The Incredible Hulk

The Incredible Hulk for Game Boy Advance is a 2003 action game developed by Pocket Studios and published by Universal Interactive. It is the handheld version released alongside the wider Hulk game campaign of that year, but it is not a portable conversion of the console and PC title. Instead, it builds a separate adventure from Marvel comic-book characters and situations, giving the Game Boy Advance its own Hulk story, structure, visual perspective, and multiplayer feature.

Players guide Bruce Banner’s gamma-powered alter ego through an isometric beat ’em up built around movement, destruction, and direct confrontation. Hulk travels in eight directions, jumps, strikes enemies, and lifts then throws objects found in the environment. The locations are designed as more than simple corridors: breakable scenery, cracked walls, and hidden routes reward attention, while some stages ask the player to find and destroy generators before hazards blocking the way can be removed. The result is a game focused on turning Hulk’s strength into the means of exploration as well as combat.

A health display and rage gauge shape the action. Hulk recovers health automatically, while dealing and receiving damage adds to the rage meter. That reserve can be spent on a set of especially forceful attacks, creating a small tactical choice between using power immediately and saving it for a difficult encounter. Destructible objects can also yield restorative items, so smashing parts of the scenery has a practical purpose beyond the character’s signature destructive appeal. Across 33 levels, the game repeatedly asks players to clear hostile groups, navigate hazards, and make use of the environment.

Its story begins with scientist Bruce Banner taking the full force of a gamma-bomb test while saving Rick Jones. Banner’s transformations draw the attention of General Thunderbolt Ross and the military, but the campaign also brings in established comic-book foes and allies. The Leader, Tyrannus, the Executioner, Emil Blonsky as the Abomination, Betty Ross, and Rick Jones all figure into a comic-inspired plot involving secret laboratories, military pursuit, kidnapping, strange technology, and far-flung locations. That roster distinguishes this release from the film-oriented Hulk game that reached home consoles and Windows at roughly the same time.

Pocket Studios presented the adventure from a diagonal, overhead viewpoint that lets the player see crowds of opponents and a sizeable portion of each arena. Comic-style story scenes connect the action, while the handheld hardware is used for large destructible elements and an animated Hulk sprite. The design credits list David Williams as development director, Mark Shaw as game designer, Darren Clayton and Gabriel Lee on programming, and Steve Collett as composer. The art and animation teams included Mark Wortham, Simon Sheridan, Antony Hager, Andy Jones, and Chris Perrigo.

The Game Boy Advance cartridge also supports Hulkmatch through the Game Link Cable. With two to four players, differently coloured Hulks compete in an arena by hurling large objects and fighting for either a target number of eliminations or last-Hulk-standing victory. This local multiplayer option gives the game a different rhythm from the single-player campaign and makes it one of the period’s link-cable action games. Released in North America in May 2003, The Incredible Hulk is a distinct comic-based portable chapter for fans of the character’s early-2000s video-game appearances.