Yoshi's Island Super Mario Advance 3 - Game Boy Advance - GBA

Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 for Game Boy Advance

Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 for Game Boy Advance is a side-scrolling platform game in which Yoshi carries Baby Mario across an island. Kamek has separated the little brothers, and the Yoshis take turns bringing Mario closer to Baby Luigi. You jump through worlds with a hand-drawn appearance, swallow enemies and turn them into eggs. An aiming guide lets you send those eggs towards enemies, clouds and objects beyond your immediate reach.

Yoshi can briefly extend a jump, pound the ground and temporarily turn into things such as a helicopter or submarine. If you take a hit, Baby Mario comes loose and a counter starts falling. You must retrieve him before Kamek’s helpers take him away. Red coins, flowers and remaining stars determine your final score. You can therefore finish a level first and return later to investigate hidden corners and achieve a higher score.

The Yoshi adventure is for one player and automatically saves completed levels and scores on the cartridge. The separate Mario Bros. also offers local multiplayer for up to four players. Everyone needs their own Game Boy Advance, plus one, two or three Game Boy Advance Game Link cables for two, three or four players. Battle works with one cartridge; multiplayer Classic requires each player to have a compatible Mario Bros. cartridge. Handhelds and cables are not included.

Region and language

Our Game Boy Advance games are European editions, unless stated otherwise. This product contains a loose cartridge for the European market. A box is only included if explicitly stated in the product details. We note any different region in the product details. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.

Manual

With Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 for Game Boy Advance, you receive a loose cartridge. A box and manual are not included unless we explicitly state otherwise in the product details. This is the standard way we supply this copy.

The history of Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3

Yoshi’s Island originally appeared for Super Nintendo in 1995, with Yoshi protecting Baby Mario. The game used familiar Mario enemies but gave its lead character a distinct set of moves. Throwing eggs, flutter jumping and retrieving a baby after a collision changed the pace of the platform action. The drawn backgrounds and large bosses also made it visually different from Super Mario World, where Yoshi had mainly served as a mount alongside Mario.

Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance adaptation in Europe on 11 October 2002. It was the third instalment in Super Mario Advance, a series that adapted older Mario adventures for the handheld. Nintendo developer Hiroyuki Kimura later described how the four-part series had been planned from the start: first Super Mario Bros. 2, then Super Mario World, followed by Yoshi’s Island and finally Super Mario Bros. 3. The number therefore refers to the handheld series, not a third new Yoshi story.

This edition retained the six worlds and the pursuit of perfect level scores, but also added six new Secret levels. Mario Bros. is also included as a separate game on the cartridge, as with the other Super Mario Advance releases. Playing that component with others via cables is separate from Yoshi’s solo journey with Baby Mario. This combination of an extensive platform adventure and short matches made the cartridge part of Nintendo’s portable reissues of that period.

Similar games for Game Boy Advance

Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 on Game Boy Advance also offers side-scrolling jumps, hidden exits and a map of levels. You control Mario or Luigi there and can ride Yoshi. In Yoshi’s Island, you instead control Yoshi himself and carry Baby Mario. Searching for red coins, flowers and stars gives each level a different collecting structure from the search for alternative exits in Super Mario World.

Super Mario Advance also lets you search worlds and use enemies as tools on Game Boy Advance. Its four main characters pick up opponents and vegetables to throw, each with their own jumping characteristics. Yoshi turns swallowed enemies into eggs and aims them precisely at a target. Both games combine jumping with throwing, but protecting Baby Mario and the level-scoring system clearly change Yoshi’s approach.

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 on Game Boy Advance also uses a world map and short side-scrolling platform challenges. Mario changes abilities through items, such as flying with a raccoon tail. Yoshi has his tongue, eggs and flutter jump as his permanent foundation, with temporary transformations at designated places. His levels also require you to protect Baby Mario while trying to find collectibles for a perfect final score.

Wario Land 4 also combines side-scrolling platform action with searching for hidden treasure on Game Boy Advance. Wario uses his shoulder attack and strange changes to his body, after which you often have to return to the exit against the clock. Yoshi’s Island emphasises aiming eggs and collecting carefully while taking Baby Mario along. Both reward investigating side paths, but Wario’s return journey gives the level structure a very different rhythm.

Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land on Game Boy Advance also lets you swallow enemies and travel through colourful side-view levels. Kirby can copy opponents’ abilities and float through the air. Yoshi instead turns many enemies into eggs and uses his own fixed moves to explore routes. Protecting Baby Mario and the combination of flowers, red coins and stars add different goals alongside reaching the exit.