For the first time of the Summer this year, my wife and I hit the beach this past weekend. We brought drinks and a nice lunch. The water still seemed a bit too chilly for swimming, but it certainly felt nice just laying under the sun. My wife is an avid reader, so she brought a book to pass the time. Surprise! Surprise! -- I brought my Game Boy Advance.

Now the art of selecting a beach game is tricky. As far as I'm concerned I usually need something that isn't too graphically intensive. Remember, you're sitting under a bright sun, so there's considerable glare no matter how you position yourself. Anything that has lots of detail is going to be a burden. Also, I a pause-button or turn-based game is a must. You have to be able to stop at any moment when you're at the beach because of the aforementioned glare, or well... just because this is relaxing time. Not intense time.

My beach game of last Summer was Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. It worked well because each round generally doesn't last that long, you can pause at any time, and although it is a puzzler, it relies more on strategy than on agility. Also, there isn't an overwhelming amount of detail -- really just primary colors.

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This year I decided on an RPG. It seemed like since I'd just be laying on the sand, I wouldn't mind taking the extra time to read the text and get into a story. Similarly, the battles would be turn-based, so I wouldn't have to rush anything. So now I'm three hours into DemiKids: Light Version and absolutely loving it.

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DemKids is a spin-off of the popular Shin Megami Tensei series of games which also includes the cult-classic Persona series. The DemiKids games are certainly influenced by other games, but the result is nothing short of awesome. The game follows a group of elementary school children on a quest that overlaps both the year 20xx and another dimension ruled by demons. The current-day kid vibe seems to be reminiscent of the Mother series. And although I'm not a big Pokemon fan personally, the gimmick of recruiting a party of demons to do your battling for you is intriguing and not overly annoying in a gotta-catch-em-all sort of way either.

I know it's still early in the game, but so far I'm having a great time. A lot of times I won't bother starting an RPG because I feel like I don't have the time to commit to perpetuating the storyline, so I'll eventually lose interest. Of course having it as a beach game just might help.

What are your beach games? What criteria would you use to describe a beach game? Or do you just think I'm nuts for bringing a Game Boy so close to sand and ocean?

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