The Mario game that dared to ask, "What if we had two desert worlds?"
In all honesty though, I really loved this one. First the presentation is excellent, with really clean and expressive spritework. The environments are all very simple, but there are a lot of little odd details that fill it with life. The whales are my new favorite Mario characters. The sound is fine; the music is iconic (I love the character select theme) but the sound effects are a bit grating, especially when climbing. Tying together the look and feel is the near-complete lack of a HUD. I adore games with minimal UI, it really makes the world that much more immersive and in this instance it emphasizes that dreamlike feel.
On the flip side are the mechanics, and I must say that no matter how you personally feel about the plucking mechanics, the game does a beautiful job integrating them into the world. You can pull vegetables out of the ground to use as ammo, and you can also pick up enemies to throw them at each other. Over time, the game will iterate on this in fascinating ways. At first, you'll only be avoiding enemies and tossing vegetable to get them out of the way. The levels will often line enemies up in such a way that you can take out several in one chain shot if you aim precisely. Eventually, however, the game takes advantage of your ability to stand on top of enemies to create tougher platforming. The first boss you face, Birdo, tests your skills by forcing you to jump on top of her own projectiles and chuck them back at her. She appears numerous times throughout, in different variations and arenas. Later, I was jumpscared by her appearance near the beginning of a level, only to realize with a start that I was meant to hitch a ride on one of her eggs to the other side of a large gap. In World 1, you time your jumps to avoid the leaping Trouters. In World 5, you time your jumps to land on top of the leaping Trouters. These moments of discovery and realization were an absolute delight. Almost every challenge is built on the core mechanic, and as such the game creates a cohesive, satisfying world.
Finally, the last element that cemented this as a classic to me were the secrets. There's a lot more to discover than I was expecting, starting with the subworld. You can pluck potions out of the ground which will spawn a door when thrown. Entering leads to a subworld which creates a dark mirror image of the current screen centered on the door. Any pluckable objects in the mirror world become coins that give chances for more lives, and hidden at certain points in the level are mushrooms that give you more HP. The game begins playing with this concept almost immediately, hiding mushrooms in difficult or secret locations forcing you to choose carefully where to place the door. I know there's a mushroom here, but I could get a big patch of coins over there. Do I need to survive now or can I take a chance at more lives? Discovering where the mushrooms were was quite enjoyable, but there's even more to the subworld than meets the eye. The first time I discovered a secret warp, my jaw dropped. Outside of the subworld, there are some levels where a little exploration will allow you to skip ahead, as early as the first level.
Though I did visit every level, I am absolutely certain that there is plenty I didn't see in this world, and I am sure that I will be revisiting it many times.
In all honesty though, I really loved this one. First the presentation is excellent, with really clean and expressive spritework. The environments are all very simple, but there are a lot of little odd details that fill it with life. The whales are my new favorite Mario characters. The sound is fine; the music is iconic (I love the character select theme) but the sound effects are a bit grating, especially when climbing. Tying together the look and feel is the near-complete lack of a HUD. I adore games with minimal UI, it really makes the world that much more immersive and in this instance it emphasizes that dreamlike feel.
On the flip side are the mechanics, and I must say that no matter how you personally feel about the plucking mechanics, the game does a beautiful job integrating them into the world. You can pull vegetables out of the ground to use as ammo, and you can also pick up enemies to throw them at each other. Over time, the game will iterate on this in fascinating ways. At first, you'll only be avoiding enemies and tossing vegetable to get them out of the way. The levels will often line enemies up in such a way that you can take out several in one chain shot if you aim precisely. Eventually, however, the game takes advantage of your ability to stand on top of enemies to create tougher platforming. The first boss you face, Birdo, tests your skills by forcing you to jump on top of her own projectiles and chuck them back at her. She appears numerous times throughout, in different variations and arenas. Later, I was jumpscared by her appearance near the beginning of a level, only to realize with a start that I was meant to hitch a ride on one of her eggs to the other side of a large gap. In World 1, you time your jumps to avoid the leaping Trouters. In World 5, you time your jumps to land on top of the leaping Trouters. These moments of discovery and realization were an absolute delight. Almost every challenge is built on the core mechanic, and as such the game creates a cohesive, satisfying world.
Finally, the last element that cemented this as a classic to me were the secrets. There's a lot more to discover than I was expecting, starting with the subworld. You can pluck potions out of the ground which will spawn a door when thrown. Entering leads to a subworld which creates a dark mirror image of the current screen centered on the door. Any pluckable objects in the mirror world become coins that give chances for more lives, and hidden at certain points in the level are mushrooms that give you more HP. The game begins playing with this concept almost immediately, hiding mushrooms in difficult or secret locations forcing you to choose carefully where to place the door. I know there's a mushroom here, but I could get a big patch of coins over there. Do I need to survive now or can I take a chance at more lives? Discovering where the mushrooms were was quite enjoyable, but there's even more to the subworld than meets the eye. The first time I discovered a secret warp, my jaw dropped. Outside of the subworld, there are some levels where a little exploration will allow you to skip ahead, as early as the first level.
Though I did visit every level, I am absolutely certain that there is plenty I didn't see in this world, and I am sure that I will be revisiting it many times.