Super Mario Advance

Super Mario Advance
Also known as: Chaoji Mario 2 (CH) Developer: Nintendo R&D2 Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Game Boy Advance Released in JP: March 21, 2001 Released in US: June 11, 2001 Released in EU: June 22, 2001 Released in CN: June 30, 2004 This game has unused enemies. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has regional differences. This game has a prerelease article

To do: Make a subpage documenting [the sheer amount of differences] between the SNES and GBA versions. Rip the unused voice clip of Robirdo saying, "I'm gonna finish you off!" Plus, Wart's unused voice clip and his full death cry.

Super Mario Advance is the first game in the Advance series and is a complete remake of Super Mario Bros. 2 and not, contrary to popular belief, merely a port of the All-Stars version of the game. Though certainly similar to All-Stars, as a GBA launch title Advance has several new features added to show off the 32-bit system, like voice acting and a LOT of sprite scaling and rotation.

Super Mario All-Stars Leftovers

These graphics were unused in All-Stars, and they're not used here either.

Placeholder Text

Before	After

The three orange tiles are パワ床 (instead of パワー床; POW Block), スイショウ (Crystal), and フラスコ (Flask), and mark where those graphics are loaded in VRAM. All other placeholder text from All-Stars has been removed.

Tiny Slots Icons

These tiny slot icons were discarded in favor of the larger slot icons.

Vegetables

Two versions of vegetables present in the NES game go unused in Advance. An updated tomato that was present in All-Stars code, but unused in the game, is still here. The onion, which was used in All-Stars, is no longer used in Wart's room.

Tiles

Several tiles from the NES version were revamped for All-Stars and ported over to Advance, but remain unused.

The mountain and cave tiles from the NES version.

The ice block that composed the terrain in some sections of ice levels in the NES version.

An unique type of rock, unlike any other in the game.

A non-animated and differently-drawn whale tail.

A strange and somewhat crudely-drawn block.

Part of an alternate brick pattern?

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Enemies

These object graphics are loaded during world boss fights, and match up with Mouser and Triclyde (including the palette of the new snake). Given that Fryguy and Clawgrip have new boss intros, these were likely meant to be for the same purpose.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Tracks

Two of the game's audio tracks are unused.

A rendition of the original Super Mario Bros. 2 boss theme.

It's the Legend of Zelda jingle for picking up an item! Possibly used as a test track? Its labelled in marioAGB\src\Sound\bros_set.txt in the leaked source code in as "ゼルダ宝箱ファンファーレ" (Zelda treasure chest fanfare).

Regional Differences

Chinese Note

...But what does it mean? This game has text or audio that needs to be translated. If you are fluent with this language, please read our translation guidelines and then submit a translation!

Before the intro of the Chinese version of the game, there is a small note that appears for about 3 seconds before the intro starts. This screen is just a health and safety page talking about budgeting your game time.

Copyrights

Japan	International	China

Since the Chinese version was released in 2004, the copyright info was updated accordingly. A credit was also added for iQue, Nintendo's mainland Chinese marketing brand.

Title Screen

Japan	US/Europe

Game Select Screen

Japan	US/Europe	China

In Japan, Super Mario Bros. 2 is known as Super Mario USA for multiple reasons. Trademark symbols were added at the end of Super Mario 2 and Mario Bros. in the international releases.

In the Japanese version, the cast roll is more or less the same as previous versions, except Toad's name has been changed to Kinopio, his Japanese name (in fact, he's the only character with a different name in Japan to get this treatment). The Japanese version corrects the Birdo and Ostro swap, while international releases additionally take the time to change Hoopstar to Hoopster, Triclyde to Tryclyde, and Clawglip to Clawgrip, reflecting the spelling they had in manuals.

Game Select Sound

Unsurprisingly, the selection sound for the main game ("Super Mario USA" / "Super Mario 2") was also changed between the Japanese and international versions.

Interestingly, it seems as if the final International dialogue is cut short to say "Super Mario 2" instead of "Super Mario Bros. 2" or "Super Mario Bros. Deluxe 2". This is evidenced by the audio found in the July 2020 leak.

Japan	US/Europe

(Source: Original TCRF research)