Game #72 of my challenge
Ok, I know this is Doki Doki Panic. However, I considered it as his own game since there some differences between the two of them, so that's why I put it there in my list. This 4th Mario game on my list is underrated in my opinion. I will try to do the best I can to explain why I like it so much.
The plot is pretty simple as always for Mario game (especially for a NES game) : Mario dream of a world named Subcon and a voice in his dream ask him to beat the villainous frog Wart. Mario wakes up and goes tell his friends about his dream and they all had the same. It must be destiny then. They then go on an adventure to defeat Wart.
The visuals are super clean. This game is so charming. All characters designs that are used to this day are mostly created in this. The enemies as well are super cute and are all visually different from the previous games. Most all those enemies will become staples in the Mario franchise as well. My favorite minion made his first appearance in this game: The Shy Guys. Each world are really unique from one another as well. it makes the world really whimsical. The music is so catchy in this game. It even was my ring tone for a while. There's not one song that I dislike in this game.
The gameplay is similar to every Mario games. Jump around, reach the end of the level and after a couple of levels, there's a boss. Once beaten, you go to the next world. However, they added a few twist in it. First of all, you can pull stuff (like potion, veggies, coins, etc.) from the ground and throw it afterwards. Throwing them at enemies will kill them. Also, you cannot simply jump on an enemy head to eliminate them. However, you can still jump on most of them and pull them like a vegetable in the game. Once you got them, you can throw at an other enemy to eliminate them both. Another thing that they added is at the end of most level, you have a mini-boss named Birdo that you need to defeat. Once defeated, you can go to the next level. Levels can be different compared to the other Mario games: Instead of only going from left to right, you can also go up or down. This brings a whole dynamic to the level design. You can also go into doors and vases (they replaces pipes) to go in another section of the level.
The controls are typical for a Mario platformer. The nice thing that they added to this game is that all characters controls really differently. Mario is the most standard character, Luigi is really floaty when jumping and he jumps the highest, Peach (sorry, I meant Princess Toadstool) can hold the jump button can float for a short period of time. Toad is the smallest, doesn't jump really high, but when grabbing something, he runs extremely fast. My favorite character to control is by far Luigi. All character has also a higher jump if they hold down a couple of seconds.
For a Mario game, this is one of the banger. All bosses are unique in this game (even if some of them you see them twice), each world brings a new gameplay mechanic and the controls are butter smooth. I know the ending suck because ''it was all a dream'', but I mean, who plays a Mario platformer game for the story (especially on the NES). You should try it this game at least once and it can be really quick to beat since there's some portals to skip worlds.
Ok, I know this is Doki Doki Panic. However, I considered it as his own game since there some differences between the two of them, so that's why I put it there in my list. This 4th Mario game on my list is underrated in my opinion. I will try to do the best I can to explain why I like it so much.
The plot is pretty simple as always for Mario game (especially for a NES game) : Mario dream of a world named Subcon and a voice in his dream ask him to beat the villainous frog Wart. Mario wakes up and goes tell his friends about his dream and they all had the same. It must be destiny then. They then go on an adventure to defeat Wart.
The visuals are super clean. This game is so charming. All characters designs that are used to this day are mostly created in this. The enemies as well are super cute and are all visually different from the previous games. Most all those enemies will become staples in the Mario franchise as well. My favorite minion made his first appearance in this game: The Shy Guys. Each world are really unique from one another as well. it makes the world really whimsical. The music is so catchy in this game. It even was my ring tone for a while. There's not one song that I dislike in this game.
The gameplay is similar to every Mario games. Jump around, reach the end of the level and after a couple of levels, there's a boss. Once beaten, you go to the next world. However, they added a few twist in it. First of all, you can pull stuff (like potion, veggies, coins, etc.) from the ground and throw it afterwards. Throwing them at enemies will kill them. Also, you cannot simply jump on an enemy head to eliminate them. However, you can still jump on most of them and pull them like a vegetable in the game. Once you got them, you can throw at an other enemy to eliminate them both. Another thing that they added is at the end of most level, you have a mini-boss named Birdo that you need to defeat. Once defeated, you can go to the next level. Levels can be different compared to the other Mario games: Instead of only going from left to right, you can also go up or down. This brings a whole dynamic to the level design. You can also go into doors and vases (they replaces pipes) to go in another section of the level.
The controls are typical for a Mario platformer. The nice thing that they added to this game is that all characters controls really differently. Mario is the most standard character, Luigi is really floaty when jumping and he jumps the highest, Peach (sorry, I meant Princess Toadstool) can hold the jump button can float for a short period of time. Toad is the smallest, doesn't jump really high, but when grabbing something, he runs extremely fast. My favorite character to control is by far Luigi. All character has also a higher jump if they hold down a couple of seconds.
For a Mario game, this is one of the banger. All bosses are unique in this game (even if some of them you see them twice), each world brings a new gameplay mechanic and the controls are butter smooth. I know the ending suck because ''it was all a dream'', but I mean, who plays a Mario platformer game for the story (especially on the NES). You should try it this game at least once and it can be really quick to beat since there's some portals to skip worlds.