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Gaming websites are currently all going nuts celebrating the "25th Anniversary" of Mario. Of course we all know that Mario (as "Jumpman") has actually been around a bit longer than the NES, but really the birthday is in celebration of Super Mario Bros., undoubtedly an important game as it may have single-handedly rescued video games from the fallout of E.T. Or whatever other urban legend you feel is responsible for the great video game crash that left the landscape baron until the NES and its pack-in game Super Mario Bros. changed everything.
Personally I already had some gaming exposure before Mario hit it big on the NES. When I was a mere toddler my dad got me a Commodore 64 and a slew of educational titles in hopes that playing games on a TV might help me learn. And just before the NES became a household appliance, I also found myself the proud owner of a hand-me-down Atari 2600 and box of random games. But like many others my age, it was seeing that first Super Mario Bros. game at a friend's house that had me begging my parents for a NES, and beginning a longtime interest in video games. With all of this in mind, I thought it would be appropriate for the Game Boy Player Land blog to spend some time looking at the history of Super Mario platformers available on the various Game Boy systems.
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The classic Super Mario Bros. was made available twice for Game Boy fans. In 2000 it was released as Super Mario Bros. Deluxe on the Game Boy Color. This is actually a bit of a remake as it features an overhead map view between levels, much like in Super Mario Bros. 3 and some enhanced graphics. However the biggest change in presentation is that holding Up or Down on the control pad will scroll the screen up or down. This is due to the change in screen resolution from the original NES version to the GBC version. For some gamers this subtle change is totally game-breaking, while others find it perfectly fine. I personally am somewhere in the middle. I'm not crazy about the screen-scroll, but the cartridge is a fine release, plus it includes The Lost Levels as a bonus (see below).
Super Mario Bros. was then ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2004 as part of the Classic NES Series. This edition is a rather perfect port of the original NES title with no enhancements whatsoever. This edition will surely appeal more to purists, although it's a lot more expensive to hunt down and has no extra's like the GBC Deluxe release. Though it must be said that the game really does look excellent while taking up the full GBA screen.
[img width=300 height=300]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-074/bf/U-074-S-04880-A.jpg[/img]
Super Mario Bros. 2 was released as a launch title for the Game Boy Advance under the perplexing and annoyingly new title Super Mario Advance. This version is based on the Super Mario All-Stars version originally released on the SNES. There's two major differences in this release from the SNES version. First is that it features a much-needed save feature. This is good. Second, all four characters now have added voices which are used way too often. This is bad. But if you can get past the voices, this is a great port of a great game. (And like all the Super Mario Advance titles, it includes the original Mario Bros. as a bonus.)
[img width=300 height=300]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-069/bf/U-069-S-03700-A.jpg[/img] [img width=200 height=300]http://imgur.com/ZMC7Rl.jpg[/img]
The "real" Super Mario Bros. 2, known here in the US as The Lost Levels found two different releases on Game Boy systems. The GBC cart Super Mario Bros. Deluxe actually featured it as an unlockable once you beat the first game. This two-for-one fact alone makes Deluxe a total necessity. This port of Lost Levels also features the scroll up/down feature found in the GBC version of the first game, and is also supposedly slightly easier, which in a sense defeats the purpose of the game's existence.
The game was also released as part of the Famicom Mini series of Game Boy Advance games in Japan. The Famicom Mini series was Japan's version of the US Classic NES series. Much like you might expect, this GBA version is an exact port of the Famicom version of the game. As such it's completely sought after by collectors, and considerably pricey to import.
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Super Mario Bros. 3 was re-released as the fourth volume in the stupidly out-of-chronological-order Super Mario Advance series on the GBA. This one is also based on the SNES All-Stars port of the game, and also features some added annoying voice work. However, this particular release is the most interesting of all the titles released in this series due to its compatibility with the Nintendo e-Reader. If you can find the e-cards, there are actually ten additional levels that can be played for the first time in Super Mario Bros. 3. Think of it as a very early experiment in DLC. Considering this is one of the greatest games ever made, this should get at least some of you out there hunting for e-cards.
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Super Mario World was the 2nd GBA release in the Super Mario Advance series, and the porting from the SNES to the GBA looks excellent. Perhaps I'm slightly biased because it happens to be my absolute favorite 2D Mario game of all time. So I'm not sure there's much I can tell you, other than it's basically a close to perfect port of the SNES game. And that's a good thing. (Oh, and there's still some stupid voice work.)
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The sometimes overlooked Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was also released as part of the GBA Super Mario Advance series. However it strangely dropped the "Super Mario World 2" part of its title upon re-release. Having said that, this game looks staggeringly good on the Game Boy Advance. Many gamers missed the original game as it appeared very late in the SNES' lifespan, which is too bad as it basically showed off a lot of graphical effects that most people probably didn't realize that the SNES was capable of. On the same token, although the GBA is technically more powerful than the SNES, somehow this title still looks astonishing in this re-release. It's a huge bonus that the game is an epic, challenging and quirky adventure that is as addicting as it is fun.
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Super Mario Land was actually a launch title for the original Game Boy. As such it is often overlooked as a "dated" entry in the series. However really it's a totally unique and amazing title. Sure it's way too short. But it's also full of incredible music, interesting levels (including shmup-inspired ones) and weird enemies. It's a bit of a black-sheep in the series, much like the US Super Mario Bros. 2, but both titles are deserving of respect based on their own unique merits.
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The second Super Mario Land is one of those Game Boy games that even Game Boy detractors have to admit is amazing. It's a huge game full of the kind of characters and well thought out levels you would have been expecting on the SNES at the time. This game is ridiculously awesome, allowing you to roam the overworld map and tackle the levels in any order you wish. Each world has its own theme and each is full of references to other extremes of the series. This one is amazing.
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I originally planned to not mention this one, as it's really far more the first game in the Wario Land series than it is the third game in the Mario Land series. But alas, I knew if I left it out I'd be left with a lot of angry comments and maybe a decapitated Koopa left in my bed. In my own personal opinion, Wario Land is the definition of a "transitional game." It's nowhere near as good as the Mario Land games that preceded it, nor is it as genre-defying as the Wario Land sequels that would follow it. Really it's just a pretty run of the mill platformer with some decent ideas that would be fleshed out later.
Phew. Well there we have it. Of course there are a million other Mario-related games on the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance and e-Reader, but going through everything is far beyond the scope of this post. I may try to outline some of the fringe releases later, namely the sports titles and so on. But please feel free to use the comments section below to add your own personal thoughts, memories, etc on these titles!
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Great article. My brother had the cards for Super Mario Bros 3, and they were pretty interesting. You could get powerups for free by scanning the cards. It was a pretty neat idea, and I wish Nintendo would have used the e-reader more.
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When I was finished my USAF basic training and went to tech school, the first thing I bought was the new-at-the-time GBA SP and a copy of Super Mario Bros. 3. I did also go out of my way to support the e-Reader and bought all the cards for the game. I really wish it did better in the market, because those extra levels were pretty fun, and SMB3 is my favorite game, so it works out.
If I remember right, the only issue that the Classic NES Series release of Super Mario Bros. had was the resolution not quite fitting in the GBA's screen properly. I think the vertical resolution was squashed by a few pixels, but it didn't matter much. And even though most people enjoy the newer Wario Land games, I always held Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 as my favorite game on the Game Boy. The Virtual Boy sequel was also great, even though it required a Virtual Boy, haha.
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I've never played any of the Super Mario Bros games. I guess that at the time I had my NES and SegaGenesis, the title "Super Mario Bros." made no sense to me. The title imples that Mario's full name is Mario Mario and Luigi's is Luigi Mario. Since they're brothers, and the name is Super MARIO BROTHERS, and they don't have the same first name, they supposedly have the same LAST name, right? I just couldn't bring myself to ever play one of their games because it just seemed too ridiculous.
I know it's my loss, but oh well. 
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the fact that Wario Land is called a "run-of-the-mill platformer" makes me pretty sad 
@phoenix1967: You know, that so-bad-it's-good live action movie adaptation of the games actually makes that very point. Really though, in a game series about plumbers who attack turtles and grow large by eating magic mushrooms, the name is the most ridiculous thing about it? Hahahah.
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Great Read, and I have played most of these and they are very enjoyable.
@phoenix1967:
I think that might be a crime in most states.
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Fantastic article, I actually learned a lot! Nintendo certainly knows how to confuse people with all the Super Mario Advance 6: Super Mario Bros. 3 stuff. Sure makes it hard to fiture out what game is actually on the cartridge.
I loved Wario Land (Super Mario Land 3) when I was younger.
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