Hey, everyone and welcome to my review of: Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros 3.

Darn, that’s a long title. Anyway, this as most of us know by the title, is a remake of Super Mario Bros 3. For the Gameboy advanced. This game was released in 2003 (The year I was born!!!) And has the honour to have been released first in Japan, then in Europe, and then in the US.

Finally a game that gives us Euro’s some pride. But, anyway.

I played this game on my phone, and I must say it works very well with on screen buttons, and was still very easy and especially fun to play. Of course, the original Super Mario Bros 3, was one of the best games on the NES. It did have some issues, though. Like the fact that it was a big game and had no save feature.

Well, this game pretty much fixed everything, and you will see just how much I love this game, as the review goes on

Sound: 7/10

The First Mario and the second Japanese Mario have some iconic songs yes, but they were rather repititve. Super Doki Mario (The European and American Super Mario Bros 2.) Had pretty catchy songs, but they really aren’t Mario.

This game has some great music, I had my headphones on while I was playing the game, and I really loved the music. It fits the game perfectly, in the scary castle, we have a scary theme, in the happy colourful levels we have happy colourful music! Everything fits so perfectly.

The sound effects are great and memorable, too.

Overall, the music is really catchy and fun to listen to, and the sound effects are very, very memorable.

Graphics: 7/10

The graphics are pretty much ripped from the SNES Super Mario All-Stars port, the Gameboy Advanced had similar graphics to the SNES, the GBA could handle a bit more than the SNES.

I like the graphics, but for some reason I don’t necessarily love them. I mean, they do what they have to do. But they don’t really deliver anything special in my opinion.

The animation is smooth, and it looks bright and colourful, like you would expect.

The sprites, I have to admit look great, I love pretty much everything about the sprites.

Overall, I really think it does what it has to do, but It doesn’t do anything great and noticeable, a 7/10

Addictiveness 7/10

Now, I hear you screaming behind your screen ‘’What are you talking about!? Mario games are the most addictive things of addictive stuff!’’

You are right, most of the Mario games are incredibly addicting! And, this one is very addicting

But, just not incredibly for me. I don’t really know why, but Super Mario Bros. 3 was never incredibly addicting. To me anyways, the level design was good. But I felt that it wasn’t as good as the first one, or heck even new super Mario bros, and the galaxy games.

At times, I felt that the levels dragged on a little, just a tiny bit, mind you.

But, of course, I did give it a high rating, because after all it’s a Mario game.

I don’t really need to explain the gameplay, do I? You run from point a to point b, Avoiding obstacles and defeating enemies with various suits and transformations. It’s, well Mario.

Honestly, I never really knew why Super Mario Bros. 3 was so highly praised in the gameplay department, since well. It’s very basic, in my opinion.

Many even put it above super Mario world, which I don’t really understand, because I felt that Mario world had more variety, and was more addicting and well made.

But, overall I still think this is a highly addicting game a 7/10

Depth: 10/10

Now, for a GBA game, it might not be very big. But for an NES platformer, which it originally was, this is pretty amazing.

You have 8 long worlds to play in, all having their own unique theme. My personal favourite being big world, where everything’s big.

The various suits, are really great and even add a little bit of strategy to the game. This is a tricky game, so you’ll need all the suits you can get. The levels aren’t incredibly big, but they’re not short, either.

World 7 has extra levels that you don’t need to play, which adds to the replay ability. 

There was also an E-card feature, I don’t know much about it, but it’s there if you want.

Honestly, there isn’t much to talk about here, originally it was an NES platformer, which are in general very short, so how big this game is, is very impressive. A 10/10

Difficulty: 9/10

I’m not very good at Mario games, so that’s why I’m rating it this high.

The difficulty does not come from the controls, which is very important. The controls are pretty much perfect. The enemy placement, is at times frustrating, which is probably the only problem with the difficulty.

The level design is very good,  and Mario plays perfectly, it is easy and fun to control.

Memorizing the levels is very important in this game, and I love games that force you to. It adds to the fun and difficulty part in good ways.

Like I said, though, I’m not very good at Mario games, so I’m not good at this. I am not absolutely horrible, but not very great either.

Overall, the difficulty is great, yet a little too high for my liking. A 9/10

Story 6/10

The story goes as followed:

We all know the Mushroom Kingdom, it’s a safe place because of our heroes, Mario and Luigi. However, the mushroom KINGDOM forms an entrance to the Mushroom world, a not so safe place. Bowser sent his seven sons to wreak havoc in this normally safe land.

And now, Mario and Luigi have to stop them! Very simple plot, but it’s a lot better than the regular The princess is gone thing we get in Mario games.

I didn’t feel that the plot was very interesting, and I wasn’t very excited for it, I was more interested in the gameplay. And, I don’t feel that the plot is very important in games, if the gameplay and controls are good, it’s going to be a good game, no matter how bad the plot is.

I like the plot, but that’s how far it goes. It’s really, just okay. It’s nothing special, because it shouldn’t be. That would take away from the experience, and make the game less interesting. That might sound.. Ludacris, but I really feel that way. A great storyline, should not be present in a main series Mario game.

Memories: N/A

I have no memories of this game, whatsoever.

Overall: 8/10

I’m rating this game lower then what most people would. The gameplay and controls are good, yes they are. But for me, the enemy placement was a little frustrating, and while the level design was good, it isn’t as good as Super Mario World, or heck even New Super Mario Bros. DS in my opinion.

The sound was decent, and the game was addicting, but, the great classic Mario games this game gets compared to, I don’t think it holds up.