Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island (GBA)

...billed as a sequel, to Super Mario World. The game begins with a stalk carrying two babies, namely Mario and Luigi. However Kamek, Koopa’s evil bird wizard type thing, knows that these two brothers will cause trouble for Koopa in the future and so aims to kidnap them both. The henchmen make off with Luigi but Mario falls downward to the earth below, facing sudden death, if it wasn’t for bouncing onto a Yoshi’s back. Mario finds himself on Yoshi’s ...
...4 sees the port of Super Mario Bros 3) may well be the one fans have been waiting for.

Yoshi’s Island really is a spectacular game and once again shows the quality of Nintendo games. There is very little wrong with it, it is well crafted, beautiful and nicely challenging the only downside I see is that the slight change in direction my upset Mario purists but when a game is this good it shouldn’t matter. This will last a long, long ... more

In 1995 towards the end days of the SNES, Nintendo released its final 2D platform game before branching off into the world of 3D with Mario 64. Yoshi’s Island was the self styled prequel, though billed as a sequel, to Super Mario World. The game begins with a stalk carrying two babies, namely Mario and Luigi. However Kamek, Koopa’s evil bird wizard type thing, knows that these two brothers will cause trouble for Koopa in the future and so aims to kidnap them both. The henchmen make off with Luigi but Mario falls downward to the earth below, facing sudden death, if it wasn’t for bouncing onto a Yoshi’s back. Mario finds himself on Yoshi’s Island and, with the Yoshi’s being a kind bunch, aim to reunite Mario with Luigi but its not going to be plain sailing.

Yoshi’s Island is made up of six worlds of which there are seven levels to each with two being ones that have a boss at the end of them. Your basic aim is to get from the start of the level to the end with Mario still riding happily on your back. Although Mario is (for most of the time) unplayable he is still very much the focus of the game. A neat aspect of the game is that Yoshi is very much invincible and will only die when in contact with lava, spikes or ‘falling off’ levels. When Yoshi takes a hit Mario is dislodged from his back and sent crying into the air, a timer counts down second by second by which time you must successfully get Mario back lest he be kidnapped. With a number of enemies onscreen Yoshi needs some sort of defence. Most of the time he can jump on enemies to destroy them but Yoshi’s main party trick is to ‘eat’ an enemy and then produce an egg from them. Lovely. Eggs can come in useful in a number of ways. They can be used to hit enemies with up close of from a distance or used to hit certain objects in the game for progression into otherwise unreachable areas.

Like a lot of Mario games exploration is rewarded. Each level has many secret areas that you can explore and need to in order to complete the game 100% and access the seventh world. In each level you must collect five flowers, twenty hidden red coins (some more hidden than others) and end with thirty seconds on the clock. Luckily you have help in the form of items you can collect which can aid by showing all red coins or adding seconds to the clock. Despite there being so many levels there is never a time when you feel as if it is repetitious. Each level is distinct and fresh enough to remain that little bit different from the previous. Each level is also a hefty size after you take into account many of the hidden areas that are dotted around, especially in some of the later levels. I found myself discovering brand new areas after playing levels some five or so times. Not only does each level have the aforementioned hidden areas but also other nice quirks. Some have mini games that you can access which will give you items. Others will see you able to ‘transform’ Yoshi into a helicopter, train or a submarine in order to reach items or new areas. The bosses are also, on the whole, differently challenging enough and also look the part as well. With the way the levels are made up with all the added bonuses the game remains great fun to play from beginning to end.

To this day the graphics of Yoshi’s Island are still as stylish and attractive as they were all those years ago. Despite being nearly a decade old the game somehow manages to look fresh and vibrant, not seeming to age a bit. Instead of going down a more realistic route that Rare provide with Donkey Kong Country, Miyamoto decided to make Yoshi’s Island almost child-like in presentation. Soft pastel shades are all around and backgrounds seemed to be coloured in like in crayon drawings. However underneath all of its simple looking charm actually hides some complex graphic tricks in terms of SNES and GBA capabilities. The FX2 chip does most of the work, allowing sprites to be rotated, stretched and squished in ways that look simple enough that they blend in with the game superbly. Rocks can be pushed, bosses enlarged to towering proportions and squishy platforms ready to be pounded upon. Parallax scrolling is also used in many of the levels to create a sense of depth in the backgrounds. This all creates a very smooth, fluid and striking visual style without seeming to try too hard. As with all Mario games Yoshi’s Island has some great sounds. The tunes have been ported over from the SNES with great effect. Music is as catchy as ever and will stay in your head long after you’ve finished playing the game the only slight drawback is that with the tiny speakers the music can sound a little tinny at times. Sound effects are also effective enough, with Yoshi’s cute little voice emitting from the speakers most of the time it thankfully doesn’t get annoying.

The controls of the game are simple enough to master. The D-pad is used for the main direction, A to jump (holding it down will result in Yoshi’s trademark midair steps to lengthen the jump) holding down the down direction when jumping will perform Yoshi’s ground pound move and the B button is used to stick out his tongue and eat enemies to produce eggs. The egg mechanism of the game is nicely implemented. When you want to use an egg you simply press the R button and a little crosshair will move around the screen when you want to fire the egg then you simply have to press R again to release it. For more precise aiming you can press the L button, which will freeze the crosshair, which can come in handy when you want to hit a moving object at just the right time.

There are a few little extras to be found in the GBA version of the game. As with all Mario Advance games the old fashioned Mario Bros game is on show, which you can link up with a mate and play along. This can be a nice distraction but it would have been nice to see a different version. As well as this there are also newly added GBA exclusive levels. These can be unlocked by completing a certain world to 100% in each level. These new levels are extremely challenging and will defiantly give players a run for their money in terms or the completion stakes. The port is largely successful. There is, however, some slow down at certain points in the game, the most notable being when you hit a ‘?’ cloud and stars pour out which leads to slow down if there is a lot of enemies on screen. Other than that this is a good conversion and with the added bonus levels it provides a good incentive for those already familiar with the game. It would, of course, be nice for Nintendo to provide a brand new 2D Mario game for the GBA but for now we will have to make to with some good old classics but Mario Advance 5 (Mario Advance 4 sees the port of Super Mario Bros 3) may well be the one fans have been waiting for.

Yoshi’s Island really is a spectacular game and once again shows the quality of Nintendo games. There is very little wrong with it, it is well crafted, beautiful and nicely challenging the only downside I see is that the slight change in direction my upset Mario purists but when a game is this good it shouldn’t matter. This will last a long, long time inside your GBA if you want to complete the game properly and even just reaching the end will take sometime. This game really is a classic and the last of its kind in terms of great 2D platform perfection. For those that have already played it but no longer have a SNES then it is time to relive the memories. For those that have yet to play it then this game is unquestionably a required purchase.

[9 out of 10]

YOSHI’S ISLAND: SUPER MARIO ADVANCE 3 IS

Large
Stunning
2D platform heaven

YOSHI’S ISLAND: SUPER MARIO ADVANCE 3 IS NOT

An all-new GBA Mario
A lazy port
To be overlooked

Written for NINTENDO SEASON 2003
 

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