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Super Mario Advance Review - GBA

Available at launch of the GBA in every country around the world, Super Mario Advance is actually a remake of the classic Super Mario Bros. 2 from the NES with the inclusion of Mario Bros. Arcade. Although, this isn't the first time SMB2 has received a remake. We must travel back in time to the days of the SNES with the release of Super Mario All-Stars, which featured a similar version of SMB2 only with improved visuals over the NES version. But why oh why has Nintendo given us a remake of an old game instead of a new one? This single fact is based on that SMB2 was never originally released in Japan and instead released to the Western market only. But still there will be many children in the Western regions who have never played SMB2 let alone Mario Bros Arcade so one can assume that Nintendo took this fact into account with the decision of releasing a second remake of the NES classic.

Gameplay

The major single-player game in Super Mario Advance is the all time classic SMB2 which offers players the chance to play as Mario, Luigi, Toad or Princess Peach. However, not only will the characters be different, their abilities strengths will differ. The abilities of each character are strength, jump and speed. You'll be able to tell which character is best at which ability from the number of stars under the abilities of each character when you highlight them in the character selection menu before you play a level. An example of this system is how Toad is very strong and can lift items and enemies out of the ground quickly and is also very speedy on foot but lacks jump hight where as Mario is very well-balanced in all three areas. This system also offers you the chance to get the upper hand in levels because as you progress through SMB2 the type of levels will change in style. While the level style changes and tests different abilities it gives you the option to use a more appropriate character for that level, but it's all optional meaning you don't have to change characters if you don't want too.

The levels are based on different worlds which all have unique environments. They will get increasingly harder with every new world you pass through by means of more enemies to dodge or kill or tougher puzzles for you to solve your way across a blocked path. There are also various pipes that you can go inside of in hopes of getting a chance at gaining some lives or finding a magic potion bottle (read on to find out more about the potion bottle). However, whatever the level, your objective will always be the same which is to find your way to the door to the next level which looks like some sort of bird for some reason. But to get past the door you'll have to fight a certain enemy, which ... (continued next page)