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Mario's Handheld History Pt. 2: The Advance Years

This time we examine the numerous ports and original adventures Mario participated in during the GBA's lifespan...

...Continued From Page 3

Classic NES: Dr. Mario

As with the Classic NES: Super Mario Bros game this was an exact replica of its NES counterpart. Although previously released on the original Game Boy, that version was of course in black and white so this became the first time we'd be able to enjoy the full color version of Dr. Mario on a portable format. The NES version also benefited from a larger play area than that of the old Game Boy edition and more varieties of bacteria to fight.

So, still an intriguingly pleasant little puzzler and being part of the NES Classics series, a bargain too!

Mario Party Advance

Created by Hudson soft for Nintendo, Mario Party Advance is a mainly single player version of the Mario Party game series reduced in size and complexity and crammed into a Game Boy Advance cartridge. There's 4 different game modes: Shroom City, Play Land, Party Land and Challenge Land. Shroom city is the main mode and involves you roaming around the city, laid out like a boardgame. You go around the board looking for other characters, who upon meeting you start a quest, which rewards you with a minigame to play. Every three turns you get to play a Mushroom challenge game where you get the chance to win more throws of the dice as such to progress further in the game. There are many themed areas to Shroom City, following the usual Desert, Jungle and Snow themes, so theres a fair amount to explore.

The other game modes allow you or you and a friend to play the various minigames you've unlocked from Shroom City, either just to set highscores against each other or in some cases to duel. You can also earn coins in the challenge mode to unlock even more minigames. So theres plenty of action to be had but its all a bit simple, almost as if the game was uh... designed with kids in mind and not jaded 20-something Mario addicts. A fun diversion but not one that will last the hardcore Mario fiend very long.

Dr. Mario / Puzzle League

Another Dr.Mario? So soon? This time all the game has had is a light graphical retouching and new musics, same game though. So why should you buy into this one? Well, it also includes a game called Puzzle League, which some of you may remember as Tetris Attack/Panel de Pon on the Super Nintendo. The mid 90's was the highpoint of falling block puzzle games with there being literally hundreds of different types of game from as many different publishers. Whereas Panel de Pon and Tetris Attack were filled with colorful characters, Panel de Pon having its own pleasant characters, Tetris Attack having Characters revolving around Yoshi and his friends, the version of Puzzle League in this combo cartridge for the GBA has had all the characters removed and is a straight puzzle game, no frills. A nice little diversion nonetheless.

Mario Tennis: Power Tour

The guys at Camelot return with this time more Tennis fun! Again theres an RPG story mode element to the game with the usual levelling up shenanigans, or you can just dip into the exhibition modes and have a smash around with other characters. You could even link up Game Boys and get some multiplayer action in the form of singles matches, or team up with a computer player and have some doubles matches.

Theres a decent selection of playable characters, you can play as the guys from the Mushroom Kingdom (its quite fun setting yourself up in a match of Mario vs. Bowser or Peach vs. Donkey Kong) or the pair of kids from the Story mode, Clay or Ash. Unlike Mario Golf Advance Tour though this game is a lilttle lacking in the unlockable stakes, with there being no connectivity between Cube and Boy tennis games. This doesn't stop it from being a superb effort at portable tennis, its definitely one of the best, most fun portable tennis games ever created.

So, while it looks like the sun has set on the glorious age that was the Game Boy Advance, theres a whole bunch of Mario flavored treats out there that many of you ain't going to have sampled. They're a pocket sized slice of gaming history and they'll work on your classic GBA, your GBA SP, Game Boy Micro, Ds and your shiny new DS Lite. So you've got the hardware... Go get the GAMES! GET 'EM! ASAP!