Scratch

Super Mario World was probably Mario's greatest side scrolling adventure even, not even trumped by the recent New Super Mario Bros. Wii. It introduced Mario's dinosaur friend Yoshi and the Koopalings returned as fortress bosses. The gameplay is unbeatable and the music is catchier than Velcro so when I heard there was a Game Boy Advance port I simply HAD to buy it! No I've dusted it off so I can play it again and review it.

Released under the Super Mario Advance series, this is a perfect port of the original SNES game. The story is the same 25-year old drill, save the princess, defeat Bowser. This game is set in Dinosaur Land unlike similar occasions in the Mushroom Kingdom which means there are a few new monsters you may not have seen before like Dinosaurs (weird purple guys) and Charging Chucks (American Football Koopas).

The game's difficulty is just right so people new to the series will be able to have fun and Mario veterans will also find a challenge here.

Instead of the usual world maps like in Mario 3 there's one massive map that covers the whole game. This is also the first game in the series that let's you replay levels so you can obtain power ups before fighting a boss. Yoshi is a wonderful addition and certainly makes the gameplay much richer. Yoshi has a strange invincibility most things and when you're hit you simply fall off Yoshi and Mario doesn't suffer at all.

So what's new to Super Mario Advance 2? Well, not a lot really. They've added the arcade Mario Bros. game in there (just like all the Mario Advance games) and that's about it but that's not a bad thing. Playing Mario World on a handheld anywhere I am sounds good to me!


---VERDICT---
     8.5/10 
It's the same old Mario formula but if it isn't broke, don't fix it.
People who've already played the original to death may want to consider buying the exact same game again.