Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2

The Good
After releasing Super Mario World for the SNES, Nintendo decided to milk it's Mario cow AGAIN and port the stupid game to the GameBoy Advance in 2001.

Since that year, people can play a "classic" wherever they go!

What's good about the game? Maybe in the near future this game will be worth a lot of money and I can sell it and use the money to buy much better games like expansion packs for The Sims 3!

The Bad
Oh my GOD! It's the SAME story, yet joined with new characters like the dinosaur Yoshi! Princess Peach is whisked away by that evil Bowser yet again and since she is too lazy to find a way out herself Mario and Luigi must rescue her. It may not seem to bad, but the designers obviously were unable to come up with a story from previous games. It's like that in EVERY Mario game. Rescue the stupid princess, again and again and again.

The graphics are some of the blandest looking I've ever seen in years. The backgrounds get so repetitive I feel as if I'm playing an Atari 2600 game, which have really repetitive graphics.

The music is also horrible. It loops over and over again before your ears nearly go deaf. The PC Speaker from those old IBM computers in the 80s make much better music.

All of the above things may seem pretty big, but this next one is what kills this game (and pretty much all other Nintendo-developed games). This game, is so FRUSTRATING! It's easy to die, and when Mario touches an enemy for the 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000th time you want to rip the cartridge out of your Game Boy and tear it into pieces! This game was made for children(obviously). If it's frustrating for those of us who are older, then I cannot imagine what it's like for a 8 year old!

The Bottom Line
Please do not play Super Mario World. I cannot stress this enough. Do not play ANY game developed by Nintendo, period. All of them are of abysmal quality. Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing is a much better game than this masochistic piece of garbage, and certainly a lot more fun!

The Good
If you never had the chance to play the original Super Mario World, this is the perfect opportunity to play the SNES classic in the palm of your hand. As the SNES launch title, Super Mario World demonstrated the power of Nintendo's new console, and continued the popular mario franchise. While its release on the Gameboy Advance is not as revolutionary, the graphics are slightly more colorful, and there are a few minor changes in the levels. A nice addition is the ability to play as either Mario or Luigi for any of the worlds, and the score card that tracks your progress and game completion time. The sound and music sound practically as good as the SNES original, and the timeless gameplay is intact. There are a ton of worlds to explore, and the inclusion of the arcade predecessor to Super Mario Bros, Mario Bros, adds to the value of the cartridge, and has had a graphical facelift.

The Bad
While this game is a worthwhile purchase, there are a few drawbacks........

For one thing, I think Nintendo would have done better to have done a complete remake of the game with the same tilesets, as the levels are basically the same as the originals, with a few minor item placement changes.

It would have been nice if they had included a two player swap-mode, so you could play two-player with one console.

The music is not quite up to quality of the original in some maps. Some of the replacement instruments sound phony.

The Bottom Line
A very entertaining platform game for those who missed out on the original. If you played the original, you'll still enjoy this cartridge, but Nintendo could have increased their sales by modifying the maps, or including some new ones. Overall, a must buy. It's a classic platformer in the palm of your hand, what more could you ask?

The Good
Super Mario World marks the first time that a SNES port has actually been done to it's greatest. The game retains many of the games former glory while bringing it to a portable system. The damn awesome gameplay is back. Some losers call it easy. It is easy when you first play it. Then go into the further levels and I dare you to call it easy then. These levels have been created for the maximum enjoyment of players. It's nothing new from the original, but will still keep you glued to the GBA trying to get baddies into Bowser's balloon without getting hit. SMW's music and sound is so close to the original. While it's not the same, DEFINITELY not the same, it is excellent and keeps the funny happy go 200 cups of coffee feel. The game looks good too. While it's not up to the standards as other previously released GBA titles, the games insanely beautiful and adventurous look is back.

The Bad
Nothing. Nothing Nothing Nothing!

The Bottom Line
Super Mario World is one of the few SNES ports that doesn't blow. This game is the one for all you GBA owners. If you like games, you'll like this. Only the most deprived, blood loving, gore-crazy maniac will hate this game. Buy this game. I give it a solid 5 out of 5