It’s the first proper 2D Mario game in 15 years. And it arrived today. And… it’s fantastic! Spent about two hours on it so far. I’m going to rip through it to the end first, before going back and unlocking everything and finding the secrets, as that way you get the “save anywhere” option. So far I’ve made it to World 6. Of 8. Yes. Already. I didn’t unlock World 4 though, so I’ve only really done four, not five. …
It’s 2019, and the first game to be completed this year is Super Smash Bros. And by complete, I mean, the MASSIVE new single player mode – “World of Light”. In brief, this mode is a huge map with lots of fight events on it. Some are simple one-on-one brawls, some have quirks like gravity that randomly flips or after a few seconds one hit kills you, and others have a number of unusual fighters such as an army of …
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 …
I got Super Mario Maker for Christmas, and soon set about creating some utterly fantastic levels with it. Sadly, they were all lost in the New Year’s Eve Mario Level Fire, so you’ll have to make do with the other creations instead. I’ve some listed in this blog post over here. Mostly, though, I’ve been playing other peoples’ levels, which is frankly the only other thing you can do with the game. There’s no “story mode” or anything, so it’s …
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 …
By completed, I of course mean I have beaten Bowser. Like New Super Mario Bros U, from around this time last year, that’s only the first half of the game. The post-game mop-up of stars, flags and stamps will continue for a long time, I’m sure. Apparently, it took me just under 5 hours to get this far. That’s shorter than NSMBU by some way. It certainly felt shorter, and was certainly easier. Yes, I found a warp (by accident) …
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 it was AWESOME. Many people complained that it wasn’t a proper follow up to Mario 64, with big open worlds and a world “hub”. Some people complained that it wasn’t a proper 2D Mario game, like New Super Mario Bros. And some people complained it was basically just Super Mario Bros. 3 in 3D. Pff to them all. They’ve clearly not played it, for if they had, they’d realise it doesn’t matter. It’s a new Mario game, close enough …
Although I’d have ended up buying this at some point anyway (it’s a Mario game, so obviously), there was an issue doing so due to last year’s £18 Rule – and Mario games almost never dip much in price. That rule has now expired though, replaced with the far more gruelling Pound-A-Mile Rule, which still encourages finding the lowest price for anything without the limit. Instead, there’s just the limit of how far my little legs can cycle. But I digress. As …
It took me a while to actually find the final remaining zone (Space Zone) as it was somewhat hidden via an exit from another level, but it was soon completed and Wario’s Castle infiltrated. And Wario was defeated with ease. All the bosses were pretty easy, actually, and very few of the levels gave much of a challenge. Quite different to Super Mario Bros 3 or Super Mario World, which this is a sort of portable analogue of. It was …
It’s like Super Mario Bros, only with a message from PETA. That’s right kids – McDonalds kill animals and feed them to you! Mmm, tasty! OK, so they might be cruel when they do it, but think – if they weren’t cruel, we’d have no New Super Chick Sisters. And then what sort of a world would we live in? Controls are arrow keys and space. And no, you can’t shoot the chickens. I tried.
Completely impractical, and later levels will be totally impossible, but playing Super Mario Bros with a theremin is… different. Kind of reminds me of playing Bubble Bobble on the Master System using a pair of pliers.
Picross is ace. Mario is ace. So Mario’s Super Picross has to be acetwice, yes? Yes! And it is! Downloaded it for the Wii Virtual Console this afternoon (along with Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels) and completed all the puzzled on Level 1 and Level 2. Nothing hard yet. Also unlocked Wario’s Super Picross in the process, although I’m not sure how I managed that.
A short, simple, Super Mario Bros style platformer which is neither difficult nor exciting. It just… is. You jump on heads and collect things and reach the end of the level, and it has “doodled” graphics, which would be nice but on the Evercade’s little screen they’re a bit small and you can’t tell what most things actually are. It’s fine?
Splatoon 2(Switch 01/01/2018) Stardew Valley(Switch 01/01/2018) Blaster Master Zero(Switch 06/01/2018) Passpartout: The Starving Artist(Mac 07/01/2018) What Remains of Edith Finch(PS4 07/01/2018) Undertale(Vita 11/01/2018) Fire Emblem Warriors(Switch 14/01/2018) Golf Story(Switch 29/01/2018) Wolfenstein: The New Order(PS4 03/02/2018) Wolfenstein: The Old Blood(PS4 09/02/2018) The Lego Ninjago Movie Video Game(Switch 12/02/2018) Grand Theft Auto V(PS4 24/02/2018) Super Bomberman R(Switch 28/02/2018) SNK Gals’ Fighters(NGPC 04/03/2018) Life Is Strange: Before the Storm Bonus Episode: Farewell(PS4 06/03/2018) North(Switch 11/03/2018) Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China(PS4 14/03/2018) Vostok Inc(Switch 18/03/2018) …
