Sega's Shining series has been out of the limelight for a number of years now, but the company is aiming to change that in the coming year. Sega of Japan has confirmed that development on a brand new Shining game for the Game Boy Advance is well underway. The game, which is slated for release in Spring of next year in Japan, is titled Shining Soul.

The title is set to take full advantage of the link-up features of Nintendo's new handheld, and promises four-player multiplayer. Unfortunately, each player will have to have a copy of the game. Four character classes will be available, namely warrior, magician, archer and berserker, and players will be able to choose their own color scheme for each character. Art duties have been handed back to Yoshitaka Tamaki, who was involved in both Shining in the Darkness and the original Shining Force.

No story details for Shining Soul are known at the moment, and there is currently no word of a North American release for the title. Hopefully there will be some more information after this weekend's Tokyo Game Show.