The same - but not the same... (Super Mario Advance (GBA))

Member Name: adidadi_young

Product:	Super Mario Advance (GBA)
Date:	31/07/01 (238 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's in the opinion, is it not?

Disadvantages: Might not appeal to many, they would prefer SMB3

Nintendo – what a company. Through all these years of just one official mascot, the games they make of this particular mascot are still going stronger than any other game right now (with rivals Sonic the Hedgehog and Lara Croft), and he just so happens to be a small American (with an Italian accent) plumber with red dungarees called Mario. The games Nintendo have made out of this Mario have been very good for bringing back good memories, if you have a low IQ and like games, well here it is:



___---===Nintendo History===---___

Donkey Kong: Mario’s pet (who is 4 times bigger and probably stronger) has kidnapped the princess for no reason! Rescue her! Jump over barrels of a variety of things to rescue her. It looks easy; but trust me, it’s one of the hardest games ever made.

Mario Bros.: You are suspended in an arena, which consists of 4 whole floors. There are 2 pipes at the top, 2 at the bottom. Enemies come from the top and you must kill them as quickly as possible. It goes in to many levels, each progressing harder and harder. 2 players can make it double the fun. This game is also on Super Mario Advance, alongside with Super Mario Bros. 2. This game is much improved, and is compatible with a 4-link Game Boy Advance; so 4 people can join in. With only 1 cart needed, too!

Super Mario Bros. (1985): The NES original. This is featured in my last opinion, so I won’t go into much more detail than this. I will say, however, that it’s good. Yes.

Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japan), The Lost Levels (US + EU) (1986): The names can get confusing, yes. This was a total remake of SMB1, but much, much harder. Recommended for the people who have only completed SMB1.

Doki Doki Panic (Japan), Super Mario Bros. 2 (US + EU) (1988): Look, I didn’t make these names, so stop complaining and figure it out. This is the main game in Super Mario Advance. I’ll be talking about this later.
r><br><br>Super Mario Bros. 3 (1993): This was one of the most successful Mario games to date. It has a lot of predictable things on it, but it’s so much better than that. Read my SMAS + SMW opinion.

Super Mario World (1994): This is, in my opinion, one of the best games ever. The gameplay is fantastic and the whole mood and atmosphere of the game is magical (Heh, I’m starting to forget that this list is information, not an opinion). It’s all in my opinion on my profile.

Super Mario Kart (1994): Unexpected from Mario veterans, this game is one of the most popular multiplayer games ever. It’s the best multiplayer game in my opinion (damn…).

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (1996): This is definitely the best in my opinion. How a SNES comes so far it’s unbelievable. Here you control Yoshi, and must set out to find baby Mario’s mysterious baby brother after an unexpected attack is received by the stork. Excellent.

Super Mario All-Stars (1996): SMB1 – 3 and the lost levels.

Super Mario 64: An introduction to the 64. You must collect the Castle’s stars and get rid of Bowser, who kidnapped the princess. I’m still playing it now.

Mario Kart 64: Guess.

Mario Party: A Mario board game on your 64.

And there is the Mario Land games, but let’s just say its Mario on the Game Boy.


Yes, ALL these games have remained among the most successful games ever. No wonder Nintendo are still going strong with what they are doing best (what with the GameCube still in production). Then, on the 22nd June, Nintendo created a tiny masterpiece; (and this one came out much earlier than I expected) this was called the Game Boy Advance. This tiny thing can play some damn good games. There was a lineup of several games; one of them was a Super Mario game which would have wanted to be relived 2 of the best games made, yet still 2 of the
most unpopular. This cartridge, tiny as it is, is called Super Mario Advance.



___---===Super Mario Advance Information===---___

I won’t go into the Mario Bros. game much, as it is not the main game, and most of it is explained in the history above. So, you plug in the cartridge, fresh from the plastic casing, which comes in a very nice looking box. You switch it on, satisfied that the batteries are new and will not run out. The small intro screen shows up, and 4 characters show on the screen. At first, you see Mario. Then Luigi, Peach and Toad. They walk across this screen, showing off their abilities to jump at the same time. They approach this red thing sticking out of the floor. Yes, it’s a vegetable. But wait. After a few seconds of hard pulling up, the Super Mario Advance screen is finally uncovered. ‘Press Start, you say?’ Do it then. You do all the usual, select Super Mario Bros. 2, start new game, and you choose 1 of the 4 characters.

Mario---
Mario is, in general, an all-round character. He’s good at running, jumping and digging. That’s all there is to say, really.

How does he make out overall then? Well, it’s:

Running = ****
Jumping = ****
Digging = ****

Told you.

Luigi---
Luigi. Mario’s brother (I think, and if he’s the oldest out of Mario, him and Wario I’ve no idea. Well, he’s a bit run of the mill when it comes to running; digging, too. In fact, he is so bad he just needs to compensate in another area of his ability. And guess what that is? Yes, that’s right – Jumping. He is the highest jumper of the game. So, out of 5, 1 being worst, 5 being best, this is how he shapes out in comparison.

Running = **
Jumping = *****
Digging = **

Good for some levels, * cough * for others.

Toad---
Like Luigi, he has some very good things, and some very bad. He is the
fastest of the lot; he’s like a damn cheetah. He can dig up with amazing strength; even the really big things only take him half a second. That’s his good point. Guess where he fails? Yes, this is starting to get very predictable, but I’ve wrote it and you will read for this Very Useful of which I deserve so, so much:

Running = *****
Jumping = **
Digging = *****

Toad is a damn good character, especially for the ‘experts’.

Peach---
Peach has the worst stats of all the characters. She is quite bad in all areas. In fact, when I put it into a table it turns out like this:

Running = ***
Jumping = **
Digging = **

Pretty bad, eh? Well, as you just guessed, there is some upside to it. A very high super jump maybe? Well, not quite. It in fact is, when you jump, and hold the jump button, you can hover for about 1.5 seconds. This is very handy, especially when used with the super jump. This trick makes Peach a very playable character, and is recommended by me for the beginners or just the parts of the levels with tricky jumps.

So, I can’t say who is the best – just who is the best for certain levels.

---The levels---
You start off on level 1-1. This is by falling, falling, falling for a long time until you enter the door. Then you are put in some grassy level, with a much-improved background, which this time moves at a different speed than you.

So, you have:

World 1 – Grass
Let’s call this Grass. It’s a grassy world, anyway. This world isn’t too difficult; it’s really good to get to know the game system, the main bad guys, the layout and the items you will come across.

World 2 – Deserts
The difficulty on this game can get cranked up quite quickly. This one features lots and lots of sand, purely because it is a desert land. There are also pyramids; it’s a desert after all.
Oh, and there is quicksand. The underground (or inside) parts of this world are mainly focused on digging sand, which each block takes as much time as digging up one vegetable. This level is, again, good for building up those skills and therefore helping to release your (yes, YOUR) potential of the gameplay. Lets move on, on to:

World 3 – Waterfalls
Waterfalls. It’s a lot like the Grassy area, but there a lot more outside areas in this world. There are a lot of waterfalls in the background, and there are quite a lot of high up places too. The difficulty level rises still, it’s almost at it’s hardest.

World 4 – Ice
This world is for a test of gameplay management and controls. Nearly the entire floor that you walk on in this world is icy, and you need a lot of control to get past them. There these annoying pink fluff balls that chase you mindlessly on the ice, don’t overestimate their IQ and just think of a good way past them. Good luck, you will be relieved of what you see if you make this!

World 5 – Grass 2
Looks the same as World 1 on the outside, but the difficulty level is saturated: it’s at its very hardest, especially the 3rd level. Also, you will notice that there are a lot of more underground sections on this world, and that can come quite annoying, as they do somehow tend to be annoying. Try your best, if you do well you won’t have too many problems in the next world, which is another revisited place:

World 6 – Deserts 2
Well, you can guess what this means. Enemies shooting and walking into you in a place with same, pyramids, nice backgrounds, quicksand, pipes and the pitfall of sand digging. Oooh, my back hurts! Get ready, once you get past this you will come across world 7, the last world in the game.

World 7 – Clouds
This world has only 2 levels. The first is surprisingly easy, compared to what you have faced on your journey.
Some new backgrounds and textures are introduced here, which can seem a relief. The second level is what makes up for no 3rd level. It is BIG, but don’t let that put you off. The reason for it being big is that there is a lot of secret paths in this. Well, 2 to my count. The level also splits in 2. These both meet up eventually, which you must face the evil king of this crazy world that you wound up in. Remember - don’t give up!

Well, that’s the levels. No conclusion needed, it’s all in there.

--- So, what happens when you complete this game? ---

Well, on the main screen, the sky goes red, A green Yoshi egg appears, and when you load a game you can pick a level (any level), and then you can go and seek out 2 hidden Yoshi eggs somewhere in the sub world (you will find out when you play it). This is a real challenge, given the fact that you must do the game with 1 life. Yes, 1 life (last night I did all the very last level, getting both eggs, and the batteries ran out on the last boss >_<). This gives the game major replay value.

Also, it is there for the first round of the game also, there are 5 ‘ace coins’ on each level. They aren’t exactly hidden, but it’s a good side challenge when you get sick of Yoshi eggs. Getting all 5 get you an extra life. When you get all of the coins, then you can feel happy about getting 100% completion of the levels.

--- Any other things you should know about? ---

Well, there is the multiplayer, but you can figure that out.

The graphics compared to the NES and SNES versions:

There are vast, vast improvements on this game. From the NES, there are unspeakable changes. From the SNES, there are bigger hearts (which are easier to collect and are not as damn rare), much better backgrounds than the SNES version, and when you do the super jump (which is executed by holding down for 2 seconds, then jumping) the characters mak
e this nifty back flip which makes you smile. Especially when you have played the SNES version. So, generally, the animations are improved, there are better visuals, there are clearer images, smoother textures… oh and they have put in some really, really big enemies. The detail on them makes you smile also. Great ^_^



___---===My Opinion of Super Mario Advance===---___

This game is fantastic. Yes, fantastic. It has so much detail in it is just too good to miss out. The people who like Mario All-Stars should also see this game; you will love how well they changed it, yet still make it the same game. And as it’s a GBA game, the cartridge size would be 4 cm x 2 cm x 0.5 cm (yes, it’s THAT small, it’s too small to be true) and you can play it wherever you go, provided it’s not water and you have batteries which work as well.

So, do you have a Game Boy Advance? You have this game? Well I sure hope you agree! You do have a Game Boy Advance? Not got this game? Well buy it, for adidadi_young’s sake! Not got a Game Boy Advance, but plan to buy one? Get it now you fool!

I hope I made my point clear enough, and I hope you had as much reading this as I did writing it. Have a nice day! ^_^