Super Mario Advance 2 Review

Mario Advance 2 is the second outing for Mario on the GameBoy Advance, essentially a port of the classic SNES title Super Mario World, can the game that was once credited as the best game ever still hold up ten years down the line? <br /> <br /> It’s only by replaying Super Mario World that I realised how much I miss 2D Mario games and a testimony to how well the original's classic gameplay can hold up to today's standards. Whilst I enjoyed Mario 64 a lot, the move to 3D inevitably meant loosing out on some of the factors that Mario was about, essentially Mario 64 became an adventure title. Long gone were the sense of satisfaction from bottom bouncing your way along a line of ingeniously placed gombo’s to collect a life-up, to the overwhelming relief of landing on a miniscule platform from a blind jump. In today’s fickle gaming world, this is your only chance to remember how good 2D Mario was until hopefully we get a new Mario GBA title. <br /> <br /> Everything about this game reeks of gaming perfection from the level design and enemy placement, to the introduction of Yoshi and the clever use of Mario’s special abilities, yes who can remember the first time they collected the feather granting Mario the power of flight or the appearance of everybody’s favourite green dinosaur. Playing through Super Mario Advance 2 has been the most enjoyable time I’ve had in a long while, and finding all of the 96 levels is certainly a task that will tax most gamers. Certain levels marked as red dots on the main map have hidden exits, unlocking other stages that you would have otherwise missed out on and the chance to find the keyholes and the ultra secretive Star Road. Without a shadow of a doubt Super Mario World has one of the best replay values of any game ever, a key attribute to the games success and the end of your social life, believe me you’ll find it very hard to put that GBA down. <br /> <br /> The developers have changed the gameplay dynamics slightly by including Luigi’s abilities from Super Mario Advance, and thus he has higher jumps which are more floaty. OK it’s not a major addition but it helps out on some of the jump orientated levels. <br /> <br /> Perhaps the worst thing about Super Mario Advance 2 is that it leaves you learning for a new 2D Mario game, hopefully they’re listening and it won’t be too long. Also the same original Mario Bros game which featured on Super Mario Advance has been lazily put on, surely we could have had an original take on the game instead.