Super Mario Advance

Super Mario Advance is a remake of Super Mario Bros. 2 made for the handheld Game Boy Advance and released in 2001. Like the Super Mario All-Stars port for the SNES, Super Mario Advance had updated graphics, as well as many other changes from the original NES game, listed below. Of the four Super Mario Advance series ports, this game experienced the most changes from the original. A remake of the original Mario Bros. game was included with every Super Mario Advance game, including this first installment.

Gameplay changes

 * Starting the level, the player starts out with two hearts in the original and the SNES versions, while in Super Mario Advance, they start with only 1 heart filled out of 2 in the heart meter (when they get hit by an enemy while they have only one heart filled, they will lose a life).
 * The game can be saved after every level.
 * Hearts appear much more frequently than in the original. Whenever three or more vegetables or enemies are involved in a collision, a heart appears. Also, hearts can be pulled out of the ground, called Heart Radishes.
 * A point system has been added. Players get more points for making one thrown object hit lots of enemies. If enough enemies are hit, an extra life will be awarded.
 * In each level, there are five red Ace Coins. If all are collected, the player receives an extra life, and the level gets a star on it on the map screen.
 * Enemies no longer reappear after they are defeated unless characters reenter the area (even if they were previously in the Subspace).
 * When the game is finished, a new "Yoshi's Challenge" mode appears. Now, there are two eggs hidden in Subspace in each level, and the player must find and collect them all.

Level design changes

 * The beginning area in World 1-1, where the player starts before entering a door, has been redesigned, now featuring a giant Shy Guy and a strange hill that catapults when stood on.
 * Extra clouds were added in World 1-1.
 * The jar interiors have new music, and most of them have been redesigned, some featuring Shy Guys riding Ferris Wheel platforms.
 * Some 1-up mushrooms have been moved, and some are sitting on the surface, but not in the ground. The surface ones are usually contained within bubbles, which the player can pop by hitting it three times with an item.
 * An extra mushroom was added per level.
 * Carrots appear as items helping the heroes get to higher places.
 * Red Shells were made larger, and they now bounce off walls and yield hearts whenever they collide with enemies. They also now take longer to pick up, and appear in a few more levels. However, they can hurt players like in Super Mario games.
 * It is possible to remove Green and Red Birdo's Ribbon by jumping on them and picking it up; the player could either throw it away or put it back on Birdo by throwing it back at them. None of this had any effect on the Birdo aside from altering her appearance.


 * Giant Vegetables, enemies, and POW blocks were added.
 * The giant vegetables take a long time to pull out of the ground, but function normally otherwise (apart from having a larger area to hit enemies with).
 * The giant enemies take a long time to pick up, and whenever they are thrown or involved in a collision, they yield a heart.
 * The giant POW Blocks bounce several times, each time having the effect of a normal block.


 * More bosses were added in the game.
 * Robirdo, a new boss, replaces Mouser as the boss of World 3.
 * Mouser replaces Tryclyde as the boss of World 6. As a result, Tryclyde only appears once in the game.

Graphical changes

 * Some things in the game, such as the Subspaces, were completely changed in art, with both the graphics and music being dramatically changed for the areas within vases.
 * A circular character select screen is shown, instead of Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad having to line up in a row.
 * Luigi's overalls are now a similar color to Mario's; in the SNES remakes, they were purple.
 * Toad's shirt is now purple similar to Luigi in the SNES version.
 * Water gets a new design.
 * Touching a Spark will make the screen flash for a brief second.
 * When entering a door, the character is actually seen going through. In earlier versions, the character was caught in their current pose.
 * When the player throws the key down or loses a life, the pursuing Phanto exit the screen while moving forward, making them appear considerably larger than usual.

Textual changes

 * Slight changes were made to the game's storyline.
 * Fryguy and Clawgrip's origins are seen before the heroes battle them. Fryguy was a pair of eyes, while Clawgrip was a normal Sidestepper.
 * During the ending sequence, where Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad are standing before the crowd of Subcon Fairies, the number of times each character was used by the player only appears after Wart is passed across the screen. Also, the character used the most is declared the "MVP" instead of "Contributor" as in the NES and SNES versions.
 * Unlike the NES version, SNES version, and subsequent Super Mario Advance installments, the Super Mario Bros. 2 title screen is not displayed when the game is selected, instead immediately displaying the file selection, followed by the character selection screen.
 * Errors present in the original credits were corrected for Super Mario Advance.
 * Clawgrip is now spelled correctly in the cast list; in previous versions, it was misspelled as "Clawglip." The Japanese release of this game, however, does not have the error corrected.
 * Birdo and Ostro's names are now placed underneath the correct profile art during the credits, unlike the original or the Super Mario All-Stars version.

Audio changes

 * Voices for Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Toad were added, and an announcer shouts "Choose a player!" at the appearance of the character select screen.
 * Each time the character collects a cherry, he or she would say, "Lucky!" and the fifth one has an additional sound effect to indicate the Starman.
 * Phantos now make noises when they move around the screen.
 * Before battling a boss, he or she will say something:
 * Pink Birdo: "This is as far as you go!"
 * Mouser: "Here! Have some bombs!"
 * Red Birdo: "I'm going to finish you off!" and "You've come a long way!"
 * Tryclyde: "Step right up, if you're ready to get toasted!"
 * Robirdo: "You've come a long way!"
 * Fry Guy: "I'm too hot to touch!"
 * Green Birdo: "I'm ready for you this time!"
 * Clawgrip: "Arrr! You''ll make a tasty treat!"
 * Wart: "I am the Great Wart! Ha ha ha!"

Reception
Super Mario Advance received generally positive reviews, gaining a score of 84% on metacritic.

References to 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.

References in later games
For references also present in the original game, see here.
 * WarioWare: D.I.Y. Showcase: One of 18-Volt's Microgames is directly based on Super Mario Advance, entitled Mario Adv..

Staff
The directors for this game were Satoru Iwata and Masayuki Uemura, with Hiroaki Sakagami as the assistant director and Hiroshi Yamauchi as the executive director.

Glitches
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.