Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island (Game Boy Advance, 2002)

The story starts with a stork carrying two babies, when one of them is stolen mid-flight by Kamek, an evil magikoopa. The other baby, which turns out to be Mario, falls unnoticed to Yoshi's Island below. Mario lands on an unsuspecting Yoshi while he is out for a stroll and the game takes over from there. For this outing, players take control of Yoshi who is carrying Baby Mario while trying to find Baby Luigi and get them both to their parents.

Gameplay:
Mario's platform games have always had great gameplay and control. This is one case where the GBA really comes through and improves upon an already great control. Despite having fewer buttons than an SNES controller, the streamlined feel on the GBA works a lot better than the original and the D-pad feel is superior to the original.

On this outing the object is not only to get through each level, but also to collect all of the hidden red coins, flowers, and stars in each level to unlock bonus levels. At his disposal Yoshi is able to jump on enemies in the traditional sense and also has the ability to toss eggs, stomp out enemies, and do some floating to get across large gaps. Yoshi is essentially invincible other than traditional spikes, lava, water, or falling off the map. To Yoshi's apparent toughness, anytime Yoshi takes a hit Baby Mario is un-seated from his back and starts to float away in a bubble with a really annoying cry. In order to not loose a life Yoshi needs to get him back before the timer runs down and Mario gets snatched by Kamek's minions. This new twist on the traditional 2D platforming proves there is still life left in the genre.

I had no complaints with the top-notch control or the gameplay for this title. This is an improvement on what was already one of the best around. Other developers should take note.

Lasting Appeal:
The game consists of 6 worlds that containing 8 stages with 2 of those each containing a boss fight of some kind. Included are the original bonus stages as well as an additional bonus stage for each world exclusive to this GBA version as a bonus for reaching 100% collection rate on each stage. This game will have you replaying levels over and over trying to find all the secrets and get everything unlocked.

Final Words:
If you have never played this game before then there is no reason you shouldn't own this title, so go, now, and get it. Even if you have played through the original there is still a lot of fun to be had here and some new things to discover. Games like this justify ports and make you forget the countless mediocre games out there.

BEST MARIO GAME ON GBA