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Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3

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Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
スーパーマリオアドバンス4
Sūpā Mario Adobansu 4
Mario Advance 4 NA box.png
Developer(s): Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s): Nintendo
Platform: Game Boy Advance
Category: Platformer
Players: 1-4
Predecessor: Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3
Successor: N/A
Release dates
N. America: October 21, 2003
Japan: July 11, 2003
Europe: October 17, 2003
Australia: October 24, 2003
For additional release information, see below
Ratings
ESRB: E
CERO: A
PEGI: 3
USK: 0
ACB: G
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©2003 Nintendo

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 is a 2D platforming game and remake of the 1988 NES title Super Mario Bros. 3. The fourth installment of the Super Mario Advance series of remakes, the game was released for the Game Boy Advance in July 2003 in Japan, and later in October 2003 worldwide.

As the game supports the e-Reader accessory, the game was released alongside a set of compatible e-cards. Prior to the discontinuation of the e-Reader, North American copies of the game were also packaged with two e-cards.

Blurb

Box

The Mario Bros. at their best!
The best-selling game of all time has arrived for Game Boy Advance, now with all-new features!

Mario's not alone! This time, Luigi can get in on the action!
Use wild power-ups like the Super Leaf and the Frog and Tanooki Suits!
Link up with any Super Mario Advance game for multiplayer Mario Bros. madness!

Even more Mario fun is in the cards! link up and use an e-Reader and special cards to add classic and updated Mario levels, all-new levels, and incredibly hard "super" levels, that you can save to your Game Pak. There are also Power-Up Cards, Demo Cards with pro techniques, and much more!

Add new levels using the e-Reader and Level Cards (sold separately)!

Nintendo website (Wii U)

Save the Mushroom World from the Koopalings or battle it out in a classic game of Mario Bros.

The Koopalings have been sent to wreak havoc in the Mushroom World. It's up to Mario to recover the royal magic wands and restore the kings to their true forms! Access extra levels by selecting Level Card on the file-selection screen. Or take a break from the journey, and get in on some classic Mario Bros. action!

Nintendo eShop

The Koopalings have been sent to wreak havoc in the Mushroom World. It's up to Mario to recover the royal magic wands and restore the kings to their true forms! Access extra levels by selecting Level Card on the file-selection screen. Or take a break from the journey, and get in on some classic Mario Bros. action!

Gameplay

As a remake of Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario Advance 4 is largely based on the Super Mario All-Stars iteration of the game, featuring similar visuals and sound effects. In addition to the ability to save after clearing any fortress or castle added in the All-Stars release, the player can also choose to save and quit at any point from the pause menu, . Also included is a "sleep mode", which turns off the system screen while keeping the game running; the player can enable this from the pause menu or, if the "Easy Sleep" setting is enabled, by pressing L, R, and Select at any point, and can return to the game with the same button combination. An "Auto Sleep" option can be toggled from the main menu to automatically enable sleep mode if the game is left idle.

Pressing the Select button while on the world map will open the "Replay Data" menu, allowing players to view or save a video replay from the most recently played stage. Up to two replays can be saved per save file, and can be viewed at any point by selecting the "Play Back" option. Replay data cannot be viewed or saved if the player paused at any point during the stage.

Super Mario Advance 4 features compatibility with the e-Reader accessory. Pressing the R button on the world map will allow players to choose to scan either Power-up Cards to add additional power-ups to their inventory or Demo Cards to view videos that showcase various tricks within the game's stages. Accessing the Level Card option from the main menu will allow the player to access "World-e", from which they can scan Level Cards to access additional stages. Within these stages players can collect Advance Coins, which will open up the three Toad Houses featuring exclusive mini-games on the World-e map once enough are collected. Certain stages also feature e-Coins, which are added to the e-Coin Castle to view at any time once they are collected. World-e also allows players to swap between playing as Mario or Luigi at any point from the world map.

As with the previous Super Mario Advance titles, Super Mario Advance 4 also includes a remake of Mario Bros. The game supports multiplayer with up to four players across any of the Super Mario Advance titles and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.

Development

The title Super Mario Advance 4 was originally revealed in a European press release on January 7, 2003.[1] The game would later be revealed with its full title during Nintendo's E3 2003 presentation, with a planned release date of September 22, 2003, in North America.[2] Nintendo of America would later announce during Gamer's Summit 2003 that the game's North American release had been pushed back to October 21.[3]

Reception

Aggregate scores
Metacritic 94
Reviews
IGN 9.5/10
Electronic Gaming Monthly 9.5/10
9.0/10
9.5/10
GameSpot 8.9/10
Game Informer 9.5/10[4]

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 received critical praise upon its release. Many critics would note that the game's core gameplay and design still held up as well as the addition of several new features, but would criticize the limitations of the Game Boy Advance system, such as the smaller screen size. While the game's e-Reader compatibility was praised for the ability to add new content to the game, it also received criticism for being the only method to access the content.

Both IGN and GameSpot would name the game the best Game Boy Advance game of October 2003.[5][6] IGN would also give Super Mario Advance 4 the Best Platform Game for Game Boy Advance award during it's Best of 2003 awards.[7] GameSpot would also nominate the game for Best Platformer[8], and it would win the Reader's Choice award for Best GBA Action Game.[9]

Super Mario Advance 4 was the best-selling Game Boy Advance game for the final week of 2006 in North America.[10] The game sold over 2.88 million copies overall in the region.[11] In Europe, ELSPA awarded the game its Silver sales award, indicating that over 100,000 copies had been sold.[12]

Technical details

Technical Details
Media

Game Boy Advance Game Pak
Digital download (Wii U)

Download size

134.6 MB

Supported features

e-Reader, Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable

Input / compatible controllers

Game Boy Advance
Wii U: Wii U GamePad, Wii U Pro Controller, Classic Controller, Wii Remote

This game supports the Rumble feature on a Game Boy Player, however it will not work if a Game Boy Advance is the controller or a hardware accessory is connected to it.[13]

Other releases

Title Cover art Platform Release date(s) Notes
Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 Wii U (Virtual Console) NA: January 21, 2016
JP: December 29, 2015
PAL: March 10, 2016
A direct port of the original game released as a digital download on the Wii U Nintendo eShop, with added Virtual Console emulator features. This release of the game includes all of the e-Reader exclusive levels. Multiplayer features are not supported with this release.

External links

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Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 on other NIWA Wikis:
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StrategyWiki

References

  1. New Mario and Wario GBA Games. IGN (January 7, 2003). Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  2. E3 2003: Hands on: Super Mario Advance 4. IGN (May 14, 2003). Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  3. Nintendo Gamer's Summit 2003: Super Mario Advance 4 Delayed. IGN (July 9, 2003). Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  4. Here Are Our Review Scores For (Almost) All Of Mario's Core Releases. Game Informer (September 12, 2015). Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  5. GBA Game of the Month: October 2003. IGN (October 31, 2003). Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  6. GameSpot's Month in Review for October 2003. GameSpot (November 3, 2003). Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  7. IGN Game Boy Best of 2003 Awards! Archived on February 5, 2007. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  8. Best Platformer. GameSpot. Archived on February 17, 2004. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  9. Reader's Choice - Best GBA Action Game. GameSpot. Archived on June 30, 2004. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  10. Saling The World: Eye of the Hurricane. Gamasutra (December 29, 2006). Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  11. US Platinum Videogame Chart. The Magic Box. Archived on January 27, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  12. ELSPA Sales Awards: Silver. Archived on March 17, 2008. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
  13. Super Mario Advance 4 European manual page 6 (via Nintendo Europe Official Website)


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