"Super Mario - advancing backwards"

Nintendo would just simply not be Nintendo if they did not have Mario. After all, our favourite plucky plumber has brought gaming satisfaction to millions when he was introduced to our hearts over 20 years ago. Every Nintendo system has had a Mario game to go along with it for its launch. The NES had Super Mario Bros. The SNES had Super Mario World. The N64 had Super Mario 64, and the Game Boy had Super Mario Land. Now what the situation here is - the premier game for the GBA is a Mario game that has already previously been released, and that of course is Super Mario 2 for NES. So would this have been such a good idea for Nintendo? Would some gamers find too much repetition and dislike it?

So Nintendo sticks with their choice and picks the SMB series oddball. Some people like this game better, some think it is worse, but in my opinion I just like it all the same along with the other games of the SMB series. It is a damn good remake, though - yet the similarities are too close to the Super Mario All-Stars version of SMB2. So this is not actually the first remake of Super Mario Bros. 2, but is the second. It has been an 8 year wait but what was new was very little in terms of quality, but for a handheld game with some very noteworthy additions to it that made it worthwhile for Nintendo to make this game in the first place, this game did not disappoint...

Oh, and let's not forget that there is also an added extra in the game! Yup, the old arcade ''classic'' version of Mario Bros. With your friends you will have a good time playing if you can be bothered spending the extra savings and get your GBAs all plugged together. The Mario Bros. remake certainly helped the game, because if it was not there, the lastability would certianly not be as long. So all these remakes were a good job, so a little more close look into the Super Mario Advance game...

The Storyline of the game...yep, it's all the same. Super Mario Bros. 2 had the most innovative storyline of the SMB series on the NES in my opinion. There's no Bowser in the game at all, and no kidnapped princesses to be rescued, kind of a relief since you do it in just about every other game that has Mario in it. Instead, it's about when Mario has this strange dream where he enters a dream world where its citizens are under a curse and he has to save them...later he goes for a picnic and discovers a cave, climbs some boring staircase, opens some boring door, and enters Subcon. Well, maybe it's not so interesting with nowadays' game storylines, but heck, every game needs a storyline, and for a game of its time it was suitable and decent.

The concept of the game is as we all know, different from the usual in the Mario series. You don't stomp your enemies to take them out or use Fire Flowers or punch blocks for coins or enter pipes nor nothing. Instead, you must fight the enemies by plucking up veggies, bombs, POW Blocks, or even other enemies and chuck them about and score direct hits to knock them out. This is because Nintendo of America took another game and transferred many of the things so it eventually looked like the Mario guys. Certainly a most unique game in itself and it's companion Doki Doki Panic.

The item transfer is also a big change from the usual Mario stuff. You have cherries, heart radishes (a new one in this remake), Subspace potion bottles, and the mushrooms have their looks changed. You get the chance to collect coins and play a Slot Machine game for extra lives and what's new is that you can increase your bets.

The levels are pretty cool too. Out of the 2D Mario games, Super Mario Bros. 2 had the largest and probably the most fun to play levels. They also have a different layout than usual. You're usually going through caves, the sky, through deserts, and you can have scenes where you're climbing several vines, digging through pits or blowing walls up in some desolated cavern. Even though the game's ageing a lot now, they're still cool to play through and enjoy, especially for you Super Mario Bros. 2 fans who enjoy this remake.

In this Bonus Round game, you can play with the coins you collect if you find any in a stage. You try to match up three of the slot pictures to gain extra lives and you can multiply your coin amount for a greater amount of 1-Ups. The slots have a smooth rolling animation and looks better than the other two in terms of graphical quality. If you like gambling, you'll enjoy this somewhat. It's nice to try out. It's just like the real thing!

Moving on. In the game you have four characters to progress through each level with. You've got Mario, the well rounded one, who can run, jump, and pick up vegetables all at average speeds so he's good generally anywhere you select him. Then there's Luigi, who's a bit on the slow and weak side, but his jump is amazing, so if you plan on climbing he's your man. Then there's Toad, the small Mushroom-headed dude, who can run faster than a bullet and pick up vegetables speedily, but has a jump so poor he couldn't do hurdles over a hamster cage. So what I'm saying here is that you have a good character for any situation, whether you be stuck in ice, desert, sky or ground.

Your strategy will depend on your characters, too. So this is one of the best factors that has been made for this game in all the versions and remakes it has ever seen, truth be told.

You've got some awesome enemies to be battling here. Each enemy is different and has a unique way of trying to dispose your characters, and this is a good factor for the gameplay. There's some new enemies, and the difficulty and challenge of the bosses is also something that will keep you dug in for a good, solid while. The way you fight them is still the same, but you can now accumulate points when you fight them, another new feature that was an improvement over the original.

The many other various changes were recognisable in Super Mario Advance. The characters have voices to match their situations. Maybe some humorous the first time round, but Nintendo didn't take it that far. The sound was something that was worse I thought, since it's toned down due to the small speaker on the Game Boy Advance. I'm not sure if Nintendo could have improved this or not, but it's still something decent truth be told. You also get to save your files and have a progress record of the coins you find and stuff.

The Mario Bros. mini-game is probably the best new feature (apart from the SMB2 game itself =P). It's a game that repeats and repeats the same level (or ''phase'', as Nintendo named them) but gets tougher as you progress on. It's certainly very addicting, but in terms of gameplay it doesn't compare to SMB2. But hey, it's the minor part of the game. You have to kick out all the enemies by bumping them from beneath and touching them, or use the POW Block to wipe them all out at once. The added feature of being able to perform the SMB2 Super Jump wasn't much of significance, but a fair improvement. The Bonus Rounds are fun to play and has great music, so this is enjoyable and addicting for a good while.

The controls of both Super Mario Bros. 2 and Mario Bros. are great. Since there aren't that many buttons and it's a 2D game, they're easy to get used to and utilise, and your characters are very versatile for when you make performances with the controls. The game involves a lot of precision and accuracy and a good strategy, and if you're a strategy game fan, then this will be a good feature for you.

The graphics of this game are great. Like Super Mario All-Stars, there are some great character models with good looks, and the GBA system did display some awesome graphics for such a tiny screen. The character selection menu looks a whole lot better with the turntable with the characters on and actually looks like it is displaying distance from the character in front and the character behind. The animation is superb and very smooth, and this is another of the great things about the game.

The music sounds pretty much as good as it did in Super Mario All-Stars, but the tone-down disappointed me and some of the sound effects were horrible. The voices suited the characters well, but the same phrases and voices all the time get on your nerves if you hate that sort of thing. But it was a good improvement, but overall, I liked the All-Stars version just a tad more. Overall, however they still stayed pretty good.

In terms of replayability, you may be hooked to this game a long while, you may not. You can try to get all Ace Coins, 100%, or just have a plain old bash at completing the game. There are lots of extra challenges to try that will keep you in longer than the other versions of Super Mario Bros. 2, and the Mario Bros. mini game also helps as well, so for a good few hours you'll be kept playing but maybe not for a very long while. It depends on what kind of a gamer you are, in my honest opinion.

So in an overall summary, this game has a great amount of potential, and it was worthwhile for this remake, but all in all, I'd still be happy with the Super Mario All-Stars version of the game, truth be told. The many new features make this game a lot more enjoyable than it was, but at the same time there are also some added flaws. It's definitely worth a purchase for a Mario game collection, or even just a rent to try it out or if you already have SMB and don't want to bother wasting your money on yet another version that wasn't that much different from the original Super Mario Bros. 2. A great game overall and was certainly that great to play - until Super Mario Advance 2 came along!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/09/04