5-Mar-2002 The hero: a pipe-fixing pot-bellied Italian fella, sporting gloves stolen from Mickey Mouse's wardrobe, a pair of shrink-wrap dungarees and a mammoth moustache that would make any European porn star jealous.
But who cares if Mario looks like a reject from a DIY fetish club? Fact is, the little guy has been the star of the two greatest platform games ever, Super Mario 64 and Super Mario World on the SNES. The latter may be 12 years old, but stand SMW next to any 2D platformer and the plumber always comes out on top. And now all that timeless magic has been carefully stuffed into a tiny GBA cart. So if you didn't catch it first time round and fancy a dose of precision-jumping paradise, buy it. Even if you caned it to death on SNES, buy it, because a GBA without a copy of Super Mario Advance 2 is like... Sod it, it rocks and that's that.
HAPPY HAIRY HERO You dodge giant grimacing bullets, surf lava pools on a raft of skulls, soar through happy cloud-filled skies like a fat hairy superman in search of secret sub-levels and 'exits', ride a cute dinosaur with an appetite for anything that moves, and venture through tons of brilliantly themed levels packed with wonderfully weird and familiar creatures. The universe of SMW is one of the most vibrant, charming and quirkily fantastic ever to grace videogame-land, but the unique visual style of the characters and the environments aren't what makes SMW the don. Unlike most of the 2D platforming toss that's been churned out over the past decade, this gaming marvel boasts the finest level design – every gap, moving platform and piece of landscape is perfectly measured to test and frustrate you, and makes sure that by the time you complete all 96 stages you'll be a Class A platform game guru, able to leap with your eyes shut like some sort of jumpin' Jedi god.
YIKES, HE CAN TALK! There have been a few alterations made to the GBA version, like the inclusion of speech. Now when Mario gets a power-up he screams, "Oo hoo! Jus' what I needed!" or "Lucky!" But when you're little Mario and desperately need a mushroom to grow and avoid death, we think when he nabs a power-up he should say something like, "Thank *?*@! Thought I was gonna cark it!"
Nevertheless, the speech is a nice touch. Another small addition is the facility to play as Luigi, who's equipped with a super floaty jump. But playing as Luigi feels like a bit of a cheat, as all of the levels are designed specifically for Mario's leaping abilities. Plus now you can save anywhere, which makes the game a tad easier and might annoy some hardcore fans.
STILL THE DADDY One of the major criticisms of SMA2 is the fact that neither SMW nor the additional Mario Bros multiplayer game is original. And with the truckload of reworked retro titles that have been flooding onto GBA, like Gradius, ISS, and all the greatest hits packages, surely we have to recognise simply re-releasing a classic SNES game on GBA is lazy. It's this that brings Mario down to a nine instead of a ten. But don't get us wrong, SMW is a near flawless game, and has hardly aged in terms of playability and boasts more levels and action than you can shake a mouldy mushroom at. It may be old but SMA2 will fill your handheld world with utter joy.
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