GAME REVIEW: SUPER MARIO ADVANCE

With the launch of the GameBoy Advance comes with it the new age of handheld games reminiscent of things seen before on the Super Nintendo, a very good time in console gaming history when some of the best 2-D based games were released. Super Mario Advance is a launch title, and with any new Nintendo there has always been a launch of Mario game. It's pretty much like bread and butter they go together. As you will see Super Mario Advance actually does little to be innovative.

Super Mario Advance looks very similar to the Super Mario All-Stars version with some new intros, occasional gameplay elements, and graphics added for good measure. I can't say that the two games are that much different. This has been done before, so don't expect anything overwhelmingly amazing. On a handheld though, I've never seen this level of color detail accompished. I also took note of the mult-layered scrolling backgrounds something again, I've not seen since the days of the Super Nintendo. The colors are very vibrant and clear, however the GameBoy Advance's lack of a backlit TFT really hurt this. I found myself dieing easily due to having a hard time seeing the graphics. It's not as bad as Castlevania Cycle of the Moon was, but it wasn't great. Why oh, why didn't Nintendo backlight the TFT screen?

The sound effects in the game are very familiar to players of Super Mario Bros 2 of course, to an extent, and I can't say that they even did anything to snazz up the music. It's still the same old ditty that's played for 13 years since the NES. I like the ragtime stuff, and think removing it from SMB2 would be sacrilage, but they could have at least added some more instrumentation to it and created a longer running piece of music out of what they had. No innovation at all, same old stuff, why? Where this game truly suffers is in the horrid annoyance of the voices and character noises that they produce in prolific excess. This is an addition that should NOT have been done. How many times can I hear "mama mia" and "ya - ha" and "lucky" and "here I go" I'm sorry but the constant repetition of those voice bits is plain annoying. It's of the same caliber as hearing a baby cry over and over again, it's just damn annoying! Why did they have to give a voice to the boss characters, a female "you're not getting past here" it's lame. The only recourse is to turn off the GameBoy Advance speaker (which is barely audible anyway). They really tried to impliment that dreaded Nintendo "cute" touch, and it just detracts from the smooth gameplay of the title.

The gameplay is about the same as it was since the NES days. The Princess still floats in the air for a couple seconds, Luigi can still jump the highest, Toad can still pull those vegetables quickly, and Mario is well, same old same old "no frills" guy he's always been in this game. The Princess is still the best character to play interestingly enough. Nintendo added some pointless jars scattered here and there that lead to rooms with spinning wheels that serve no purpose in the game. Super Mario Brothers 2 was always an easy game to pick up and play. It excelled in terms of gameplay and simple execution. It was certainly one of the NES's best platformers. Nintendo did manage to deflate a lot of the challenge of SMB2 by adding more 1-Up Shrooms and more ways to get 1-ups, which are pretty easy. They added a new "Super POW Block" (Big deal) that hops along the ground when you throw it. Also large turnips now act like Hearts. Once and awhile you'll encounter a large Shyguy. Everything is scored now, so there is always a running point total in the corner of the screen. Nothing innovative has been incorporated into the SMB2 experience involving the storyline, Wart is still the same, and it all ends the same. On the Super Mario Advance cartridge they added that antiquated and pointless Mario Brothers game with the one screen, the pipes, and the critters coming out of the pipes with a "POW" block in the middle. You know, I NEVER liked this game. It's boring, so why did Nintendo add it in lieu of another Super Mario Bros title?

Super Mario Bros 2's gameplay keeps you coming back for more, as it always did back in the eighties. It's a fun game to play, although very simple compared to today's standards, however it has that lasting appeal of just playing a enjoyable, simple to grasp, video game. You will likely play through Super Mario Bros 2 a couple times and finally get bored of it and put it away for a year and come back and so on.

To be honest I almost found this re-release of the same game to be an insult to gamers everywhere who were fans of the original Super Mario Brothers games. Why did they only choose ONLY Super Mario Bros 2 and that horrid Mario Bros game to put on this cart. They could have reproduced Super Mario All Stars no trouble, given us a Super Mario Bros, Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros 3, and maybe even Super Mario World in one cartridge. That would have been a good value and a good anthology of Mario classics, however those numbskulls at the big N dropped the ball again. Super Mario Bros 2 (All Stars Edition) was a great game the way it was, and the overcutsyfication of the game this time around is saddening. The voice overs are incredibly annoying. Why? The way I see it, Super Mario Bros Advance was a huge ca$h in. Nintendo didn't bother making a NEW Mario title for GameBoy Advance, and rehashed a classic, raping it for more dollars that it's worth at this point in time. Nintendo knows that all they have to do is put the words Mario or Pokemon on something and people will buy it no matter how uninspiring or unoriginal it is.