Super Mario Advance 4

[Dark Jaguar]

Well, it's been confirmed (though I think we all knew it was coming).

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/new...91,00.html

They haven't revealed a thing about it, but I think we all know it's going to be a port. I think we also all know that unless they are reporting Super Mario Bros 1 (nah, that'll be Super Mario Advance 5 :D), this will be a port of Super Mario Bros 3 plus Mario Bros Classic. Super Mario Bros. 3 has always been my favorite 2D Mario game. Since it's a "favorite", I'm actually interested in the port. I got Yoshi's Island since I didn't already own it on SNES, though I may not have if I did. This however I feel compelled to get. I certainly hope they don't change the gameplay, and it remains just the same as ever before. Changing gameplay at the level that Super Mario Bros 2 was changed is just something I don't enjoy. Having said that, hiding huge secret worlds with all new levels is something I WOULD like to see added. One could choose not to find those secrets and play it normally (when I want full gameplay conversion, I mean I want you to be able to put on a blindfold and press all the buttons the same way on both games and when you take off the blindfold, you are in the EXACT same situation in both games), or find the extras. I suspect a "find the red coins" bonus will be added, since it's added to all games that don't already have it before, but as long as it's an optional quest that doesn't alter gameplay, like in SMB DX, then no prob bob. Since they will most likely reuse the All-Stars graphics and sound (no prob by me, that looked and sounded great, and there's not THAT much they could do to improove it, aside from removing "tiling", which I wouldn't like since the tiles helped me in various areas), I do hope they will add in the removed end game bonus from the NES version (they took it out of all-stars) where you beat it and can restart the game with an item menu filled with P-wings.

[A Black Falcon]

It will either be SMB3 or Yoshi's Story (remember the rumors that that game would be brought to the GBA?)... I REALLY hope its SMB3 because that game was really really good and Nintendo has skipped it so far, but we never know... given they already released SMW and SMW2:YI and not SMB3, I've got to wonder...

[Dark Jaguar]

I really don't see how it could be Yoshi's Story, since Yoshi's Story was Yoshi's first solo outing, with no Mario in site to validate it being named "Mario Advance".

[A Black Falcon]

Mario was in Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land for a grand total 5 seconds, all in the game's ending, but that had his name on it...

[Dark Jaguar]

BUT, he was in it, and a main part of the plot (Wario's motivation for it anyway). Plus, every Wario game since then has not had Mario's name in it. They just had to attract enough people to it. Same with Super Mario World 2. That had Mario as a passenger, only playable during certain special areas, while Yoshi did most of the real work, but they ended up having to advertise Yoshi as being a new mainstay. Mario's appearence seems to only have been in those two games to justify the name, the name being there only to sell the game at the time, before that character really took off and was able to support itself, or something. In any case, Mario isn't to be found in Yoshi's Story at all, so calling it Super Mario Advance 4 would have NO justification. Oh wait, I can see one small sliver. It will most likely have Mario Bros classic.

In any case, I just think it's far more likely that SMB3 is the game.

[WhiteFleck]

Doesn't the gameplay of SMB3 require at least three face buttons?

[Sacred Jellybean]

Considering it was for NES, I'd say probably not. ;)

[OB1]

Indeed. And so far Nintendo has been able to get pass that six-button-to-four-button hurdle for most of theri SNES ports.

Since Mario 3 has taken the longest to port over to the GBA, I'm willing to bet that they have somethinhg special planned for it (rather than just make a straight port like they did with the other Mario Advance games), especially since it was the best-selling 2D Mario game (Mario World doesn't count since it was bundled with the SNES from the beginning). Perhaps a graphical make-over (PLEASE, Nintendo!!), or a few new levels? Or maybe they'll add co-operative multiplay or something like that, as they did with the recent Kirby GBA game. That would kick all kinds of ass.

[A Black Falcon]

I really hope it is a improved port. If Nintendo releases SMB3 this late (it should have been SMA2, after all) as just a barebones port (with the All Stars graphics like SMB2), I'll be dissapointed and will wonder why it took so long... so they'd better be doing something special. Like SMBDX on the GBC.

[Dark Jaguar]

I'm not exactly sure what else they could do with the graphical improovements. The sprites and such all look "good enough". Sure, they COULD add some more stuff, but really what would they do? I mean, they could add rotation (don't see the point), more layers of paralax scrolling, a mode 7ish ground that shifts perspective as you run by, and even use some SFX level power to render something in 3D, but why? Some of that stuff would change the way I play the game, and I'm a frickin' purist when it comes to remakes. Adding levels is something I WANT, but ANY change, no matter how slight, to existing levels is herecy, herecy I say! Sure, add a red coin and yoshi egg quest, but make it a seperate option ala SMB DX.

In other words, they could add lots of levels, but I REALLY don't want existing gameplay touched at ALL.

Oh and yes Whitefleck, since SMB3 was an NES game, it only used 2 face buttons.

[Great Rumbler]

SMB3 was an awesome game back in the day and, of course, still is.

*leaves to play Mario Super Stars on the Snes*

[WhiteFleck]

My bad, I've only played it on SNES so I thought it used all four.

[OB1]

Originally posted by Dark Jaguar
I'm not exactly sure what else they could do with the graphical improovements. The sprites and such all look "good enough". Sure, they COULD add some more stuff, but really what would they do? I mean, they could add rotation (don't see the point), more layers of paralax scrolling, a mode 7ish ground that shifts perspective as you run by, and even use some SFX level power to render something in 3D, but why? Some of that stuff would change the way I play the game, and I'm a frickin' purist when it comes to remakes. Adding levels is something I WANT, but ANY change, no matter how slight, to existing levels is herecy, herecy I say! Sure, add a red coin and yoshi egg quest, but make it a seperate option ala SMB DX.

In other words, they could add lots of levels, but I REALLY don't want existing gameplay touched at ALL.

Oh and yes Whitefleck, since SMB3 was an NES game, it only used 2 face buttons.

Do you honestly believe that Mario Bros. 3 was the pinnacle of 2D graphics? There are numerous ways to improve the visuals in that game. The GBA is capable of so much more than the SNES, graphically, despite its lower resolution.

[Dark Jaguar]

OF course it's not the pinicle, but really, what more do you want them to do? Sure there's lots that COULD be done, but would it really be that big a deal? I've seen games that totally outclass it, like Golden Sun for instance, but seriously, how would those levels of graphics be incorperated without possibly ruining the whole way I play that game? I don't want the "tiled" look of the floor removed at all, for instane. I don't really need the ground looking like, well, I guess battletoads style ground is a good example, because that's just not a good look for SMB3. I think that aside from boosting the frames in the sprites and raising color depth, they shouldn't do any other improvements.

[OB1]

They wouldn't have to change the gameplay by updating the graphics. Did they change the gameplay for the Mario All-Stars release? Nope! I'm not talking about adding all kinds of crazy effects, I just want Nintendo to add more colors, more detail in the foreground and background, and just make it look all around more polished.

[Dark Jaguar]

Ah yes, but that's not really that needed. It wouldn't really be that major, compaired to the All-Stars updates. To be honest, I don't care. Oh, and if they did something like removing the tiled look of the ground, that certainly would change the way I play the game, since I no longer have the ability to count exactly how far I've moved, something quite important to me in some of the SMB3 levels.

[OB1]

Of course it wouldn't be as big of a difference from the NES game to the SNES version, but it would still be a nice update since we're buying it all over again. Yoshi's Island looks fine the way it is, but the first two Mario Advance games really could have used a graphical upgrade.

[Dark Jaguar]

I'm not sure why that's such a big beef with you then. (Oh, it would have been nice if the fuzzy effect in SMA3 was deglitched.) My main beef is the lack of many gameplay additions, oh and like you have said before, the reusing of Mario Bros arcade over and over. Well, it could be worse I guess, they could NOT be including Mario Bros Classic and not including any other games too.

[OB1]

It's a big deal for me because I already have Mario All-Stars, so it would be nice if the GBA version of Mario 3 looked better than that.

[Darunia]

If they do bring Yoshi's Story to the GBA, I hope they do a helluva lot more than tweak graphics...as in maybe DOUBLE the number of levels. Damn, that was a short game...and the whole setup was so clumsy! There as what, 24 or 30 levels, but u only had to play through 5 to win.

---Darunia, King of Gorons

[Dark Jaguar]

I'm pretty sure Yoshi's Story will eventually come over, since they did do the work to do the task some of the way. I figure it'll be called "Yoshi's Story" though, or "Yoshi's Story Advance".

[OB1]

Well since Yoshi's Story was one of the first technical demos for the GBA, it's pretty much guaranteed that it will come out. I'd love to see some more levels and added difficulty.

[A Black Falcon]

I never played Yoshi's Story, but heard its ... not exactly one of the better platformers out there... (BTW, on the N64, my favorite sidescroller is Goemon's Great Adventure. I liked it a more than Kirby 64, definitely.)
I really hope that SMB3 is improved. Then again, I wanted all the SMAdvance games to be efforts on the scale of the huge amount of additions that they did for SMB Deluxe... unfortunately that didn't happen, but it would be great for at least ONE of them to have significant improvements... red-coin mode, more multiplayer types (not just Mario Bros!), those medals, some other extras, graphics improved over the SNES version, etc... that would be great.
Unfortunately given what we got from SMB2, SMW, and SMW2, I don't expect that to happen. :(

[OB1]

Well there's a reason why Mario 3 is coming so late. Let's hope that they're planning something special for that port.

[Dark Jaguar]

Well, SMA1 did have red coin hunts and yoshi egg hunts. However, they really changed the game a whole lot as well, with map changes, all sorts of item placement changes, and a general easyness in getting hearts from EVERYWHERE, so it wasn't exactly something everyone loved.

SMA2 and 3 managed to keep everything pretty much accurate, but they only added a few levels in SMA3 and a new character (sorta, it was still Luigi but he actually played differently that time).

SMBDX is still what I call the best of them. It had a pure true to the original mode (although lacking the updated All-Star graphics due to being on GBC, but who cares), plus SEPERATLY choosable red coin hunt, yoshi egg hunt, high score challenge, hidden challenges you get rewards for all sorts of ways, boo racing on new levels, and even Lost Levels.

Problem is, although SMB1 was perfectly translated (save for the minus world glitch, but that was a glitch anyway), Lost Levels (SMB2 Japan) was made easier. Since that game was all about the challenge, all the stuff they changed to make it easy (shortening jumps, removing wind completely, making a few of the flame pillars that spin shorter, removing the challenge of the jumps where you need to bounce off a paratroopa to make it, loosing the difference in control between Mario and Luigi (Mario has tighter control letting him stop and go quicker, but Luigi jumped higher) and worst of all the offenses, removing all 5 secret worlds). The "Super Mario For Super Players" is a little bonus yes, but I really would have rather they kept the whole game's gameplay completely intact. After all, it IS "For Super Players", so making it easy is just insulting those who the title of it says it's intended for. However, all in all, SMBDX was the best of the remakes, if you count the accuracy of SMB alone plus everytyhing else as a bonus.

I certainly hope they do the same thing with Super Mario Bros. 3. They should make all the gameplay TOTALLY accurate to the original, with "classic mode" being selectable in the game's menu, and then of course add all sorts of extra modes like red coin hunts and such and bonus levels (not altering the main game of course, just extra :D).

Then, comes Super Mario Advance 5, staring Super Mario Bros. DX :D. I figure they will do that eventually, though I certainly hope that Lost Levels is restored to it's original glory.

[Weltall]

Why don't they ever actually make an original 2D Mario game for a change? I mean, it's nice having the old games reissued and all but come on, we've all played them to death and back already. Give us something new!

[Dark Jaguar]

Haha, that's exactly what my main complaint was when Super Mario Advance 2 was released and SMA3 was announced. I personally would STILL rather they make new Mario games than give us remakes. In a perfect world, both would be nice, but unfortunatly, Nintendo doesn't have an infinite number of teams to make games (though they come close), so I really do figure they should be focusing on new games rather than old. However, if they are going to do remakes, we might as well focus our complaining nature on the quality of the remake.

[OB1]

DJ: SM DX was not a perfect port. Since the GBC screen is shaped differently than a regular tv screen, they had to get rid of parts of the image, like they did with the Advance games.

[Weltall]

Actually, they could have ported Super Mario All-Stars in its entirety onto one GBA cartridge, instead they're soaking us for each one individually.

[A Black Falcon]

Nintendo hasn't made a new 2d Mario platformer since 1992 (Super Mario Land 2 for GB. After that, Yoshi's Island/Story have Yoshi, and Wario Land 1-4 have Wario, and Donkey Kong ('94, for GB) did star Mario, but really was mostly a puzzle game so I don't know if it really counts as a platformer...), so maybe they forget how... :) After all its been 11 years since a real new Mario 2d platformer!

[OB1]

Weltall: I know, Nintendo should have released a Mario All-Stars GBA game with at least the first three Mario games in one cart, and then a second All-Stars game with Mario World and Yoshi's Island. But nope! They're too greedy.

ABF: I never cared for the original GB Mario games. They tried so hard to be like their big console brethren but failed miserably in my eyes. I certainly hope that future original Mario Advance games are better than those attempts.

[A Black Falcon]

I always liked the GB Mario games... SML1 and 2 were both fun games. Wario Land is still my favorite of the Mario/Wario Land series, though... I liked that game a lot. Wario Land 2/3's 'no-die' thing got tedious and wes never all that good to begin with, and WL was a improvement over SML1/2.
Donkey Kong, of course, really is in a different genre... though that was also a very, very good game.

[Dark Jaguar]

No die thing? I played Wario Land VB, which at least kept the death thing.

Anyway, yes I too believe Nintendo is milking us by a very LARGE amount by releasing them all individually. They very well could have just ported All-Stars + Mario World to GBA straight off.

Whoever made the SMBDX comment to me: Yeah, they did hav to cut off the screen a bit, but that's a given. Aside from that, everything is EXACTLY the same. That's acceptable in my eyes. Of course, they COULD have gone the extra mile and added an optional stretch and distort to fit whole image on screen option. Sure it wouldn't look as nice, but it would play the same, and more importantly, I'm only saying it should be an extra option, so people could easily choose not to play that way.

Anyway, I do really think that this whole time instead of working on these one at a time ports, they SHOULD have been working on DXing All-Stars +Mario World (maybe adding Mario World 2 to the package). That way, they could be forced to include the original untainted mode of play (I'm talking SMB2 and Lost Levels here), while at the same time going SMBDX with all the other modes. Had they been doing that this whole time, they might actually be releasing that right about...next month I think. As for a Mario game at system launch, they could have gone ahead and just made a NEW Mario game.

Oh and LL, while Super Mario Land 1 in my opinion was indeed not quite as good as the NES counterparts, Super Mario Land 2 certainly stands out on it's own as a great game.