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

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List of changes from previous versions

Gameplay changes

Mario finding the first hidden Yoshi Egg, as part of the "Yoshi's Challenge."

• The player starts each life in Small form instead of Super form, as in the original and the SNES versions.
• The player can save their game and continue or quit at any point during a level by selecting the option on the pause menu.
• A "Try Again" feature has been added to the pause menu; this allows the player to restart the level from the beginning, also resetting their score and any collectibles that they obtained before restarting, as well as reverting the character to their Small form.
• Hearts appear much more frequently than in the original. Whenever three or more vegetables or enemies are involved in a collision, a heart appears. Items called Heart Radishes can also be pulled from the ground.
• 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 is awarded.
• Roulettes have been added. These balls give the player a bomb, heart, or Starman after being thrown.
• A new Spark Chaser item can be found in some vases. It can be used to clear Sparks on the walls, ground, and ceiling.
• 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 leave and reenter the area (even if they were previously in Subspace).
• After the game is beaten, a new "Yoshi's Challenge" mode appears. In this mode, there are two eggs hidden in Subspace in each level, in the locations of two Super Mushrooms, and the player must find and collect them all. Additionally, the player is free to select any level to play in this mode.
• In Worlds 1-1 and 1-3, large carrots spring from under hills to help the heroes get to higher places.
• Some vases have a large blue spike that is harmful when touched. While animated, it doesn't move from its location.
• Red Shells are larger, and 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 other 2D Super Mario games.
• It is possible to remove the green and red Birdo's ribbon by jumping on them and picking it up; the player can either throw it away or put it back on the Birdo by throwing it back at them. None of this has any effect on the Birdo aside from altering her appearance.
• Giant Vegetables, enemies, and POW Blocks have been added.
  • The giant vegetables take a longer 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 longer time to pick up, and whenever they are thrown or hit, they yield a heart.
  • The giant POW Blocks bounce several times, each time having the effect of a normal POW Block.
• The bosses were changed around a bit.
  • 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.
• An extra Mushroom is added to each level.
• Some 1-up Mushrooms have been moved, and some are sitting on the surface; these ones are usually contained within bubbles, which the player can pop by hitting it three times.
• It is possible to bet more than one coin in the Bonus Chance game. Also, if no coins are collected in a stage, the "No Bonus" message appears the instant the Bonus Chance screen is displayed, rather than until the start fanfare finishes.

Level design changes

• The beginning area in World 1-1, where the player starts before entering a door, has been redesigned, now featuring cloud platforms, a giant Shy Guy and a strange hill that catapults when stood on. The door leading to the next part of the level has also been moved up, onto a hill.
• The jar interiors have new music, and most of them have been redesigned, some featuring Shy Guys riding Ferris Wheel platforms.

Graphical changes

• Some things in the game, such as Subspace, were completely changed in art, with both the graphics and music being heavily changed for the areas within vases.
• A "3D" circular character select screen is used (similar to Donkey Kong 64's Tag Barrels), instead of having Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad lined up in a row.
• Luigi's overalls and Toad's vest have swapped colors from the All-Stars version.
• 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 a key or loses a life, the pursuing Phanto exits 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. Four giant bubbles transform them before their fights.
  • During the ending sequence, where Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad are standing before the crowd of Subcon people, 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 games, 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.
• Please Select Player is now Choose a Player. However, the Japanese version omits this change and instead says Please Select Player.
• The cast list was changed a bit:
  • In the Japanese version, Toad is named Kinopio, unlike the NES or SNES versions. This is applied for the whole of the game.
  • Clawgrip, Hoopster, and Tryclyde are now spelled correctly; previously, they were misspelled as "Clawglip", "Hoopstar", and "Triclyde," respectively. The Japanese release of this game, however, does not have the errors corrected.
  • Birdo and Ostro's names are now placed underneath the correct profile art, unlike the original or the Super Mario All-Stars version. However, Birdo's name wasn't changed in the Japanese version.
  • Robirdo was added in-between Fryguy and Clawgrip.

Audio changes

• Voices for Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, and the bosses 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 Super Star.
• Phantos now make the same noises as the larger Phanto in the background of the key rooms as they move around the screen.
• Bosses speak before and after battle:
  • Pink Birdo says "This is as far as you go!" or "Well, hello there." when met, "No!" when hit, and "I'll remember this!" upon defeat.
  • Mouser: "Here! Have some bombs!" when met, "Hagadadada!" when hit, and "No way!" when beaten.
  • Red Birdo and Robirdo: "I'm going to finish you off!" or "You've come a long way!" when met (exclusively the latter for Robirdo), "Uhhh!" when hit, and "How could you?!?" upon defeat.
  • Tryclyde: "Step right up, if you're ready to get toasted!" when met, "Yow!" when hit, and "Impossible!" when beaten.
  • Fryguy: "I'm too hot to touch!" when met, "Owowowowow!" when hit, and "Too hot to touch!" when split up.
  • Green Birdo: "I'm ready for you this time!" or "You've got a lot of nerve!" when met, "Uwaaa!" when hit, and "Heeeelp..." when beaten.
  • Clawgrip: "Arrr! You'll make a tasty treat!" when met, "Owowowowow!" when hit, and "Arr! You got me!" when beaten.
  • Wart: "I am the Great Wart! Ha ha ha!" when met, "Grr, ribbit!" or "Ah, ribbit!" when hit, and "No! Ribbit...No...auuughh...aahh..." when beaten.

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 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.
• In World 6-1, if the player navigates the Pokey off of the ledge, it will float in mid air, with no change in behavior. The player can navigate the Pokey back onto the ledge.

Gallery

• Prima Guide-SMA.jpg

  Prima Games official guide

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  Logo design

• Box JP - Super Mario Advance.png

  Japanese game cover

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  The title screen for the Mario Bros. remake, featuring Mario and Luigi with the enemies they encounter in-game.