Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3

"Who is that creeping around?"

Why, it's none other than Yoshi! The old SNES game is back, this time on GBA.

Story
A stork is flying in the sky, with baby twins in his bill. These twins are the Mario brothers, on their way to meet their parents. But suddenly, a Magikoopa on a broomstick races toward the bird. He snatches the twins, but unknown to him, he accidentally drops one. The baby falls down below. Who is this Magikoopa? What is his deal? Well, his name is Kamek. He sensed that in the future, the Mario brothers would stand in the way of the Koopa Kingdom. When Kamek returns to his kingdom, he takes a look at the sack, and finds only one baby. Outraged, he orders his toadies to find the other baby and bring it back to him. Meanwhile, the other baby, falling from the sky, lands on the back of a Yoshi. Then falls a map. The baby is on Yoshi Island, where the Yoshis live peacefully. With this mysterious baby, the Yoshis start to panic, but soon discover something about the baby. It can sense the location of it's twin. This baby is Super Mario, and the twin is Luigi. So, with the map in hand, the Yoshis agree to set off in search of the other baby human. But there is danger everywhere, so they must be careful.

Controls
Easy to understand, and entertaining. Most of them, that is. Pressing left or right on the control pad will move Yoshi left or right, pressing it up in front of a door allows you to enter it. Press up and the A button brings you inside pipes just over your head. Press it down to duck or enter pipes below Yoshi. Holding up or down also allows you to scroll around. Start button. It pauses the game, and brings you to the pause screen. Press select for the status screen. Now for something quite fun, the R button. Press it to bring out the aiming cursor. To deactivate it press down on the control pad. In Patient Style, press the R button twice to launch an egg where the cursor is pointing. In Hasty Style, just release the R button to throw one of your eggs. While you have the cursor moving around, press the L button to stop it. The cursor is now locked. Great for aiming your eggs. The A button makes Yoshi jump, if you hold it, Yoshi will hover for a while. If you are in the air, press down on the control pad to Ground Pound. Press the B button to stick up your tongue and eat something. This can be aimed up or to the sides. If you have an enemy in Yoshi's mouth, tap down to make it into an egg. Alternatively, if the enemy is in Yoshi's mouth, press B to spit it out. Eat some watermelons and other fruit for a special attack. You can bring up Sleep Mode anytime you want.

Gameplay
In most of the levels, you must direct Yoshi to a circle entitled GOAL. While making your way toward that goal, if you allow an enemy to touch Yoshi, baby Mario will fall off Yoshi's back. Mario will be engulfed in some sort of bubble, and float around. A timer goes off, the length of the time depends on how many stars you have. Nab the baby before the time runs out, or the toadies will snatch the baby. Now for more on these stars. Hit a winged cloud to make stars fall. Catch these stars to increase your timer. It's already set at ten when you start a level. Halfway in a stage is the middle ring. Jump through this to save there in case you fail, and must start over. Instead of starting from the beginning, you will start from that ring. It also increases your timer if Yoshi passes through it. Now about the eggs. These are Yoshi's main weapon. Green eggs are just for bashing the enemies. If you hit an enemy with a yellow egg, you will receive a coin. A red egg gives you two stars, and a flashing egg gives you a red coin. The enemies will be easy in the beginning, but harder over the course of the game. Not all of them can be defeated. There is also another game to play. That's right, good old Mario Brothers. But we wont get into that.

Items
First, we have the coins. They are gold, and easy to spot. Collect 100 coins to receive an extra life. You'll also be looking for red coins. There are 20 red coins in each stage, and they will help increase the score at the end of the level. There are also five large smiling flowers in each stage. Lots of points there. A message block is a white square with a face on it. Bop these for hints and tips. Hit an arrow cloud with an egg to send the egg flying in the direction of the arrow. Sometimes you will find a locked door. To open it you must find a key. Once you have the key, press up on the control pad to unlock the door and walk in. Red switch blocks will show you hidden objects and other surprises when stepped on. If Yoshi eats a green watermelon, he can spit out seeds. If he eats a red watermelon, he spits out fire. If he eats a blue watermelon, he spits out ice. If you see a lone star bouncing around with no face on it, this will power up baby Mario. He'll be invincible for a while. Hit a POW Block to transform all enemies to stars.

Mini-Battles
If you find a mini-battle, you'll play a little game for an item. Throwing balloons, popping balloons, spitting watermelon seeds, or gathering coins. In Throwing Balloons, you have to press the buttons in the order they appear at the top of the screen. If done correctly, Yoshi will toss the balloon over to the thing in black clothing. In Popping Balloons, you must Ground Pound more balloons than the guy in black. Spitting Watermelon Seeds is a fun one. Yoshi will eat a watermelon, and spit out the seeds at the bad guy, who will do the same. Whoever is defeated first loses. In Gathering Coins, simply collect all the falling coins before the bad guy does.

Yoshi's Forms
While Yoshi is walking around, there will be a morph bubble every once in a while. In the center of the bubble is a picture of what Yoshi will morph into. If the picture is a helicopter, Yoshi will transform into a Yoshi-Helicopter, and thus, he can now fly around. If the picture is a submarine, you are now Submarine-Yoshi, traveling in the water and shooting torpedoes. Yoshi can also transform into a Mole Tank, to burrow through the ground. He can become a car, and tiptoe. The last form is a train, and he can follow tracks while speeding up with this transformation. Hit a Yoshi block when you're done moving around, and you will turn back into Yoshi.

Bonus Challenges
At the end of most stages, you will find the goal roulette. There will be up to five flowers on it, depending on how many you found in that stage. Jump through it, and it will start moving. If the roulette stops on a blue circle, you get nothing. If it stops on a flower, you get to play a bonus stage! Either that or an item of some sort. As for the bonus stages, one of them is Flip Cards, where you choose one of the eight cards shown to receive the item on the other side. If the card has a picture of Kamek on it, you loose. Scratch and Match is another bonus, where you scratch three of the seven blocks. You will be wanting the blocks to show pictures of baby Mario, for extra lives. The slot machines are pretty obvious. With that you'll win a 1-up, 2-up, or 5-up. There are also more bonuses, but you'll have to find them.

Sound
The music was cheerful and full of life when it needed to be, and dark when it needed to be. It matched the settings well. The sounds Yoshi made where also fine, and the baddies too.

Graphics
Great graphics, nothing was messed up. Everything looked great.

Conclusion
Great game, any Mario fan should have it. It will keep most gamers occupied for a long time.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/18/03, Updated 06/18/03