From NCSX comes an interesting report that Mario Kart Advance has replaced Mario Advance in the GBA launch. Shortly after Mario Advance was confirmed both it and MKA were set for the Japanese GBA launch on March 21st. Then, online play was confirmed for Mario Kart Advance and it was seemingly delayed while Mario Advance remained on the launch list. Now, Mario Kart Advance is back at launch and Mario Advance isn't. Man, this is getting to be like tracking the election! NCSX state that all pre-orders including Mario Advance have now been switched to Mario Kart Advance, though customers can change if they so desire. NCSX also sez that Chu Chu Rocket for GBA apparently isn't listed as a launch title either, neither is Sonic. NCSX claims that the launch-list they've posted in this update is current as of yesterday and is unlikely to change.

If anything changes from this point forth, we will update accordingly but pre-orders for the GBA (and everything else) via Japanese vendors have finalized last week and this usually signifies a closed book for March. Note the word "usually" since last minute movements may still occur, especially with Sega's recent announcements and forays.

So, we'll have to see what happens. NCSX also reports there has been NO official pre-order word whatsoever, causing the popular online retailer to suspect there might be a delay:

Now that GBA preorders are done, the next Nintendo project would be the Gamecube. However, there is no news and no all-important buzz from Japanese distribution which is uncharacteristic. This may mean GC is still months and months, perhaps a year away from release in Japan. Only an observation that may be refuted soon. We'll see.

We're all too happy to refute NCSX's delay theory, it confirms how Nintendo are simply keeping pre-order plans secret & would suggest recent NGC/GBA "pre-order posters" (allegedly from Canada) were fake.

Expect more GBA coverage right here at Planet!