Super Mario Advance began development in response to the success of Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (1999), a port of Super Mario Bros. released for the Game Boy Color. It was first revealed at a Japanese retail conference in January 2001, then released worldwide throughout the year; it was also released in China in June 2004. Super Mario Advance was well-received by critics upon release for its presentation and gameplay enhancements, though some felt it offered less than Deluxe. It was also a major commercial success, selling 5.5 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling Game Boy Advance games. Nintendo would develop three more games with the Super Mario Advance moniker, being ports of Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, and Super Mario Bros. 3, which themselves released to similar critical and commercial success and would lead to the development of New Super Mario Bros. (2006).
The gameplay is similar to the original version of Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.[5][6] Before each stage, the player chooses one of four protagonists: Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Peach. All four characters can run, jump, and climb ladders or vines, but each character possesses a unique advantage that causes them to be controlled differently. For example, Mario has balanced speed, jumping height, and strength; Luigi can jump the highest, but moves slightly slower and has weaker strength; Princess Peach can float because of her dress but has the lowest speed and strength; Toad has the highest speed and strength, which allows him to pick up items quickly, but jumps the lowest.[5][6] Players pick up enemies and throw them rather than jumping on them like most traditional Mario games. The same applies for items.[5][7] Players can pick up potions which allow them to travel to Subspace, where they can pick up a mushroom for extra health and coins which allow them to use the bonus machine at the end of the level for extra lives.
The game features several changes to take advantage of the Game Boy Advance hardware. Several sprites having scaling effects applied such as the throwable fruit, which can vary in size, and digitized voice acting is included with Charles Martinet and Jen Taylor reprising their roles as the voices of Mario/Luigi and Toad/Peach respectively. Present throughout the stages are five "Ace Coins" that reward an extra life.[5] A "Yoshi Challenge" is unlocked upon beating the game in which players find Yoshi Eggs throughout the levels, similar to Challenge Mode in Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.[5][7] Players are also able to save their progress.[7]
Development and release
Development on Super Mario Advance started after the release of Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, released for the Game Boy Color in 1999;[8]Deluxe was an enhanced port of the original Super Mario Bros. with added features and enhanced visuals, and had been a commercial success with 2.8 million units sold in the United States.[9] While graphically based on the Super Mario All-Stars version of Super Mario Bros. 2, it is not a port, rather it was programmed from the ground up. Due to the Game Boy Advance not having a backlight, all of the graphics had their brightness increased, and the level design was also altered to account for the smaller screen resolution. The Mario Bros. remake was originally a separate project at Nintendo before they were merged.[8]
Super Mario Advance was revealed on January 13, 2001, at a Japanese retail conference under the tentative title Mario Advance.[1] Released as a launch title in all regions, it first released in Japan on March 21, 2001;[1][2] it was then released in North America on June 11, 2001,[3] and in Europe on June 22, 2001.[2] It was later released in China in June 2004, where the system was distributed under the iQue brand.[4] On April 2, 2006, it was re-released in the United States under the Player's Choice label.[10]
On July 16, 2014, Super Mario Advance was added to the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan,[11] and in North America on November 6, 2014; it was released in Europe nearly two years later on March 10, 2016.[12] On May 26, 2023, the first three Super Mario Advance games were added to the Nintendo Classics service for the Switch.[13]
Upon release, Super Mario Advance was met with "generally favorable reviews" according to review aggregatorMetacritic; it holds an aggregate score of 84/100 based on 19 reviews.[15]
The presentation was well-received. Marc Nix of IGN noted the extensive use of scaling and rotation effects, saying "Super Mario Advance still puts the GBA through its paces, with scaling characters, spinning characters, gigantazoidized characters... Nintendo did a job on the characters." He also praised the quality of the audio, though wished that it had more music.[7]GameSpot shared a similar sentiment, praising the improved graphics and music,[5] as did Nintendo Life in a retrospective.[19] The voice clips, however, received a mixed response; IGN and GameSpot both found them charming, but admitted that players may get annoyed at them. It also received criticism for its perceived lack of extra content, unlike Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.[5][7]
Super Mario Advance was a commercial success. In July 2001, Famitsu reported that the game had sold 592,897 copies in Japan, making it the fourth-highest selling game since the start of the year.[22] In 2008, it received a "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[23] indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[24] By 2021, Super Mario Advance had sold an estimated 5,570,000 units worldwide, making it the sixth best-selling Game Boy Advance game of all-time.[25]
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