Super Mario Advance (Game Boy Advance)

Super Mario Advance is Super Mario Bros. 2 rebuilt for a pocket. Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Toad climb out of a cave into Subcon, the land of dreams, and fight their way through seven worlds to the frog king Wart by pulling up vegetables and throwing them, along with nearly everything else that moves. Nintendo R&D2 started from the look and sound of the 1993 Super Mario All-Stars version but wrote the program afresh, and the game went on sale on the day the Game Boy Advance itself did, in all three of the major regions.

This page is about what changed. The story and the twenty levels are the ones you know, and our NES page retells them in full. Here you will find what the Game Boy Advance added: the voices, the brighter palette, giant Shy Guys and giant turnips, scoring and chain combos, five Ace Coins in every level, Robirdo, Mouser moved to World 6, the post-game Yoshi Challenge, saves, a new run button, and a long list of small fixes.

It was also the first of four Super Mario Advance games, and it set the pattern for the rest: a classic Mario adventure, reworked and voiced, packed together with a four-player version of the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros. Its sequels covered Super Mario World, Yoshi’s Island and Super Mario Bros. 3.

Critics liked it without loving it: the platforming still delighted, but several reviewers had hoped for a brand-new Mario for a new console, and the voices divided opinion. It sold steadily all the same, and it can be played today through the Game Boy Advance library of Nintendo Switch Online.

“Two Classics, One Pak!”

Nintendo’s tagline for Super Mario Advance

The two classics being Super Mario Bros. 2 and Mario Bros.

Quick answers to the questions people ask most about the first Super Mario Advance.

The story is the 1988 one, and the Advance version tells it only in the manual: the old title-screen scroll of text is gone. Mario dreams of a staircase leading to a door and a world called Subcon, cursed by the frog king Wart, who has used the Dream Machine to raise an army of monsters. A voice begs for help and reveals Wart’s weakness: vegetables. Next day, on a picnic with Luigi, Peach and Toad, Mario finds that very staircase in a cave. Our Super Mario Bros. 2 page retells the whole adventure world by world; here is the short version, with what the Game Boy Advance changed along the way.

Into the dream: Worlds 1 and 2

World 1-1 is the most altered level in the first world: a blue Big Shy Guy greets you where two pink ones used to stand, a red one joins him, and a bouncy Elevator Platform waits before the first door. Mouser ends World 1, now taunting you aloud. World 2 is desert and pyramid, where a new jar in 2-2 makes sure you cannot dig yourself into a dead end, and Tryclyde, painted turquoise with orange stripes, guards 2-3. This is the only time you meet him.

Robirdo’s debut: Worlds 3 and 4

The waterfalls and cliffs of World 3 lead to a fortress where Albatosses drop Bob-ombs, and at the top sits the game’s one new boss: Robirdo, a giant metal Birdo. It fires giant eggs and charges across the room, and you can only hurt it by sending its own eggs back, five times over. World 4 is the ice world of Flurries and whales, and its boss Fryguy now gets a short scene in which giant bubbles turn his empty mask into the burning boss.

Night, crabs and a rematch: Worlds 5 and 6

World 5 is night-time: waterfalls under a dark sky, a climb up vines and a trek through the treetops of 5-3, where Clawgrip waits. Like Fryguy, he gets a transformation scene, starting life as an ordinary crab before Wart’s bubbles make him huge, and he speaks in a pirate’s growl. World 6 returns to the desert, and its pyramid ends not with a second Tryclyde, as on the NES, but with Mouser, who was moved here when Robirdo took his place in World 3.

Wart’s castle: World 7

World 7 climbs into the clouds and then into Wart’s castle, with its conveyor belts, spikes and two Birdos, and the Mask Gate that comes alive. Wart himself finally has a voice (“I am the great Wart!”). The fight is unchanged: wait for him to open his mouth and feed him six vegetables from the Dream Machine. Once he is beaten, he can no longer hurt you by accident. The Subcons are freed, the cast list rolls (Robirdo added, Clawgrip spelled correctly at last) and Mario wakes up in bed.

After the credits: the Yoshi Challenge

The NES game ended when Mario woke up. The Advance version sends you straight back into the dream: with Wart beaten, the Yoshi Challenge opens every level for a second hunt, this time for two eggs per stage in Sub-space. Gather a whole world’s worth and the eggs hatch, and when every egg and every Ace Coin is in the bag the title screen changes for good.

Every level in Super Mario Advance

The same 20 levels as the NES game, with the Advance version’s changes noted. Every level has five Ace Coins and two Yoshi Eggs. The Advance game has pink, red and green Birdos only.

1. 
   World 1-1Grass · pink BirdoBig Shy Guys and the first Elevator Platform; a 1-Up in a bubble in the cave.
2. World 1-2Grass · pink BirdoA purple Pidgit on a red carpet, the first key and the first Phanto chase.
3. 
   World 1-3Waterfall tower · Mouser · warp to World 4A second Elevator Platform under the third Ace Coin.
4. World 2-1Desert · pink BirdoCobrats in jars and the first Pansers, whose fireballs are now slower.
5. World 2-2Desert · red BirdoA new jar stops you trapping yourself after digging out the sand above.
6. 
   World 2-3Pyramid · TryclydeThe three-headed snake’s only appearance in this version.
7. World 3-1Waterfalls · red Birdo · warp to World 5Logs over the falls; the warp jar sits in the cave under the biggest one.
8. World 3-2Cliffs · red BirdoOstros and Porcupos make their entrance.
9. 
   World 3-3Fortress · RobirdoAlbatosses and Bob-ombs, then the brand-new robot boss.
10. 
    World 4-1Ice · no BirdoFlurries and the Autobomb; the one level without an extra Mushroom.
11. World 4-2Ice · red Birdo · warp to World 6Beezos and whales; the first room plays the overworld theme, as on the NES.
12. 
    World 4-3Ice fortress · FryguyRide a Birdo egg, then watch Fryguy take shape in a bubble.
13. World 5-1Night waterfall · fire-spitting BirdoLogs and Trouters over a vast waterfall in the dark.
14. 
    World 5-2Cave of vines · red BirdoA vertical climb through Hoopsters; one jar holds the new bouncing blade.
15. 
    World 5-3Treetops · Clawgrip · warp to World 7The crab grows huge before the fight and speaks like a pirate.
16. World 6-1Desert · green BirdoQuicksand and a fort of jars, some of them reachable for the first time.
17. World 6-2Desert · green BirdoAcross the sky on the backs of Albatosses.
18. 
    World 6-3Pyramid · MouserMouser’s rematch replaces the second Tryclyde fight.
19. World 7-1Sky · fire-spitting BirdoLadders, clouds, Sparks and Hoopsters.
20. 
    World 7-2Wart’s castle · Mask Gate, then WartConveyors over spikes, the living gate, and a frog king who talks.

Warp jars are where they were on the NES. For the full walkthrough of each level, see the Super Mario Bros. 2 page.

The rules are those of Super Mario Bros. 2. You pick one of four heroes before each level, each with a different jump, speed and strength; you pluck vegetables and lift enemies instead of stomping them; and Magic Potions open doors into Sub-space, the shadowy mirror world where Mushrooms raise your health and coins pay for spins on the Bonus Chance slot machine. Our Super Mario Bros. 2 page covers all of that. What follows is everything the Advance version does differently.

What is new at a glance

The headline changes are new things to collect and a new way to score. Every level hides five red Ace Coins, a numbered level chart before each stage tracks your progress, and after the credits the Yoshi Challenge sends you back for two eggs per level. Enemies, vegetables and POW Blocks now come in giant sizes, and hitting several enemies with one throw builds a chain of points that ends in extra lives.

Health works differently too. In the NES and All-Stars versions you started every life and every level as Super Mario (or Luigi, Peach or Toad) with a full meter. Here you start each life small, with a single hit point, and stay small from level to level until you find a Mushroom. In return every level except 4-1 has an extra Mushroom in its Sub-space, so the meter can now reach five points. Hearts are bigger and more generous: they appear after you hit two enemies in a row and from many other sources, including special radishes.

Ace Coins and the Yoshi Challenge

Ace Coins are big red coins stamped with an A, and each level has five, often in awkward corners, behind locked doors or in Sub-space. Take all five in one visit to a level and you earn a 1-Up and a star on that level’s panel of the level chart, which also shows your overall Ace Coin percentage. Coins you have already found turn transparent on later visits; you can still grab them for points, but they do not count again.

The Yoshi Challenge opens once Wart is beaten. Any level can now be chosen, even ones you warped past, and each has two Yoshi Eggs hidden in Sub-space in place of two of its Mushrooms. Lose a life and the eggs must be collected again; warp out with a Sub-space jar and they do not count. Find every egg in a world and a Yoshi hatches from each. Clear the challenge and collect all 100 Ace Coins, and the title screen changes to mark the feat.

Giant enemies, giant turnips and the score

R&D2 wanted the new hardware to show off, and the easiest way was size. Big Shy Guys (red ones walk off ledges, blue ones turn back) and Big Ninjis are double the usual size, take longer to lift and leave a heart when thrown or beaten. Giant vegetables flatten whole rows of enemies, and a giant POW Block bounces, shaking the screen four times. Red Shells are bigger too, and they now ricochet off walls.

The game also keeps score for the first time in this version of Subcon. The system resembles the Power Challenge of the Japanese satellite broadcast BS Super Mario USA: knock out several enemies with one throw and each extra victim is worth more, with the hit sound rising in pitch in the manner of Super Mario World. Defeat eight or more enemies in quick succession and the chain pays out an extra life.

Controls, camera and saving

B still plucks and throws and A still jumps, but R now works as a second run button that cannot grab, so you can keep running with something in your hands. A drops you off a vine, chain or ladder at any point. L pans the view up and down, and in vertical sections Select pans it sideways. When you run, the camera now looks ahead of you instead of keeping you dead centre.

The cartridge saves, and you can save at any moment: the game remembers the exact level, not just the world, as the All-Stars Lost Levels did. Enemies no longer respawn the moment they scroll off screen unless the game needs them to, and many old glitches are gone, including the Magic Potion jump that let players get over the left-hand wall at the beginning of 6-3.

Voices, music and the brighter look

The original Game Boy Advance had no backlit screen, so most palettes were brightened, inconsistently in places, and Sub-space lost much of its dark blue tint. Several enemies changed colour: Pidgits went from black to purple on red carpets, Hoopsters became yellow with red spots, Autobombs turned grey and red Beezos yellow. Luigi’s overalls are blue and Toad’s vest purple, and his cap spots were redrawn in the modern style. Enemies spin when thrown, bombs throb before they blow, and doors have proper entry animations.

Every hero speaks when chosen, when grabbing a Mushroom or Crystal Ball, on a 1-Up, on clearing a level and on losing a life, and an announcer calls out “Choose a player!”. The bosses have lines of their own. The music was rearranged for the handheld’s sound chip and runs slightly sharp; the title theme is a jazzy take on the underwater music from Super Mario Bros., and boss rooms play a brooding new piece until the fight begins. Princess Toadstool is called Peach throughout.

Mario Bros.: the bonus game in every Advance

Choose the second option on the selection screen and you get Mario Bros., a remake of the 1983 arcade game that came with all four Super Mario Advance games and later with Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, with very small differences between releases. It began, according to Nintendo’s developer interview, as a separate experiment in four-player play. Up to four players join over the link cable, and Battle mode also works with only one cartridge.

Classic is the arcade game’s co-operative mode with backgrounds, music, scrolling stages, two POW Blocks and Super Mario Bros. 2’s Power Squat Jump. Spinies replace the Shellcreepers, and Sidesteppers, Fighter Flies, Freezies and icicles follow. Battle, modelled on the battle game in the All-Stars version of Super Mario Bros. 3, is a race to five coins (or to be last one standing) with selectable difficulty, a garbage can full of items in two-player games and a fire-breathing Bowser every fourth round. Every player is a Mario, in red, green, yellow and blue.

New and changed items

The collectibles and objects that are new to the Advance version come first, then the familiar ones in their Game Boy Advance form.

• 
  Ace Coin (new)Five per level. All five in one visit give a 1-Up and a star on the level chart.
• 
  Yoshi Egg (new)Two per level in the post-game Yoshi Challenge, hidden in Sub-space.
• 
  Giant vegetable (new)A huge turnip with a huge reach that sweeps aside a crowd.
• 
  Big POW Block (new)Bounces after it lands and shakes enemies off screen four times.
• 
  Heart Radish (new)A special radish that gives a heart when pulled.
• 
  Hidden Item Container (new)Throw it to release a Heart, a bomb or a Starman.
• 
  Spark Chaser (new)Found in jars; clears Sparks from walls, floors and ceilings.
• 
  Elevator Platform (new)A bouncy hill that springs you upward. There are only two, in 1-1 and 1-3.
• 
  Heart (changed)Bigger, and now appears after two hits in a row and from giant enemies.
• 
  Red Shell (changed)Larger, and bounces off walls, so watch the rebound.
• 
  MushroomOne more per level (except 4-1), for a maximum of five hit points.
• 
  1-Up MushroomSome moved; some now float in bubbles that need three hits to pop.
• 
  Magic PotionOpens a door into Sub-space, home of Mushrooms, coins and eggs.
• 
  CherryCollect enough and a Starman appears; a chime now tells you when.
• 
  POW BlockClears every enemy on the ground.
• 
  Mushroom BlockStack it, throw it or stand on it.
• 
  BombNow pulses before exploding, and stops rolling later.
• 
  KeyOpens locked doors; Phanto gives chase while you carry it.
• 
  StopwatchFreezes enemies for a while.
• 
  Crystal BallOpens the Hawkmouth gate at the end of a level.
• 
  RocketCarries you to a new part of the level.
• 
  Birdo’s eggCatch it, ride it or throw it back.

A launch game gets a launch campaign. Here is where Super Mario Advance turned up beyond the cartridge, and where later games remembered it.

Print advertsNorth America, UK, Japan and BrazilNintendo advertised the game in print in at least four countries; the American advert also became a T-shirt design.

The vegetable T-shirtMerchandiseA shirt based on the North American print advert.

Prima’s official guidePrima GamesThe licensed strategy guide for the game.

iQue Club wallpaperiQue, ChinaA desktop wallpaper from iQue, which published the game in China in 2004.

Super Mario-kun, volume 26Manga · 2002Yukio Sawada’s manga gave Robirdo its only appearance outside the game: the Shy Guys set it on Mario, who knocks it out with a Giant Shy Guy.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar SagaGame Boy AdvanceCarries the same Mario Bros. remake, and Birdo reuses her line “This is as far as you go!” in her boss fight, extended with talk of her darling.

The Nintendo DSi ShopNintendo DSiReworked versions of this game’s Mario, Luigi, Peach and Toad sprites decorate the screen shown while software downloads.

WarioWare: D.I.Y. ShowcaseWiiWareOne of 18-Volt’s microgames, “Mario Adv.”, is based directly on Super Mario Advance.

The cast of Super Mario Bros. 2, now with voices, plus one robot. Abilities are as in the NES game unless noted; see our Super Mario Bros. 2 page for the full profiles.

Character	Who they are	In this game	Abilities & notes
MarioThe all-rounder	The dreamer whose nightmare starts it all.	Playable. Average at everything, so a safe choice for any level. Voiced by Charles Martinet, who also leads the chorus of the game’s title when you select it.	Jump, speed and plucking: all average
LuigiThe high jumper	Mario’s brother, in blue overalls here where All-Stars dressed him in purple.	Playable. The highest and floatiest jump, with legs flailing, at the cost of slow plucking and slippery landings. Also voiced by Martinet.	Best jump · slow to pluck
Princess PeachThe floater	The princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, called Peach rather than Toadstool in this version.	Playable. Hovers for about a second and a half after a jump, ideal for long gaps. Voiced by Jen Taylor.	Float · slowest runner and weakest plucker
ToadThe sprinter	The loyal mushroom retainer, now in a purple vest with modern cap spots.	Playable. The fastest runner and quickest plucker, with the lowest jump. Voiced by Jen Taylor.	Fastest · instant plucks · lowest jump
WartKing of Subcon	The frog tyrant who stole the Dream Machine and cursed Subcon.	Final boss in World 7-2. Now voiced by Martinet, with lines such as “I am the great Wart!” and “Ah, ribbit!”. His bubbles appear to be what transforms Fryguy and Clawgrip.	Six vegetables to defeat
BirdoEgg-spitting gatekeeper	The level guardian who spits eggs, or fire in the green version.	Guards most levels in pink, red and green forms, each voiced by Jen Taylor in a lower pitch than the last. You can now steal the bows of red and green Birdos and throw them.	Three hits · pink, red, green
RobirdoThe new boss	A giant mechanical Birdo, the one new boss in Super Mario Advance.	Boss of World 3-3 in place of Mouser. Fires giant eggs, charges (grab a hanging chain to dodge) and, once hit, stomps to stun you. Speaks in a robotic version of Red Birdo’s voice (Jen Taylor).	Five hits with its own eggs
MouserBomb-throwing mouse	A mouse who hurls bombs at you.	Boss of World 1-3 and, in this version, World 6-3 instead of 3-3. Now voiced with a sneer by Martinet.	Hit him with his own bombs
TryclydeThree-headed snake	A fire-breathing snake with three heads.	Boss of World 2-3 only; his World 6 rematch went to Mouser. Recoloured turquoise and orange in the game, though the artwork keeps him red.	Stack Mushroom Blocks as a shield
FryguyLiving flame	A grinning fireball who splits into smaller flames when hit.	Boss of World 4-3, with a new opening scene in which bubbles build him from his empty mask.	Splits into four small Fryguys
ClawgripRock-throwing crab	A giant crab who throws boulders.	Boss of World 5-3. Starts small and is pumped up by bubbles, then fights with pirate patter. A rock bounced off the back wall can hit him more than once.	Five hits with his own rocks
PhantoThe guardian mask	A mask that hunts anyone carrying a key.	Uses a larger sprite in this version, and can no longer hurt you once you drop the key.	Cannot be defeated
SubconsThe dream people	The fairy-like folk of Subcon, imprisoned by Wart.	Freed from a giant jar in the ending, they carry the beaten king away.	Not playable

Bosses & enemies

Every boss in level order, then every regular enemy, with the Advance version’s changes. Level ranges follow the NES game.

• 
  Birdo, pink (boss)Worlds 1–4Spits eggs; three hits. Greets you with “This is as far as you go!”
• 
  Birdo, red (boss)Worlds 2–7Mixes eggs and fireballs; her bow can now be stolen.
• 
  Birdo, green (boss)Worlds 5–7Fire only, so you must use vegetables or Mushroom Blocks.
• 
  Mouser (boss)Worlds 1-3 and 6-3Throws bombs; voiced, and moved from World 3 to World 6.
• 
  Tryclyde (boss)World 2-3Three heads of fireballs; fought once only in this version.
• 
  Robirdo (boss)World 3-3New. Giant eggs, charges and a stunning stomp; five hits.
• 
  Fryguy (boss)World 4-3Now born from a bubble cutscene; splits when hit.
• 
  Clawgrip (boss)World 5-3Grows from a small crab; bounce rocks off the wall for extra hits.
• 
  Mask Gate (boss)World 7-2The gate comes alive; stun it with Mushroom Blocks.
• 
  Wart (boss)World 7-2Six vegetables in the open mouth; now talks and cannot hurt you once beaten.
• 
  Shy Guy1-1 to 7-2The basic masked walker; red ones walk off ledges.
• 
  Big Shy Guy (new)From 1-1Double size, slow to lift, leaves a heart when beaten.
• 
  Big Ninji (new)Advance onlyA double-size Ninji, one of the remake’s giants.
• 
  Tweeter1-1 to 7-2A masked bird that hops along.
• 
  Snifit1-2 to 7-2Shoots bullets, now slightly slower.
• 
  Ninji1-1 to 7-2Little jumping ninja; runners turn round more slowly.
• 
  Beezo1-2 to 6-2Diving bee-soldiers; the red ones are now yellow.
• 
  Hoopster1-1 to 7-1Vine-climbing ladybird, now yellow with red spots.
• 
  Phanto1-2 to 7-2Chases the key-holder; harmless once the key is gone.
• 
  Trouter1-3 to 5-2Leaping fish that now grows at the top of its jump.
• 
  Porcupo3-2 to 5-2Spiky; only thrown objects hurt it.
• 
  Bob-omb3-3 to 7-2Walking bomb that now throbs before it goes off.
• 
  Albatoss3-3 to 7-1Bomber bird; in 6-2 it is your ride.
• 
  Pidgit1-2 to 5-3Now purple, on a stretched red carpet.
• 
  Cobrat2-1 to 6-3Snake in a jar or the sand; slower bullets now.
• 
  Panser2-1 to 7-2Fire-spitting flower with slower fireballs.
• 
  Ostro3-2 to 5-2An ostrich carrying a Shy Guy; now drops hearts.
• 
  Pokey2-2 to 6-3Walking cactus; see the Floating Pokey glitch.
• 
  Autobomb4-1 to 4-2Fire-spitting cart, now grey instead of black.
• 
  Flurry4-1 to 4-3Skating snowman that chases you on the ice.
• 
  Spark1-3 to 7-2Circles platforms; touching one now makes the screen flicker with static.
• 
  Bouncing blade (new)5-2 jarAn expanding, contracting hazard added inside a jar.

Key staff

The game itself has no staff roll (the only Super Mario Advance without one). These credits come from the Japanese instruction booklet.

Nintendo published a developer interview in Japanese when the game came out; it is now offline, so the points below are as summarised by Wikipedia.

From Deluxe to Advance

The project followed the success of Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, the 1999 Game Boy Color version of the first Super Mario Bros. Nintendo showed it to Japanese retailers on 13 January 2001 under the provisional name Mario Advance, and a preliminary logo from that month survives. According to a 2020 social-media post, the working titles were Super Mario USA: Advance in Japan and Super Mario Bros. Deluxe 2 or Super Mario Bros. 2 Deluxe elsewhere.

Rebuilt rather than ported

Most graphics and sounds came from the All-Stars version, but the game was programmed from the ground up rather than converted, and the team drew new sprites and sound cues wherever the old ones were not good enough. Because the Game Boy Advance screen had no light, the graphics were brightened, and the level design was adjusted for the smaller resolution. To show what the new handheld could do, the team added giant versions of enemies and put more of them on screen at once.

A four-player experiment

The Mario Bros. remake started as a separate project to try out four-player play on the Game Boy Advance and was added to the cartridge later. Wikipedia’s summary of the interview says Takashi Tezuka wanted more complex ideas in the multiplayer but held back, worried they would be too much with four people playing at once.

Voices and names

Charles Martinet and Jen Taylor recorded the voices, Martinet taking the brothers and the male bosses and Taylor the princess, Toad, Birdo and Robirdo. The localisation by William Trinen gave Princess Toadstool her Japanese name, Peach, which had become the international standard, and fixed the spelling of Clawgrip. The game has so little text that, alone among the four Super Mario Advance titles, it was not translated into French, German or Spanish.

What this game did first, each as recorded by the source named.

There are no button codes in Super Mario Advance; its secrets are in the levels. The warp jars of the NES game still work, and SLB’s cheats page for the game is linked below.

Warp jars

The four warps are where the NES game put them: a jar in 1-3 to World 4, the cave under the big waterfall in 3-1 to World 5, the islet between the last two whales in 4-2 to World 6, and the first jar of 5-3 to World 7. Take a Magic Potion near the jar, open Sub-space and go down. The Yoshi Challenge does not count eggs collected on a level you leave by warping.

Bet big on Bonus Chance

You can now bet several coins on one spin, and the lives you win are multiplied by the stake. A cherry on the left reel pays one life, two cherries two and three cherries three; three of any other picture pay two; three 7s pay five, down from ten in the older versions.

Chain for extra lives

Throw one enemy or a giant vegetable into a crowd: every extra enemy it hits scores more, and taking out eight or more in quick succession gives a 1-Up. Giant POW Blocks are the easiest way to set up a big chain.

Beating Robirdo

Stand clear of its charge (grab a chain hanging from the ceiling), catch one of its giant eggs and throw it back. It takes five hits. After three, its head bobs while it charges, so riding on its back gets risky.

Steal Birdo’s bow

The bows of red and green Birdos can be lifted off and thrown at other enemies. Throw one at a Birdo and it just goes back on her head.

A new title screen

Clear the Yoshi Challenge and collect all 100 Ace Coins and the title screen changes to celebrate.

The remake fixed most of the NES game’s glitches, including the Magic Potion jump, but added a few of its own.

The rolling Yoshi Egg

As Luigi with at least three hearts, take a Spark Chaser out of the tall jar in 2-2, 3-1 or 6-3. Outside the jar it turns into a rolling Yoshi Egg in the Spark Chaser’s colours, and unlike the Spark Chaser it comes back if it sinks into quicksand.

Floating Pokey

In World 6-1, push a Pokey off a ledge and it hangs in mid-air, carrying on as normal, and can be steered back on to the ledge.

Floating Mushroom Block

In World 5-1, jump from the rightmost log to the wall on the right and throw a Mushroom Block just before landing: the block stays floating in the air.

Blocks through ceilings

Jump under a low ceiling holding a Mushroom Block and throw it while it overlaps the ceiling, and it slides through and drops a few blocks away. In Fryguy’s arena, sliding under a flying block can trap your top half inside it.

Stuck in the sand

In the digging section of 2-3, a Power Squat Jump with the key against the ceiling can leave you wedged in the wall.

Nintendo of America’s trailer for the game’s arrival on Nintendo Switch Online, and a fan retrospective of the whole Super Mario Advance series.

• Super Mario Advance is the only game in the series whose international logo matches the Japanese one. Its sequels put “Super Mario Advance” in a smaller subtitle under the original game’s title.
• It is also the only one with no prologue telling the manual’s story and no staff roll.
• Pick the main game on the selection screen and all four heroes chant the full title together. In Super Mario Advance 2 and 4 the chorus is cut to “Super Mario”.
• In the opening, the bright part of the screen is exactly the 160 by 144 pixels of the original Game Boy; the dark border lights up when the heroes step on to the grass.

• 

  The circular character select recalls the Tag Barrels of Donkey Kong 64. The most-used hero is now crowned “MVP” at the end instead of “Contributor”.
• The cast list now gets the names right: Clawgrip is no longer misspelled, and the Ostro and Birdo labels are no longer swapped.
• Mouser’s bombs, the fireballs of Tryclyde and Fryguy and Clawgrip’s rocks all use Birdo’s egg-spitting sound.
• Robirdo’s introduction is “You’ve come a long way”, and a voice clip that goes unused, “I’m gonna finish you off!”, is thought to be a leftover from Red Birdo’s lines.
• Clawgrip’s pirate patter runs from “Yar! You’ll make a tasty treat!” to “Yar! You got me!”, and Tryclyde invites you to “Step right up” to be toasted.
• The background no longer flashes when a bomb goes off, probably to reduce the risk of seizures.

• 

  The title screen of the Mario Bros. remake uses a picture made from a sample in the Mario Factory software, with Spinies in place of Shellcreepers and extra Marios in place of Luigi. Before release, Players 3 and 4 were purple and orange rather than yellow and blue.
• Unusually for a Nintendo game of the time, the manual’s copyright page shows the Official Nintendo Seal with small text beneath it, as third-party manuals did; the next first-party Game Boy Advance game, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, went back to the usual box.
• Unused sprites suggest Mouser was first planned as an ordinary mouse enemy in the style of Porcupo.
• Nintendo’s UK page lists the Wii U release as one player only, without Multi-Pak or Single-Pak link play, so Mario Bros. lost its multiplayer there.

Europe, North America and Australia shared one cover of Mario mid-throw. The Japanese box has its own design, and China got an iQue edition in 2004.

More of the Advance version: alternative title screens, regional menus and Mario Bros.

Official artwork from the game’s campaign, enemy and item art, logos and print adverts.

Super Mario Advance opened a series and has been re-released twice since. Its own new ideas mostly stayed put: Robirdo and the Ace Coin never left it.

Release and re-release timeline

• Revealed 13 January 2001Shown to Japanese retailers as Mario Advance.
• Game Boy Advance, Japan 21 March 2001Launch day for the console.
• Game Boy Advance, North America 11 June 2001Launch title.
• Game Boy Advance, Europe and Australia 22 June 2001Launch title.
• iQue Game Boy Advance, China 8 June 2004Simplified Chinese edition.
• Player’s Choice, North America 2 April 2006Reissued under the Player’s Choice label.
• Wii U Virtual Console 2014–2016Japan 16 July 2014, North America 6 November 2014, Europe 10 March 2016, Australia 11 March 2016. Single player only. The Wii U eShop stopped selling games on 27 March 2023.
• Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack May 2023Added to the Game Boy Advance library on 25 May in North America and 26 May in Japan, Europe, Australia and Hong Kong, with Super Mario Advance 2 and 3.

The rest of the series

Three more remakes followed in the same mould: Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 (December 2001 in Japan), Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 (2002) and Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (2003). Each kept the voices, added collectibles of its own and carried the same Mario Bros. remake.

Subcon today

Since May 2023 the Advance version has sat in the same Switch Online subscription as the NES original, which joined the NES library in 2019, and the All-Stars version on the Super NES library, so all three takes on the dream can be compared on one console. For the original and its long history, see Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario All-Stars.

Sales figures

Nintendo has not published a sales figure for Super Mario Advance, so the numbers below come from other bodies. Wikipedia cites the 2021 CESA Games White Paper for an estimate of about 5.57 million copies worldwide, which makes it the sixth best-selling Game Boy Advance game; a fan compilation of sales data gives the same figure, as of December 2014.

In Japan, Famitsu’s half-year report for 2001, as relayed by IGN and cited by Wikipedia, had it at 592,897 copies, the fourth best-selling game of the year to that point. In Britain the publishers’ association ELSPA gave it a Gold award, for sales of at least 200,000, as reported in 2008. In the United States it was reissued under the Player’s Choice label in 2006.

• 5.57mCESA estimate, worldwide (via Wikipedia)
• 592,897Japan, Famitsu, mid-2001 (via Wikipedia)
• GoldELSPA award, UK (200,000+)

What the critics said

Scores as given by the outlet or by the aggregator named. Metacritic shows 84 from 19 reviews.

Most reviewers enjoyed the game and few could see past what it was not. GameSpot’s Shahed Ahmed thought Nintendo should have launched with a new Mario, or at least with Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World (both of which, as it happened, got the Advance treatment later). He liked the unusual platforming in spite of loose controls, found the voices bearable and sometimes charming, and called the four-player Mario Bros. reason enough to take a look, while regretting that there were none of the extras of Super Mario Bros. Deluxe.

Billy Berghammer of Nintendo World Report counted the Ace Coins as the main reason to replay and Mario Bros. as the best part of the package, but found the voices repetitive and wanted a way to switch them off; he also noticed that Luigi does not appear in Mario Bros., where everyone plays a coloured Mario. His conclusion was that anyone hungry for a completely new Mario game should look elsewhere. GameSpy and GamePro both gave it 90.

Honours

The Super Luigi Bros community reviewed Super Mario Advance with mixed feelings — the game has both strong and lukewarm scores in the SLB user reviews.

The SLB user average of 5.25/10 stands in contrast to the professional critic average of 84/100. Super Mario Bros. 2’s divergent gameplay (pluck vegetables instead of stomp Goombas) has always been a love-it-or-hate-it experience for fans of the wider Mario series.

Sub-pages and guides for Super Mario Advance: Super Mario Bros. 2.

Box art gallery and screenshots for Super Mario Advance: Super Mario Bros. 2.

Every fact on this page was checked against the 23 sources listed here.