I am biased to this title only because I played it with my best friend, so it holds a special place internally for me that I am very fond of. Critically, I believe its highs in its story lines and aesthetic are something unrivaled for indie titles. Its art direction is beautiful with its drawn backgrounds and pencil like scribble textures. Its character design can only be described as kawaii meets emo, which combined, makes for a great visual theme. Mix that with its lofi soundtrack and dreamcore sound design, and it leads to a great experience your first playthrough in. I will say, in contrast to its highs, its lows are abysmally low. Its battles get repititive, and its narrative, while great at its core, gets frustrating. It purposefully holds back the entire way through, as if its teasing you with its storyline at every narrative for the sake of padding and symbolic storytelling. It is show, not tell, at the max output. Ultimately, its a good game with a good message at its core, but I cannot rate it higher than this.

Honestly, it is a shame this game ended up the way it did. It has so much potential to be one of the best 2D Mario platformers ever made, and in some ways it is. However, it ultimately flops in so many aspects. No collision in co-op takes away all of the fun from stealing your friends moves, jumping on your friends to access new areas, throwing each-other for the sake of griefing, and so forth. The wonder flower was a great idea that was held back by repetitiveness by its endgame with its quirkiness and the boss battles were god awful. Some of the worst I have seen in a AAA title in a long time. Extremely easy, boring and lacked creativity. The animations itself are gorgeous and I hope this game acts as a stepping stool for upcoming mario titles. I look forward to the future.