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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 Ł10-Ł20 and new for around Ł80 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, Ł10 is a great price to pay. I ended up paying Ł14.99 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
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Shrek 2 (GBA)
by JaniceGreen
Shrek 2; Gameboy Advance is a chance to make your favourite characters portable and re-live the film from many angles. We follow Shrek's fight for Fiona's father's blessing, and then a race against time to stop Fairy Godmother and Prince Charming in their plans to steal Fiona away from him.
The graphics aren't all that great, ... but they're still pretty remarkable for a game that was brought out in 2004. The sound is also adequate, and never quite cross that 'irritating and annoying' line most games of its time have. Interaction between characters is fluid and easy to keep up with.
The Gameplay;
You can play as up to a group of four characters, and all main characters are involved; Shrek, Puss In Boots, Donkey, Gingey and more! Also, each main character has the chance to play their own 'mini-game'. This involves finding a little leprechaun, such as hitting pumpkins with candy canes or jumping across a flame that constantly grows. There are five 'books' to complete, each containing a number of missions which are a good length, and also have coins to collect. For the more avid gamers, there is also the task of collecting EVERY coin possible, and completing your game 100%. What's more, after a certain amount of missions are completed new 'bonus' mini-games are unlocked, like; Ring Coliseum (21 missions), Floating Floor (31 missions), Cloud Maze (45 missions), Cage Drop (59 missions) and Crash Coliseum (70 missions).
Overall, the experience is highly enjoyable. I bought this game brand new in 2004 and spent quite a long time (being young and impatient) completing it, and yet after returning to it only a few days ago, now a good 7 years older, am still thoroughly entertained.
The only thing I think the game lacked (though I hate to admit such a good-hearted game has a flaw) is using the Fiona character more to its advantage. She is known in the films to have good fighting skills and knowledge in Japanese martial arts; however this is not enhanced as much as it should be in Shrek 2.
Despite this, I feel this game is a win-win for all ages, be you 9 or 99. It is available on Amazon, new, for around Ł20, which is quite cheap for a game nowadays, although maybe just a little steep for what Shrek 2 is. But, its price used varies, and can be bought as cartridge only for around Ł4, which I think is perfectly acceptable and would definitely recommend buying. It's easy to play, and yet challenging just when you're about to get fed up of wandering around defeating meaningless towns-people. Brilliant.
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