Review: A Mario 2D Platformer and it's WONDERFUL

Mario, Luigi and friends return to 2D platformer glory in this “wonderful” release. The game features typical power-ups from the familiar super mushroom and the fire flower, to powerups that allow Mario and friends to become an elephant, have a drill ability and even blow bubbles. In addition to the traditional powerups, players also can collect badges in the game that modify their characters abilities, from gliding using the cap, to jumping higher and more, however these modifications must be selected prior to entering the level and stay with the player during the entirety of the level.

The layout of the game is familiar to those that have played other 2D Mario games, especially New Super Mario Bros. Taking place in the Flower Kingdom, a close neighbour to the Mushroom Kingdom, players have to navigate several unique areas featuring unique biomes to collect Wonder Seeds in each level. These Wonder Seeds unlock passages forward in the area and allow the player ultimately challenge the area’s castle dungeon, which upon successful completion, will grant the player a Royal Seed that is utilized to remove one of Bower’s defenses, which eventually allows the player to challenge Bowser in the final castle. Some levels within the areas are challenge levels for speed runs, jumping rhythm, or to earn more badges. Others are quick minigames that allow for a fun break in between the main levels.

It performs well, even on the Switch’s aging hardware. Nintendo’s incompetence in the online gaming space, however, does hinder it quite a bit, resulting in a significant amount of potential that has been left on the table. Additionally, each Switch account only gets a single save file in the game, which seems off in this day and age.

 Full of secret areas, fun characters, top quality level design and an amazing interactive music system, the game is one of the best 2D platformers in recent memory and personally my favourite one since Super Mario World landed on the SNES back in 1991.

 

Pros:

Fun 2D platformer

Great music

Fun, challenging levels

 

Cons:

Poor online functionality

Archaic save file system

Review Platform: Nintendo Switch OLED in Handheld and Docked modes.