprite artwork they created.

GBA Lives On Through Homebrew

Anguna may have some flaws, but overall it is a wonderful game for players who enjoy dungeon crawling and level grinding. It is surprisingly easy to get caught up playing Anguna, killing monster after monster and delving deeper into the various dungeons. I would whole-heartedly recommend purchasing a cart version of the game from the official site, because Anguna is one of those rare, high-quality homebrew games you’ll want to preserve and enjoy.

At the very least, visit the site and download the game ROM or the Windows installer. That way you can enjoy Anguna on your computer and reminisce about the good ol’ GBA’s glory days.

Site [Anguna] Site [GBA Temp]