Super Mario Advance: Super Mario Bros. 2

GameSpot provided these IN CRACK BABIES :{

| Single-player | Multi-player | Japanese advertisement |

[note : Sometimes the second image is a comparison to the final, and sometimes an image of the same category. Usually comparison images are below them if there are multiple ones.]

As you can see, they still had the original HUD here, without the world, Ace coins, lives, and score. The colours are a touch different (probably compression), and a big Shy Guy is accompanying the little ones, but it's a little further along in the game, followed by a Tweeter.

Again, old HUD and altered colours. All the changes here aren't really changes, I just failed at getting them.

Ignore the wide-eyed Shy Guy in the final image, that's just the emulator's screenshot function cocking up.

Old HUD, old colours. Toad's jacket is blue in the prerelease, but purple in the final. Plus, the camera is a tile lower in the prerelease.

The Phanto does scale in and out occasionally, but I don't think it ever goes as big as that.

Again, other than the different colours (and they're severely different here; the forest is glowing!) and old HUD, no diff' here.

Despite the altered images of the characters, the Bonus Chance is still based on the original, lacking the lives being moved to the top (with the addition of the character's name) and shadows on the rows, and the old font.

Apparently at one point during production, Robirdo's lair didn't have chains, and the arena was much, much smaller. And for some reason, she's in the ground. Maybe she rose up from the ground at point, instead of simply waiting? Take note of the different Ace Coin icon, it'll pop up a lot in later screenshots.

Don't fuss over the background, I simply couldn't bother getting her to shoot eggs at that side, so I just took a screenshot of her talking.

And is it just me, or is Robirdo's sprite immensely ugly? As in, not fitting in with any other graphics at all?

The text is different, and the characters' images are quite different there; Peach lacks the height and realism in the final, while Mario is in a fighting stance, and Toad looks more primitive. Their colours are all old, too.

Other than the old colours, there are no differences here. Unless that strangely misplaced line on the platform counts.

Another image of the early character select, with a better look at Mario and a glimpse at Luigi. Mario certainly looks odd, but I'm more interested in Luigi: Not only are his colours all kinds of weird, but he seems a lot more stocky than his final representation.

Mario is wielding a giant sulky eggplant/purple tomato, which I don't believe appears in the game at all! And, of course, the old colours. And odd scrolling; I couldn't get Mario to stand there and keep all of the door and it's wall onscreen.

Old colours, old Ace Coin icon, and for some reason, Mario has a giant Shy Guy to hit Birdo with. There aren't any of them in or around the arena.

Old colours and Ace Coin icon. The background is positioned differently.

Old colours, Ace Coin icon, the platforms are differently coloured and the background is different.

Old colours, Ace Coin icon, and unless it's just in the process of scrolling, then the camera is position a tile lower.

Old colours, Ace Coin icon.

Old colours, Ace Coin icon. The background is rearranged, and the scrolling appears to be a bit off.

Old colours and different Ace Coin icon.

These are the earliest images of the Mario Bros. Battle Mode, and there are a fair number of differences. The most obvious difference is that Koopa Troopas are shown; Koopa Troopas were enemies in the SMAS-SMB3 Battle Mode, which was based off Mario Bros., so I don't see why they didn't keep them. I mean, it'd add more variety. In the final, their removal wasn't in vain, as their shells are items you can collect from the bins. Same graphics and colours and all.

Then there are the player colours. There's the Mario and Luigi colour schemes that are in the final, but then there's a reverse Wario colour and Fire Mario. They're replaced with a yellow + cream and blue + yellow palettes.

The HUDs are simple text with coin slots, and strangely, three hearts, like in SMB2. In the final, they replaced them with all four scores at the bottom in fancy text and a little box around who you are, with slanted coin icons and removed the health in favour of a more classic "one hit you small" style.

Other changes include the POW block being black or purple, the arena appearing to be a lot bigger, strangely placed pipes, an extra row of bricks as the bottom floor, and the trash can in a different position.

That background is never used in Battle Mode, the bin cannot be moved and is never anywhere other than the bottom floor, the HUDs are different, and most interestingly, dead characters apparently were once able to roam about with halos. In the final, they're completely out until the next round, and can only move the camera to watch the action.

And I presume that text is different, I guess.

The colours are different (most notably on Luigi), "SENDING" with "......." above it was changed to "TRANSMITTING DATA", the logo made red instead of blue and with an ® instead of ™, and the hyphen between the years was made into a comma.

The same logo, colour, and year differences apply here. The players once lined up, and the indicators said they were "# Player" instead of the grammatically correct "Player #".

This is confusing. It appears to be a regular round win, but the inverted losers, text saying what you did and the winner doing the peace sign says it's a match win. Dazed and confused here, yo.

That background is never used for a Battle Mode arena nor scoring screen, and the characters have individual windows instead of all sharing one, with them listed as "P1" and so on instead of "1P" and the like. No special screen appears showing just you wailing over your loss, it's all on one screen. And finally, "PUSH START" is replaced with "TRY AGAIN".

The screenshots are very crappy, but the HUD is different, lacking the number of lives, "P1" being "1P", and lacking the little Mario head with the halo above the HUD on the Game Over screen.

This background is never used, and the HUDs are different.

Old HUD.

Old HUD.

The HUD is different again here, with a crude Mario head, player number beside the score, and a generic border for who you're playing as instead of one coloured to fit your palette.

And take note of the area. What is it? It's never seen in the game.

The clouds are ever so slightly different, and it says 1P instead of P1.

Different HUDs, old colours, Koopas are back, the bin is on the second floor, a POW block is on the bottom floor, and a heart is visible, which I don't recall ever seeing. The sprite of Mario giving the peace sign is slightly different, and the winning text is a different font, and the usual 1P = P1 difference.

Old HUD, unused area, bin isn't on the bottom floor, colours are old, text may or may not be different, dead characters are little angels with trumpets, and there's that heart again.

For comparison, here is the final, with Battle Mode on the left and Classic on the right. Lives are only shown when you are revived.

In a Japanese advertisement for the game (which I pinched from The Mushroom Kingdom), it contains the "usual" changes, such as the old Ace Coin icon, old colours, as well as some things like items being in the wrong place (middle image), different player select text (left image), and the old HUD and bin on a higher floor (right image). There's also loads of giggling children playing the game (not pictured), so I guess that's a warning or heads up or something.