E3 2002Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 impressions

Nintendo announced Yoshi's Island, the third game in its Super Mario Advance series, at this morning's E3 press conference. Starring Baby Mario in his first appearance, as well as his faithful steed, Yoshi, this SNES port will challenge players to take on the evil magikoopa Kamek and Baby Bowser in a desperate quest to reunite Mario and Luigi.

Along the way, Yoshi will be able to change shape by finding morph bubbles. These bubbles will allow the heroes to turn into a mole machine to dig around the island or into a helicopter to reach previously inaccessible areas. Yoshi and his multicolored family will have their full complement of moves in Super Mario Advance 3, including the ability to jump, stomp, perform a ground pound, lay eggs, eat enemies, and toss eggs using the game's egg-targeting system.

While the game makes use of familiar Mario characters, such as koopas, shy guys, and the yoshi-kin, the game maintains a very unique look through its use of smiley-face motifs and hand-drawn appearance.

Each stage can be replayed over and over, allowing for the capture of every star, coin, and flower in the game, and collecting all these things will unlock secrets. Like the previous Super Mario Advance games, Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 will also let players team up for four-player games of the original Mario Bros.

We'll have impressions and more details on Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 as we go hands-on with it on the show floor.