Super Mario World for Gameboy Advance

Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 is a port of the Super Nintendo classic Super Mario World, which was bundled with the Super NES when the system was released in 1991. Although little has changed in the remake, the eleven years which have passed mean that a whole new generation of gamers can enjoy this classic title. Super Mario World followed the immensely successful Super Mario Bros. 3 and it was the perfect showpiece title for the Super NES system’s graphical capabilities. The GameBoy Advance has been compared to the Super NES in terms of power, and SMW demonstrates the GBA’s comparable strengths with the Super NES.

The storyline is a standard Mario game plot, with the princess being kidnapped by Bowser, king of the Koopas. Mario and Luigi must travel across dinosaur land with the help of the friendly dinosaur Yoshi, who can swallow enemies and gain abilities depending on which ones he eats. They’ll come across levels with multiple exits, ghost houses, fortresses and castles inhabited by Bowser’s kids. The player has the option of accessing any previously completed level via the world map. Finding hidden exits to levels leads to bonus levels, significantly increasing the replay value of the game.

Luigi is now playable in the GBA version of Super Mario World. In the Super NES version he was a simple color palette swap with Mario and he had identical characteristics, but now he has his own animation and plays differently. Luigi’s jumps are wobbly and difficult to control, but he can jump higher than Mario.

The difficulty level of Super Mario World has been toned down slightly for the portable version. Instead of going directly to small size after taking a hit while in Cape or Fireball mode, your character reverts to the regular big form which takes another hit before reverting to the small form. The game is still challenging, but not frustratingly difficult. Checkpoints in the levels allow you to continue halfway should you lose during the last stretch.

The original Mario Bros. game is included with Super Mario Advance 2. It is essentially the same as the Mario Bros. from the first GBA Mario game, and it has a multiplayer feature. It seems sort of tacked-on, but a welcome addition nonetheless. Fans of the original Super Mario World will find new challenges with Luigi and the new generation of young gamers will experience a classic title.

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