Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3

"Now the best NES game is on the GBA."

Now that we are in the era of 3D gaming, I must admit that the torch has been passed. Back in the NES days, Mario games were my favorite. Now of course I like Zelda games better nowadays, but I still believe that Mario games from the 2D era were better. Super Mario Bros. 3 was my favorite of the bunch. Now that Nintendo has released it on the GBA, it gives me a chance to play Mario 3 all over again, and relive the glory days all over again. Super Mario Advance 4:Super Mario Bros. 3 may be a mouthful to say, but it is a perfect port of quite likely the best 2D game ever created.

Mario games from the NES era were all in 2D, and the basic gameplay was simple. Mario had to jump on the enemies heads in order to defeat them. Mario can also use fireballs, hammers, and the tail from his raccoon suit to defeat enemies as well. In order to acquire those weapons, Mario needs to find power ups. That is the other aspect of 2D Mario games, the power ups. Mario starts out very small, but by using a mushroom, he can grow bigger. In addition finding a flower will give you fire power. Finding a raccoon suit, frog suit, and hammer suit will allow Mario to use different weapons and techniques. A star will allow Mario to become invincible. Mario 3 is a bit easier than Mario 1 or Mario 2, but there is still a decent challenge to the game.

The story is always top notch in Mario games, and Mario 3 may have the best one of them all. This time around, the Mushroom Kingdom has been invaded by Bowser. He has sent his seven children, Larry, Morton, Wendy, Iggy, Roy, Lemmy, and Ludwig to steal the seven magical wands from the kings of Grass Land, Desert Land, Water Land, Giant Land, Sky Land, Ice Land, and Pipe Land. Each of the Koopa kids has transformed each one these kings into a different animal. It's Mario and Luigi's job to stop each of the Koopa kids, and then Bowser himself. Of course, any gamer can just simply find one of the three warp whistles, and warp right to Bowser's level, but if you do that you're missing the meat of the game, and lots of it's charm.

The graphics have clearly improved in the three NES Mario games. Mario 1 had basic early style NES graphics. Mario 2's graphics were more colorful with better detail. However, with Mario 3, the graphics have been redone so well that it blows almost any NES game out of the water. All of the over world maps have simple backgrounds, and have a nice charm to them. Even Mario himself is very detailed on the over world map. The stages however have very nice backgrounds, but were given an even bigger overhaul when they were ported to the GBA. Mario has better detail, and it seems Nintendo has simply used the SNES version of Mario 3 instead of the NES version for the GBA port.

The music in this game is the best in any Mario game. First, all of the over world maps have nice catchy tunes, especially Grass Land. As for the stages themselves, there are two music versions, a fast and a slow song. The music of each stage itself will determine which song is in each stage. Also for underground levels, there is a nice remix of the Mario 1 underground theme. The fortress and the airship music are also quite catchy. Then we have the boss music. It's fast paced, and gives you a pumped up feeling when battling bosses.

Replay value is definitely in Mario 3. First the game is very fun, and you will want to play it more than once. Second, going threw this game itself does take quite a long time. In fact this game is about the size of Mario 1 and 2 put together. It might even be bigger than Mario World. One nice feature that is put into the GBA version of Mario 3 is that you can save anytime. That feature wasn't present in the original NES version. This makes it easier to play threw the entire game, something I wasn't able the do in the NES version.

So why should you buy this game? First of all this is the game that I believe made the NES a true hit. But that really isn't the reason. Buy it because it is one of best games ever created. Buy it because it is a game anyone in the house can enjoy. Buy it because Mario 3 is the most successful Mario game to date. Buy it because this game is the reason the NES was so successful. Buy it because this game can show gamers everywhere why Mario became a star. Yes, I know that Mario 64 and Mario Sunshine are more graphically impressive games, but Mario 3 is the best Mario game ever created. Believe me there are indeed gamers out there that only know of Mario in 3D. Well, now a new generation of gamers can enjoy the games that made Mario a star. Now if only they would do a 3D Mario game with the Koopa kids.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/31/05, Updated 02/01/05