It was bound to happen. In the age of Super NES ports, EA has begun the onslaught. With Madden 2003, EA has seemingly taken the exact ROM that powered the SNES version of Madden 97 and crammed into a smaller cart. Sad, to say the least.

Everyone knows Madden. It's football, plain and simple. These games were considered the pinnacle of 16-bit sports games, but time has taken it's toll. The slippery feeling, numerous dropped passes, sad excuse for a running game, and lack of a franchise mode does this one in. There are simply far better football games out there and there's no reason to take this with you.

Of course, the obligatory roster updates have been included as has the create-a-player mode. Innovative for it's time, players will be tested in different mini-games to set their stats instead of just assigning points. Interesting, but we've all been here before, and some of those mini-games are hard to do with the GBA in hand.

Every animation, sprite, and scaling effect has been lifted right from the console version. The game does look great on the small screen, but we've all been exposed to what the GBA can do, so this is inexcusable. The soundtrack, all one track of it, is an excellent fully produced song, but a little variety in this category would've been nice.

It's football, it's portable, and if you still love 16-bit football you'll be pleased. For those who can't go back to their past, forget it. Maybe before the console fades away and we have a Game Boy Advance SP EX Ultra Micro Hi-res Dual Analog edition. Until that happens, stick with the latest console version of Madden.