Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island (Nintendo Game Boy Advance, 2002)

Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (YI:SMA3)

Yoshi's Island (YI) was known as Super Mario World 2 (SMW2) at one stage; unfair, as it is not really a Mario game at all, even if Mario is in it.

Unlike SMW, you control a Yoshi, with baby Mario on their back (it's a actually a prequel to the entire Mario storyline). Yoshi does most of the work; eat enemies to make eggs, which you can fire to hit other enemies or collect coins and flowers. Melons allow Yoshi to spit seeds, fire or ice, and special morph blocks allow Yoshi to become a mole-tank, train, helicopter, car and such for a limited time. Super stars make baby Mario invincible, at which time you control him instead, running around like Sonic the Hedgehog through tunnels and loops, mainly collecting coins. In some levels Poochy - a friendly but uncontrollable dog - 'helps you out'... it adds variety, but Poochy's 'fun' element is pure opinion.

Each level has 5 flowers and 20 red coins hidden within it; find them and have up to 30 'stars' (gained by collecting starmen, lost by getting hit and losing Mario, upon which time they slowly decrease to 0) to get up to 100 points.

There are 6 worlds, each with 8 levels, all laid out in the same way; 3 levels, 1 mini-boss fort, 3 levels, boss castle. Beat all 8 levels with 100 points, and extra levels unlock.

Items make a return from Super Mario Bros. 3, with Yoshi able to replenish eggs, gain stars, see the locations of red coins and more. There are also a lot of mini games, some found behind locked doors in levels (FIND THAT KEY!!!) and others through hitting the end-level GOAL ring at the right time.

There are no timers, no world-skipping warps, no secret level exits... this isn't Mario! YI is something else entirely. Worlds and levels are linear, although ANY level, even boss levels, can be replayed, mainly for the scoring system.

So what does YI:SMA3 add? Unlike the previous SMA games, a fair amount! Apart from the obligatory Mario Bros. single/multiplayer bonus game, the point scores have more rewards associated with them. 1-ups at first, but bonus stages become map-accessible 'levels', and if you unlock all the original levels, 6 new ones become available! The largest bonus yet. There's the obligatory sampled speech/grunts too... not as intrusive as Mario's 'Letsee Go!' and 'Mamma-mia!', though, so I'm happier.

Aesthetically, YI was always a stunner. It featured pastel-shaded wobbly graphics, a beautiful soundtrack and fluid control and animation. These are all retained in YI:SMA3 - with only a small loss of visible screen area - so top marks there.

Difficulty-wise, it's not watered down much at all from the Super NES original; other than remembering how many eggs/lives you had, it's classic YI, and YI is quite challenging.

Plus, like all the Mario-esque games, it has universal appeal; anyone can enjoy, as it is gore-free, with no adult themes, and is therefore relatively inoffensive.

Not quite as classic as the other Mario games - it is very linear - but it is still a worthy addition to any games library. Highly recommended.

The story starts with a stork carrying two babies, when one of them is stolen mid-flight by Kamek, an evil magikoopa. The other baby, which turns out to be Mario, falls unnoticed to Yoshi's Island below. Mario lands on an unsuspecting Yoshi while he is out for a stroll and the game takes over from there. For this outing, players take control of Yoshi who is carrying Baby Mario while trying to find Baby Luigi and get them both to their parents.

Gameplay:
Mario's platform games have always had great gameplay and control. This is one case where the GBA really comes through and improves upon an already great control. Despite having fewer buttons than an SNES controller, the streamlined feel on the GBA works a lot better than the original and the D-pad feel is superior to the original.

On this outing the object is not only to get through each level, but also to collect all of the hidden red coins, flowers, and stars in each level to unlock bonus levels. At his disposal Yoshi is able to jump on enemies in the traditional sense and also has the ability to toss eggs, stomp out enemies, and do some floating to get across large gaps. Yoshi is essentially invincible other than traditional spikes, lava, water, or falling off the map. To Yoshi's apparent toughness, anytime Yoshi takes a hit Baby Mario is un-seated from his back and starts to float away in a bubble with a really annoying cry. In order to not loose a life Yoshi needs to get him back before the timer runs down and Mario gets snatched by Kamek's minions. This new twist on the traditional 2D platforming proves there is still life left in the genre.

I had no complaints with the top-notch control or the gameplay for this title. This is an improvement on what was already one of the best around. Other developers should take note.

Lasting Appeal:
The game consists of 6 worlds that containing 8 stages with 2 of those each containing a boss fight of some kind. Included are the original bonus stages as well as an additional bonus stage for each world exclusive to this GBA version as a bonus for reaching 100% collection rate on each stage. This game will have you replaying levels over and over trying to find all the secrets and get everything unlocked.

Final Words:
If you have never played this game before then there is no reason you shouldn't own this title, so go, now, and get it. Even if you have played through the original there is still a lot of fun to be had here and some new things to discover. Games like this justify ports and make you forget the countless mediocre games out there.

BEST MARIO GAME ON GBA

Nintendo is widely considered to be the greatest video game developer for a reason. They consistently have high quality games. Yoshi's Island is of course high quality.

The story is cute and non-important. What is important in this game is the game play. You are in control of Yoshi (a green, or blue, or red, or yellow maybe more) a dinosaur like creature that has chosen to where plumbing boots much like Mario's. Mario has been turned into a baby and you (Yoshi) have to help Baby Mario get to the castle.

Yoshi has to cart Baby Mario around on his back, and if touched by an enemy becomes stunned and drops Baby Mario. Mario floats off in a bubble crying until you are able to get back to him. All this takes is the slightest touch of the bubble by Yoshi. There is a time limit that Mario can be separated from Yoshi, this depends on how much time you collect. This game mechanic sounds pretty tedious but it's not it just adds a little bit of incentive to not get hit by an enemy and instead dying like in previous Mario titles you are able to recover. A unique mechanic, no life bars or instant death.

The other main mechanic unique to this game is the shooting system. Yoshi has a really long tongue and can stretch it out to eat enemies. If you push down on the d-pad Yoshi swallows the enemy and turns him into a green polka dotted egg that bounces and follows the player around. Yoshi can then by pressing the right bumber button bring up cross hairs. The cross hairs move up and down the screen in the direction the player was facing. You can set up the controls to either fire after you let go of the button or if you hit the bumber button again. It is a useful mechanic because it doesn't only help against enemies that you can't defeat by jumping on but it gives you access to secrets that you normally wouldn't be able to reach.

Altogether a very satisfying game experience. I recommend it to anybody that even thinks they might enjoy it. Top notch game.

The game was very good. Good quality bit scratched but other than that great game. Shipping was somewhat fast nor slow. The game is filled with dirty contents. With a dragon looking thing eating up monkeys and other small creatures. The story begins with a witch trying to steal baby mario however a yoshi finds him and through the game helps bring him back to his family where he belongs. There are five different worlds to go through in order to take baby mario back. Each world with there own unique puzzles and bosses. Can you help yoshi stop the witch/wizard and reunite him with his family and brother?

This game is fun to play, butit is a little bit complicated.It is in excellent condition. I played but still having hard time to figure out some of small ditails in it.