Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3

"A good port that brings back the memories."

Like many people who remember the SNES version of the game, this GBA port brings back some memories. The original, SNES version of Yoshi's Island was easy to learn, fun, and memorable. So what is the GBA version like?

Story (7/10) - Bowser just can't resist trying to mess up the Mario Bros.’ day somehow, can he? It seems that he’s decided to kidnap one of the baby Bros., instead of Princess Toadstool this time (who doesn’t even seem to be born). In the opening sequence, we see one of the babies being snatched from a stork by the evil Magikoopa Kamek. The other baby falls to the open sea, accompanied by a map, but, luckily, lands on Yoshi’s back. (Good thing, too, otherwise Nintendo would have a hard time saying that this could be considered a prequel to all of the other Mario games.) Yoshi decides to show the baby to his friends, and the adventure begins. Pretty simple story, but it’s not worth slamming because of its simplicity.

Gameplay (9/10) - Yes, I hear you screaming, “How can you give this a 9 out of 10?!” Well, it’s simple: I simply write a 9, followed by a slash, followed by a 10. But seriously, I feel that it deserves a 9. Why? The inclusion of the classic Mario Bros. game yet again hampered my enjoyment of the game a bit. Also, sometimes the reaction times on the GBA felt a little slower than they did on the SNES, but it might be just me. Bad things aside, this game is, in a word, fun. Everything I knew (and loved) from the SNES version is here, right down to the watermelons. Remember the transformations? They’re here. Every single one of them. “What about the bosses?” All here, looking identical to their SNES counterparts. “What about all of the levels?” All of them are here, too, including all of the secret levels, which require a perfect score on each level of a world to unlock. If there’s one thing that never gets old, it’s gameplay. Unfortunately, the included classic Mario Bros. game does, and that’s the only thing that detracts from the entire game. Unless, of course, you enjoy the way the Mario Bros. battle mode played to an insane extent, playing it hour after hour. Then you won’t tire of it.

Graphics (10/10) - This deserves a 10, no matter what anyone says. The graphics have been ported exactly, with just some minor alterations here in there. In fact, they’re so minor that you’ll forget about them. The only thing that bothers me is what happens when you ride a log through lava - it doesn’t look as good as the SNES version did, and the SNES version didn’t slow a little. Oh well. That’s nothing to cry over, though, because the rest of the game, with its “hand-drawn” graphics, is just great to look at. Not really realistic, but neat.

Sound (8.5/10) - As with the SNES version, the sound is pretty well done. The one catch here, like with Super Mario Advance 2, is the addition of voices. If you thought Baby Mario’s crying was annoying on the SNES version, it’s just as annoying here, only now we get a new addition: Yoshi makes the same sounds he made in Yoshi’s Story when he jumps! It might even make you want to turn your GBA’s volume down a bit. Another thing is that, while it’s true to the original, some of the music sounds like it has a bit of static to it. This might just be the GBA’s speaker, but it can be a bit annoying if you’re trying to listen to the songs. Speaking of music, the music is pretty good. It ranges from happy and upbeat in the outdoor worlds to mysterious in the caverns to darker in the forts and castles. In fact, a couple of the songs that I couldn’t get out of my head are back, and they’re STILL stuck in my head!

Replayability (7/10) - I felt I had to mark this down a bit, simply because of the fact that I don’t know how many people are going to try and get perfect scores on every level, both regular and hidden. Sometimes it is too hard, and it may discourage the average gamer. There also isn’t much else to keep playing the game for, except the classic Mario Bros., and even then you may tire of that. Of course, you could go for the 100% on all of the levels for bragging rights, but there isn’t much else to do after that.

Buy or Rent? - I recommend buying it, unless you feel content with the SNES version, should you own it. However, if you’d like your Yoshi on the road, then by all means buy it.

A classic, solid port that deserves a nine out of ten.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/02/03, Updated 05/02/03