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Super Mario Advance (GBA)
by lorrainek858
I grew up playing games on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), most of my favourite games when I was younger included my favourite plumbers Mario and Luigi and their dinosaur friend Yoshi, and of course Princess Peach, who always seems to be running into bad luck and getting captured by the villain in this game King Bowser. I ... honestly spent hours trying to rescue the Princess in games such as Super Mario Bros 1, 2 and 3, Super Mario World 1 and 2, The Lost Levels and of course Mario 64 when Mario became for 'advanced' on the Nintendo 64 console. The Mario Franchise has brought gamers worldwide countless hours of entertainment, and their games were one of my favourite past times when I was a child.
Which is why when I found this game on Amazon, I was so happy as it is a little portable piece of my childhood that I can carry around with me and play on my long and frequent journeys on the bus or at night time when I want to wind down after a long day.
This game originated from the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) though I only really played it on the SNES on my Allstars Game cartilage.
First things first, for anyone who isn't exactly familiar with the Mario franchise, here is the storyline behind this game:
Mario is dreaming, and is in a strange land (aka Mushroom Kingdom 2) where a Toad named Wart has taken over and is making the locals sad.
Mario (and co.) must go through a number of levels and defeat a number of different bosses in order to free the dream worlds Magic Kingdom 2 citizens from the evil Wart, and the story begins....
You can play this game as either, Mario, Luigi, Toad or Princess Peach though this game is only a one player game. Each character in this game handles differently and has their own abilities:
Mario- Handles normally, has no special ability
Luigi- Quite hard to handle as he is quite 'slippery', when Luigi jumps he flys in the air for a while as he shakes his legs, this is really distracting for me and has left me rarely ever using him as a player.
Toad - Handles normally, has no special ability
Princess Peach- Uses her skirt to fly through the air, she handles quite easily and is my favourite character to play with on this game.
So there you have it, you set off as Mario (or your selected player) and go through the levels ahead, killing enemies (such as birds, shy guys and fish) by aiming and throwing vegetables at them and also killing bosses (like Birdo or a Rat that throws bombs at you).
The different power ups within this game include:
Red Mushroom: Makes Mario grow and then he can take an extra hit from enemies
Star: Makes Mario invincible to enemies for a short period of time.
This game is really easy to play, though the game isn't so easy to play that any child I am guessing under 4 would have the co-ordination to play even though the game is rated E for everyone, though there are some children that advance quicker than others. None the less I would say that this game is more suited to children aged 6 or 7 up, as from this age on they would probably get more fun out of it and be able to cope with at least the easier levels. Though there is mild violence (in which I mean you have to kill enemies and by throwing vegetables at them) it is really cartoonised and not very aggressive or harmful.
You cannot play this game on multiplayer, though as it is a Game boy Advance game it is more likely that you will want to play alone anyway.
The graphics on this game really don't disappoint, they stay true to the old Mario games. This game is played in a 2D format, advancing from one side of the screen to another. I am really glad that Nintendo decided to stay true to past game in this way as I think that this is part of the 'charm' of the better Mario games. The graphics are both simple and efficient to their purpose, each world is decorated in a detailed and colourful way and the game is drawn up in a cartoon display just like past Mario games.
The Mario level music is also very similar to the old Mario games. This is great for Mario fans, as the music on older games is unique to Mario games and easily recognised as it is upbeat and catchy.
This game is for the Gameboy Advance, but it is also compatible with the Nintendo DS and DS lite, you can put it into the bottom cartilage socket and play this game just like on the GBA, though of course there are no touch screen abilities when you are playing it on the DS or DS lite.
You can buy this game on Amazon used for around £5-10 and new for around £10-30 at the moment, I wouldn't buy the new game if you weren't planning on playing it, as I imagine it is a collector's item, though the used games, £10 is a great price to pay. I ended up paying £18 in total for my copy new on Amazon, I don't think it would be easy however to buy this game on the high street, due to its age.
Overall I think that this is a fantastic and really well thought out game that has brought me countless hours of entertainment, both on the Gameboy Advance and the SNES. This game was a brilliant buy and worth every penny to me, it is great to have a portable version of this game to take with me and play anywhere. This game is a must have for any Mario Fan, I believe that the classics are really the best when it comes to Mario games. 5 out of 5 stars!
*also on ciao under lorrainek90
Read the complete review |
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Yoshi's Island - Super Mario Advance 3 (GBA)
by lorrainek858
I grew up playing games on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), most of my favourite games when I was younger included my favourite plumbers Mario and Luigi and their dinosaur friend Yoshi, and of course Princess Peach, who always seems to be running into bad luck and getting captured by the villain in this game King Bowser. I ... honestly spent hours trying to rescue the Princess in games such as Super Mario Bros 1, 2 and 3, Super Mario World 1 and 2, The Lost Levels and of course Mario 64 when Mario became for 'advanced' on the Nintendo 64 console. The Mario Franchise has brought gamers worldwide countless hours of entertainment, and their games were one of my favourite past times when I was a child.
Which is why when I found this game on Amazon, I was so happy as it is a little portable piece of my childhood that I can carry around with me and play on my long and frequent journeys on the bus or at night time when I want to wind down after a long day.
This game is probably still one of my favourite games ever, probably because I was kind of obsessed with it as a child, though it is hard to deny that it is Nintendo working at their best to make a fantastic and extremely playable game.
First things first, for anyone who isn't exactly familiar with the Mario franchise, here is the storyline behind this game:
A stork is carrying Baby Mario and Baby Luigi to their new home, but on the journey the evil Magic Koopa tries to steal the babies, however he only manages to capture Baby Luigi. The stork drops Mario and Yoshi finds him and he takes Baby Mario to the other Yoshis and they decide that they will help Baby Mario find Baby Luigi and save him. The evil Magic Koopa tries to stop them by placing strange spells on creatures in castles and uses his magic to ruin Yoshi and Baby Mario's Quest... and the story begins...
This game is set out, like many other Mario games, in a map kind of view, there are a number of different areas including a few secret areas laid out in the game, there are 6 different worlds named World 1-6 and each level has an amusing title to go with it as you enter it, for example level 1 is called 'Make Eggs, Throw Eggs' as it is the level where it shows you how to make Yoshi both make eggs and throw eggs to gain secrets and kill enemies.
When you have got to the end of each 'land', you come to a castle, within the castles reside one of the Bosses, where MagicKoopa transforms them with their magic, Yoshi must beat the boss to move onto the next level or world in order to progress to the next level, before they can use their powers on you and defeat you first. Each boss is defeated differently, depending on what exactly they are, for example there is a frog that eats you in one of the boss levels, and you must hit its throat 3 times with eggs in order to make him spit you out and defeat him. This gives the game a more interesting twist as you have to think carefully your game strategies on how to defeat the bosses, instead of just hitting them on the head 3 times like in other Mario games.
So there you have it, you set off as Yoshi and Baby Mario come across enemies (such as Boo, the Koopa Troopa's, Shy Guys, Magic Koopa and her bosses in castles and of course King Bowser and Baby Bowsers in the last Castle and many more of the familiar enemies from Mario 1-3).
The different power ups within this game include:
Star: Turns Baby Mario into Super Baby Mario where he must run as fast as he can through different obstacles until he finds a big Yoshi Shaped Box in were Yoshi then jumps out of and take Baby Mario back onto his back, this is used in hard to navigate through areas of levels.
Transformer Yoshi: Turns Yoshi into a vehicle (such as a helicopter, digger, steam train in different levels) for a small period of time until he finds a big Yoshi Shaped Box in were Baby Mario then jumps out of and jumps back onto Yoshis back, this is used in hard to navigate through areas of levels.
The only negative thing I can say about this game is that, if you get hit by an enemy and drop Baby Mario, a timer starts, counting down between 10-30 seconds, depending what stars you have collected that gives you more time to catch Baby Mario, if the timer runs out Baby Mario is stolen by Magic Koopas henchmen, this makes the game more difficult but is not what is so annoying, what is annoying is that Baby Mario starts crying when he isn't on Yoshis back, the noise really gets on my nerves, especially in a harder level when you get hit loads and Yoshi is losing Baby Mario a lot.
There are a number of different Yoshi's within this game, however unlike Super Mario World (SNES OR GBA) each colour of Yoshi does not have a different ability.
This game is really easy to play, though the game isn't so easy to play that any child I am guessing under 4 would have the co-ordination to play even though the game is rated E for everyone, though there are some children that advance quicker than others. None the less I would say that this game is more suited to children aged 6 or 7 up, as from this age on they would probably get more fun out of it and be able to cope with at least the easier levels. Though there is mild violence (in which I mean you have to kill enemies and by shooting them with fire or jumping on their heads) it is really cartoonised and not very aggressive or harmful.
You cannot play this game on multiplayer, like the original SNES game, as it is a Game boy Advance game it is more likely that you will want to play alone anyway.
The graphics on this game really don't disappoint, they stay true to the old Mario games. This game is played in a 2D format, advancing from one side of the screen to another. I am really glad that Nintendo decided to stay true to past game in this way as I think that this is part of the 'charm' of the better Mario games. The graphics are both simple and efficient to their purpose, each world is decorated in a detailed and colourful way and the game is drawn up in a cartoon display just like past Mario games.
The graphics on this particular game are quite anime like in the way that they are drawn compare to other Mario games.
The Mario level music is also very similar to the old Mario games. This is great for Mario fans, as the music on older games is unique to Mario games and easily recognised as it is upbeat and catchy.
This game is for the Gameboy Advance, but it is also compatible with the Nintendo DS and DS lite, you can put it into the bottom cartilage socket and play this game just like on the GBA, though of course there are no touch screen abilities when you are playing it on the DS or DS lite.
You can buy this game on Amazon used for around £10-£40 and new for around £120 at the moment, I wouldn't buy the new game if you weren't planning on playing it, as I imagine it is a collector's item, though the used games, £10 is a great price to pay. I ended up paying £12.50 in total for my copy on Amazon, I don't think it would be easy however to buy this game on the high street, due to its age.
Overall I think that this is a fantastic and really well thought out game that has brought me countless hours of entertainment, both on the Gameboy Advance and the original SNES. This game was a brilliant buy and worth every penny to me, it is great to have a portable version of this classic game to take with me and play anywhere. This game is a must have for any Mario Fan. 5 out of 5 stars without a doubt.
*also on ciao under lorrainek90
Read the complete review |
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Super Mario Advance 2 (GBA)
by lorrainek858
I grew up playing games on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), most of my favourite games when I was younger included my favourite plumbers Mario and Luigi and their dinosaur friend Yoshi, and of course Princess Peach, who always seems to be running into bad luck and getting captured by the villain in this game King Bowser. I ... honestly spent hours trying to rescue the Princess in games such as Super Mario Bros 1, 2 and 3, Super Mario World 1 and 2, The Lost Levels and of course Mario 64 when Mario became for 'advanced' on the Nintendo 64 console. The Mario Franchise has brought gamers worldwide countless hours of entertainment, and their games were one of my favourite past times when I was a child.
Which is why when I found this game on Amazon, I was so happy as it is a little portable piece of my childhood that I can carry around with me and play on my long and frequent journeys on the bus or at night time when I want to wind down after a long day.
This game is probably still my favourite game ever, probably because I was kind of obsessed with it as a child, though it is hard to deny that it is Nintendo working at their best to make a fantastic and extremely playable game.
First things first, for anyone who isn't exactly familiar with the Mario franchise, here is the storyline behind this game:
Mario is called upon after the evil King Bowser is up to his old tricks again, he has captured the very lovely Princess Peach and is holding her captive in his castle, Mario needs to go through a number of different levels and lands to get to King Bowsers Castle and defeat him in order to save the Princess and live happily ever after. Easy story to understand and all in all quite crowd pleasing, everyone loves to be the hero and save the damsel in distress!
So there you have it, you set off as Mario comes across both enemies (such as Boo, the Koopa Troopa's, Thomp, Bowsers Children in Castles at the end of each land and of course King Bowser in the last Castle and many more of the familiar enemies from Mario 1-3) and also a few friends, for example Mario's trusty dinosaur friend Yoshi who you can ride on through levels if you find him in a question mark box, Yoshi accompanies Mario throughout levels until he takes a hit and gets scared away, and then you must find another one to ride him again.
This game is set out, like many other Mario games, in a map kind of view, there are a number of different areas including a few secret areas laid out in the game, the map island names include:
Yoshi's Island
Donut Plains
Vanilla Dome
The Twin Bridges
Forest of Illusion
Chocolate Island
Sunken Ghost Ship
Valley Of Bowser
Star World (secret world)
Special (super-secret world)
When you have got to the end of each 'land', you come to a castle, within the castles reside one of Bowsers Children (named Iggy, Wendy, Ludwig etc.), in order to progress to the next level you must beat Bowser's child by hitting them on the head 3 times, before they can use their powers on you and defeat you first.
The different power ups within this game include:
Flying Leaf: Allows Mario or Luigi to fly for a short period of time
Fire Flower: Allows Mario to shoot fireballs to kill his enemies
Red Mushroom: Makes Mario grow and then he can take an extra hit from enemies
Green Mushroom: Gives Mario an extra life (he can gain up to 99 lives at any time)
Star: Makes Mario invincible to enemies for a short period of time.
There are also four different kinds of Yoshi that have their own unique abilities when they eat Koopa Shells they are:
Red Yoshi- Spits fire when shells are eaten
Blue Yoshi- Grows wings and can fly when shell is eaten
Yellow Yoshi- Develops super 'Stomp' powers when shell is eaten
Green Yoshi- Ordinary Yoshi with not many powers and no special ability, though can take on different powers when different colours of shells are eaten.
This game is really easy to play, though the game isn't so easy to play that any child I am guessing under 4 would have the co-ordination to play even though the game is rated E for everyone, though there are some children that advance quicker than others. None the less I would say that this game is more suited to children aged 6 or 7 up, as from this age on they would probably get more fun out of it and be able to cope with at least the easier levels. Though there is mild violence (in which I mean you have to kill enemies and by shooting them with fire or jumping on their heads) it is really cartoonised and not very aggressive or harmful.
You cannot play this game on multiplayer, like the original SNES game, as it is a Game boy Advance game it is more likely that you will want to play alone anyway.
The graphics on this game really don't disappoint, they stay true to the old Mario games. This game is played in a 2D format, advancing from one side of the screen to another. I am really glad that Nintendo decided to stay true to past game in this way as I think that this is part of the 'charm' of the better Mario games. The graphics are both simple and efficient to their purpose, each world is decorated in a detailed and colourful way and the game is drawn up in a cartoon display just like past Mario games.
You can scroll the full Map of the Kingdom and see all the worlds and levels that you are going to complete and have completed this is a nice feature in this game and shows what a masterpiece it really is.
The Mario level music is also very similar to the old Mario games. This is great for Mario fans, as the music on older games is unique to Mario games and easily recognised as it is upbeat and catchy. The tempo of the music increases if your timer only has 100 seconds left on it to 'hurry you up' to complete the level.
This game is for the Gameboy Advance, but it is also compatible with the Nintendo DS and DS lite, you can put it into the bottom cartilage socket and play this game just like on the GBA, though of course there are no touch screen abilities when you are playing it on the DS or DS lite.
You can buy this game on Amazon used for around £10-£20 and new for around £80 at the moment, I wouldn't buy the new game if you weren't planning on playing it, as I imagine it is a collector's item, though the used games, £10 is a great price to pay. I ended up paying £14.99 in total for my copy on Amazon, I don't think it would be easy however to buy this game on the high street, due to its age.
Overall I think that this is a fantastic and really well thought out game that has brought me countless hours of entertainment, both on the Gameboy Advance and the original SNES. This game was a brilliant buy and worth every penny to me, it is great to have a portable version of this game to take with me and play anywhere. This game is a must have for any Mario Fan. 5 out of 5 stars without a doubt.
*also on ciao under lorrainek90
Read the complete review |
