Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3 Image
Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 26 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
9.1

Universal acclaim- based on 229 Ratings

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  • Summary: When Baby Mario falls from the sky, the big-hearted Yoshis vow to reunite him with his twin brother on the far side of the island. It won't be easy, but you must help them take on a meddling Magikoopa and his entire cast of underhanded underlings. Your journey spans the island's jungles,When Baby Mario falls from the sky, the big-hearted Yoshis vow to reunite him with his twin brother on the far side of the island. It won't be easy, but you must help them take on a meddling Magikoopa and his entire cast of underhanded underlings. Your journey spans the island's jungles, caves, and snowcapped peaks--each area filled with hidden rooms, secret passages, charming minigames, demented bosses, and all-new pals. Sure, Yoshi looks cute, but he packs some pretty amazing firepower--he can throw eggs, hover, stomp, pound the ground, slurp up enemies, and morph into a toy submarine. Expand
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 26
  2. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. Its twisted levels beg to be replayed again and again even if you aren't interested in getting that perfect 100%.
  2. Just another bright and shining jewel on the Miyamoto crown of accomplishments! This often overlooked masterpiece will finely get the time in the lime light it deserves.
  3. 94
    The variety in what Yoshi can do and the diversity in level designs, not to mention the wonderful use of scaling and rotation for the level structures and the incorporation of a half-dozen clever mini-games makes Yoshi's Island the best damn platformer ever.
  4. 90
    A fantastic piece of video gaming entertainment.
  5. Seven huge, trap-filled worlds and many mini-games.
  6. Game Informer
    88
    While this isn't the new Mario adventure I am still waiting for on the GBA, it is one heck of a platformer. [Nov 2002, p.150]
  7. The only problem I noticed was a very rare slowdown caused by too many sprites on the screen. While it can be annoying when it happens, the occurrence is so sporadic that it's barely noticeable.

See all 26 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 48 out of 50
  2. Negative: 0 out of 50
  1. Jan 23, 2022
    10
    Una delicia de juego, que personalmente creo que supera en muchos aspectos al Super Mario World original. El apartado artístico es impecable.Una delicia de juego, que personalmente creo que supera en muchos aspectos al Super Mario World original. El apartado artístico es impecable. La jugabilidad es perfecta y super fluida, y es uno de los juegos más creativos que haya jugado en años, aparte de Octahedron una joya de las plataformas. En fin, delicatessen, caviar puro. Un juego super rejugable y que no debería quedar en el olvido. Aparte para los más completistas si se quiere completar al 100%, el juego ofrece retos extra, que alargan la duración y deja satisfechos a los paladares más exigentes. Oro puro. Expand
  2. [Anonymous]
    Jun 20, 2005
    10
    OH MY GOD!!! I've always wanted this game for the Super NES but I've never ever had a chance to own it until now. This was my OH MY GOD!!! I've always wanted this game for the Super NES but I've never ever had a chance to own it until now. This was my favorite game on the SNES and now it's for GBA, THANK YOU NINTENDO!!!!! Expand
  3. May 26, 2011
    10
    Easily one of my favorite games and my #4 Best Game Ever in my opinion, this game has excellent graphics, sound, challenges, and level design.Easily one of my favorite games and my #4 Best Game Ever in my opinion, this game has excellent graphics, sound, challenges, and level design. I would've welcomed multi-player for the minigames, however. Expand
  4. Jun 30, 2020
    10
    I really love this game. The gameplay is 1 to 1 with the original Yoshi's Island and is so fun. 10/10 Would recommend.
  5. SunW.
    Aug 9, 2003
    10
    The greatest platformer ever. Perfect if they include multiplayer mode for the bonus games.
  6. Jan 26, 2021
    9
    Yo jugaba la version de Super NES, pero tambien tuve este magnifico port años despues, por lo cual en ausencia de la otra version puntuareYo jugaba la version de Super NES, pero tambien tuve este magnifico port años despues, por lo cual en ausencia de la otra version puntuare este como tal.
    Un magnifico juego que significo mucho en mi infancia, graficos alucinantes, una historia simple, pero a la vez bastante interesante y que te atrapaba al instante, una atmosfera muy acorde al titulo, mantener a salvo a Mario, convertirte en difrerentes vehiculos, montar diferentes yoshis, unas peleas de bosses magnificas, soundtrack exquisito, basicamente un gameplay perfecto, no hay mas, un juego sin igual y una obra maestra en toda regla.
    Expand
  7. XV_
    Feb 8, 2020
    6
    When I was a kid I didn't own a SNES so I couldn't play this game on its time, now, the years have come, and as an adult, sadly I find a lotWhen I was a kid I didn't own a SNES so I couldn't play this game on its time, now, the years have come, and as an adult, sadly I find a lot of issues within this game.

    The first thing that came to my mind while playing this game and a thing that was so hard to get past, is that this isn't a Super Mario game, or at least not in a conventional way, the controls are tight and responsive but the level design is frustrating and unintuitive, it has some verticality and a puzzle design that simply doesn't work, and a lot of times you'll find yourself just wandering around in circles because of its maze-like environments, the navigation is not that fun, but what makes it more annoying is the baby mechanic: if an enemy or projectile hits you, automatically Mario will be floating on an erratic bubble, and if you don't touch him in a specific set of time, you'll lose that life, in theory, this will be fun and challenging, but given the number of projectiles, annoying patterns and enemies that came out of nowhere it seems more like a cheating mechanic to make it more "challenging".

    As I said before, this is not a Super Mario game, so you can't advance the stages at a speedy pace if you like, instead, you regularly find stages that put you in a platform that automatically navigates the stage while you avoid things, sometimes they're a little challenging but more often than not they're too boring, and if you for some reason die on any part, you have to restart from the very beginning, it may sound like I want an easy challenge or a lot of checkpoints but the fact that you have to wait instead of jumping and running in a platform, it really kills the mood.

    Although almost my entire time was painfully in this game, there are certain commendable things like the soundtrack, each song it's pretty good and has a lot of memorability and style, the only bad thing is that there are few songs, so you'll listen to them more than necessary. The art direction is an obvious thing to praise, and with good reason, it is simply beautiful and stylish, not only the sprites are great but it seems that they recreate the concept art on point. Finally, the thing that I enjoyed the most, were the boss fights, they sweat creativity and exploit the particular art style to the point that makes you think how this game doesn't have more bosses than stages. As a little side note I loved stage 6-7 it felt quite a lot like a great platformer and it was challenging and fun, if only the other stages were more like it...

    Sadly, Yoshi's Island wasn't what I've expected, at a glance at this review it may be that I didn't grasp the mechanics but I'm pretty sure that it was more a design issue, nonetheless, I can hardly recommend it to anyone who likes Super Mario games or platformers in general.
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See all 50 User Reviews

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Awards & Rankings

4
4
#4 Most Discussed Game Boy Advance Game of 2002
5
#5 Most Shared Game Boy Advance Game of 2002