Super Mario Advance

Template:Articleabout Template:Redirectshere Template:Infobox Super Mario Advance (Japanese: スーパーマリオアドバンス Sūpā Mario Adobansu) is the port remake of Super Mario Bros. 2 developed by Nintendo Research & Development 2 as a launch title for the handheld Game Boy Advance, released in Japan in March 2001 and in North America and Europe in June of the same year. It is based on the Super Mario All-Stars remake for the SNES, and also contains a remake of the original Mario Bros. game. Advance includes many new features, gameplay mechanic changes, graphical and audio enhancements, and stylistic and aesthetic alterations from the All-Stars edition, with the most significant changes being the addition of the enemy Robirdo, a robotic Birdo, replacing Mouser as the boss of World 3; the addition of the "Yoshi Challenge", in which players may revisit stages to search for Yoshi Eggs; a new point-scoring system; multiple hit combos; enlarged sprites; and digital voice acting.

The game was re-released on the Wii U's Virtual Console in Japan on July 16, 2014, in North America on November 6 of the same year, and in Europe and Australia in March 2016.

Format

Changes to SMB2 from the All-Stars edition

The boss order is slightly altered: a new enemy named Robirdo, a robotic Birdo, acts as the new boss of World 3; and the second Mouser is moved to World 6, where he replaces Tryclyde. After the game is beaten, a "Yoshi Challenge" mode is added; the player may revisit the levels to search for two Yoshi Eggs per stage, hidden in Subspace where they replace two of the Super Mushrooms, and is allowed to select any level to play regardless of whether or not they played them before beating the final boss. An all-new point-scoring system is introduced, similar to that used in the BS Super Mario USA Power Challenge; players get more points for making one thrown object hit lots of enemies, and are awarded an extra life if they hit enough foes. Other new features in Advance come in the form of new items such as the Roulette (which gives the player a special item after being thrown) and the Spark Chaser (which clears every Spark in its path); the addition of five red Ace Coins per level, which reward an extra life if all are collected in a single play; changes in the placement of 1-Up Mushrooms; and changes in enemies' behavior so that they do not respawn unless the player leaves and reenters the area.

The game also features "giant" variants of vegetables, enemies, and POW Blocks, with enlarged sprites; the giant vegetables have larger areas of reach, and the giant POW Blocks bounce around and shake enemies off the screen four times as opposed to just once. Hearts (here resized) appear much more frequently than in the original; they appear whenever three or more objects are involved in a collision, are yielded by giant enemies, and appear as special radishes that can be pulled up from the ground. Digital voice acting is added for the four playable characters, who are given voice samples for such situations as being chosen, picking up items like Mushrooms or Crystal Balls, gaining an extra life, winning a level, and losing a life; and the bosses, who are given lines of dialogue for when they begin their respective battles and when they are defeated. Minor changes to the gameplay, graphics, and audio include the default health-meter level being altered so that players start each new life in Small form; the addition of a "Try Again" feature that allows the player to restart difficult levels from the beginning; a new background and an original music cue for the areas within vases; a three-dimensional circular character select screen similar to that used in Donkey Kong 64; the inclusion of a chime to announce Super Stars; and textual changes like Princess Peach reverting to her original Japanese name, correction of misspellings and the Ostro/Birdo mix-up in the international version of the credits, and the player who was used the most times being called the "MVP" instead of the "Contributor" in the ending.

Mario Bros. remake

The game features a Mario Bros. remake that carries over into the other Advance games and the RPG Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. The remake features a "Classic Mode" based on the original game's co-op mode, and a "Battle Mode" similar to that used in the All-Stars remake of Super Mario Bros. 3. Changes to the original game come in the form of enhanced graphics, the addition of music where it was originally absent, an extra POW Block in every stage, the addition of the Power Squat Jump, and the replacement of Shellcreepers with Spinies.

Development

Super Mario Advance was developed due to the success of Super Mario Bros. Deluxe for the Game Boy Color in America in late 1999. Despite the use of most graphical and audio assets from the All-Stars version, the game was coded from scratch; new sprites and audio cues were created because their existing counterparts were "not good enough". The development team purposefully decided to add "large" versions of enemies and increase the number of enemies on-screen as a means of highlighting the Game Boy Advance's processing power. The Mario Bros. remake was initially a separate project designed to experiment with the Game Boy Advance's link cable feature, but it was eventually decided to include it as an extra.

The main staff for this game includes directors Satoru Iwata and Toshiaki Suzuki, producer Masayuki Uemura, and assistant director Hiroaki Sakagami.

Reception

Super Mario Advance received generally positive reviews, garnering an aggregate score of 84% on Metacritic. When GameSpot reviewed the game, it thought that Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World would have been a better choice for a launch game considering their respective popularity; both titles were eventually also remade as part of the Super Mario Advance series. Conversely, IGN praised the choice, calling it "one of the most polished and creative platformers of the era".

References to and in other games

For references also present in the original game, see here.

• Mario Bros.: Clawgrip is revealed to be a Sidestepper. A remake of this game is included.
• WarioWare: D.I.Y. Showcase: One of 18-Volt's microgames is directly based on Super Mario Advance.

Glitches

Main article: List of Super Mario Advance glitches

• When playing World 2-2, World 3-1, or World 6-3 as Luigi, the player can pick up a Spark Chaser out of its vase, hitting a Spark at the top and trying to get to one side or the other in the process; once the player leaves the vase, the Spark Chaser becomes a Yoshi Egg, with no change in behavior.
• In World 2-3, if the player does a Power Squat Jump to the ceiling in the digging area with the Key in hand, their character can get stuck in the wall.
• In Fryguy's boss fight area, if the player slides underneath one of the Flying Mushroom Blocks and releases the down button the character's body will be stuck inside the block; the player can get out of it by sliding again.
• In World 5-1, if the player jumps on the rightmost log, jumps on top of the wall to the right, picks up the first mushroom block and throws it right before landing, the block will float in mid-air.

Gallery

• Prima Guide-SMA.jpg

  Prima Games official guide

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  Logo design

• Box JP - Super Mario Advance.png

  Japanese game cover