Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3

"This game is off the hook..."

Introduction: Super Mario Bros. 3 is often hailed as the pinnacle of the Mario series. The original Super Mario Bros. 3 for NES smacked the shelves of stores in February 1990, and sold fifteen million copies, making it quite possibly the best-selling game of all time. Recently, Nintendo has been remaking classic Mario titles for the awesome Gameboy Advance, and after a two-year wait, they finally released the best-selling Mario game onto the console, under the guise of Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3. As its name suggests, Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 is a remake of the NES classic, revamped with lush graphics that is of SNES quality, SNES quality sound, and more. Was the two-year wait for the remake worth it? You bet it was!

Gameplay: Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 has some of the smoothest gameplay mechanics in a platformer to date. The game is nearly fourteen years old, and it controls better than a lot of the newer games we get for the latest-generation consoles! The game features a robust suit system, which was a revolutionary idea back in 1990. Mario and Luigi has several new suits at their disposal, which will no doubtly help them on their quest. The Tanooki Suit will enable Mario/Luigi to fly with the help of a raccoon tail. This suit also gives them the ability to transform into an invincible statue for a few seconds. The Frog Suit will help the brothers swim much more fluidly in an underwater environment, however, on land the Frog Suit hinders their movement to a certain extent. Each suit has their pros and cons. Along with the new suits, are a few new items, such as the P-Wing, which will max out the P-Meter, allowing the brothers to fly indefinitely. These are just a few examples of all the powerups in the game. The Mario Bros. controls flawlessly. They move whenever you make them; they are not sluggish. If you fall into a bottomless pit, it's because of an error on your part, not because the controls messed up. The controls are tight, and responsive. You will never have any trouble controlling the brothers, which is a good thing.
Score: 10/10

Graphics: Since Super Mario Advance 4 is based on a NES game, the graphics had to be spruced up quite a bit in order for the game to be up to SNES quality graphics. And I'd say they did a great job! Super Mario Advance 4's graphics are very nice. Each of the eight worlds look stunning. Backgrounds with detail and texture replaced the one-color backdrops found in the original title. The Mario Bros. are more detailed than before; you can actually see the differences between the two. Before, you could only tell each brother apart by looking at the color of their overalls. Blue and red equals Mario; blue and green equals Luigi. In the remake of the classic, however, the two brothers sports different characteristics, which helps to give them more personality. Mario is shorter and more stubby than his brother; Luigi is taller, and slimmer. Voice-overs were added into the game as well, and each brother sounds different than the other. Their overalls are more detailed, as well as their faces. To sum it up, the graphics of the game are very, very nice. As a matter of a fact, they look better than Super Mario World's graphics.
Score: 10/10

Sound/Music: All I can say is.... wow! They really did a great job in this department! Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 not only looks awesome, but sounds awesome as well! There are several different sound effects in the game, and all of them sounds very nice. The Mario Bros. jump sounds were replaced with the one from Super Mario World, though, as well as a few other sound effects, such as the one you hear when you go through a tunnel. But, that still doesn't change the fact that the sounds sound great. The music... the music is off the hook! I'd forgotten how catchy the tunes in this game are! The tunes are in fact, very catchy, and you'll no doubtly find yourself whistling, humming, or even thinking of one of tunes in the games frequently. The music have been upgraded to SNES quality as well, and it sounds better than the NES version. Each of the eight worlds' Overworld themes are well done, and all very catchy, especially Worlds 3, 4, and 6! Yes, the tunes in the game sounds great. In an underwater level, you may hear a majestic, relaxing tune playing in the background. When you're on an Airship, you will hear a tense, action tune to get you in that kind of mood. These tunes are definitely some of the best music I've heard in any Mario game.
Score: 10/10

Story: The story for this game is fairly good. Nowadays, it's falls into the category of a ''been there, done that'' type of story, but back in 1990, when the game was originally made, it was pretty good, especially for a Mario game. The Mushroom Kingdom has been at peace since the Mario Bros. rescued the Princess from the clutches of the evil Bowser. But, the peace did not last. Bowser's kids invaded the worlds of the Mushroom World, and proceeded to steal the Magic Wands from the kings of each world, then they turned the kings into animals! As animals, the kings obviously did not have the brainpower necessary to run their kingdom, and as a result, a state of calamity began to rise. The Mario Bros. is called into action, their goal being to retrieve the seven Magic Wands from each of the seven Koopa Kids, and restore the kings back to their original form. Of course, this won't be as easy as it sounds... The story was nothing special, but it set the mood for the game. Besides, a Platforming game such as this doesn't need an ubergood story. After all, the focus is on excellent, addictive gameplay, not a story of Hollywood quality.
Score: 7/10

Difficulty: People who have played this game thousands of times on their NES will not have any trouble getting through this game. However, if you've never played the game before, then the game may give you a bit of a challenge, or it may not. It all depends on the person playing the game. Some people are naturally good at playing video games; these people are likely to have no trouble getting through the game on their first time playing through it. Others who aren't so good at video games may have a tough time getting through it. The game is fairly challenging in some worlds and levels. It isn't too hard of a game, though. It easier than many other games out there, but that doesn't mean it's a pushover, because the game does have its moments of difficulty and challenges.
Score: 6/10

Playtime/Replayability: Hmm... Super Mario Advance 4 is fairly long, but it isn't extremely long, though. The game features eight worlds, each with at least six levels, one fortress, and an airship. However, the game's levels are on the shorter side. They aren't quite at lengthy as other Mario titles such as Yoshi's Island, or Super Mario World, but they aren't ridiculously short, either. Usually, there are more than one way to complete some of the levels, so that helps to make them more interesting. Also, there are ninety levels in the game, which is a lot of levels. Back in the days of 1990, the number of levels were jawdropping, and today, they still manage to impress those who have never played the game before. As was the case in the Difficulty section, Playtime depends on the person playing the game. An experienced player will have no trouble beating the game in two days or less. The person who aren't so skilled in video games will probably take about two weeks or so to beat it, maybe longer. It all depends on the person. As for Replayability, I'd say the game is very replayable. Although you don't open up any secret worlds upon beating the game, you will want to go through each world and beat every level for 100% completion. After you do that, you will then be able to replay any level in any world at any given time, as much as you please. The sheer fun of this game is the main thing that'll keep you coming back to play it again and again. The game is just so fun, it's unbelieveable! Super Mario Advance 4 is more fun than several of the new-school titles for the home consoles, believe it or not. You will enjoy just playing through the game over and over again, beating the many levels in many different ways, and thinking up new challenges to conquer. Also, if you have another Gameboy Advance (SP), a E-Reader, and a link cable, you can unlock brand new levels in the all-new World E! This boosts the already high replay value even higher! Once you're finished beating the original game, you can swipe the level cards into the E-Reader to unlock the new levels, and play through them. As long as Nintendo keep producing cards for the game, you can keep unlocking more and more new levels! For a game of this genre, replayability is surprisingly high!
Score: 10/10

Final Recommendation - Rent or Buy? BUY! You must buy this game! Don't even waste time renting it; you will not want to return the product when it's time, and when you do, you will miss the game very much. So, do yourself a favor and go buy the game. You won't regret it, I promise you!

FINAL SCORES -
Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound/Music: 10/10
Story: 7/10
Difficulty: 6/10
Playtime/Replayability: 10/10
Overall score: 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/20/04