Super Mario Advance

The Good
This was the first game that I played on the GBA, and I must say the graphics impressed me. The colours are bright and appealing. Also, the sound quality is fairly good.

The Bad
They threw away the tried and tested "Let Mario jump on the baddies' heads" method of monster killing. Really, now we have to pull vegetables up out of the ground to hurl at our enemies. I hated this. Just HATED it. It meant that critters could kill Mario whilst he was straining to pull a giant swede out of the ground. In addition, the game was VERY difficult. It became utterly impossible for me, after around about level 3-2. I'm not a poor gamer, so what does this say about the mechanics of Super Mario World? I frequently found myself falling down great, big chasms to my death. In fact, in the end, I'll admit that I mercifully began to end the life of Mario, just to save him from the monotony of killing giant dinosaurs who shot eggs out of their mouths.

The Bottom Line
They've taken a generally fun character to play, and sucked all the joy out of him. And boy, do I bet Mario has a sore back after pulling up all those vegetables.