The Butt-Uglies have arrived on numerous gaming platforms, in a variety of gaming genres. Butt-Ugly Martians BKM Battles is the title of the GBA release, and features those renegade Martians from the new Nickelodeon TV show. Emperor Bog is tired of waiting for the Martians to fulfill their mission of taking over Earth, so sends out a new mission team comprised of robots. B-Bop, 2-T-Fru-T and Do-Wah-Diddy transform into BKM (Butt-Kicking Mode) to ward off this latest threat to the Earth culture they so love.

So much for the story in this side-scrolling shooter/action game. On start-up, players can choose to play as either B-Bop, 2-T or Do-Wah and can also change back and forth between these characters during the game. The level of difficulty is designated as either Easy, Medium or Hard, and other options can be toggled like brightness and sounds. There are seven worlds, each of which has four levels. These feature a variety of scenery, like forest, underwater, futuristic, space, etc., although the worlds still tend to look somewhat alike due to similar layouts.

The Martians' basic movement is flying in the air from right to left and up and down. For some reason, the "B" key has to be hit for the Martian to face the other direction; just hitting the directional key doesn't change it. This can be awkward when encountering enemies, as sometimes the Martian is facing the wrong way when the player starts firing back. Movement is also slower if facing the wrong way when moving, so there's a constant juggling between the directional arrows and the "B" key while moving.

Taking out enemies is straightforward and fairly easy on the easy settings, but can be much more difficult on the hardest settings, as the enemy numbers increase dramatically. Firing madly usually accomplishes the goal. To gain access to different areas of the level, keys have to be located to unlock passages. There are scads of powerups to find, most of which are just laying around waiting to be picked up. There are some secret rooms, though, which can only be found by firing at wall sections to see if they open up. More powerups and other items can be found in these.

Basic strategy consists of exploring all of the level, collecting powerups and keys along the way, in order to advance to the boss at the end of the level. Again, shooting madly is the key here. Enemies can either be avoided, or taken out by firepower. As the three characters can be switched at will, a good strategy is to toggle back and forth to pick up powerups, and make sure the guy with the most firepower is chosen for the boss battle, as these tend to be long shoot-fests. The player's location can be checked by looking at the map which displays the current location of the player and the areas uncovered.

The graphics are interesting and varied, but the layouts of the levels are all the same. The Aquatic level is probably the best drawn and most interesting visually of the seven worlds. Be sure to pick the highest setting for the Brightness in order to see the game while playing. The sound is all very "techno" and can get annoying, unless players really like that kind of music.

An added option includes the ability to unlock items in the Gamecube game via a Gamecube/Game Boy Advance cable. There are special jewels in five different levels and these can be used on the Gamecube Butt-Ugly game, Zoom or Doom!.

This is a fun, not too hard shooter (on the easy level, anyway). The gameplay is very straightforward and easily mastered and powerups add some nice touches to the firepower ability. Children ages six and up should have no problems playing on the easy level. The only real problem with this game is the sameness of all the levels, as players may lose interest after awhile. Roaming around, firing at anything that shoots is about the most that players will do; strategic thinking isn't needed to get past most obstacles. A decent game for fans of shooters, but it may not offer much for the general audience, especially experienced gamers.

Graphics: 7.5 
Nice backgrounds, especially the aquatic world.

Sound: 7
The music is loud and very techno, whether people like it or not depends on individual taste.

Concept: 7 
Gee, another TV show on a GBA.

Overall: 7
A game that has worthwhile gameplay, but doesn't offer much of variety in the different levels. After about the sixth level of shooting anything that moves, players may get bored, unless they really like shooters.