Slashdot Mirror
Mario Gets Advanced Again, Parties On
Thanks to Game Informer for their hands-on impressions of Super Mario Advance 4 for GameBoy Advance, as the 20th October U.S. release nears for this handheld remake of Super Mario Bros 3, which GI suggest is "...probably the best platformer of the 8-bit generation, and also the best-selling video game in the United States of all time, across any platform." The game features e-Reader compatibility, "...where you can add new levels, power-ups, and level demonstrations by scanning in e-Cards", but unfortunately, "you will need two GBA devices" to use the e-Reader capabilities properly. IGN has an enthusiastic review of the game, mentioning Nintendo "will reportedly even create [e-Reader] cards featuring levels from the original Super Mario Bros. game", and elsewhere in the Mario franchise, French site GameKult has many new screenshots from the GameCube title Mario Party 5, due out Stateside on the 11th November.
"In Final Fantasy TA, for example, if you want to get certain special items, you need to frequently link up with another GBA (and another copy of FFTA). No biggie if you don't, of course, but you're still missing out on cool stuff."
Solution: Don't buy it. Nobody is holding a gun to your head, making you buy and play FFTA.
"Why couldn't they have added these extra features onto the original GBA cartridge?"
Because the whole poing of using the eReader is to be able to allow the programmers to add new features to the game that they haven't thought of yet. And since I haven't heard of Nintendo developing time-travel technology...
"The more and more I think about it, the harder it is to justify paying $30USD for a 10-year old game."
Again, you can simply not buy it.
You're starting to sound familiar...