Super Mario Advance was released in 2001 as part of a quadrology known as the Super Mario Advance series. The 4 games are all remakes of older titles in the series. This instalment is a remake of the All-Stars version of Super Mario Bros 2.
The plot here is simple: Mario has a dream about entering a world named Subcon with Luigi, Peach and Toad when a voice warns them about an evil frog named Wart, who has cursed the land of Subcon. Mario and friends decide to go and put a stop to this.
There are four playable characters with their own attributes. Mario is the all-rounder, Luigi as piss poor traction and a higher jump, Peach can float, but she is slow as hell and Toad has the best speed and throwing ability, sacrificing his jumping ability in the process. All the characters now have voice acting in Super Mario Advance, which is a nice touch. Even bosses now have their own lines to say before a fight.
Each world has 3 stages, with the exception of the last one with only 2 stages. The others have two normal stages that end in a Birdo fight and the Boss stage with a different boss. New to this version is the Ro-Birdo boss, who appears in World 3. This one caught me off guard. It was a welcome change nonetheless. Level design has also been changed up too, including the relocation of enemies/bosses and more enemies. Stages can get tough as nails after a certain point, and bosses did give me a hard time when playing, but I welcome the challenge.
New to this game are Ace Coins. Five of them are hidden throughout each level. Getting all of them means that you've essentially Aced a level and you get an extra life for your efforts. I'm not a completionist, so I only tend to go for them when I can.
Another new mode is Mario Bros. Classic. This is basically a remade version of the arcade classic with updated visuals and multiplayer. This feature would go on to be added in all the other instalments of the Advance series and Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga as a bonus mode. This mode is a lot of fun to play, especially when trying to rack up a high score for it.
Various gameplay and visual changes have been made to the game to give it more polish as well as accommodate for the hardware it was on. This as well as all the other features added to it, make Super Mario Advance the definitive way to experience Super Mario Bros 2. It takes the base game and adds enough content to make it an all-around better experience than the two versions prior to this.