Space World 2001 Hands-on: Super Mario Advance 2

Remember Super Mario World--the game that launched with the Super Nintendo and changed the face of platform gaming? It's coming to the Game Boy Advance, and based on the few levels Nintendo is showing here at Space World 2001 in Japan, it's making no sacrifices along the way.

Like any good Mario game, B runs and throws fireballs, while A jumps. The spin-jump move has been placed on the R trigger. The control is just as responsive as it was on the SNES, and the graphics are essentially identical. The sound, however, is a bit different. The coin pickup sound and several other effects are slightly higher pitched, and the typical Mario speech samples ("let's-a go" and the like) have been added.

As Super Mario World is quite possibly the greatest 2D platformer ever released, we're nothing but excited to see more of it in Super Mario Advance 2. Like the original Super Mario Advance, Advance 2 has a multiplayer mode, but it wasn't playable here at Space World. The menu, however, just said Mario Bros., which makes us wonder what, if anything, will be different this time around. The game is scheduled to be released in Japan early next year.