Yes, I have played and completed this before. A fair few times too. But! This is the Switch version, on the Super Mario 3D All-Stars pack that recently came out, where the game is (slightly) upscaled, (slightly) less blurry, and with a nicer looking HUD and font. I’ve said before that Super Mario 64 is one of the best games ever made. It sits comfortably in my Top 5, and was probably at Number Two (after Run Baby Run of …
Look, there’s not lots to write about this that I’ve not written before. Super Mario 64 is one of the best games ever made, on any system, ever. That’s just a fact, and playing it through again did nothing to dissuade me. Of course, I’m still not sure if Super Mario 64 is better than New Super Mario Bros U, or if it’s the other way round, but I can be sure the two of them are at positions 2 …
Right. So that’s now two Wii games completed, but both are actually old titles. Ho hum. Anyway. Most of the rest of the required stars came from Jolly Roger Bay, Tall Tall Mountain, Dire Dire Docks, and the ghost house. Also picked up a few secret stars (two from the rabbit included), and one or two each from Rainbow Ride and Tick Tock Clock. Finally, it was on to Bowser, who I defeated first time (I didn’t even die on …
Ploughing through this a bit more today. Got myself up to 50 stars, meaning I could reach the third floor of the castle (and access Tock Tock Clock and Rainbow Ride). The next target is 70 stars, which, if I remember correctly, is all I need to complete the game. Went into Rainbow Ride and got one star, as well as open up the cannon there. Didn’t try for any more after that though. Don’t I have Zelda to play …
Yes! I’m playing old games on my new console again! There’s something very special about Mario 64 though, isn’t there? It’s also amazing how it’s now 10 years old. It really doesn’t look or feel like it. Anyway. I got a star or two in some of the levels I’d opened up last time – Tiny Big World and Wet Dry World, for instance, and a Toad gave me a star too. That’s taken my total up to 38 now. …
So I spend all this money on a new console, and I spend all my time playing ancient games on it? Something wrong there! Anyway. I finished up all the stars on the first two worlds, got most of them in the third and fourth (taking my total to 30), then did the first star in Dire Dire Docks, opening up the entrance to Bowser again. Went in there, defeated him, and then opened the door up to the next …
18 stars now! Got a few on Cold Cold Mountain, some in the water world, and some up Thwomp’s Tower. Hurrah for me!
Donkey Kong ’94 on the Game Boy is one of my favourite platformers. After the first four levels, which are the same as the original Donkey Kong arcade game, it becomes this massive puzzle platformer with a very agile Mario up against Donkey Kong. Mario vs. Donkey Kong, the Game Boy Advance sequel, was also great, but it introduced levels with mini Mario toys in it that you have to help to the exit in a very Troddlers/Krusty’s Super Fun …
There was no doubt that I was going to instabuy a new Mario game. It might not be a sequel to Super Mario Odyssey, but New Super Mario Bros U was one of the best Mario games, if not, actually, the best and this is the first 2D outing for Nintendo’s pipeman since that came out, so I was hyped. All the new “wonder” effects shown in the trailer and Nintendo Direct, with crawling pipes and turning into a Goomba …
New Super Lucky’s Tale is no Mario 64 or Yooka-Laylee. It’s a nice little (mostly) 3D platformer in that style, however, but without the acrobatics and inventiveness of the former and with none of the fancy moves and humour of that latter. It’s a very pared down experience in many ways, especially compared to those, but actually, it was a pleasant surprise. It doesn’t do a lot – you collect things and jump around and there are odd characters to …
I have always maintained that Super Mario Sunshine is an excellent game. I know many, many people complain about the camera – in particular on the ferris wheel – but to those people I’ve always said: Just control the camera yourself. I never had a problem with it. So it was with some trepidation that I would turn out to be wrong that I went into Super Mario Sunshine on the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection on the Switch. And …
I’ve said before that although Super Mario Galaxy is a fantastic game, it isn’t as good as Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. I was never able to really put my finger on why, though, until this playthrough. There’s three main things – it’s a bit disjointed, in that each world is very small and there are so many of them so it doesn’t feel like you get to spend much time learning them like you do in the …
This is a hard one. Well, not hard in that way (the game is easy – very easy), but hard in how I feel about it. Unlike pretty much every Mario game ever, Super Mario Odyssey didn’t instantly grab me. Perhaps it was the terrible looking first “world”. Maybe it was the stark art style changes between worlds. I don’t know. Definitely, I started enjoying it in my first hour – but other games in the series I was hooked …
Look at all the little eggies! Look at them! I rescued them all! Woooo! Oh yeah, and the princess. It was certainly harder than I remember, and I’ve only done the main route through the game with very few secret levels – 53 exits in total. The final boss, and the level leading up to him, was far, far easier though. Odd. Now, I realise that to many this is evil heathenry, but I have to say – SMW is …
And that’s it. All done. Every level completed, Nabbit Nabbed on every world, every Star Coin in every level, every level on Superstar Road unlocked, completed, and coins grabbed, and the final level unlocked and done. All five stars now adorn my saved game. And what a superb game. I loved it from start to finish, never felt the coin hunt was “filler”, never found a single level – regardless of how difficult – that I didn’t think was doable, …
