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Ask any long-time Mario fan what the best game out of the series is, and a likely response will be Super Mario Bros. 3. This game introduced the idea of multiple abilities for Mario, and took the successful Mario Bros. 1 formula and extended it to more varied worlds.

I spent innumerable hours playing the original SMB3, and I poured an equal amount of time into it on the SNES in the form of Mario All Stars. Now here we are again with SMB3 on the Game Boy Advance. Is it still fun? You bet! The game has been left largely unchanged except for graphical and audio upgrades, and the addition of a save game function - definitely a welcome feature, given the length and difficulty of the game.

The GBA version has a few additions up its sleeve, namely the ability to scan items and levels in using the e-Reader add-on. You can read in items from Super Mario World (like the cape), levels from other Mario games, and other cool stuff. The only drawback here is that you need two GBA systems and a link cable, since there's no way to have the SMB3 cartridge inserted while also using the e-Reader. Definitely not a convenient feature, but a cool one nonetheless if you have the tools to do it. And the stuff you scan in is saved to the cartridge for later use.

This fourth Mario Advance game also includes the now-tired rendition of the original Mario Bros. arcade game. Lord knows why Nintendo feels this is worth including with every game - a little variety would be nice! It's there if you want it, but it's nothing to write home about.

Anyway, the final word on Super Mario Advance 4 is this: Mario Bros. 3 is still a blast to play, and I believe it deserves a place in the collections of both Mario newbies and veteran Nintendophiles alike. This is platform gaming at its finest, folks. Don't miss it!

I've been playing video games for years. Since i was but a child the NES was a dear friend of mine and we spent many hours together. On cold winter nights we fought our way through the dungeons of zelda. And on warm summer days we desperatly tried to tried to jump enough barrels to finally get donkey kong.

But the game that me and my nes fell in love with was super mario bros. 3
It was revolutionary for it's time, and I don't mean graphically I mean the sheer gameplay and fun factor. From the opening world to the hidden whistles and onto the final castle there's never a dull moment. The levels, and not to mention the worlds themselves (a brand new invetion at the time), are layed out beautifully. The game is just a masterpeice.
Even stuck up 12 year olds who call 32 bit games classics will have to admit that this game is fun.
But then again even the greatest video game ever created has it's problems. And porting it is the big one. the gba just doesn't feel the same as holding an nes controller. and at times it felt awkward. the music and sound effects also weaken the nastalgic experience. but it won't mean anything to first timers. and i hope that the next generation of video gamers will finally get a chance to play this masterpiece.

it's the greatest game ever created whether it be on gba/snes/or nes. it gets a perfect score

Super Mario Bros. 3 was the biggest video game of my generation. I was 9 when it came out. There was so much buzz to this game (partly due to the movie "The Wizard") I remember practically half my 4th grade class talked about it for show and tell. Granted, I played SMB3 into the ground back then to the point where I became bored to tears with it. Still, it's been 14 years, and what once was old, now is new.

So what's so cool about this release that it earns 4 stars and is actually worth the $30-$35? Well, it's portable, you can save anywhere, you can play with a friend with only one game boy because of the alternating nature of the 2-player game, you can save replays of the level's you've beaten, you can now store up to 4 rows of items as opposed to just 1, there's the obligatory 4 player link version of the original mario bros. which only requires one copy of the game. And then there's the amazing e-reader support that, in theory, gives the game an infinite number of new levels. It's really hard to knock this release even though it's a gross example of how the GBA's library is saturated with ports of games we've all played before (and then some).

I've still got a few slight gripes. Other than the e-reader feature, there's really nothing new. It's the same game it was 14 years ago. That's generally a good thing, but if you were like me and played it into floor then, the game's liable to wear out on you somewhat quickly. It would have been interesting if they had provided a few more modes of play to make the game new and challenging*. And I really would have liked the 2-player game to be linkable. But other than that, I 'spose you couldn't ask for much more really.

* I concede, there is a nice all clear mode that let's you pick any world and play any level you've beaten (all 90 of them!) if you beat the game. But...that's about it.