A trio of Mario GBA games are coming to Switch in May

Yahoooooo?

So, how about those May 2023 Switch Online offerings? With Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom taking the world by storm, it would make sense if Nintendo completely forgot about them, but late last night we did indeed get an update: and we’re getting not one, not two, but three Mario GBA games for the Switch Online + Expansion Pack catalog.

This isn’t much of a surprise, as Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 was released in February for Expansion Pack subscribers, so this is just completing the set. According to Nintendo, all three games are due out on May 26, and it seems like this is what we’re getting for the month.

Are these Mario GBA games worth playing?

As someone who owned all three on the GBA when they came out: kinda!

Mario Advance 1 is likely going to be one of the more popular picks, as it transforms Super Mario Bros. 2 quite a bit: remixing the game’s layouts in clever ways while adding challenges. But the art and audio styles are polarizing, and ultimately, as the game goes on, you notice less and less of those stark changes: to the point where some people just prefer to play the original (which is on Switch via the NES app).

That sentiment also applies to Super Mario World and Yoshi’s Island, which are both on the SNES Switch app, but there are plenty of GBA-version fans out there who might sway you on those.

Yeah but can we get any version of Four Swords on Switch though?

This is a perfect opportunity for Nintendo to re-release Four Swords on the Switch: which arrived back in 2002 thanks to the “The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords” GBA release. We’ll also settle for the Four Swords Anniversary edition that came to the DS in 2011 (and the 3DS in 2013), and if they can spare the time; a remaster/remake of Four Swords Adventures from the GameCube, which would play nice with the multi-system local play nature of the Switch.

Chris Carter

EIC, Reviews Director – Chris has been enjoying Destructoid avidly since 2008. He finally decided to take the next step in January of 2009 blogging on the site. Now, he’s staff!

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