WaffulSyrup
No exaggeration, this game is bar none one of the best GBA games I've ever played and one of Treasure's best by far.
They took Astro Boy alongside a chunk of characters from the Tezuka universe and injected Gunstar Heroes & Alien Soldier into it's DNA to craft something that's addictive, fun, and challenging to play. The visuals are clean and the music is great too.
Really my only gripe is the jet dash being a bit finnicky to use, especially since its the only defensive move you got in the game (its pretty much Alien Soldier's dash), but that's more of the GBA lacking buttons, so I can see why Treasure compromised things a bit.
Regardless, Astro Boy Omega Factor slams hard, go play it!
They took Astro Boy alongside a chunk of characters from the Tezuka universe and injected Gunstar Heroes & Alien Soldier into it's DNA to craft something that's addictive, fun, and challenging to play. The visuals are clean and the music is great too.
Really my only gripe is the jet dash being a bit finnicky to use, especially since its the only defensive move you got in the game (its pretty much Alien Soldier's dash), but that's more of the GBA lacking buttons, so I can see why Treasure compromised things a bit.
Regardless, Astro Boy Omega Factor slams hard, go play it!
Advance Guardian Heroes was...interesting. It's a sequel to a console game that's considered one of Treasure's best and they decided to make it on the GBA. Allllllrighty!
For what it's worth, once you get some stats lined up, the game clicks, but I feel like Treasure really stretched the game to its limits to be on the GBA, the small performance dips are fairly noticeable, but not a hindrance really. However, I also feel like once you get a groove going with the game its already over.
As a sequel the game doesn't do too much either (not that I really play Treasure's stuff for story really), but it feels kinda plain. Its not a bad premise, but comparing it to the predecessor, that game gave you alot of options for replayability, but Advance lacks that aside from like one choice you could make if you die. That's it.
Overall, this isn't a bad game, it looks great and it controls well enough, but I personally feel like if Treasure wanted to make a Guardian Heroes sequel, they should've saved it a bit further down the line. A sequel to Guardian Heroes on the PSP would've been fire.
For what it's worth, once you get some stats lined up, the game clicks, but I feel like Treasure really stretched the game to its limits to be on the GBA, the small performance dips are fairly noticeable, but not a hindrance really. However, I also feel like once you get a groove going with the game its already over.
As a sequel the game doesn't do too much either (not that I really play Treasure's stuff for story really), but it feels kinda plain. Its not a bad premise, but comparing it to the predecessor, that game gave you alot of options for replayability, but Advance lacks that aside from like one choice you could make if you die. That's it.
Overall, this isn't a bad game, it looks great and it controls well enough, but I personally feel like if Treasure wanted to make a Guardian Heroes sequel, they should've saved it a bit further down the line. A sequel to Guardian Heroes on the PSP would've been fire.
2004
At first I wasn't feeling Advance 3, the changes to the controls from Advance 2 was odd, and the duo character system was pretty cool, but in execution some teams are better than others. The game also bringing back a 3 Act structure was also kinda odd to experience. Not bad, just odd.
The level design was pretty solid, but I didn't feel very incentivized to explore either. Bosses were pretty neat and I liked the music and level themes. Overall its a fun game and i'd rank it inbetween Adv2 & Adv1
Just gonna say this general thought here, I think the Sonic Advance Trilogy is bar none the worst when it comes to collecting the chaos emeralds. It just gets progressively worse per entry and I really don't know why.
The level design was pretty solid, but I didn't feel very incentivized to explore either. Bosses were pretty neat and I liked the music and level themes. Overall its a fun game and i'd rank it inbetween Adv2 & Adv1
Just gonna say this general thought here, I think the Sonic Advance Trilogy is bar none the worst when it comes to collecting the chaos emeralds. It just gets progressively worse per entry and I really don't know why.
2002
Sonic Advance 2 is really damn fun, and definitely my favorite of the Advance Trilogy. I love the speed and level design weaving into the game's trick system, it got a natural flow that Sonic Advance 1 lacked. I wasn't too big on the bosses all being autoscrollers and the game still suffers with the beginner traps (hi Sky Canyon Zone). Overall though, its a fun time, I can see myself replay it from time to time.
Just...forget about getting the chaos emeralds.
Just...forget about getting the chaos emeralds.
2001
Sonic Advance 1 was a very average experience. I almost gave it the same rating I gave Sonic Superstars but after thinking about it, at least the bosses in this game didn't take an eternity.
Advance 1 isn't a bad game, but its definitely a "first game syndrome" type of deal, where there's alot of stuff that works, but there's small things here and there that hinder the experience to a notable degree. Bullshit spike placement and pits. Beginner traps but its still kinda lazy. Level design was pretty okay, it didn't feel very smooth in terms of navigation.
The screencrunch could definitely contribute to the issues too by the way.
At most, I do wanna check out the widescreen version of the game to see if my opinion will change, but that won't be for a while.
Advance 1 isn't a bad game, but its definitely a "first game syndrome" type of deal, where there's alot of stuff that works, but there's small things here and there that hinder the experience to a notable degree. Bullshit spike placement and pits. Beginner traps but its still kinda lazy. Level design was pretty okay, it didn't feel very smooth in terms of navigation.
The screencrunch could definitely contribute to the issues too by the way.
At most, I do wanna check out the widescreen version of the game to see if my opinion will change, but that won't be for a while.
Fairly decent Tiny Toons game that Treasure developed. The same engine built for this game was used for Astro Boy Omega Factor from what I've heard and could tell.
The game does kick your ass into next week if you try to approach it like any other beat em up, which makes me easily see why folks probs wouldn't enjoy it much. However, once you get into the groove with stringing a bunch of enemies into each other, chaining them into your specials, and using the other characters as MvC style assists, it all comes together to create something addicting.
It's a pretty short game, but with the difficulty in mind, you might take a bit. There's difficulty options and unlimited continues though so its still pretty doable. Music is solid and visuals are really damn nice.
The game does kick your ass into next week if you try to approach it like any other beat em up, which makes me easily see why folks probs wouldn't enjoy it much. However, once you get into the groove with stringing a bunch of enemies into each other, chaining them into your specials, and using the other characters as MvC style assists, it all comes together to create something addicting.
It's a pretty short game, but with the difficulty in mind, you might take a bit. There's difficulty options and unlimited continues though so its still pretty doable. Music is solid and visuals are really damn nice.
A pretty darn solid and cozy Klonoa title that goes more puzzle platformer route than Phantomile & Lunatea which is cool.
Music wasn't super memorable (it ain't bad) and the visuals were pretty solid. It's a short breeze if you're just looking to beat it, but man those hoverboard levels are a pain to go completionist route for, I gave up on the final one.
Music wasn't super memorable (it ain't bad) and the visuals were pretty solid. It's a short breeze if you're just looking to beat it, but man those hoverboard levels are a pain to go completionist route for, I gave up on the final one.
2017
If you're wondering how the fuck did I play Cuphead again while I'm vacationing in another country at the moment, I have my methods.
This shit is just dumb fun and I hate to say I had more fun with the Story Mode than I did Smash Ultimate's World of Light.
Played the Story Mode in 2 Player with a buddy and we had a blast at how funny and jank it all was. It's a short and goofy playthrough with a friend. I also liked how the Story worked in enemies and worlds across all these shows.
As an actual platform fighter it misses so much on what makes one good, the potential was there though. I hope some studio out there tries this again someday with all these Cartoon Network IP at the helm.
Played the Story Mode in 2 Player with a buddy and we had a blast at how funny and jank it all was. It's a short and goofy playthrough with a friend. I also liked how the Story worked in enemies and worlds across all these shows.
As an actual platform fighter it misses so much on what makes one good, the potential was there though. I hope some studio out there tries this again someday with all these Cartoon Network IP at the helm.
2010
Super Mario Galaxy 2, I remember the first trailers and when it released, it felt like a magical day when I finally got it in my hands as a kid. Replaying it today as an adult, it's still a great time that I generally like about the same as the original, but would slightly prefer it in some ways.
The game visually looks gorgeous, but it does lack that otherworldly presentation from the first game. I do prefer how levels were designed here, I wasn't a fan of a few of them, but I enjoyed a lot of them. They trimmed the fat that was a chunk of gimmicky motion control levels, and in it's place are more focused platforming challenges and missions that made fun use of the game's power-ups (the new ones that is, Boo, Bee, and Spring Mario were just kinda there)
Bosses were really fun and I'd arguably say that Galaxy 2 is where Mario bosses were at it's peak. I loved the variety they all brought, providing decent challenge and differing strategies on how to tackle them, alongside incorporating the power-ups & Yoshi in some encounters to spice things up. There was never a dull moment with the bosses and I wish future Mario games took notes from Galaxy 2.
Music is still peak, not much else to say.
The Green Stars, while I appreciate that they were tied to a much more rewarding prize for completing the game compared to Galaxy 1, the journey to get there was filled with tedium. A good portion of folks critique 64 & Sunshine for having a bootout system with Stars & Shine Sprites, and while the bootout system never bothered me, SMG2 is where it actually had me a bit annoyed. How did this game get a pass on it with the Green Stars?
Most of them take a couple of seconds to a minute to snag, some of them are pretty close to each other, and you have the wait time before and after entering/re-entering a level to collect more. Its time that adds up and feels like a slog. The level design hardly changes around for them either which just makes the bootout system more redundant than it already is for a post-game quest. Despite that though, I did enjoy Grandmaster Galaxy, definitely a 2nd hardest Mario level for me.
Overall, Galaxy 2 is a fun time. I still care about the Galaxy series alot, but they're a duology of Mario titles I don't see myself replaying as often as 64 & Sunshine. I like more speedy control.
The game visually looks gorgeous, but it does lack that otherworldly presentation from the first game. I do prefer how levels were designed here, I wasn't a fan of a few of them, but I enjoyed a lot of them. They trimmed the fat that was a chunk of gimmicky motion control levels, and in it's place are more focused platforming challenges and missions that made fun use of the game's power-ups (the new ones that is, Boo, Bee, and Spring Mario were just kinda there)
Bosses were really fun and I'd arguably say that Galaxy 2 is where Mario bosses were at it's peak. I loved the variety they all brought, providing decent challenge and differing strategies on how to tackle them, alongside incorporating the power-ups & Yoshi in some encounters to spice things up. There was never a dull moment with the bosses and I wish future Mario games took notes from Galaxy 2.
Music is still peak, not much else to say.
The Green Stars, while I appreciate that they were tied to a much more rewarding prize for completing the game compared to Galaxy 1, the journey to get there was filled with tedium. A good portion of folks critique 64 & Sunshine for having a bootout system with Stars & Shine Sprites, and while the bootout system never bothered me, SMG2 is where it actually had me a bit annoyed. How did this game get a pass on it with the Green Stars?
Most of them take a couple of seconds to a minute to snag, some of them are pretty close to each other, and you have the wait time before and after entering/re-entering a level to collect more. Its time that adds up and feels like a slog. The level design hardly changes around for them either which just makes the bootout system more redundant than it already is for a post-game quest. Despite that though, I did enjoy Grandmaster Galaxy, definitely a 2nd hardest Mario level for me.
Overall, Galaxy 2 is a fun time. I still care about the Galaxy series alot, but they're a duology of Mario titles I don't see myself replaying as often as 64 & Sunshine. I like more speedy control.
2023
This review contains spoilers
This'll be a long review, tl;dr is at the bottom.
Sonic Superstars is a game that has the foundation of what would've been a great game, but in execution it ends up being okay with a chunk of problems.
The controls are near perfect, despite my Sonic brain noticing the air control being a twinge off and badnik bouncing not really being there which is strange, Superstars controls well, super well. The emerald powers are neat in concept, but in execution, they're situational at best. I've mostly used them for the bosses and I'll get into why.
The lowest point of Superstars are the bosses. I don't know what they were thinking when designing them. They range from being too tedious to fight where their windows of vulnerability are stretched thin between background/cutscene tomfoolery making fights last minutes, or they have what looks to be normal vulnerability windows only to take a bit longer to actually hit them again and again. The only boss that doesn't seem to do that is Press Factory Act 2's boss. These problems are inflated when you do Trip's Story where they decided to give the bosses more health to make them "harder".
And lets get into Trip, I really enjoy how she played and she's an adorable character! While I really appreciate SEGA trying to add in modes that make Sonic harder, I don't appreciate laziness, and that's what Trip's Story basically amounts to. You go through all the Zones and all their acts (character exclusive ones too) but with more enemies and spikes placed in spots that are more inconvenient and not really challenging. Combine that with the bosses taking longer to kill because they have more health, they waste a ton of time with the best way to cut down on that is to either use the emerald powers, or super form. "So wait, do the emerald powers make the fights easier?" In a way, yes, but it also mitigates any challenge that you'd otherwise deal with, which the bosses do provide, but they lack the fairness in providing vulnerability windows to the player.
Trip's Final Boss is Fang and I've heard many say how unfair and bs it is. Despite the fight taking me two hours, I wasn't angry, I was moreso "alright, back to square one." Its a fight I enjoyed alongside the Press Factory Act 2's boss. I loved picking apart Fang's moves and counterattacking him. But the issues boil down to Fang's kit being cheap as hell. He has instant kill lasers as normal attacks on his first and second phase, and they're pretty avoidable when you anticipate them, but this also ropes into being artificially difficult. Instant Kill moves should be reserved as a final desperation attack, and not something a boss can just throw out willy nilly. The fight also becomes more of a slog if you die on the 2nd phase because there's no checkpoints in between, you start all the way back on phase 1 if you die. Fang takes 15-16 hits overall and that's just overkill dude. I can see why my friends and others lost their marbles on this boss because its so cheaply scaled. If they had a checkpoint in between and dialed back on instant kill moves, then Fang would be fine. I don't know what SEGA was thinking here. Despite reacting a bit more positively to the fight, I really wanted it to wrap up too, it had no business having that cheapness or length, its a Sonic game.
The true final boss is probably one of the weakest Super Sonic fights in the series. Its a fine fight, but its really stingy with rings, and the music, while good, is also unfit for the setting. This isn't even getting into the game having no hint or buildup to the final boss being this mythical dragon creature. You'll probably recognize it from that animation they put out awhile ago to promote the game! But nothing of the sort clues you in when you play it so you're just confused.
Visuals are subpar. I like the character and badnik models, but the environments are just...bland? They lack that sonic flair and I feel that most with Frozen Base & Press Factory (these Zone names aren't great either but that's a nitpick). As for the Zones themselves they're solid, I really liked the branching paths and the layouts are fun to breeze through for some levels, but for others things were just kinda...odd? Sky Temple having this arkanoid section was bizarre from an artistic standpoint because that could've better suited Cyber Station or Pinball Carnival visually and mechanically.
The elephant in the room is the music. There are standouts and highlights, but hoo boy Jun Senoue's work on the game stinks I'm sorry. I have respect for the guy, especially with his work on the series in the past, but his tracks in Superstars range from having bad instrumentation & good composition, or being too damn short of a loop landing into straight up bad. The mini boss, Eggman boss, and Fang boss themes are the most egregious examples of the latter, while Press Factory (both acts) are an example of the former. Jun can use actual guitars and instruments so it baffles me that he just didn't do any of that here. Why did he opt for faux-Genesis style music again? It clashes with the game's soundtrack and genuinely weighs the presentation down. One minute you're hearing the beauty of Speed Jungle, and the next Jun Senoue's boss theme kicks in and slams the breaks on your mood.
Battle Mode I didn't really care to touch especially after learning how grindy Coin Collecting is. You'd think after a playthrough of the main story and Trip's you'd have enough for a couple of robot parts...Nah. I legit only had enough for two, and hell you need to buy multiple paint cans to spray paint parts on the robot, its not just a one and done pick and choose part with the can you have. Co-op play I'm certain my opinion wouldn't really change either.
Overall, Sonic Superstars is an okay game that seems to understand what makes the 2D titles tick while also not really landing on its feet on other avenues. I never expected it to surpass Mania, but I at least wanted it to be "great" but its just "aight". It's a shame. Hopefully SEGA can update the game to tweak things or the modding community pops off to make Superstars realize it's greatness. If you wanna get the game, I recommend buying it whenever it knocks down in price to $15-$20. Anything higher than that is asking too much and I'd prefer you to buy Sonic Mania instead.
Sonic Superstars is a game that has the foundation of what would've been a great game, but in execution it ends up being okay with a chunk of problems.
The controls are near perfect, despite my Sonic brain noticing the air control being a twinge off and badnik bouncing not really being there which is strange, Superstars controls well, super well. The emerald powers are neat in concept, but in execution, they're situational at best. I've mostly used them for the bosses and I'll get into why.
The lowest point of Superstars are the bosses. I don't know what they were thinking when designing them. They range from being too tedious to fight where their windows of vulnerability are stretched thin between background/cutscene tomfoolery making fights last minutes, or they have what looks to be normal vulnerability windows only to take a bit longer to actually hit them again and again. The only boss that doesn't seem to do that is Press Factory Act 2's boss. These problems are inflated when you do Trip's Story where they decided to give the bosses more health to make them "harder".
And lets get into Trip, I really enjoy how she played and she's an adorable character! While I really appreciate SEGA trying to add in modes that make Sonic harder, I don't appreciate laziness, and that's what Trip's Story basically amounts to. You go through all the Zones and all their acts (character exclusive ones too) but with more enemies and spikes placed in spots that are more inconvenient and not really challenging. Combine that with the bosses taking longer to kill because they have more health, they waste a ton of time with the best way to cut down on that is to either use the emerald powers, or super form. "So wait, do the emerald powers make the fights easier?" In a way, yes, but it also mitigates any challenge that you'd otherwise deal with, which the bosses do provide, but they lack the fairness in providing vulnerability windows to the player.
Trip's Final Boss is Fang and I've heard many say how unfair and bs it is. Despite the fight taking me two hours, I wasn't angry, I was moreso "alright, back to square one." Its a fight I enjoyed alongside the Press Factory Act 2's boss. I loved picking apart Fang's moves and counterattacking him. But the issues boil down to Fang's kit being cheap as hell. He has instant kill lasers as normal attacks on his first and second phase, and they're pretty avoidable when you anticipate them, but this also ropes into being artificially difficult. Instant Kill moves should be reserved as a final desperation attack, and not something a boss can just throw out willy nilly. The fight also becomes more of a slog if you die on the 2nd phase because there's no checkpoints in between, you start all the way back on phase 1 if you die. Fang takes 15-16 hits overall and that's just overkill dude. I can see why my friends and others lost their marbles on this boss because its so cheaply scaled. If they had a checkpoint in between and dialed back on instant kill moves, then Fang would be fine. I don't know what SEGA was thinking here. Despite reacting a bit more positively to the fight, I really wanted it to wrap up too, it had no business having that cheapness or length, its a Sonic game.
The true final boss is probably one of the weakest Super Sonic fights in the series. Its a fine fight, but its really stingy with rings, and the music, while good, is also unfit for the setting. This isn't even getting into the game having no hint or buildup to the final boss being this mythical dragon creature. You'll probably recognize it from that animation they put out awhile ago to promote the game! But nothing of the sort clues you in when you play it so you're just confused.
Visuals are subpar. I like the character and badnik models, but the environments are just...bland? They lack that sonic flair and I feel that most with Frozen Base & Press Factory (these Zone names aren't great either but that's a nitpick). As for the Zones themselves they're solid, I really liked the branching paths and the layouts are fun to breeze through for some levels, but for others things were just kinda...odd? Sky Temple having this arkanoid section was bizarre from an artistic standpoint because that could've better suited Cyber Station or Pinball Carnival visually and mechanically.
The elephant in the room is the music. There are standouts and highlights, but hoo boy Jun Senoue's work on the game stinks I'm sorry. I have respect for the guy, especially with his work on the series in the past, but his tracks in Superstars range from having bad instrumentation & good composition, or being too damn short of a loop landing into straight up bad. The mini boss, Eggman boss, and Fang boss themes are the most egregious examples of the latter, while Press Factory (both acts) are an example of the former. Jun can use actual guitars and instruments so it baffles me that he just didn't do any of that here. Why did he opt for faux-Genesis style music again? It clashes with the game's soundtrack and genuinely weighs the presentation down. One minute you're hearing the beauty of Speed Jungle, and the next Jun Senoue's boss theme kicks in and slams the breaks on your mood.
Battle Mode I didn't really care to touch especially after learning how grindy Coin Collecting is. You'd think after a playthrough of the main story and Trip's you'd have enough for a couple of robot parts...Nah. I legit only had enough for two, and hell you need to buy multiple paint cans to spray paint parts on the robot, its not just a one and done pick and choose part with the can you have. Co-op play I'm certain my opinion wouldn't really change either.
Overall, Sonic Superstars is an okay game that seems to understand what makes the 2D titles tick while also not really landing on its feet on other avenues. I never expected it to surpass Mania, but I at least wanted it to be "great" but its just "aight". It's a shame. Hopefully SEGA can update the game to tweak things or the modding community pops off to make Superstars realize it's greatness. If you wanna get the game, I recommend buying it whenever it knocks down in price to $15-$20. Anything higher than that is asking too much and I'd prefer you to buy Sonic Mania instead.
1993
Pretty fun puzzle exploration and co-op game! Though the backtracking was a smidge beefy in the final level. Overall a really chill time especially with a friend, music and visuals are great too!
2018
Yep, still peak.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is an amazing game and one of the best 2D Mario games we've ever gotten that finally mechanically & artistically advanced the series far beyond what the New Super series offered in the last decade post NSMBDS. It made me remember why I still hold the franchise very dear to my heart aside from replaying the old titles I grew up on.
The levels were fun to play through, constantly making you guess what would be next especially with the Wonder Flower being thrown in to shake things up. I also love the less is more approach with the Wonder Seeds, how you can either go for the secondary seed in each level via the Wonder Flower challenge, or go to a challenge room or two outside of levels and get rewarded with a seed that way. You actually feel rewarded and encouraged to give it your all and get everything, something that alot of 2D Marios (Classics & NSMB) never made me feel.The badge system is versatile as hell and I really like how it cracks open how you approach the game too. Controls are tight and responsive as hell too, especially with running, you no longer have that startup delay like you do in NSMB. Pure satisfaction and bliss.
The new powerups (Elephant, Bubble, Drill) are great too, even though Drill was my least used, all of the powerups felt very useful for level traversal and enemy encounters. They didn't feel situational and they all shined (alongside the Fire Flower) as great tools that all sparkle in their own ways (likely due to the game maintaining a small pool of items which I greatly appreciate). Such an enjoyable set of powerups that I personally think blow the ones from the NSMB series out of the water (Penguin Suit was cool though).
Artistically this game is beautiful, the animations are fluid and expressive, and I love the designs for the new enemies, tweaks to old ones to have them resemble their 2D art, and the characters all being so bouncy and lively in all that they do. I also love how the game took Mario's typical world tropes and ran with it on a visual level, something I wish NSMBU did. The music, while not a whole lot of it stuck with me like an earworm, was really damn good, and it feels so refreshing to hear new stuff instead of the same arrangements from NSMB the 800th time.
Bosses were a bit of a missed opportunity which is a bit of a shame cause the final boss was REALLY cool. Granted, the Mario series was never really one to have jaw dropping amazing boss fights, I feel like the best the series has provided on the platformer end are Yoshi's Island, New Super Mario Bros. DS, (and if we're counting 3D stuff), Galaxy 1 & 2. I really wish they went a Yoshi's Island approach with bosses cause I mean look at this game!! There's so much cool stuff here, how could they not have went for that?? But I digress. The boss fights we do have here are a step up from fighting the Koopalings the 5th time in a row, so I appreciate them at least doing something more to spice stuff up.
Overall, I loved this game and I'd absolutely rank it in my Top 5 Mario games most likely. I really enjoyed what Nintendo did here to breathe new life into 2D Mario and I cannot wait to see where they take it next!
The levels were fun to play through, constantly making you guess what would be next especially with the Wonder Flower being thrown in to shake things up. I also love the less is more approach with the Wonder Seeds, how you can either go for the secondary seed in each level via the Wonder Flower challenge, or go to a challenge room or two outside of levels and get rewarded with a seed that way. You actually feel rewarded and encouraged to give it your all and get everything, something that alot of 2D Marios (Classics & NSMB) never made me feel.The badge system is versatile as hell and I really like how it cracks open how you approach the game too. Controls are tight and responsive as hell too, especially with running, you no longer have that startup delay like you do in NSMB. Pure satisfaction and bliss.
The new powerups (Elephant, Bubble, Drill) are great too, even though Drill was my least used, all of the powerups felt very useful for level traversal and enemy encounters. They didn't feel situational and they all shined (alongside the Fire Flower) as great tools that all sparkle in their own ways (likely due to the game maintaining a small pool of items which I greatly appreciate). Such an enjoyable set of powerups that I personally think blow the ones from the NSMB series out of the water (Penguin Suit was cool though).
Artistically this game is beautiful, the animations are fluid and expressive, and I love the designs for the new enemies, tweaks to old ones to have them resemble their 2D art, and the characters all being so bouncy and lively in all that they do. I also love how the game took Mario's typical world tropes and ran with it on a visual level, something I wish NSMBU did. The music, while not a whole lot of it stuck with me like an earworm, was really damn good, and it feels so refreshing to hear new stuff instead of the same arrangements from NSMB the 800th time.
Bosses were a bit of a missed opportunity which is a bit of a shame cause the final boss was REALLY cool. Granted, the Mario series was never really one to have jaw dropping amazing boss fights, I feel like the best the series has provided on the platformer end are Yoshi's Island, New Super Mario Bros. DS, (and if we're counting 3D stuff), Galaxy 1 & 2. I really wish they went a Yoshi's Island approach with bosses cause I mean look at this game!! There's so much cool stuff here, how could they not have went for that?? But I digress. The boss fights we do have here are a step up from fighting the Koopalings the 5th time in a row, so I appreciate them at least doing something more to spice stuff up.
Overall, I loved this game and I'd absolutely rank it in my Top 5 Mario games most likely. I really enjoyed what Nintendo did here to breathe new life into 2D Mario and I cannot wait to see where they take it next!
2023
I got an ad for this game today twice on youtube and I decided to just find a download of it because holy shit lmfao. It was random as hell.
You can beat it in under 6 minutes its dumb and funny.
You can beat it in under 6 minutes its dumb and funny.