The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
The opening video begins. It's a dark scene, rain falling and thunder crashing. The camera pans out and we see Bowser's castle. Inside, Mario and Luigi are sneaking quietly through the dim lit corridors. Mario looks around a large door, in the room we see Bowser sitting in his throne with Princess Peach to his side, tied to her chair, and Bowser's kids playing on the floor. Bowser announces his plans to run off to another Kingdom with his new bride. He is about to continue further but Mario and Luigi burst in shooting fireballs in a flurry. Mario unties Peach and begins to run out of the castle, as does Luigi. They reach the drawbridge but then a boulder falls from the roof, knocking them all out. We see Ludwig Von Koopa laughing whilst standing next to a lever.
The two brothers awake in a cell beneath Bowser's castle. This is where you begin to play in this training ground level. The first piece is simple; crawling. There's a hole in the wall, which they must crawl under. At this point they move together, like Sonic and Tails in Sonic 2. They arrive in the castle kitchen. Here you learn the basic jumping techniques, which help you reach a high up window that you can exit the castle from.
Outside is Toad. He asks why Mario and Luigi have taken so long and where the Princess is. Mario replies that they got stuck in a cell and they heard that Bowser was planning on taking the Princess to a different Kingdom. Bowser's ship can be seen blasting off into the air. Toad suggests that Mario comes with him and that Luigi stays at the castle and looks for clues.
The action cuts to a sunny area of the Mushroom Kingdom and Mario and Toad step off a plane. Many other Toads appear out of the various buildings including Toadsworth. He welcomes Mario and says that he thinks he knows where Bowser went to, the [enter interesting name] Kingdom. However, to get there, Mario and Luigi will have to take a special, golden warp pipe. Oooo, ahhhh.
The pipe is blocked though with a special seal, a seal that can only be broken if it is in the presence of 70 stars. Mario slaps his forehead and says, "Oh-a-no! Not again-a. Why is it always-a 70, hey?" Toadsworth presents Mario with his first star; a funky jingle is played, Mario holds it up to the screen, and says, "Whoo-hoo!"
You are then given full control of Mario. You can run, jump, skip, and crawl around but the fireballs are not at your disposal just yet. Mario is in the base area, the equivalent of Peach's castle and Isle Delfino. It is home of the Toadstools. Levels are indicated by giant toadstools that Mario must jump on top of. At first he can only enter one level, either because he can't reach the other toadstools or because they haven't grown yet.
The first level is your traditional grassy level. There are 8 stars available and another for 100 gold coins and they can be gained in order like Mario 64. I can’t be bothered to list how each star is gained but one two of them can’t be gained just yet because Luigi is needed.
The second level is an industrial level, full of machinery. The same sort set of stars continues in this level and all others. In each level there are two stars that Luigi is needed for. Mario is unable to enter the third level until he has ten stars, at which point the scene cuts back to Luigi.
He looks scared and slowly creeps into a large room. One of the Koopa children appears! OMG. Luigi must fight him, defeat him, and earn himself a star in the process. This repeats each time Mario gets 10 stars because there are 6 Koopa kids (I think/hope) and then at 70 they can fight Bowser.
The other levels back on the Toadstool Island are a sandy level, a snow filled level, an underground cave, a level that is totally 2D to give you some retro action, a lava level, a water based level, a prehistoric level, a DK level*, a futuristic level, a prehistoric level, and finally a magical rainbow themed level. What do you mean they’re clichéd? STFU!
*The DK level does not mean you play as DK, but against him instead. E.g. you must race him in a go-kart, beat him at tennis, get to the top of some girders as he throws barrels at you, etc. In other words, it’s a chance for Nintendo to use all of their Mario spin-offs.
The levels open up in the order they are listed. In the lava level, Mario re-gains his fireball skills, and in the prehistoric level you meet Yoshi. Unlike Sunshine, you don’t need to bring the git any fruit and he stays green throughout the game. I addition to those levels, there is a ghost house which has just 5 stars but is highly puzzle based rather than jumping around. There are only a couple of red coin hunts in the whole game rather than having them in every level and there’s no equivalent to the chasing shadow Mario, it’s just good old platforming action throughout. Luigi will be able to return to Mario after 35 stars have been collected but will return to the castle for fights when required and then another two stars will be needed to be collected by Mario each time before he can return. Also, in the rainbow-y level, Mario will be able to use the cape in certain sections.
Once the 70 star target has been reached, Mario and Luigi will take the pipe down to meet Bowser. They arrive to see Bowser with his claw above a large button. Peach shouts out upon seeing them, Bowser looks around in anger shoots a huge fireball at them. They fall to the ground and Bowser laughs. You must then battle Bowser. I haven’t decided how exactly but it will be better than swinging him about and throwing him into bombs. Anyway, he gets knocked out and falls onto the big button. Peach informs the brothers that it’s a trigger to set off a bomb destroying the Mushroom Kingdom. Luigi puts his hands to his face like the kid in Home Alone.
They go back down the pipe, make their way to the castle, and look for the bomb. They are again controlled as one. You find the bomb somewhere but then the revitalised Koopa kids return. You fight, win, turn off the bomb, and return to Bowser.
But oh noes, the Bowser is fit again too! Ultimate boss battle commences in which only Mario participates whilst Luigi does something in the background like helping the Princess perhaps. When/if you win the epic battle, you are awarded with a star and a pretty ending video. However, should you beat Bowser having all of the stars you get a mega ending video and you unlock the blue, red, and yellow Yoshis with their powers from Super Mario World.
And that is that. I hope you enjoyed quickly scanning through it before preparing to click reply to this message and then saying, “Oh my God, you have too much spare time.”
How sad.
> in the room we see Bowser sitting in
> his throne with Princess Peach to his side, tied to her chair
This part had so much potential..
And base camps rock!!
From there it's a quick google and voila!
But an actual world that you can move about, if you know waht I mean, GTA style.
And you have to do challenges to get stars, and explore certain areas to unlock the path to toerh areas etc.
No more crappy "base camps"