Pros: It's gotta be the e-reader card stuff, they added so much replay value to this game, in ways that, hell, even the Super Mario Maker series still hasn't given us. The e-reader was a separate GBA device that let you scan the barcodes on physical trading cards, that would then upload elements into the game. Here, there are plenty brand new stages and a few classic old ones too thanks to the e-reader, with varying levels of challenge. And the added content is rich, there's even power-up cards, like, the entire cape power-up from World is in this, and it's just as great as it was in SMW, there's also a new boomerang weapon you can use too, which, isn't really a power-up, but it's a boomerang that you can catch and throw as often as you can keep catching it, neat! There's also stages that have you plucking vegetables just like in SMB2, stages that have you running on walls and ceilings like SMW, and stages with "no-return" exit gates from Yoshi's Island. It's a best of Super Mario Advance collection!! These stages were locked to the e-reader, so one could consider that a con, but I had the e-reader, I collected the cards, and man, that too was fun, so for me, it's definitely a pro!
Also, the entire game of Super Mario Bros. 3 is here too, of course, heh, with Luigi and his added abilities from Super Mario Advance 2! Changes things up enough to play the game again in a different way. It's a great port of the All-Stars version of SMB3, and hey, they fixed Mario's gloves! He's actually wearing them now!
Also another fun little minor addition, Game Boy Player support, where if you played the game on a Gamecube with the GB Player, you'd have rumble support on the Gamecube controller, heh, not bad!
Also also, every Super Mario Advance included a remade version of Mario Bros., and it's no different here, the same game is included, but now that there were four Super Mario Advance games, we now had four game paks with Mario Bros, which allowed four player bouts of Mario Bros. with all of the benefits and options of doing four-game pak mode, it was really genius of Nintendo to allow multiplayer of that mode with any version of Super Mario Advance!
Cons: SMB3 itself is still not my favorite of Mario games, it's great, don't get me wrong, but I would've loved these e-reader additions to a better game like Super Mario World, using that game's base engine instead. Still, it's hard to complain about all added bells and whistles here, it's certainly the best version of SMB3, period.
What it means to me: This version of the game was the first time I ever played SMB3 from beginning to end, first time I ever beat it, in fact! And so, naturally, it means more to me than the other Super Mario Advance series game releases, it just gave me so much more. And even with later releases on Wii U and Switch, they pre-set all of the e-reader stages on them, even the e-reader stages that were never available in North America, due to the cards for them only releasing in Japan. So years later I got even more enjoyment out of this game! It's the game that keeps on givin'!
Also, the entire game of Super Mario Bros. 3 is here too, of course, heh, with Luigi and his added abilities from Super Mario Advance 2! Changes things up enough to play the game again in a different way. It's a great port of the All-Stars version of SMB3, and hey, they fixed Mario's gloves! He's actually wearing them now!
Also another fun little minor addition, Game Boy Player support, where if you played the game on a Gamecube with the GB Player, you'd have rumble support on the Gamecube controller, heh, not bad!
Also also, every Super Mario Advance included a remade version of Mario Bros., and it's no different here, the same game is included, but now that there were four Super Mario Advance games, we now had four game paks with Mario Bros, which allowed four player bouts of Mario Bros. with all of the benefits and options of doing four-game pak mode, it was really genius of Nintendo to allow multiplayer of that mode with any version of Super Mario Advance!
Cons: SMB3 itself is still not my favorite of Mario games, it's great, don't get me wrong, but I would've loved these e-reader additions to a better game like Super Mario World, using that game's base engine instead. Still, it's hard to complain about all added bells and whistles here, it's certainly the best version of SMB3, period.
What it means to me: This version of the game was the first time I ever played SMB3 from beginning to end, first time I ever beat it, in fact! And so, naturally, it means more to me than the other Super Mario Advance series game releases, it just gave me so much more. And even with later releases on Wii U and Switch, they pre-set all of the e-reader stages on them, even the e-reader stages that were never available in North America, due to the cards for them only releasing in Japan. So years later I got even more enjoyment out of this game! It's the game that keeps on givin'!