As I go through my Switch catalog, I'm astounded by how quickly I devoured these first party games compared to the impression they left on me. 80+ hours in a little over two months to find 999 power moons. What a wonderful game.
Though I'll always have a soft spot for the Galaxy games, this one's no doubt the best 3D Mario as of yet. Kills me that they didn't add anything else to it besides Luigi's Balloon World, but hey. Stunning vistas with a built in camera mode, really took advantage of all the Switch's systems like HD rumble for those few moons, and a perfect level curve, especially with Dark and Darker side - those last few scarecrow Darker side ones were a blast. And the final challenge definitely fits the exquisite lineage of final 3D Mario levels.
Of course, there were some duds - all the Toadette moon (sorry, star) challenges really inflated the count, and some of the most obtuse moons were downright annoying (Thanks ProZD). Had to look up a few here and there, like that racecar one in New Donk, and it did get a bit formulaic in the side challenges in each kingdom - one main moon, one hidden moon.
Still, what a blast. The New Donk City sequence perfectly paced to give you a big semblance of a win in the middle of the story, and then the final escape sequence on the moon. Pure fun!
Though I'll always have a soft spot for the Galaxy games, this one's no doubt the best 3D Mario as of yet. Kills me that they didn't add anything else to it besides Luigi's Balloon World, but hey. Stunning vistas with a built in camera mode, really took advantage of all the Switch's systems like HD rumble for those few moons, and a perfect level curve, especially with Dark and Darker side - those last few scarecrow Darker side ones were a blast. And the final challenge definitely fits the exquisite lineage of final 3D Mario levels.
Of course, there were some duds - all the Toadette moon (sorry, star) challenges really inflated the count, and some of the most obtuse moons were downright annoying (Thanks ProZD). Had to look up a few here and there, like that racecar one in New Donk, and it did get a bit formulaic in the side challenges in each kingdom - one main moon, one hidden moon.
Still, what a blast. The New Donk City sequence perfectly paced to give you a big semblance of a win in the middle of the story, and then the final escape sequence on the moon. Pure fun!