While working in video game retail and having to research and print out the upcoming releases myself since my store is so lame, I have noticed a trend in GBA games: rereleasing existing games in a 2-pack. There are dozens of these 2-game carts out now and there are more set to be released. There's SpongeBob, SpongeBob/Fairly Oddparents, SpongeBob/Nick: Freeze Frame Frenzy, Spider-man, Shrek, Power Rangers, Hot Wheels, Cartoon Network Block Party/Cartoon Network Speedway, Scooby Doo, Monster Trucks/Quad Desert Fury, Golden Nugget Casino/Texas Hold'Em and so forth. Then coming soon are Dragonball Z: Legacy of Goku 1 and 2, Crash Bandicoot 2- packs, Spyro 2-packs and a Crash/Spyro pack; a Sonic Advance/Sonic Pinball pack, and a Lizzie Maguire/That's So Raven pack.
Now, I know multi-game carts are nothing new. Look at Namco Museum and Pac-Man Collection. But, it seems like all of a sudden these particular 2-in-1 carts have boomed. The neat thing is, that on some of the 2-packs, they're games that were previously released for GameBoy Color, (as such in the SpongeBob 2-pack and the Power Rangers 2-pack) where although you can still find the GBC version used and fairly cheap, there's a convenient GBA version and it has another game with it. It's also practical, having 2 games on one cart. The thing that irks me is that these are games that when they were first released sold really well, so people who would be interested in these 2-packs might already have one or both games. (except I was holding out on the Legacy of Goku series and now I'm glad I did cuz now I'll just buy the 2-pack). I must admit though, these 2-packs are selling pretty well. Especially with people who are just now buying their kids a GBA. No one can pass up 2 games for the price of one. But still, it's just kind of weird that so many of them have been released that it's like a fad now. I just wanted to share my profound thoughts on the 2-in-1 cartridge trend.