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GBA

North America

Super Mario Advance

by Michael Cole - April 24, 2001, 8:21 pm EDT

Come see what The Younger Plumber thinks about Mario Advance, and--more importantly--Luigi's role.

What else would you expect me to get with my GBA? Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA,) although really Doki Doki panic with a Mario face, was (at least) one of the biggest gigs Luigi has ever gotten. What better way in which to usher in the GBA than with the game that truly defined Luigi Mario as we know him?! Sure, in Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. Luigi wore green instead of red, but the sprites were the same! SMB 2 (Japan) defined Luigi as the higher jumper, but he still looked like a clone of his brother. But when Super Mario Bros. 2 finally came out in the US, gamers were introduced to a distinctly unique plumber. He wore his traditional green, but he was thinner and taller as well as a higher jumper. And Luigi wasn’t just “second player.” Oh no… quite the contrary! He was vital in the game for certain special secrets or shortcuts to be accessed. Mario couldn’t do anything that required his service, so gamers usually focused on the other 3 characters. So it is quite fitting to celebrate Luigi’s first GBA game than with the game that made him a true star.

The graphics are brilliant. Sure, they’re not realistic-looking or anything, but that’s the Mario style. Vibrant colors fill the landscape and a very high refresh rate makes you forget that this is a handheld and not the SNES. And, of course, the slowdown and flickering of the days of yore are gone! 8 Shyguys walking on the same line? Yahoo!

The sound is also superb. Familiar and new tunes play with crispness and style even better than the SNES rendition—not to shabby for 8-bit sound, eh? The voices are probably the greatest part of the game. From crazy voices to classic quotes, this game left me bursting out in laughter for the first 5 minutes of game time. Two of my favorite quotes so far are Luigi’s “Piece of the cake” and Toad’s “Okay,” which sounds more like “Honkey.” Funny stuff!

I’ve noticed that many of the reviews of this game left out details that made the game seem more of a port than it really is, so I would like to touch on a few of the differences. Sure, I could go on about the smaller screen making things more difficult, the new enemy and item placements, and the slipperier characters; but I’d rather focus on the pleasant surprises. For instance, in the NES version of the game, you were stuck with whomever you chose for all of the level, no matter how many times you died. This could be quite frustrating, as if you had confused which level was coming up, you could end up missing a warp point. On the SNES, you could choose your character at every life, which could make the game easier at times. Mario Advance does a lovely compromise: you still get to choose the character after each level or life, but each character has his or her own number of lives. What’s more, if you died the last time you used that character, you will come back with minimal life, forcing gamers to be more wary after loosing a life. Another major difference is that you don’t have to waste time with the slot machine when you don’t need any more lives or are in a hurry. Instead, the game allows the player to choose how much to gamble with. If needed be, you could put all 20 or so coins on one push of the button. Saves a lot of downtime, huh? I know that made me happy :-)

The final surprise came with the secrets. I read a review somewhere that stated that the secret placement is exactly the same as in the previous version. I’m happy to say that this is not entirely true. Although the major secrets found in earlier versions are in Mario Advance, Mario Advance has many more secrets. In fact, each level features an additional mushroom to be found! Yup, even veterans (like me) will have to get out their rusty old SMB2 hunting tools.

Now for the extras…. Although I haven’t gotten to a situation where I found any Yoshi eggs yet, the red coins make a return, and I’m happy to say that Luigi is right there to help you out with those high, hard-to-reach ones. What’s more, it is amazing how the origional Doki Doki Panic design was almost made for little additions like this. Former dead-ends and little alcoves are now worth going to. Same goes for the baskets. Some house new 1ups, while more house the new and improved shell (which can bounce back and forth.)

The Mario Bros. (original) mixes old-school sounds with modern music, and the minigame is great for when you only have a few moments to spare. Much like in the SMB3 Battle mode on Super Mario All-Stars, the objective is to flip enemies over by knocking the blocks underneath, kicking the creature, and collecting the precious coin. Interestingly, jumping at different angles will change the course in which the baddie gets pushed away. I can’t wait to try this out in multiplayer….

Mario Advance is a game that brings “old-school” up to date and is worthy of your cash. I’m very proud of Luigi’s performance in this game, so I’ll show you confirming the GCN Logo, we were able to kick around with some GBA multiplayer action. Of course, I insisted on playing Mario Advance. Since we both have a Mario cart, we could try out both multiplayer versions.

The battle mode is SWEET. First, think of the SMB3 Battle mode in Mario All-Stars to get an idea. Then, add items like stars and POW boxes that come from trash cans (who would throw those things away?!). Finally, take into consideration the fact that you can also duck for a higher jump and pick opponents and POW boxes up (a la SMB2). And once we get 4 players.... MAMA MIA! Billy and I played the hell out of this game, and I am proud to say that I was victorious!

After our pleasant trip to the Convention Center, we tried out the Classic mode. It's a lot more fun than playing the game alone, that's for sure. It mixes partnership and competition for points perfectly. Once again, SMB2 physics are found in this version. Although Classic is a fine game, I'm sure that Battle will be the mode used most often (and fortunately that's the one that works with one cart.)

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Genre Adventure
Developer Nintendo
Players1 - 2

Worldwide Releases

na: Super Mario Advance
Release Jun 10, 2001
PublisherNintendo
RatingEveryone
jpn: Super Mario Advance
Release Mar 21, 2001
PublisherNintendo
aus: Super Mario Advance
Release Jun 22, 2001
PublisherNintendo
RatingGeneral

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