So, why would I choose to play this game first over Super Mario World or Super Mario Bros 3?

I don't know, it just looked interesting and, basically no one ever talks about it, and, well.

I had a pretty fun time with it! It's a pretty enjoyable little game.

Peach controls really great, the variety of moves she has and the ones you unlock make her feel really capable and fun to control.

The levels are, very serviceable, if a bit forgettable, though in all honesty, 2D mario games don't really have very memorable levels in general, I mean, who can remember 3-2 from SMB 1 or, 5-3 from New Super Mario Bros U? It's basically the same case here.

The artstyle is, super cute! It feels like what an original Mario game would've looked like on the GBA and, I say that very much as a compliment, the animations on Perry the umbrella are also so expressive and adorable, I love how the game looks!

And the bosses are pretty fun actually, I enjoyed the bosses.

My main issue with the game is how overly-easy it is, it's closer to Kirby than Mario in difficult, finding all the collectibles doesn't make it any more difficult either so, yeah, I'd recommend you play this game on the side while tackling another, more difficult game, so you can come back to this one when you feel frustrated with the other game.

Overall, really fun and serviceable platformer, I really liked it!

Reviewed on Apr 18, 2024


1 Comment


2 months ago

Despite having always played this game as a kid, I never wasn't really clicked to be enticed to beat it. I guess I was just in love with the first world and never really wanted to progress through it.

Sometimes though, I see this game as a Super Mario Bros 5 for some reason. I swear, there's a bunch of Super Mario Bros 2, 3, world, and even Yoshi's Island references, everywhere. Also unrelated, but some sprites featured within this game are popular due to the flash animations that were great of the time.