No not the epic, not to mention educational, adventure that found Luigi touring the world in search of his brother but rather a rant about Mario games, or lack thereof.
No new Mario for the GB Color
Mario’s 2D (and 2.5D in New Super Mario Bros. if you want to get picky) adventuring has always been, for me, some of the most enjoyable. Mario 64, Sunshine and Galaxy are all superb games (yes, even Sunshine, heh) but were very different games to Mario World. I squeed with delight when New Super Mario Bros. was announced and thoroughly enjoyed it but it was far far too long a wait for a traditional Mario game. Yoshi’s Island 2 and Super Princess Peach are great games within the Mario world but sometimes you just want that pasta-gobbling plumber we all love. So why why WHY have there been so many missed opportunities for more traditional Mario Games?
Gameboy Color was treated to a port of the original Super Mario Bros. of NES fame and a great port it was. True to the original with added ability to save between levels, joy! Nothing new though… no new Mario adventuring for the Color.
GBA... opportunity missed
Gameboy Advance seemed such an obvious choice of platform for a Snes-style Mario World follow up. More powerful than the Snes with the same kind of graphic power it would have been awesome. Instead we were given the improved-graphic versions of Super Mario Bros. 2, 3, Mario World and Yoshi’s Island. All excellent awesome games in their own right and well worth bringing to the GBA to re-introduce them to a new generation that probably missed them the first time around but still I was hankering for some NEW Mario action. I held out hope right until the DS was announced.
