This game holds a special place in my heart because it was the first game that I ever bought with my own money. However, I would always try to start it up around Halloween time and just never manage to beat it, which caused an endless loop (still think that it’s stupid they released ON HALLOWEEN DAY). These past couple of days I finally decided to buckle down and beat the game and I’m glad I did. Great level design from start to finish with each hotel floor bringing its own level of uniqueness to the table. While there may be some duds in there, they still managed to crack a smile out of me with its physical humor. Furthermore, this is some of the best the Mario cast has ever looked, with each of them feeling so expressive. The bosses all around were pretty solid, albeit a lot of them could be stacked up to “wait until this thing happens so you can do this.” Even with those minor complaints I enjoyed exploring each floor, and the new mechanics were all nice and welcomed ones. I think Gooigi added nice variety to the gameplay and the final sequence left me satisfied. I know some people don’t like the “brightness” of the game but I think they did a good job of having a decent balance. Overall, I enjoyed my time with this game quite a bit and I’m glad to have it out of my backlog!