Super Mario Advance 3 - Yoshi's Island + Mario Brothers (Japan)
Game Boy Advance
🇯🇵
Reviewed in 2002
91
Ad
✪ Reviewed on February 9, 2025
86
Yoshi's Island + Mario Brothers on GBA, Japanese version of Super Mario Advance 3. Yoshi's enchanting island in its original version, Mario Bros. included as bonus. Just as wonderful as the Western version.
Your verdict
Category
Compilation1 player3+
Description
Japanese version of Super Mario Advance 3 published by Nintendo in Japan in September 2002. Contains Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - the Super Nintendo classic where Yoshi carries Baby Mario through hand-drawn levels - and the original arcade Mario Bros. Yoshi transformations, eggs to throw and Baby Mario protection gameplay. Third episode of the Super Mario Advance series in Japan.
Super Mario Advance 3 - Yoshi's Island + Mario Brothers review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
1/5
Story
★★★★★
"Anecdotal"
Crayon-and-pastel settings, soft outlines and characters drawn as in a children's book: the aesthetic stands as an adorable oddity. This handcrafted signature, warm and inventive, turns every level into a coloured page. This unique graphic choice remains one of the most beloved in the entire library.
Tender and inventive, the music of Yoshi's Island signed by Koji Kondo wraps the crayon world in an unforgettable childlike gentleness. From the soothing "Flower Garden" to the livelier themes, every tune breathes carefreeness and whimsy. This melodic freshness, deeply endearing, remains a peak of video-game tenderness.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Swallowing enemies, laying eggs and aiming to throw them makes for a platformer far more tactical than it looks. The teeming level design, blending exploration and hidden challenges, overflows with ideas in every stage. Its crayon style and gentle handling have held up beautifully, for a journey as enchanting as ever.
Fun
"From the very first seconds"
Playing as Yoshi carrying baby Mario, gulping enemies to turn them into eggs and aiming at targets with gleeful precision: this crayon-styled masterpiece overflows with ideas and tenderness. Every level reinvents its mechanics with wild inventiveness. Gorgeous, clever and deeply satisfying, a platformer apart that charms as much as it challenges.
Addictiveness
"Obsessive"
Protecting Baby Mario, aiming for a hundred points per level and uncovering flowers and red coins turns every stage into completion terrain that drives you to start over for perfection. The crayon style and the game-design finds enchant. Baby Mario's cries are stressful and the pace sometimes searches, but this creativity keeps a lasting pull.
Complete: box, manual and disc/cart very clean. Lightly handled.
Q1 damagedQ6 completeQ10 new
Compare prices
Loading eBay listings…
Alert active — budget
$
Collector interest
Original Japanese edition of Super Mario Advance 3 Yoshi's Island + Mario Brothers, distributed by Nintendo in September 2002 with the explicit Mario Brothers inclusion as subtitle, in line with the Japanese convention of the sub franchise. Nintendo rigid case with intact obi, Yoshi cover in its native printing. Japan run was sized by market, complete with obi remains a precise piece for Japanese completists mapping the Super Mario Advance sub franchise in its original form.
Is Super Mario Advance 3 - Yoshi's Island + Mario Brothers still worth playing in 2026?
Super Mario Advance 3 brings Yoshi's Island to the GBA, and one of the most creative 2D platformers Nintendo ever made finds an excellent second life. The aim and throw egg mechanic, Yoshi's reach, the hidden objective stages and the pastel art direction still shine. A few exclusive stages and the Mario Bros arcade bonus extend the appeal. The port handles its framing better than SMA2. For anyone wanting to discover Yoshi's Island on cartridge or revisit the Nintendo masterpiece, an ideal entry point.
