Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3

Yoshi's Island goes back in time to recount the touching story of the various Yoshis' attempts to unite Baby Mario with his parents. You don't actually control the Italian plumber-to-be but instead his dinosaur pal, who has the curious ability to eat his enemies and then immediately turn them into eggs, which he can then fling at more enemies.

Since Yoshi isn't particularly fast and can float in midair for a few seconds after making a jump, the whole dynamics of the normal Mario gameplay have changed, but the same incredible attention to detail and endless imagination that mark all of Nintendo's best efforts are still here in full effect. In fact they're joined this time, after the rather plain-looking prequel, by some wonderful pastel-shaded graphics that were jaw-dropping when the game was originally released in 1995 and still manage to impress now.

As with the other Super Mario Advance titles, this game also contains a four-player version of the original Mario Bros. arcade game, making it even more of a bargain than it already was. --David Jenkins, Amazon.co.uk

In Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island you are Yoshi and you go through the levels with Baby Mario sitting on your back. If you get hit by an enemy then you lose Baby Mario and he starts to cry, but you have 10 seconds to get him back. If the timer runs down to zero, he is kidnapped and you lose a life. As Yoshi you can "eat" the enemies and they become eggs which you can shoot at other enemies and at bonus clouds that hold coins, stars or flowers. Every red coin that you get that is hidden throughout each stage it worth one point to your score. Each star you collect adds one second to your timer. And each flower gives you 10 points. If you collect all 5 flowers in a stage you get an extra life, similar to collecting the Yoshi coins in the first Super Mario World. You can earn up to 100 points for each level (50 for all the flowers, 30 for all the red coins, and 20 for all the stars). If you get 100 points for each level in the game, you can unlock secret levels that are really awesome!

There are many great, challenging stages in this game. In all, there are 48 levels in the whole game, only half as many as Super Mario Advance 2. After you beat each stage you jump into a hoop and a light starts going around the hoop. If it lands on a flower you get to play a bonus game, if not you just advance to the next stage. It takes a while to get used to this game if you are a veteran Super Mario World player (on GBA or SNES) because this game is so much different than it. This is one of the best games ever for the Game Boy Advance. Go buy it NOW!


Mario's back (again)   November 7, 2002
Fred Jones (Mansfield, TX USA)
35 out of 39 found this review helpful

Remembering Mario from looong ago on the NES, I thought I was growing quite tired of seeing him on every Nintendo system that's been released. However, I did need a platform game to make the 45 minute train ride into work bearable, so I picked this up as a rental from my local BB chain and returned home, slapping it into my trusty GBA.

Hours (and I mean hours) later, I ran down two sets of rechargeable NiMH batteries on my GBA and looked up at the clock to see it was 2am (lol) and I had been playing it for 5+ hours straight. Be warned this game is very difficult to put down, I have occasionally missed my train stop and had to catch another one going the opposite direction.

Now that, by definition, are the qualifications for a great game. Get it, you won't regret it.


Widely hailed as the pinnacle of 2-D platforming.   September 30, 2002
Ryan Bancroft (St. Louis, MO United States)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful

Many reviews claim this; I wholeheartedly concur. Yoshi's Island is a brilliant offering of two dimensional level design and pure platforming goodness. From the start, you can expect hectic thrills (good, long ones too; this game is quite lengthy) while playing as the beloved Yoshi saddled with a wailing baby Mario. From here, gaming bliss takes over.

Yoshi's Island made the transition from Super Nintendo to Gameboy Advance surprising smoothly, suffering only from minor sound compression and scrolling issues (which are a minute annoyance at worst, negligible at best). The old-time, tried (and still true), beloved gameplay has remained perfectly intact. It's an immense joy to re-experience this, yet the greatness of this gameplay still eagerly welcomes newcomers.

Everybody who has an interest in platform games would do themselves a favor by picking up this marquis gem (a crystalline supplement to those all-too-common diamonds in the rough).


One of the best games ever!   September 17, 2002
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

I remember, back about seven years ago when this game originally came out on SNES, my friend bought it. Every day we would go over to his house after scool and take turns playing levels until we eventually beat the game. The game storyline is basically that baby koopa has taken Luigi hostage, and Yoshi carries Mario around while making his way to Koopa's castle to save Luigi. The game takes a while to beat, so this wont be one of those games where you buy it and then wish you hadn't blown all that money for two days. This has been my favorite of all the Mario games ever made and i give it a 5 star rating for the complete fun you get out of it!


super Mario Advance three   August 30, 2002
Brian Jacobson (Cedar Falls, Iowa United States)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

I played this game for just 10 minutes and I fell in love with it! the graphics look so good on the GBA, and it was a real treat to hear the classic SNES yoshi sounds mixed in with the "yoshi's story" sounds (you hear them when you retreive baby Mario after he's knocked off your back.) and I was right: the music did not suffer. the game's music is just as catchy and moody(the castle theme) as it ever was. BUY THIS GAME!