[Played via the very recent NES port which can be found for sale on itch.io]

I'm going to be honest, I usually frown upon homebrews. Once the novelty of playing a new game on an old console wears off, I've always felt like I was left with a half baked product. At least, that's been my experience with the homebrew scene so far.

This, however, was rock solid. Sam's Journey is a bit Yoshi's Island (due to the collect-a-thon element), a bit Donkey Kong Country and a bit Super Mario Bros. 3. You have the large, sprawling levels that europlatformers were typically known for (thankfully not as confusing as something from the original Turrican) and a good number of suits to mess around with. Sam will find himself turning into a pirate, a wall jumping ninja, a vampire that can turn into a bat and even an Elvis knock off that can twirl around in the air.

Knights of Bytes certainly didn't skimp out on the presentation for their first project, either. This game looks just as good as an actual late release NES game, although it does get a little too busy visually. There were definitely times I struggled to distinguish the foreground from the background, but it was never game breaking. Also, the music is absolutely fantastic. It goes way harder than it needed to for a game about a kid getting yoinked into a magic warphole in his closet.

Give this one a go if you don't mind the fact that it's not on the traditional storefronts. I really hope this will come to Steam as well as Switch- it would definitely have an audience on the latter!

I think the concept behind this game is sound and, in some ways, better than Pac Man 99.

That being said...I can't really recommend the game as it stands.

I played several hours in early access and some once the game was officially out on May 8, and almost every game was completely filled with bots. Let me tell you, these bots are even more brainless than your average Reddit moderator. They'll constantly run into ghosts and any kind of trap you set up for them, guaranteed. Normally I'd be okay with bots since the game is new and the cross play functionality may or may not take off, but they offer zero challenge. I'm almost certain even a five year old could put up more of a fight.

The game is fun when there's at least a few other human players involved, but it doesn't seem to be guaranteed at this time. This could have been alleviated if there was some sort of offline/bots only mode with a difficulty scaler, or (heaven forbid with a modern game) local co-op...but Bamco has omitted both.

The final nail in the coffin for most will undoubtedly be the price. 20 dollars is a lot to ask for what is essentially an online only game that may or may not develop the kind of player base Pac Man 99 had. If I wasn't a huge fan of the IP, I likely would've passed and honestly can't blame anyone else for doing so at the moment.

Far better than Final Fight in every department except the graphics. In many ways, this kinda feels like a Master System or NES game with a suped-up appearance thanks to the extra bits. It still has some hang ups from that era too, including super cheap bosses that will knock half or even three quarters of your life bar off and the only (reasonable) way to beat certain enemies is to exploit their AI and incessantly loop them into throws or stun locks. The sequels are all far better on all cylinders in regards to balancing, but this is still worth playing as a history lesson and to see where the franchise started.

It's honestly just okay in my opinion. It seems like people either love or absolutely hate this game, but I can't help but find myself gravitating somewhere in between. One hand, the concept of "SMB1, but harder" isn't necessarily a bad thing to me considering I've beaten the original too many times to count (including several times under the influence of our world's magic mushrooms...heh) and I can appreciate that concept. That being said...the hammer brothers spam, the dumb wind gimmick and springs that launch you at inconsistent heights and speeds are really god damned annoying and keep me from coming back to this game as much.

Although unofficial, I think there are a handful of hacks out there nowadays that do the whole "Mario...but for super players!" thing far better. SMB Special: 35th Anniversary comes to mind as far as the original game goes. Bandicoot's Super Mario World hacks (especially Crown Tale which I loved cringe story aside) also fit this bill nicely. None of those games get as hard as this one, but offer a comfortable step up in challenge IMO.