Graphics: **1/2
Well, what do you expect for a Game Boy Advance
game? It doesn’t have to be pretty, just good enough to be able to tell
the difference between a Birdo and a Tweeter. Yeah, the graphics are pretty
good, because of the nice backgrounds, but they still don’t blow me away.
For a Game Boy Advance game, though, you won’t
get much better, and it’s only a two-dimensional
game, so don’t ask for much.
Sound: **1/2
This is the remake of Super Mario Bros. 2 and
Mario Bros., by the way, so when you hear the old SMB2 music, you’ll know
why. It sounds much better, but the music in that game was never my favorite.
In the Mario
Bros. part, you’ll hear classical music at the
start of the first round. That’s right, not the Mario theme song, classical
music. And of all the classical music songs I hate the most, that’s the
one. Of course, the other bad thing about this one is Toad’s and Peach’s
voices. Too annoying and too high. Worse than Mario Kart 64. And enough
to make you want to turn off the sound. But there is speech in the game,
an improvement off SMB2.
Difficulty: ***1/2
Wow, I never remembered it being this hard in
SMB2! For some reason, every level is two times harder, the
sands sink two times faster, and that *stupid*
level with the Trouters is now impossible! (Before I could
float across with the Princess by using that
super jump, but now the super jump only lets her jump
straight up!) This one is so much harder, yet
still possible. And the only thing that stops it from being 4 stars of
difficulty is the fact that the Mario Bros. remake game is super-easy compared
to the SMB2 remake.
(Maybe it’s just easy to me because in Super
Mario Bros. 3 I got a *lot* of practice for this one...)
Characters: ***
This is the same as SMB2, so those of you who remember the Princess as being the one who could float across small and, sometimes, big gaps are right in choosing her for half the levels. If you choose Toad, turn off the sound, but remember he’s super-fast and super-strong. Of course the fact that he can barely jump over a super-sized Shy Guy makes him a liability. A *HUGE* liability. Of course, you can choose everyone’s least-favorite moron, Mario, and notice that he’s average in everything! (Well, technically, better than average, but they grade on *too* high of a scale.) Luigi jumps super-high. That’s nice to know, but it doesn’t beat the Princess. According to the ratings, Peach is the lowest-rated in two out of three ratings, and second-lowest in jumping, but she can *float*. (Unless you consider it a *long* jump...) Anyway, then you got your share of Sub-con creatures, like Shy Guy, Bob-omb, Game Guy (oh, all right, Game Guy isn’t in this game, but that slot machine is about as hard as winning against Game Guy), Tweeter, Birdo, Ostro, Panser, Autobomb, Pokey, Triclyde, Mouser, and Cobrat, well, you get the point. Plus, the Shell Creeper (in Mario Bros.) is in this game! (So what? Really, does he matter? Well, no, but he’s an early ancestor to a Koopa Troopa or something...)
Controls: **1/2
Simple. A jumps, B picks up and throws, Start
pauses, Left and Right move, Up climbs vines and chains and
ladders, and Down ducks and charges up for a
super jump! Nothing fancy, but I don’t think there’s a purpose to the L
and R Buttons. (I haven’t found one yet.)
Super Mario Bros. 2 Mode: ***1/2
This is an entire game in itself, Super Mario
Bros. 2, and it’s a pretty good game, but nothing compared to
the best video game ever, Super Mario Bros. 3.
You have to collect Red Advance Coins now (or at least
something like that), there are frozen 1-Ups,
Hearts (especially when you throw super-sized Shy Guys, and
sometimes just floating there, more than there
were in the first place), and super-sized vegetables. Yeah,
it’s a pretty good game, all right, but I would
have rather had a completely new Mario adventure, especially one based
on Super Mario Bros. 3, or at least one like Super Mario Bros. 2, not Super
Mario Bros. 2 itself!
Mario Bros. Mode: **1/2
This is another game in itself, known as (get this) Mario Bros.! However, it gets kind of dull after a while, being just on the same level over and over again. New enemies make it more fun, but also more annoying. You can play this game with other people with one of those Game Link Cables or something, but I never have.
Fun Factor: **
Well, this game really isn’t as fun as some of the others (especially not as fun as Super Mario Bros. 3), and it’s more annoying and puzzling than fun in the Super Mario Bros. 2 mode. The multi-player Mario Bros. mode may boost this rating, but not by much.
OVERALL: **1/2
Well, this isn’t really what I was hoping for
when I heard about this game. A remake of Super Mario Bros. 3
was more in order, but not just a remake on the
first Mario game for the GBA. If you liked Super Mario Bros.
2 or the Mario Bros. game, you’ll like this one,
and go ahead and buy it, but if you were in the mood for something brand
new or don’t like SMB2 that much, then skip it and wait for Mario Kart
Advance (which may be out by now).