Nintendo Expands Switch Online's GBA Library With Three Super Mario Games

While this is nice, I would like to see some more obscure titles. And definitely more N64 games.

Yeah, this has me a bit worried that we’re not going to get a real sampling of 3rd party games on any of these services, especially N64.

GBA Soundchip is so bad!!! But best version of Super Mario Bros. 2 is definitely advance.

Solid addiitons.

I was wondering how long it would take them to add the other Super Mario Advance games.

Sure we have these games in their snes form already, but what I find seals the deal here is that Nintendo dropped all 3 at the same time from out of nowhere. We’re gonna get GB and GBA games that haven’t already been announced as well and I’m so pumped for that. Imagine if they make hell freeze over and add the Sonic Advance Trilogy. Good lord.

About time, I was both surprised and not that Advance 4 launched first, but really these should have all been here in the first place.

Cool! back to TOTK

Nice, three GBA games at once, didn't expect that to be honest. But it's good to get the Mario Advance games out of the way relatively early.

I'm not surprised by this, I definitely expected to see the other Mario Advance games to be added at some point.

Even MORE ways to play Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2!

I’m happy anytime they add games to these services, even if the games suck. At least these are good!

They are solid versions of amazing games, but in all honesty there are SO MANY gems and classics that deserve to be here too. Here’s hoping we get more shadow drops this year, in addition to scheduled releases.

I'd rather have confirmation of the unconfirmed GBA Metroid and Fire Emblem games. Don't know why I'd play the inferior version of Yoshi's Island when the original is also NSO, for example.

Cool, I guess. When are we going to get the games Nintendo previously announced?

We've got superior versions of all three games Already on the SNES online.... but this is nice. I guess.

I already have the Mario Bros 2 game on gba but not the others.
Might give them a try. (Though I did play the yoshi’s island one on the 3DS)

@Decapre phoenix wright games sounded like gameboy games

Putting up three worse versions of games already up on the service is certainly a choice.

I'm guessing the next wave of NES/SNES/GB/GBC games will be the following week, just like the last update for GBA and GB/GBC/NES/SNES was on week apart.

@valharian Because they were. They were originally made for the GBA then ported.

@Lizuka Well SMB2 has some additions such as giant enemies which changes up the gameplay a bit.

Nice, some awesome classics and how I experienced these Mario platformers. Though nowadays I tend to play them with patches that restore the original color palettes, these were changed to be way more washed out to accommodate the original GBA's non-lit screen..

@LilyGoMEOW That's the one of these I'd say probably has the most merit to be worth putting up, I'd call it a worse experience but it is at least a notably different one in a number of ways. And I guess Yoshi's Island adds a small handful of new levels.

World though is just a straight downgrade unless you're like super invested in having a better Luigi sprite.

I suppose it's better than getting NES or Sega ports of games already available on SNES online....

Is there any additional content in these games, like the e-card levels in Mario Advance 4 (SMB3)? If not I don't really see the point.

Edit: Just saw the post about new Yoshi's Island levels and slight SMB2 changes. Doesn't seem totally pointless then.

Nice line up but i want Pokemon games.

This is welcome news. Too bad we didn’t get any GB/GBC/GBA games in April.

@LilyGoMEOW Maybe the GB Donkey Kong game will be coming soon. It would complement the Mario Movie nicely.

Dope. I grew up with Mario Advance 2 and it’s been such a long time since I played Mario World in general. Excited to play through it again on the big screen once I’m done Tears of the Kingdom and Metroid Prime.

@Lizuka but I meant gameboy color games

Too bad we can’t purchase them on NSO.

@Decapre not with its added sound bytes and brightened colours

@Angelic_Lapras_King I love Mario 2 so much. Underrated and fantastic game mechanics

There is now at least four different ways to play Mario Bros on NSO.

Advance 1 seems fair, since that seems to have added a decent amount of new content, but the other two I’m less convinced were worth throwing out (especially since nothing else has been released for this platform since early March).

@FishyS

Might as well! You’re already subscribing to NintendoLife why not subscribe to Nintendo themselves?

@Drmarioland Six actually. The NES version and all four Mario Advance games have it, as well as Superstar Saga.

Besides that you can also play it on the Switch via Arcade Archives and 3D World.

I was hoping for Oracle of Seasons and Ages, but that's probably too close after Tears of the Kingdom's release...

Solid games. The extra stuff in Super Mario Advance makes that my favorite way to play SMB2

i've gotta be honest, i'm completely baffled these got added before something like metroid zero mission, since while thats a full remake these appear to just be individual versions of the all-stars versions of the games?

@FishyS I’ve been tempted for months, honestly, but I just don’t have the time to play all those games and get my money’s worth from the expansion. I have too much to play already and not enough time haha

I guess dumping these out to be ignored while everyone else is playing Zelda is one way for Nintendo to meet their obligation for extra content. They'll be fun to waste ten minutes on just to see the cosmetic changes at least.

This is freaking awesome. That’s all I have to say.

Birdo really stood out in GBA version of Mario 2.

Looking forward to these. I was just thinking the other day how it's well past time for Nintendo to add some more legacy games. I don't think we've had a new GBA game since Fusion, which feels like forever ago now. Even if these games are already available in NES/SNES, the GBA versions give me reason to play back through Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros. 2.

These versions are much better for completionists like myself--the Dragon Coins are necessary for 100% in this game, whereas in Mario World, they just give you a 1-up and there's no record to show you've gotten them all. I also remember the GBA version of SMB2 having an extra boss fight, so I'm sure that will unlock nostalgic memories for me as I only vaguely remember it and at one point thought I just made it up.

So yeah, I'm looking forward to it, although I do wish they dumped a few games that weren't already available on NSO in another form--especially after the long wait. Yoshi's Island is a hard pass, though, because I don't think it adds anything substantial to my knowledge, besides the annoying baby cries. I'm also not the biggest Yoshi's Island fan, which I know is blasphemy to some people.

I actually enjoy this service, but it’s execution is fairly poor IMO.

The sporadic drip feeding of titles is quite weak, and Nintendo seem to be holding out on us in regards to teased updates…. Not to mention that some of the additions are absolutely atrocious!

I understand Nintendo have recently struck gold with both the Mario Movie and also TotK.. I don’t think it would kill them to drop a few decent titles simultaneously across the SNES/N64/GBA apps?

I’m not normally one to whinge, and I’m a huge Nintendo fan, but this service is pretty lacking right now. Even PS+ (extra, not premium) is proving better value for money

Pretty cool 😊 always wanted these as a kid! Looking forward to playing them. 😊

I remember the GBA launch like it was yesterday, and how big a turn off was SM Advance being a port of Mario 2 USA.

Don't get me wrong, I loved this game, but I was totally expecting a new "mainline" series, like Super Mario Land. Not only that, we never had a full fledged-platform-mainline-exclusive Mario game on the system. 😪

Nice to see that all the Mario advance games will be on the service. Some fun little games here.

Nothing super exciting in the games themselves, obviously we already had the originals and frankly I'm surprised these weren't launch titles, but it's nice that we're getting games that haven't been announced ahead of time. Also, while I probably won't play through these all the way it's neat to see variations of games I'm already familiar with.

Super Mario Advance is the best version of SMB2 because Birdo has a terrifying (human) voice in it

Cool but where is my zero mission?!

Are the full versions not already on the online snes library?

It's not a great addition when you consider that these games are effectively already on the service. I'd much rather see games which don't already have versions already on there

All three games are already on the Snes app.. sure there some difference but not any major to my knowledge.

Original Super Mario Land for Game Boy next, I hope!

These are 3 games I would never purchase. I guess I'm an "originalist", I'd rather play the games as they were first released in fear of a "George Lucasing".

But I'll take a peek since I now own/rent them.

Good versions of great games, but my feeling here is the same as it was in the early 2000s - not really bothered playing these games for the umpteenth time and would prefer if Nintendo released something a bit more unique instead. GBA has plenty of more interesting titles in its library than this. Hopefully there's a shadow drop on one of the other platforms this month in addition to what's announced, as we've seen a few times recently.

Who cares, I can go play these on almost anything

@DaniPooo You’ve not actually played Super Mario Advance 1, have you?

Meh…
We already got the SNES-versions.

The voice acting is a complete turnoff in these titles. I replay the SNES versions regularly but don't see myself going through any of these more than once, if at all

This is the most wack release so far. I wish they'd put in at least one game that wasn't already on the NSO service.

Happy to try expansion for the first year, but I am glad I am out. These games should have been out since the beginning of the GBA (should've since expansion started). These are practically the third
version out. So I am staying out until more diverse games are out.

@Ristar24 Fingers crossed!! I am hoping for Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land too. That was one of my favs on the original Gameboy and I had hours of fun playing it and I still remember replaying the levels when they went underwater as the game progressed. 😀

What happened to Super Mario Galaxy 2 getting re-released on the Switch? I remember there were articles about it originally going to be in 'Super Mario 3D All Stars' and they said Nintendo were considering releasing it separately.

These are such goofy versions of these games. I know you can still play all of these via the other base NSO apps, so these additions don't feel too interesting for me

These are nice to have - but I was hoping we'd have at least one of the GBA Fire Emblems on NSO by now...

@Bass_X0 I have, what's your point?

I love the SMA series, especially SMA4:SMB3.

Give us games we can’t already play on the service. Cool to have but kinda meh.

@FishyS
The service is coming along, they’ve definitely done a better job adding value to it. I’m thinking they’ll maybe try and tie in some Zelda TotK DLC to the online service, doubt it’ll be free but I could see them capitalize on the games success. Personally I see the service in its current state as a launch pad for Switch 2. I’d assume we see some GameCube and more N64 games moving forward and wouldn’t be surprised if they’ll eventually offer a Nintendo Movie streaming service. It’s not a cheap service but Atleast they have shown some commitment to improving its overall value proposition

Why bother? That's my first response. Nothing drops for ages and then they release stuff for the premium tier that's playable on the non-premium tier? How is that tempting me to upgrade and what are you thinking Nintendo. Just gonna carry on with Zelda thanks

So I should expect Super Mario Bros DX on Gameboy next. That way I can play all the Mario games on three different systems. But then they can release Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World on SNES so there will be even more Mario

Honestly, would rather see stuff like Mole Mania, Recca ‘92 Summer Carnival, Murasame Castle, Wreckling Crew ‘98, and other rarities.

@Bass_X0 Super Mario Advance has the most changes out of the three games with large enemies, a new boss, and a bonus Yoshi egg hunt. Yoshi's island got exclusive bonus levels. Super Mario World got an intro and leg wiggling Luigi.

May we please have some more GB games, Ninty? It's been ages since you announced Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble was coming back, and I'd like Mole Mania, too.

@Decapre Thank you; that soundchip, yikes terrible. It ruins a lot of otherwise great GBA games.

@Drmarioland and yet Mario 35 had to go away

@DaniPooo If you actually have play SMA1, you would not have posted such an obvious factually incorrect comment. There are major changes to SMA1 right from the start, which you say to the best of your knowledge it doesn’t have.

@Bass_X0 Are you talking about that the characters have some voice samples? Other than that I think the only other feature I can think of is the Yoshi coin challenge after you beat the game.

I never said there's no changes, I said "sure there some difference but not any major to my knowledge."

I don't consider voice samples and the Yoshi coin challenge Major differences.

Other than that, it's pretty similar to the All-stars version of Super Mario Bros 2 on SNES

@DaniPooo Aren’t you just playing with semantics at that point, though?

“Oh, those changes? Yeah, but I don’t personally count them as ‘big’, so my original statement was right.”

Of course, you’re more than entitled to your opinion but that’s such a subjective argument that it’s a little shaky. It’s like saying there’s never been a good Mario game because you personally don’t like them. it’d be absolutely true for you, but other people are going to question your taste in video games, heh.

I still say we need the option to purchase these individually.

I would love to see more of the very (over-) ambitious third party games I grew up with in Nintendo handhelds. I was pleasantly surprised by Alonein the Dark being there, and instantly played it again. I still have the original CIB, mint condition. But I would love for more people to experience Rogue Spear, Max Payne, Kill.Switch, Payback,... Games my mind was blown by as a child with no TV let alone home consoles. Or at a younger age, on the GBC, Cannon Fodder, Perfect Dark, or Alone in the Dark which is already there.

Inferior versions of games which are already available

@Lizuka Luigi does play different so there it is that. Snes version is still better tho lmao

To all the people who mocked me in my first post..

I never said there wasn't any changes made, I just said that there wasn't any huge ones (By huge I meant changes that completely changed these games)

Don't get me wrong I don't mind getting these versions of the games and I understand that these can be considered the best versions.

That being said, I would have much preferred if Nintendo gave us some games that are exclusive to the GBA and not only updated versions of NES/SNES games.

It's not like I dislike these games, not at all. But how about giving us one of these games and two other games that are not Mario? And then something similar next time?

The fact is that every single one of these games already has at least one playable version already on the Nintendo online subscription. And now this is what I am paying extra for, the same games again with some upgrades. And I don't even get to keep the games if I stop paying.

Since I am paying for a subscription I would prefer if they give me some variety.

But why? Just to have 3 different ways to play SMB 2?
This is what filler/pointless update is like.
Oh yeah, and still waiting for those Super Mario 3D All-Stars games to be released onto eshop separately like all of you were saying.

almost feels like they just wanted to get these duplicate games out of the way.

Playing them now. Yeah it feels like duplicates of SNES and NES titles, but still, I’ve never played these version so I welcome them.

.....sighs Still a joke I see.

@Debbiee Super Mario Galaxy 2 was not coming cause it was never part of the anniversary collection. With the 3D All-Stars Nintendo want players to experience the evolution of the 3D Mario games by giving players one Mario game from each of their past system: the N64 (Super Mario 64), GameCube (Super Mario Sunshine), Wii (Super Mario Galaxy), and Wii U (Super Mario 3D World) and that's exactly what they did. Super Mario Galaxy 2 was not included cause then that means they break that rule and gave us two Wii games.

Fresh from the garden!

Lol, enjoy crusty voice clips folks!

So stupid they add every game from the Mario Advance series except for Super Mario Bros. 3.

@Hajilee

It's already on the service.

GBA multiplayer always felt like a feature that was sealed away so that when these games get a re-release decades later the multiplayer feature becomes more accessible. Except, in the Switch's case it's tied behind a subscription and that's epic.

I always wanted to trade skill cards in Sonic Battle. I will keep dreaming because SEGA only understands Genesis or OpenZone.

Other than that, it's pretty similar to the All-stars version of Super Mario Bros 2 on SNES

No it’s not. Play SMA1 and find out. They added a bunch of new stuff that makes it worth playing. Of course it wasn’t going to be completely new but neither is it a straight port of the All*Stars version.

Being able to play SNES games on GBA was quite special back in the day. Even straight ports.

@AlienX amen to this, although i really loved playing GB tetris multiplayer with my son recently .. with the familypack it makes GB/gba multiplayer possible for us for the first time in 30 years... hopefully they include more ones..

@CJD87 i thought the same regarding the global price

I prayed for Odin God and now I have a better solution to play good-old-times gales

@Serpenterror this might have been an argument hadn't the lost levels been part of the original super mario all stars... Why no to wii games (except ofcourse they already had the first one on nvidia so it cost less money)...

Still have my wiiU hooked up though, so SMG2 is still playable for me, when they launched it on the wiiU (virtual console) it had the nice price of 10 euros)

The characters never shut up in advance 1. Playing as luigi and everytime I get a heart: Thank you. Multiple of them in a row😱😱😱😱

I’ve always said that these have been the BEST! versions of these games. I wish there was remaster of these games with updated sound, color (to match the originals), and widescreen.

Did anyone ever give a reason for the bizarre numbering conventions for these games?

Advance 1 - Second game (well, the US version)
Advance 2 - Fourth game
Advance 3 - Fifth game
Advance 4 - Third game

Time for some quality Switch time!

I didn't like the SMB2 GBA game. Istill own Yoshi's Island and SMW on the GBA.

not terrible.... but they shouldnt be a priority either since theyre already available on SNES online

Seems super weird to me people still pay to RENT games in 2023, the year of our lawrd, but you do you I guess...

@SteamEngenius
I guess people do still rent movies and TV shows but i do feel like with games having them tied exclusively to something like that isn't the best since gaming has formal limitations which most other digital media doesn't.

Im not opposed to having the service as an option but just wish it wasn't the ONLY way to play most of these games on switch. since unlike something like the wii,wiiu and 3ds eshop once support for this service ends people wont even be able to play the games (at least without modding)

@Uncle_Franklin I know, I'm saying it's strange they didn't add them all at once.

I’m not subscribed to Nintendo Online anymore, and don’t miss it. I despise monthly fees, and while I might actually play some older titles if they gave us a collection to buy, they’re going to have to offer something truly spectacular to get me to subscribe to their service.

@Joekun

isn't it yearly?

@Uncle_Franklin Fair point (although you can choose monthly). I despise subscriptions, lol.

What really makes the SNES versions better is the graphics, sound quality and the lack of voice clips. I didn't like Yoshi's Island new levels but that's the biggest addition. Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario World have always been my favourite choice, even when GBA was the most technically advanced Nintendo handheld. And where is Super Mario Galaxy 2? Most people were expecting that after Super Mario 3D Almost-All-Stars launched skipping it for no reason. Super Mario All-Stars was a complete collection and they remade the four games. It's the best Nintendo collection along with Metroid Prime Trilogy. Metroid Prime Trilogy's was, actually, suggested by Retro to Nintendo so it wasn't Nintendo's idea.

Having played both the original games and the GBA versions - it’s quite clear to me a lot of others here haven’t if you’re asking questions like “why do we have these games” or “these are inferior ports”.

There are pretty significant changes and updates to accommodate the screen crunch for one thing, but in other cases you have the added VA sounds in a small but nice touch, new cutscenes to bookend the games, extras levels added (to Yoshi’s island) new physics and sprite work changed for existing characters (Luigi is not Green Mario anymore and has his slidey run and floaty jump if you want a challenge in Mario World), and I’m pretty sure the coloured yoshi’s with varied abilities were exclusive to Advance 2 as well.

There are multiple other QOL improvements to menus and levels also, so I think it’s important to note that details like this were added or enhanced for the Advance series of games and were NOT part of the “All-Stars” repackaging on the SNES (even if the advanced series are visually based off of those remasters).

These titles shouldn’t be so easily brushed aside and are very much worth exploring, even as just as a fun curio.

I find this really exciting. The GBA sound chip was pretty awful, but there were new features in each of the games. Super Mario Advance added a ton of new content to the game (Super Mario Bros 2), with lots of extra animations of things jumping around.

Plus Toad has a sick back-flip and screams "Yeaaah."

So, I'm just going to go out on a limb and say that I'm excited for this.

So generous of Nintendo to give three new versions of games already being offered on the service. Of course, they'll take a six month break thinking this update will keep the peasants happy.

@Ambassador_Kong it really is actually, as these versions are excellent and have enough different from the originals to warrant the inclusion 🙂

This is very exciting and i look forward to playing them, this is awesome. Thank's for posting this article, very informative post.

I guess I'm in the minority but I'm very happy to see these games added to NSO. I love the GBA version of Super Mario World.

@Andee They simply weren’t releasing the games in order of their original release. Presumably SMB3 was released last due to the e-card reader feature they were developing for it.

@DaniPooo If you had actually played Super Mario Advance 1 then you wouldn’t have made such blatantly untrue comments regarding it.

@Bass_X0 Please recite my "untrue comment" so that I know what you are talking about?