This is a solid game with a few drawbacks. I think the main one being it doesn't take full advantage of the game play capabilities. One of the big points of the game when it released was that it was 2D Mario with 3D mechanics like wall jumping and triple jumping yet pretty much none of the levels really take advantage of these mechanics. Same with the power ups, there are a lot of cool power ups like the shell, mini mushroom, and mega mushroom, yet the only way to get them in most levels is just to hope the red box floats above the level you're playing which is a let down to me as these power ups could easily have entire levels themed around them. But this game ain't bad at all, the levels themselves are honestly pretty solid especially in world 8 some of those levels felt straight out of Mario Maker. And although a common complaint of the new supe series is that they're visually dull, I wouldn't really say that applies here. I know it was probably due to limitations but the low poly 3D models combined with 2D textures and sprites gave it a pretty unique art style that I definelty wouldn't say is dull. I still had a lot of fun playing this in my downtime and would absolutely recommend it, it's just a shame that it doesn't completely utilize what it's capable of as the building blocks were their to make something truly great.

Reviewed on Nov 18, 2023


3 Comments


5 months ago

What about the multiplayer, mini games, use of star coins, and boss fights?

5 months ago

Ah yes. Multiplayer is very fun from what little I played. Star Coins are actually good since I used to think it was bad that I can’t save after a level but then I realized that this would encourage me to collect them so I think it’s a good trade off. Bosses are hit or miss, not a huge fan of the fights against Bowser or Bowser Jr but the other bosses like Petey Piranha or the giant fish were fun. Mini games I haven’t played.

5 months ago

@SannicFann Valid, I recommend you try those mini games out with someone or on your own, they’re the same ones included in Super Mario 64 DS.