What a weird and wonderful game. Though it looks like a Mario game, it doesn’t play like one. Instead of stamping on enemies’ heads, you now throw them at each other, and you can now play as four characters with varying jump physics, rather than just being restricted to Mario. After playing so many Mario games, this mix up to the formula was a breath of fresh air. Though it’s a shame these elements were executed with varying levels of success. There are some weird design decisions like having only three lives, leading to a lot of retries and having to repeatedly fight the same dumb bird(o) at the end of each level. However, this game did also establish some series staples with various world themes and some really creative enemy designs. Paired with some great level design, though slightly restrained by having to accommodate for the four different characters, makes for some great platforming. I had a lot of fun as well as frustration with this one, but regardless I appreciate the experiment.