Super Mario Advance 2 Review (no fat)

Game Description

All seemed well in the Mushroom Kingdom when Princess Peach decided it was time for a vacation. But upon arriving in the land of the Dinosaurs, our plumbers quickly realized that trouble was afoot, and Bowser, the king of the koopas, had kidnapped the princess and locked her away in his castle.

Our tag team of plumbers, Mario and Luigi, will travel across the seven regions of Dinosaur land if they hope to ever see Princess Peach again. However, this time, they aren’t alone in their quest, as they will have the assistance of Yoshi to help them make the journey.

Introduction:

Super Mario World is one of the ten greatest games ever made. After the hysteria that surrounded the release of Super Mario Brothers 3 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, it’s an amazing accomplishment that Super Mario World could be such a unique and successful sequel. It surpassed its predecessors in every way when it helped launch Nintendo’s 16-bit console into the market.

A decade later, we now have the ability to experience Super Mario World on the go with the Gameboy Advance. Super Mario Advance 2 features Super Mario World and an enhanced version of the original Mario Brothers! This double-pack is worth every penny.

Graphics:

Super Mario World looks as good as it did for the Super Nintendo, which is something I almost always say when a game is ported from the SNES to the GBA. This is good, however, because it’s not always the case. In fact, some games fail because they don’t look as good as they did on the SNES. In Super Mario Advance 2, this is one of its strongest features. It faithfully duplicates Super Mario World with a small number of additions.

From everything I’ve seen, though, there’s really not much new to speak of in terms of visuals. Completing Star Road and its bonus stages will still have the same effect as it did before. There is still the same number of colored Yoshi’s. In fact, finding what’s new is actually more of a challenge than anything else. Oh, there are changes to be found. Yes, there are.

Visually, both games look very nice on the Gameboy Advance. They fit the screen perfectly, and playing Mario Brothers proves to be a lot of fun by itself or in multiplayer. I find myself choosing it over Super Mario World simply because it can be as short as I want it to be, it never gets old, and I’m racking up a score as I go. Sure, this is true for Super Mario World, but it’s more linear and does get old going through the same levels again and again.

Sound:

The audio quality is definitely on the mark. In fact, I could even say that Super Mario Advance 2 is “Just what I needed!” But that doesn’t make any sense. … And neither do the added voiceovers that have been given to Mario. It’s hard to tell whether this actually enhances the audio quality of Super Mario World or degrades it a little.

But the rest of the audio in the game is as close to the original as it can get for the handheld speakers. Some of the music can sound a bit washed out, but that can be blamed on the speakers to some degree. Over headphones, the music sounds fine. Without much new in the way of additions, there’s not much else to say.

Gameplay and Control:

On the Gameboy Advance, the controls have been modified due to the button limitations. The spin jump has been moved to a shoulder button. Since this move was hardly an intricate part of the gameplay, it sits just fine on the shoulder. The a and b buttons act as the primary controls. One makes Mario run while the other makes him jump. The end result is something that is a little more awkward than what we had on the Super Nintendo controller, but the control setup works.

The rest of the controls are also there, such as sliding the screen forward to see what’s up ahead. It maps out surprisingly well considering the GBA has two fewer buttons than the Super Nintendo controller.

The gameplay, for that reason, is also much like you remember it. The only differences I really found were few and rare. For instance, in the Forest of Illusion there is a place where, if you’re skilled enough and bored enough, you can bounce from enemy to enemy, back and forth, and continually bounce off the same regenerated baddies until you rack up max lives and the max score! This is no more! Nintendo has fixed the bug. And I’m certain more than eighty percent of you are thinking, “UGH! Nintendo, you’ve ruined it!!” Why they thought to fix this is beyond me, but it’s worth it to go to this stage and accomplish this feat to see what they’ve added. Let your curiosity lead you.

Value:

No matter how many times you’ve played through it, Super Mario World is a game that manages to stand the test of time. You’re guaranteed to play through it at least a couple of times. The fact that Mario Bros. comes packed in as an extra is more reason to feel comfortable making this purchase. From personal experience, I find that I play Mario Bros. almost as often as I play Super Mario world. This game is the game I pull out and plug into my GBA/DS when I want something quick to entertain me.

Final Verdict:

This is a complete port of Super Mario World that puts the glory of the Super Nintendo into the palm of your hands. With the addition of Mario Bros., this is a worthy purchase.

Review written by: Donny Simpson