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[Lkr]

We've had a lot of GBA memory threads recently. Like a lot of those posters, the GBA holds a special place in my heart as well, because it was the first console where I was old enough to get it when it came out. Earlier I had just been lucky that my dad was interested enough in games that he bought a SNES and N64 over the years and my parents eventually got me a GBC for Christmas when Pokemon was all the rage.

First, I was interested in buying Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros 3 (what a name) and I happened to go to my local stoop right as it opened today. The guy working there told me he wasn't sure what kind of GBA treasures would be in the drawer, but assured me they wouldn't have shit. The girl working with him quipped that there might be a Pokemon game in there but probably nothing else. Then the guy responds in shock, and starts tossing up all of the Mario Advance games and saying there were quite a good deal of GBA games in there. I ended up buying it, the lack of box cases like DS games mean I have lost quite a bit of Gameboy games over the years. They're in a box somewhere, I just need to find them.
One of the quirks of the GBA era is there are a lot of solid games, but there isn't any standout to me. It wasn't a long lifecycle and it was essentially just a pocket SNES machine. Nothing wrong with that. At launch, we had a port of the Super Mario All Stars remaster of Super Mario Bros 2 USA.

I remember getting the GBA and just taking it home to play Pokemon. It wasn't for another week until I would get it. At the time I knew nothing of what Super Mario Bros 2 was. I had played the original and 3, but not 2. I did not know that Super Mario Advance was SMB2, I thought it was a brand new game when I played it. The beauty of the game on a handheld was mind blowing at the time.

Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World is another gem I have fond memories of. I had played Super Mario World on SNES religiously as a child, so just having it on the go was a treat to me.

I never got the Yoshi's Island one, but my brother did and I remember him playing the shit out of it. To me, the shit hit the fan with Mario Advance 4. I had bought an ereader for some reason a year prior and what a waste of money that was. Seriously, what a piece of shit. But then I got all of the ereader packs with this game for Christmas and that was one of the cooler Nintendo content addon implementations ever done.

So yeah, gonna pop this bad boy in my DS Lite because I gave my SP to my grandma 10 years ago. It is amazing to me just how old the GBA is, because to me it still feels like it came out yesterday

 

[Mr-Joker]

As someone who knew nothing of the Mario series at the time, the naming scheme that Nintendo opted to go with confused the hell out of me so hence why I never brought them.

Though I did buy Super Mario World for my little brother because he asked for it and I got Yoshi Island for free from Nintendo as part of the ambassador program and I was planning to buy the rest when they appear on virtual console.

 

[@MUWANdo]

SMB3 Advance is available on the Wii U Virtual Console and it includes every single eReader level, even the ones that were never officially released overseas. If you're going to play the GBA version today, play it on Wii U.

 

[entremet]

Great initiative for introducing clsssic games to new generation.

 

[LordKasual]

Megaman Zero takes that, sorry.

But you cannot ever go wrong with some NES Mario

 

[Vital Tundra]

Best series? Nah.Good games, though. Also horrible title names.

 

[supermarioworldE]

Apart from the cropping and brightness/color issues, the Advanced version of Super Mario World is what I consider the definitive version of my favorite game.

-You can play as Mario or Luigi without a 2 player mode.

-Luigi has his own sprite and attributes. No longer just a palette swap of Mario.

-Charles Martinet gives some more life to these characters with his voices.

-You get a intro scene and an extended end credits scene, as well as cutscenes for 100% completion.

-There's a menu to see which Yoshi Coins and goals youre missing for 100% completion.

-You can take an extra hit with each character if you have a fire flower or cape feather (Like in SMB3).

-The music also seems better to me.

It's a fantastic version of Super Mario World, and the one I play the most of today.

 

[manzoman96]

Super Mario Advance 2 was my introduction to Super Mario World as a kid. Happy to still have my copy.

 

[Wolfgang Jr]

I just had a look, Yoshi's Island (SNES) was never released on Wii U, only the GBA ed?

 

[Mr-Joker]

-Charles Martinet gives some more life to these characters with his voices.

I was surprise that people didn't like that as I found it that it gave the game charm.

-You can take an extra hit with each character if you have a fire flower or cape feather (Like in SMB3).

Yeah I didn't get very far in the original version of Super Mario World on Wii U virtual console as the item would drop automatically when you took damage compare to the GBA version the players could chose if they wanted it to drop or not.

 

[Genghis Khan]

I remember playing Super Mario Advance when I was like, 10. I couldn't figure out why the game seemed so familiar, until I had an epiphany that they were from my SNES Super Mario All Stars. I remember being sort of amused, but also felt like I got ripped off.

Good game though. Never tried any of the others. I feel like I've heard bad things about the port of Super Mario World though? A shame, since that is probably my favorite game of all time.

 

[Mr-Joker]

I just had a look, Yoshi's Island (SNES) was never released on Wii U, only the GBA ed?

Yeah, the SNES version used the FX chip and there's licensing issue that's preventing it from being released.

 

[omgwtfbentime]

It always kind of bummed me out we got these ports instead of an originals 2D Mario game on GBA, but that being said the Mario 3 port in particular was amazing. Really cool to hear the eshop port has all the ereader content, probably gonna go ahead and download that soon.

Still, launching with an enhanced port of Mario 2 as your flagship first party title has to be one of the weirdest decisions Nintendo has ever made, lol.

 

[Lord of Ostia]

They are pretty great ports...but best series on GBA? No way, not with series like Fire a Emblem, Advance Wars, and Golden Sun on the device.

 

[capylikesgames]

The Mario Advance series was a great way to play classic Mario platformers on the go at the time, and I appreciate them for what they were, but nowadays I feel like their lower FOV and tinny sound makes them the worst way to play some of these titles. I kind of wish Nintendo had taken the time to make a Mario Land for the system in the vein of 2, even alongside these re-releases. That game got so creative with the license, and it really worked around the quirks of the GB. I would've loved to see more Mario platformers like it.

 

[jackal27]

I'm still salty to this day that we never got an original Mario for the GBA. Just these washed-out ports :/

Imagine... Super Mario Land 3

 

[cheez124]

i loved the GBA mario ports so much, oh man. i used to have the e reader and cards too (i think i still do have them lying around somewhere). you could actually use the cape in SMB3 if you had the right cards, which i thought was really cool as a kid. the addition of voices and making luigi an actually different character were great changes as well

 

[Captain Europe]

Great updates, but pretty outdated by now. It's probably a pipe dream, but I hope for another rerelease on the Switch, with in game graphics that look like the SMA4 boxart and Shantae style animation @1080p.

And a level creator would be dope!

 

[Doopliss]

As someone who knew nothing of the Mario series at the time, the naming scheme that Nintendo opted to go with confused the hell out of me so hence why I never brought them.

Though I did buy Super Mario World for my little brother because he asked for it and I got Yoshi Island for free from Nintendo as part of the ambassador program and I was planning to buy the rest when they appear on virtual console.

Same. They should've stuck with the Deluxe branding from the GBC Super Mario Bros.

 

[MulderYuffie]

Great games I loved playing these on the go!

 

[Azure Dream]

Apart from the cropping and brightness/color issues, the Advanced version of Super Mario World is what I consider the definitive version of my favorite game.

[...]

It's a fantastic version of Super Mario World, and the one I play the most of today.

It was really sloppy in spots, and the things they did to some sprites to make up for the GBA's deficiencies (which was Nintendo's fault in the first place) was a crime.

It was also the second rerelease. SMA could be excused, but by this point they were clearly not interested in making fresh new 2D Mario titles.

 

[allenpergallon]

I'm still salty to this day that we never got an original Mario for the GBA. Just these washed-out ports :/

Imagine... Super Mario Land 3

We already have it and it's amazing.

 

[Majine]

I'm still salty to this day that we never got an original Mario for the GBA. Just these washed-out ports :/

Imagine... Super Mario Land 3

Have I got news for you!

 

[ironmang]

I've actually been looking to pick these up lately and just getting back into GBA in general. Tired of the direction of modern handhelds going more towards tablets than something I can fit in my pocket like my SP. Might even buy a 101 if I end up getting really into it.

 

[Reset]

It can't be the best series on GBA since the Zero series exists.

 

[THEAnderson21]

For me, as a teenager who grew up playing SMB3, having the ability to play it on the go was incredible. VC has largely replaced the need for these types of re-releases but man this series ruled.

 

[Ghostshark]

The Mario Advance series was mind blowing for me. The ability to play the mainline Marios on a portable was fantastic. The naming scheme was bizarre though, it was a good thing I knew the Mario games like the back of my hand.

 

[chronic_archaic]

I beat Super Mario Bros 3 for the first (and only possibly, can't remember anymore) time on GBA as a kid. Although other than that one I'd argue the other releases are pretty much obsolete these days unless you prefer the soundtracks for some reason.

 

[Zee-Row]

I like the changes they made with Mario 2. It felt more like a Mario game and less a Doki Doki panic reskin.

 

[Zalman]

I love these games, don't get me wrong, but at the same time, they represent my main problem with the GBA. It had way too many NES and SNES ports. It's weird to think that GBA didn't have an original mainline Mario game.

 

[Berordn]

I beat Super Mario Bros 3 for the first (and only possibly, can't remember anymore) time on GBA as a kid. Although other than that one I'd argue the other releases are pretty much obsolete these days unless you prefer the soundtracks for some reason.

They all have some notable additions outside of the sound. SMB2 adds the Yoshi Egg Hunt, SMW adds Luigi's physics (and Yoshi interactions), additional Dragon Coin challenges and some extra cutscenes, Yoshi's Island has 6 new levels...

SMB3 is probably the most interesting with the e-Reader levels, but they've all got some draw that makes them worth a look, even if they aren't the definitive versions.

 

[BGBW]

Best series? If there's one major negative with the GBA it was the complete lack of an original Mario title.

I actually find Super Mario Advance the most interesting of the lot. As a launch GBA game it was tasked to show off what the GBA could do so it feels like a unique take on the game with its giant enemies, rotating and stretched sprites, excessive amount of SFX, etc. Super Mario Advance 2 (SMW) on the other hand is just a simple port with a few tweaks here and there in comparison.

Also, the adjusted colours didn't really detract from it unlike a lot of the other SNES ports, if anything the lighter tones added to the dream aesthetic.

 

[higemaru]

These games were my introduction to the Mario series after Mario 64. Played all of them except the first one and they're probably my most played GBA games not named Pokemon or Castlevania. Advance 2 and Advance 4 are solid ports but I always felt that the Yoshi's Island port was lackluster. Also for some reason my copy was bitten by someone but it was the only copy they had at EB Games and I was an impatient little kid so I just bought that copy.

 

[Lights and Waves]

The best series on the GBA is a collection of poorly named ports from the SNES? Yeah, no.

 

[Nocturnowl]

Best series, a lot of ports?....well each to their own.

That said I had all of them so part of the problem.
Still need to check the VC release of SMA4:SMB3 (best naming ever) to finally play those e-reader stages.

I will defend Super Mario Advance/Bros 2 GBA to the death because croaky voice Toad and cheesy boss quotes are clearly the way forward.

 

[Pamplemousse]

I would have rather had four new Mario platformers, but those were my introduction to the classic games. Yoshi's Island GBA also has great additional levels that weren't in the SNES version. Those are fantastic.

 

[cubicle47b]

Advance Wars was the best series on the GBA.

 

[Agent Unknown]

There are actually more than a few things to consider about the GBA port of Super Mario World (which despite its flaws is a solid port and one of my most played GBA carts):

Pros:

1.Two things about Luigi being in the game, one factor which you may not be aware of.
Obviously he has his floaty SMB 2 physics which is fun on its own but here's the kicker:

Using Luigi now gives Yoshi the ability to turn virtually any enemy in the game into a projectile! (even Pirahna plants). This is actually a really fun mechanic if you enjoy experimenting with levels in new ways. Example of why this is cool: Try taking Luigi to Soda Lake with Yoshi and you can now kill the Torpedo Teds either by spitting back the Teds themselves or by hitting them with Cheeps.

2.Fall map and masked enemies are now earned by finding all 96 exits. I'm listing this as a pro because in the SNES game you got the fall theme just by clearing the Special World and it's nice to have an extra incentive to hit all of the exits.

3.Pressing select gives you a nice status screen which tells you how many stages you've collected Dragon Coins in (which are now in almost every level, even ghost houses, fortresses and castles), which levels you've cleared with Mario or Luigi and your total play time. Also, getting all 96 exits enables you to use the status screen to instantly warp to the location of any individual stage in the game instead of having to use the map.

4.Colored Yoshi's no longer have to be obtained from Star Road and can now be gained in regular map stages depending on which power up you have: Small Mario - Random. Super Mario - Yellow Fire Mario - Red. Cape Mario - Blue
Note: This doesn't *always* work, sometimes the Yoshi you get will still be random.

5.Includes the remixed version Mario Bros Arcade. Not a big deal especially since it's in all of the other Advance ports anyways but nice bonus nonetheless.

Cons:

1.Color balance is off which is common to SNES-GBA ports.

2.Inclusion of voice samples.

3.Aspect ratio and viewing area of course are compromised and more cramped.

Now for a biggie, this is the only example I know of where a level in this game was blatantly modified:

The infamous "Awesome" stage in the Special World:

GBA (took this pic on my backlight modded GBA 001):

SNES:

Somebody at NCL when porting the game to GBA decided to make the entry to the icy section a bit easier by connecting the first two bridges, and for what? Completely pointless and compromises one of the greatest Mario stages ever. Still a good port though but that one keeps it from being a definitive version.

 

[Nocturnowl]

the main thing I remember about Luigi in the SMW port is that sections like that one choco island underground stage where you sprint across the sinking platform before it hits the lava hot chocolate is nigh impossible because Luigi can't run fast enough.