While the Game Boy Advance was home to a wealth of strategy RPG titles, the Nintendo DS' selection of SRPGs has been poor in comparison. For a handheld with unique features that seem to be made for the genre, games like Fire Emblem and Rebelstar Tactical Assault have been sparse on the portable. Atlus USA must have sensed this injustice, announcing plans to publish Luminous Arc, a Japanese SRPG, for the North American market.

Luminous Arc pits the forces of the righteous Garden Children against an army of Witches intent on warring with God. With features like item-crafting, online battles, and touchscreen support, the game definitely pushes portable SRPGs in the right direction. Import impressions have been positive, but we will wait until Luminous Arc's US release before we judge it against GBA classics like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis.