Super Mario World Now On The Small Screen (Super Mario Advance 2 (GBA))

Member Name: Jeremy1456

Product:	Super Mario Advance 2 (GBA)
Date:	20/08/02 (441 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Extremely Fun, Multiplayer Mode Added

Disadvantages: It's Just The Same Old Game

Back in 1992 Nintendo revolutionized the gaming market when they released their console, the Super Nintendo. Despite heavy competition from Sega, Nintendo's console beat out everything that was on the market. But what game brought such enormous amounts of success? Well in the beginning this game was Super Mario World, arguably the best of the best when it comes to side scrolling games, Mario is the most recognized face in the world of video games, and with good reason. Super Mario World sold approximately 17 million copies worldwide, w huge achievement, especially for that time. Well fast forward to now, Nintendo has lost it's once secure dominance in the home console market, but continues to rule the handheld market with an iron fist. With the release of their popular handheld; the gameboy advance, Nintendo also recreated a classic Mario game, based off of Mario 2 on the NES. After it's release Nintendo announced that it would also recreate more of the classics we were all so fond of, and so Mario World was etched into stone as a gameboy advance game.

Super Mario World is my absolute favorite game in the series, and yes, I even like it more than part 3. This game introduces a couple of new things to the series, the main thing you'll notice is that this game takes place in a different land than the usual Mario games, it's a land filled with dinosaurs. Thankfully this world isn't as bad as that of Mario 2, Super Mario World still feels like a Mario game.

Differences Between SNES and GBA versions
Nintendo did manage to recreate this game almost perfectly on the handheld system, there are a couple noticeable differences that people will pick up on though. For one thing Nintendo has taken the liberty of adding in the voices for the two heroes in the game, this is something that you either loved or hated from Mario Advance, most people disliked this feature. Secondly, there are differences between Mario and Luigi, thankful
ly instead of just changing the colors on the Mario model for Luigi like in the SNES version, they have made the characters look and handle differently. Luigi looks and handles more like he did in Mario Advance, while Mario is exactly the same as he was from Super Mario World on the SNES. What's more is that you can select which one you would like to play as, each of them obviously have their strong points, namely Luigi jumps higher and more awkwardly than Mario.

Another notable addition to the game is that taking a hit from an enemy while you have the cape or fire flower will reduce you to Super Mario, instead of small Mario like in the SNES version. This offends me a little, Nintendo is either making the game easier for beginners, or thinks that we as gamers have become worse at playing games and that we need a little extra help. Well screw you Nintendo, I can still beat the Super Nintendo version with no problems at all. Well maybe I'm not all that angry, but I got your attention, right?

Since Super Mario World is now on a portable system, and you may only be able to play for minutes at a time, lucky for us Nintendo has you covered. The save anywhere feature has now been added, you can even save in a course if you wanted, in the previous version of this game you were only able to save after beating certain stages, namely the boss and ghost house stages, and the game still prompts you to save after beating these courses, but it's not as vital as it used to be now that you can save anywhere you want.

For Those of You That Have Never Played The Super Nintendo Version
I know that some people have never played the Super Nintendo version, so I'll set the rest of this review up like I would any other games review.

Super Mario World pits you with the task of saving the princess from the evil Bowser, the foul reptile that has been Mario's nemesis for quite some time now. This time the princess was kidnapped
while on vacation in Dinosaur Land with Mario and Luigi, once Mario and Luigi find out about the kidnapping they embark on their biggest journey yet.

Since the game takes place in a place called Dinosaur Land, you can expect some new enemies to emerge, namely Dinosaurs. Some classic enemies return from the older games though, such as goombas and koopa troopas. There are tons of different types of enemies in this game, there are some pretty strange ones, like chargin chuck, this enemy attacks by charging you, and hurling footballs in your direction. Dinosaurs are a'plenty, there are several different types that serve as enemies, some will spit fire at you, while others will just walk blindly towards you.

Powerups: Mushroom Munching, Fire Spitting and Cape Whipping
Powerups have been a big part of Mario games ever since Mario's initial launch on the Nintendo, and Super Mario World has plenty of them to tend to your needs. This game brings back the classic powerups, like the Super Mushroom which turns Mario into Super Mario, he gains the ability to break blocks using the spin jump. Then there's the fire flower, with this nice little plant you gain the ability to toss fire balls at the enemies, a hit from a fireball can take out most of the weak enemies. Super Mario World isn't just about the old stuff, it introduces two new powerups to the franchise, one being the ability to ride Yoshi the dinosaur, after saddling up with Yoshi you can make Yoshi eat enemies and he can spit out certain objects, with the Yoshi wings powerup Yoshi gains the ability to fly. And finally, last but not least and certainly my favorite powerup is the feather, after touching a feather Mario sprouts a yellow colored cape that allows him to do the spin attack to kill enemies, but also grants him the ability to fly.

Much like in Mario Bros. 3, you select levels through a map, navigating the map is incredibly simple, you only really need to use the
directional pad and A button. The game is spread across 7 worlds, and there are 2 additional hidden worlds that aren't mandatory to complete, but can be done so for fun. There are a whopping 96 levels altogether, they are all spread throughout the 9 worlds. If you plan to totally beat this game it will take you a while, finding all the secrets is rewarding.

Speaking of secrets, this game is chock full of hidden secret exits and hidden levels. These secrets range from obvious, to a somewhat difficult to find, you'll kick yourself for not noticing some of these. These hidden paths add a little replay value to the game, after defeating Bowser you may want to go back and try to uncover these secret levels and paths. These secrets often open up shortcuts on the map screen, you could actually finish this game in just a couple of hours if you were to simply take all the shortcuts to defeating Bowser.

A new feature that also adds to the replay value of this game are the dragon coins, they were in the original version of the game, but they weren't found in every single level, well that has changed, in Super Mario World for the Gameboy Advance the dragon coins are included in ever single level of the game. The only problem with this is that I'm not one of those types of people that won't stop playing a game until they have everything, so this addition doesn't give me more of an incentive to play through the game again just to get the coins.

My Ratings For: Super Mario World

Graphics 8/10
The graphics look nice on the little Gameboy Advance screen, but there are some things that I think should have been at least slightly upgraded in the conversion. The first thing being the backgrounds, they looked nice 10 years ago, but are pretty bland when compared to those featured in modern side scroller games. I find myself wishing that Nintendo had given this game the mario Advance treatment, it doesn't look like
they even touched the graphics, and it would have been nice to play the game with even slightly enhanced graphics. Once you get past the fact that Nintendo didn't touch the graphics you'll realize that this game still looks pretty good, even though it's 10 years old. The level select map even looks nice, the worlds were created with great care, and the mode 7 effects are a nice effect to the game. Even though Golden Sun is the prettiest Gameboy Advance game to date, Super Mario World still stands on it's own, and offers the same graphical appeal that it did so many years ago.

The man that created Mario; Shigeru Miyamoto has been referred to as the most creative develper ever, and although the idea of a chubby plumber running around and stomping on monsters may not sound very innovative it is. Animation is fluid in this game, and the mode 7 style graphics allow for some impressive rotations to take place in the game, thankfully Nintendo developed the Gameboy Advance hardware with this very nice graphical style.

Colors are nice and vibrant, just like we like 'em. Each world has a different look to it, the Vanilla Dome area is dark and shiny, while Chocolate Island is made with the color of dark chocolate in mind, everything looks pretty nice. The Super Nintendo had an advanced color palette, as does the gameboy advance, this is pretty evident as it seems like the developers favored using bright cheery graphics to show off the world of Mario. The world is portrayed wonderfully, the bright colors may be the game's biggest draw graphically. All in all Super Mario World is an impressive package when it comes to graphics, but they really should have changed the appearance, I don't want them to totally redo the game's graphics, but simply add more detail to the backgrounds.

Story 3/10
Games in the Mario series have never been known to harbor excellent storylines, but that isn't even part of their draw. T
he element of having a good story is important in such games as RPGs, and maybe fighting games, but side scrollers don't depend on this element to sell well. The story is only mentioned once in the whole game, and I guarantee you that if you asked a bunch of random people what the storyline of Super Mario World was all about, they would simply reply with something like "Mario is on a journey to save the princess." I guess I really shouldn't have included this rating in this review, but I decided to stick with my formula. The storyline is weak, but this won't affect gameplay in the least.

Mario, Luigi, and the princess decide to take a well deserved vacation, their destination; Dinosaur Land. Upon arriving in this Dino inhabited world, Mario and Luigi leave the princess alone while they go and explore a little bit, but when they come back the princess is missing, this could only be the work of Mario's nemesis; Bowser the king of the koopas. Mario and Luigi start off in search of the missing princess, and thus their biggest adventure yet begins to unfold.

Control 8/10
The ease of control is very important in any side scrolling game, and in Super Mario World this aspect is just as important, thankfully the controls are responsive and easy to memorize. Nintendo encountered one main problem while mapping out the controls for this game, Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo made use of all but one button on the controller, but the gameboy advance is two buttons shy of the Super Nintendo controller. Nintendo had to designate one of the shoulder buttons for scrolling, and the other to the spin jump. Everything else is exactly how you'd expect it to be other than those 2 small differences. Controls are great, you will not have a problem maneuvering Mario throughout his journey to save the princess.

Sound 7/10
Super Mario World has an above average soundtrack, nothing really special, but just slightly abo
ve average. The main stage music is a bit dull, but the castles and ghost houses have great music, it really helps to set the mood in this game. Some songs have been slightly altered in the gameboy advance version, but I could just be not hearing things right. Let's just put it this way, I can think of better ways to spend my batteries then listening to this music, but a lot of people may disagree with me, if you played the Super Nintendo version then you've heard everything there is to hear, well except for the voice overs.

Sound effects are mediocre, and Nintendo decided to bring voice overs to the game, these can get pretty annoying just like in Mario Advance. Almost all of the sound effects from the original Super Mario World have returned, but a couple have been added. For example, Mario's jumping sound has been carried over, but Luigi has a different, new jumping sound than Mario. Still, nothing totally special here, just what you'd come to expect from Mario.

Multiplayer 5/10
Yep you guessed it, this game has multiplayer modes just like Mario Advance, but it's more than vaguely similar to the mode in Mario Advance, it's the same freakin game! That's right, Nintendo included the same multiplayer mode that was available in Mario Advance to Super Mario World. That's not too bad, but the multiplayer mode was never really fun to begin with, it would have been very nice if Nintendo had created a totally new Multiplayer experience with Super Mario World but we'll get over it. You didn't really buy this game for it's multiplayer mode, did you?

Fun Factor 9.5/10
This game is just as fun as it was 10 years ago, only now I can better appreciate it. I grew up with this game, and so how could I even think about not getting this game? Super Mario World is just what you need to have to make those long car rides fly by, and it's a pretty long game that you may come back to again and again
to get all the secrets. The replay value is pretty high too, I'm estimating that I have started from the beginning of this game about 20 times in my whole life, that's including the times on the gameboy advance and Super Nintendo. All in all this is a solid buy, unless you hate video games then you should like this title.

Overall Score: 9.3/10

Summary: