Sonic the Hedgehog first appeared on June 23 1991 and has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon. Thus, in keeping with tradition, I’m dedicating some time to celebrate SEGA’s supersonic mascot.
The Review: Taking place between the second and third Sonic Advance titles, while also existing in its own canon that paradoxically acknowledges past 3D adventures while ignoring classic Sonic titles, Sonic Battle sees Sonic and his friends befriend a child-like fighting robot known as the “Gizoid”. Nicknamed “Emerl”, this robot forms a “Link” with whoever demonstrates true power, copies the moves and abilities of anyone it fights, and becomes stronger and more coherent by absorbing Chaos Emeralds. This story is told over eight chapters, with each focusing on a different character teaching Emerl new abilities, learning more about him, and helping him to become an independent entity, all while defending Emerl from Doctor Eggman, who seeks to reclaim it to power his new fangled “Final Egg Blaster”. Although each character has their own special abilities and attributes, they all share the same controls. You jump with A (executing either a double jump, a glide, a mid-air dash, or flying by pressing A again in the air) and attack with B. Subsequent taps of B string together a simple combo that often sends foes flying. You can use the directional pad to hit opponents upwards or across the screen, double tap left or right to dash towards them, or hit a heavier attack. Tapping the Left trigger sees you guard and holding it sees you recover health points (HP) and build your “Ichikoro Gauge” to land one-hit kill special attacks with the Right trigger. While holding L, you can rotate the battle arena to track your opponents, though I found this to be little use. Additionally, you never see your enemy’s HP, just their remaining or accumulated knockouts, so it can be difficult to judge how much damage you’re doing.
While each character has unique attacks and abilities, combat quickly becomes tedious and annoying.
Each character controls a little differently and has different special attacks. Sonic and Shadow the Hedgehog are fast, Miles “Tails” Prower, Cream the Rabbit, and Rouge the Bat fly, Knuckles the Echidna (and Rouge) glides, and Amy Rose uses her Piko-Piko Hammer. Some characters are slower; others recover HP or fill their Ichikoro Gauge at different rates; and others have more powerful special moves. Chaos Gamma (a rebuilt, antagonistic E-102 γ “Gamma”) and his Guard Robo lookalikes self-destruct upon defeat to deal heavy damage, which is incredibly frustrating due to the clunky controls and you often being locked into combos. Rouge also hovers for quite a while before landing, making her difficult to hit and control. Before each fight, you select between three special attacks: Shot, Power, and Set/Trap, with each set either to your ground or aerial attack or making you immune to the remaining attacks when guarding. Set/Trap lays or hides a mine, either while jumping or standing, and was the special attack I use the least as I prefer to be aggressive. Each character’s special attacks are different. Sonic unleashes a blast of wind or a version of his Homing Attack, for example, while Shadow employs Chaos magic, Cream attacks with her Chao companion, Cheese, and Tails employs nanotechnology to conjure an arm cannon and spring-loaded punches. Thanks to the odd, isometric battle arenas and how slow even the fastest characters are, it can be difficult to land combos or judge your angle, so I found it better to cheese the special attacks. You figure out what works (like the Sonic Wave, Chaos Combo, Meteor Crush, or Air E. Ball) and spam them until the opponent makes themselves immune, then you switch to another special attack and repeat until you win. This strategy makes battles much easier, but also incredibly tedious, something not helped by the frustrating way Sonic Battle presents its fights.
Constant combat allows you to customise and power-up Emerl into a formidable fighter.
In the “Story Mode”, characters are challenged by friends and foes alike, often with Emerl alongside or against you as training. Typically, you emerge victorious after five knockouts, only to be immediately challenged to a ten KO battle! Often, victory means reaching five or ten KOs first and you sometimes face a time limit or more opponents (often at a two- or three-on-one disadvantage) but the game never deviates from this pattern. Well, it does a bit when Emerl is challenged to avoid damage or using special moves, but these variations are incredibly rare. Instead, you fight Guard Robos and Dr. Eggman’s Gizoid copies, the Phi series, over and over, to say nothing of endlessly sparring with Sonic and his friends to learn new skills. “Skill Points” and “Skill Cards” are awarded after most victories and are used to customise and enhance Emerl, who apes any character’s attacks, special moves, and stances. You can even change his colour and unlock “Ultimate” Skills to make him an incredibly powerful fighter but be wary as you’re often asked to fight him and he’ll trounce you if you don’t edit his abilities beforehand. At first, Emerl is slow and weak and pathetic but, after you clear all eight stories, he’ll be far stronger, making the game incredibly easy, especially as you don’t face much of a challenge until Shadow or Emerl’s stories. Even then, you can simply spam the same special moves, charge a one-hit KO strike, and repeat to cheese most fights. Sure, it gets tougher when you face three Guard Robos at once and they’re all exploding, or when you face Sonic and Shadow alone, or when Rouge forces you to fight with a handicap, but it’s nothing you can’t power through. It’s just not very interesting as fights drag on way too long and are far too repetitive, with enemies largely playing hide and seek to regain HP or charge their meter and it being easy to telegraph where they’ll respawn.
On the plus side, the game looks amazing and has a pretty emotional story.
Thankfully, the game looks gorgeous. Utilising a variation of the Sonic Advance art style for its sprites, characters are energetic and expressive, spouting some rudimentary voice clips to accompany their attacks, which are colourful and fitting for each character, if sadly limited by the shallow combat. Combat arenas are quite ugly, however, and are simple, isometric dioramas filled with rudimentary blocks to obscure enemies. There are no hazards or gimmicks to worry about, which is nice, but arenas feel half-assed compared to other fighting games. The music is also quite dreadful, employing a synthesized rock score for the most part and being grating to listen to. When on the interconnected overworld map, you direct your character using an arrow to interact with characters or enter new areas, which are all modelled after the Sonic Adventuregames (Various, 1998 to 2001). You’ll chat with Tails in Emerald Town, train with Amy in Central City, visit Rouge’s casino in Night Babylon, mock Knuckles at Holy Summit, and confront Dr. Eggman on his Death Egg space station. When interacting with characters, you’re treated to some funky portrait art that changes to suit their mood and speech bubbles that overemphasises key worlds like “Chaos Emerald” and “Link”. Each chapter is quite short and directly leads to the next, with some overlap and jumping about the timeline to fill in gaps. Sonic and Tails adopt Emerl to improve him, Rouge uses him for heists, Amy sees him as a surrogate son, and Shadow is out to destroy him since he knows Emerl’s destructive past. Sonic Battle is surprisingly story heavy, with Emerl evolving as you acquire Chaos Emeralds or Chaos Shards, adopting a cocksure attitude, questioning his existence, and ultimately fighting against his destructive urges to sacrifice himself for his friends.
After besting Dr. Eggman, you’re left with some single- and multiplayer challenges and mini games.
You’re forced into many battles and encouraged to partake in more, with Shadow challenging Emerl to battle everyone before a final showdown and Emerl urged to train before teleporting to the Death Egg. When this space station launches, part of Holy Summit freezes and the legendary water god Chaos appears for you to challenge. Though incredibly powerful and sporting elongated limbs, Chaos is slow and not especially smart so it’s easy to beat it and learn some of Emerl’s most powerful moves. When on the Death Egg, Emerl confronts Dr. Eggman, who fights in his Egg-O-Matic and unleashes a barrage of missiles and mines. Dr. Eggman floats about, making him difficult to hit, and explodes upon defeat to make things even more frustrating. This was the only time I consistently used the Set/Trap special attack as it’s ridiculously easy to spam these beneath Dr. Eggman to finish him. Outside “Story Mode”, you can hone your fighting prowess in “Training Mode” or on up to fifteen fights in “Challenge Mode” at three difficulty levels. Although they don’t get a story chapter, Chaos and Chaos Gamma are both playable in the game’s other modes and you even unlock a Green Hill battle arena by completing Emerl’s story. You can enter codes on Dr. Eggman’s computer to unlock additional Skills and replay chapters over and over to unlock any Skills you’re missing. If you have friends, you can compete via the Link Cable in battles that mimic the “Story Mode” or in various mini games. I’ve never actually played these as I never knew anyone else who owned the game, but they look pretty fun. Four are unlocked by beating certain story chapters and see you bouncing around like a game of air hockey, collecting Golden Rings in what looks like a variation of Tails’ Skypatrol (Japan System House SIMS, 1995), playing a Knuckles-themed reskin of Minesweeper (Microsoft, 1990), dig up treasure on a beach, or race down a highway while attacking players and dodging obstacles.
Final Thoughts Although Sonic Battle wasn’t the first time the series was translated into a fighter, it is, to date, the last. Rather than capitalise on the success of the Super Smash Bros. series (Various, 1999 to present) with a main console 3D fighter, Sonic Team lumbered us with this tedious, clunky brawler that’s visually very appealing and has a surprisingly engaging narrative but is a chore to play. The basic combat loop becomes extremely tedious once you figure out how to cheese the system, or equip certain Skills to Emerl. Simply assign him the most powerful attacks and the fastest healing Skill and you’re essentially unbeatable, making it even more frustrating when the game artificially increases its challenge by having you fight the same enemies but with a higher KO quota. As gorgeous as the sprite art and animations are, the fighting mechanics are shallow and awkward thanks, in no small part, to the weird isometric arenas. While it’s fun to constantly be rewarded after every fight and to tinker with Emerl, there’s not enough combat variety to sustain Sonic Battle, which runs out of steam about three chapters into its story. Perhaps if the mini games had been included in the “Story Mode” as additional challenges, or if the game had challenged you to use certain moves or defeat enemies in certain ways, things might’ve been more enjoyable. On the plus side, each chapter is a breeze to get through, but this just highlights how little Sonic Battle has to offer unless you have friends to play with. It’s a shame as I often defend this game, but it really is a poor experience with the most basic combat you could ask for. It’s made doubly worse when you realise that Sonic Team chose to make this mess rather than just do what they always do and copy Nintendo with a Sonic-themed Super Smash Bros. clone like everyone else.
My Rating:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Could Be Better
Did you enjoy Sonic Battle? Do you agree that it failed to live up to its potential? Were you also frustrated by the repetitive combat and lacklustre difficulty curve? Did you enjoy the art style and the narrative? How powerful did you make Emerl in the end and did you ever unlock all of his Ultimate Skills? Would you like to see a true Sonic-themed fighter some day? How are you celebrating Sonic’s anniversary this year? Let me know what you thought of Sonic Battle in the comments and donate to my Ko-Fi to recommend more Sonic spin-off games for me to cover.
Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to gamers worldwide on June 23 1991 and, since then, has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon. Thus, in keeping with tradition, I’m dedicating some time to celebrate SEGA’s supersonic mascot.
Released: 18 October 2018 Developer: Dimps
Metacritic Score: 59 Also Available For: Nintendo Wii U and PC
Gameplay and Power-Ups: Sonic Lost World is a 3D and 2.5D hybrid action platformer that continues the high-speed “Boost” formula that popularised Sonic’s 3D titles. As was the style at the time, this is a single-player experience, with Miles “Tails” Power only appearing in cutscenes, though Sonic gains temporary power-ups by collecting benevolent alien “Wisps” scattered around the “Lost Hex”. The standard Sonic formula returns, with players collecting Golden Rings to survive most hazards, encouraged to finish stages (or “Zones”) quickly to earn letter grades, and bashing Badniks to free woodland critters. As ever for 3D Sonic titles, players lock-on to nearby targets (Badniks, springs, rails, etc) after jumping with either A or B. While jumping destroys Badniks and certain obstacles with Sonic’s patented Spin Attack, tapping A or B again performs a double jump or launches Sonic at his target. You can chain multiple Homing Attacks together and must often quickly tap the button to hop between rails, clear gaps, or cling to rockets. A new feature in Sonic’s arsenal is a mid-air somersault attack, performed by pressing X or Y after jumping. This sends a blast of wind-like energy towards your target, stunning it for a few seconds so you can bypass their defences or hit their weak spot, and this is essential when confronted with giant Badniks that must be destroyed to reveal springs or teleporters and such. Pressing X or Y in mid-air when not locked onto an enemy performs a bounce to give you extra height, Sonic clambers over some ledges, air bubbles keep him from drowning, and you earn extra lives by grabbing Sonic Icons, collecting five Number Rings, or for every 100 Rings. Hitting capsules also gifts you some returning power-ups, like the returning temporary invincibility, ten additional Rings, and three elemental shields. The aqua shield allows you to breathe underwater, the lightning shield attracts nearby Rings and keeps you from being hurt by electrical hazards, and the flame shield resists all fire hazards.
Run up walls, power-up with Wisps, and wrestle with the 3DS to control Sonic.
Unlike other 3D Sonic games from this era, there is no Boost option in Sonic Lost World. Instead, you hold down the Right trigger to run, which is essentially the same but lacks the fast-paced, action-packed feeling of ploughing through hordes of Badniks and instead highlights the game’s slower pace. The big new gimmick is “parkour”; hold R or hit boost pads to run up walls, tapping X or Y for a boost and to keep from falling and hitting A or B to hop between walls. You can quick step around corners and to avoid enemies and use the Left trigger to better position the camera, but I found this mechanic very finnicky and that I was more likely to simply plummet to my death or be forced to repeat a wall run due to poor hazard placement. As mentioned, some Wisps return, with you tapping the lower screen to activate them and collecting Wisp capsules to top up the energy bar, though you’ll lose your shield if you use a Wisp. You can Drill!! through certain dirt or cut through water with the Yellow Wisp, attract items and enemies to float with the Indigo Wisp, and ricochet off walls and ceilings with the Cyan Wisp. You can also zap to nearby coils and targets with the Ivory Wisp, blast about as the explosive, fiery Red Wisp, or wrestle with the Nintendo 3DS’s god-awful gyroscopic controls with the Gray Wisp. Wisps are relatively sporadic, though some Zones require them to be cleared, with you desperately topping up your meter to avoid a fatal fall or being devoured by gigantic enemies. The Yellow Drill dispels whirlpools, the Gray Quake destroys certain blocks and activates big switches, and Indigo Asteroid lets you float to faraway platforms. Players also earn “Materials” by completing Zones, earning more for “S” or “A” ranks. These upgrade Tails’ Lab and allow him to create remote controlled (RC) vehicles, which can be transferred to the Wii U version so a second player can drop bombs, turn Sonic invisible, or slow him down. If you lose too many lives here, a golden RC Vehicle flies over the environment or become invisible and invincible, allowing you to bypass trickier sections. Finally, one item per life can be stored on the touchscreen, which is handy in a pinch.
Some dull puzzles and aggravating sections bog down the more action-packed moments.
These are quite prevalent in Sonic Lost World since basically every Zone takes place over a bottomless void. When Sonic speeds off uncontrollably or is met by gaps, temporary platforms, or tricky jumps, you’re likely to fly to your doom, which is very frustrating. Spikes regularly appear to screw up your parkour, you must often defeat Badniks to progress, or you’ll be hitting or rolling objects onto switches to activate or move platforms. There are often branching paths, with some having hard jumps or chasms dotted by rails and Spinners, loops, springs, and bouncy bumpers regularly appear, and you’ll be floating or being pushed along by fans. The screen often tilts and rotates in 2.5D sections, which can be very disorientating; you’ll use motion controls to steer high-speed rockets; the environment often pops up as you race along; and some platforms swing ominously. Quicksand and marsh water slow you, teleports loop you around, and you’re often asked to explore in different directions, tackling different puzzles to activate switches or teleporters. Pistons crush you, gravity sometimes fights against you, and you’re often pushing objects about. There’s one part where you must roll giant apples into holes and then into a giant blender, freezing gusts must be blocked by large snowballs, and you occasionally go sky diving, holding X, Y, or R to dive faster. Sometimes, you run around spheres in a mad rush trying to defeat all enemies or find switches, occasionally forced to barrel about with the aggravating Gray Wisp. Bouncy clouds and tubes are commonplace, as are moving platforms that you must ride to progress and giant springs that launch you to other parts of the Zone. Zones go on for ages, with multiple checkpoints and escalating platforming and puzzle challenges, which can be irritating. You’ll frantically hop to rails (often dodging enemies and hazards), ricochet about Casino Night Zone-style pinball tables trying to score a bingo, dodge lava pits and flame pillars spawned by Zavok’s Mech Dragon, and trick enemies into activating switches.
Presentation: At first glance, Sonic Lost World is quite impressive. The game features prerendered cutscenes with full voice acting, though they’re obviously compressed compared to its Wii U counterpart, with no in-game models being used to convey the game’s story. This involves Sonic reluctantly teaming with Doctor Eggman against the Deadly Six, driving a wedge between him and Tails, Dr. Eggman faking his death, and the Deadly Six briefly brainwashing Tails to fight his buddy. There’s a pseudo map screen where players freely choose which Zone to play or visit Tails’ Lab, and the music is very jaunty and catchy. There are even remixes of “Sonic Heroes” and “Reach for the Stars” tossed in, which was nice, and I loved how the game brought the Flickies and bonkers, surreal aesthetic of the original games to life after years of fusing real-world elements into the franchise. Sonic gets impatient when you leave him, runs with a lovely 3D recreation of his classic spinning legs, sprouts catchphrases and voice lines, and your goal is to hit the classic animal capsule at the end of each Zone. However, there’s a distinct blurriness to the visuals, one only exacerbated when you inch on the 3D slider. While the depth is impressive, the colours pop, and giant Badniks fly at you in 3D, this option remains headache inducing and is best left off. There is also lots of pop up, with spiralling paths literally appearing as you run and environments loading as you’re pinballed about. This means some Badniks and hazards appear out of nowhere, it’s not always clear where you’re heading, causing you to miss rails or landings, and the Homing Attack has a noticeable lag that causes many unnecessary and aggravating deaths. Sonic Lost World generally has two playfields: cylindrical and spherical 3D worlds or 2.5D obstacle courses that recreate some classic Sonic environments, like Green Hill Zone and Casino Night Zone. The 3D sections take a lot of inspiration from the Super Mario Galaxygames (Nintendo EAD Tokyo, 2007 to 2010), being spherical, cylindrical, and/or blocky worlds offering a mixture of high-speed action and tricky platforming. Unfortunately, Sonic Lost World’s 3D Zones all take place in a void, so you can rocket to your death with ridiculous ease.
While colourful and impressive, Sonic Lost World can be blurry and messy at times.
This is made more irritating by the clunky parkour mechanics and the split-second timing required to switch rails or hop to platforms in later Zones, though it’s the motion controls that really screw you up since they make your movements so erratic and loose. There are seven areas with three Zones and a boss, and each Zone is broken down into multiple sections separated by giant springs or teleporters. Things start familiar enough in Windy Hill Zone, a decidedly Green Hill Zone environment featuring boulders, totem poles, caves, waterfalls, and you running from a giant Caterkiller. Loops, bridges, and spiralling paths are introduced here, while Desert Ruins Zone sees more obstacles coming your way. You must jump to move over quicksand, explore a darkened tomb, and hop to platforms as Zomom’s Ganmen blows you back and blasts you with its eye beams. Tropical Coast is like the love child of Angel Island Zone and Emerald Coast, featuring calypso music and underwater sections alongside palm trees and islands. The Yellow Drill is super useful for navigating the underwater mazes, which easily turn you around thanks to that annoying screen tilt, and this is also where you’ll find that giant blender. Frozen Factory Zone starts you snowboarding down a snowy mountain, pulling off tricks and griding across rails, before having you creep along narrow platforms, plug up freezing hazards, and desperately avoiding giant snowman heads to hit switches. Silent Forest Zone is a dense jungle full of sticky marsh water, spring-loaded flowers, and a grind through night-time ruins as Zor’s Owl Mech searches for you and alters the environment, confusing the already troublesome platforming sections. Sky Road Zone starts very basic, with just an open sky background, and heavily focuses on bottomless pits, but also transitions to a neon city and pinball aesthetic. It’s capped off by far more treacherous, Windy Hill Zone sections that burst into flame, requiring you to pop water balloons or grab a fire shield. There’s a lot of variety in each Zone, for sure, but perhaps a bit too much at times as they quickly outstay their welcome, especially when the game blasts you down pits and calls it a challenge.
Enemies and Bosses: Many of Dr. Eggman’s most recognisable Badniks return here; in fact, there’s surprisingly few new enemies and some returning Badniks even sport new mechanics. Motobugs race about, Newtrons crawl along walls to screw up your wall running, Buzz Bombers hover about taking shots at you, Jaws patrol the waters, and Orbinauts catch you off-guard when you’re stringing together homing chains. Spinners and Batbrains act as “bridges” over gaps, though some Spinners zap you and cause you to fall to your death. Caterkillers and Sandworms are noticeably prevalent, coming in gigantic sizes and requiring you to stun them to hit their weak spot, while Crawl now sports a projectile attack. Those bloody Metropolis Zone Slicers return to fling your blades mid-jump, Cluckers (both small and giant) pop up to blast cannonballs at you, and even Egg Pawns prove troublesome as they run about flailing their arms. Balkirys swarm, Grabbers and Antlions lurk from above, and Penguinators endlessly respawn to slide across ice. Clucker variants hop into mine carts to chase you across rails, giant robotic turtles sport shell cannons, and huge mechanical blowfish often guard switches and teleporters. These bigger enemies are best stunned to halt their attacks or lower their defences, which you’ll also use to stun Zeena’s Snowman Mech as it relentlessly pursues you. this allows you to rapidly attack it, causing it to temporarily press switches. Often, switches and teleporters and such cannot be accessed until you’ve defeated a certain number of Badniks, usually a giant one, and even bigger variants often chase you and instantly kill you if they touch you. Some of the Deadly Six appear in the Zones, such as Zazz appearing in the background of Windy Hill Zone and tossing his Moon Mech at you. The Deadly Six act challenge you at the end of each area and are battled again in Lava Mountain Zone, where they’re tougher, have altered attacks, and you have less time to hit them.
Bosses can be quite fun, when they’re not forcing motion controls and insta-deaths.
Zazz rolls around on his Moon Mech, trying to crush you, so race away and knock him off to pummel him on the ground, avoiding his shockwaves and star projectiles. Zomom attacks atop the block-headed Ganmen, raining fireballs and vulnerable in the rear (and to Indigo Asteroid), and running around in a rage at the end. Master Zik was a pain as he’s protected by a ring of fruits. When he rolls one, jump and hit it from behind to pierce his barrier and attack him, and use the Yellow Drill to deal big damage. Zeena can also be a headache, especially in Lava Mountain Zone, as her giant snowman constantly pushes you back. You must push towards her and attack her mech’s belly for an Ivory Wisp, and then latch onto the enemies to zap her, which gets very annoying. This is nothing compared to Zor, though, who charges up a devastating eye beam from afar on his Owl Mech. You must quickly hop in the cannon and whirl around like an idiot with the gyroscopic controls to locate his mech, with more fakes and less time to attack him in Lava Mountain Zone. Zavok is comparatively easier but still troublesome as you’re in freefall, have little idea of where he is, and he blocks your Homing Attack. You must avoid his dragon’s fireballs and lasers (with the circling laser attack being especially frustrating) to hit him from behind, or grab the Cyan Wisp to decimate his health bar. After battling all six again in teams, you finally fight Dr. Eggman in a repurposed Death Egg Robo, racing towards him on a never-ending path like in Sonic Colours. You must avoid the Eggrobo’s increasingly troublesome Wisp-like attacks, which include lasers and electrical bolts, numerous fireballs, rocks kicked up by his drills, boulders, and an insta-kill black hole that’ll have you rage-quitting! After avoiding his attacks, you must hop about to select the mech’s limbs and unleash a counterattack, barrelling into the cockpit and eventually mashing B to deal the final blow.
Additional Features: Each Zone that isn’t a boss battle or Lava Mountain Zone contains five Red Star Rings, with their collection being helpfully displayed prior to starting a Zone and during it. Collecting all fifteen Red Star Rings unlocks an “Extra level” for Zone for an additional challenge and beating those unlocks an even tougher final boss! Beating the game also unlocks “Hard Mode”, applicable by pressing Y prior to starting a Zone, if you want to make this finnicky game even more challenging. If you want Tails to build every RC Vehicle, you’ll need to grind away at each Zone to get those “S” and “A” ranks and earn better Materials, though this only really seems to benefit those with the Wii U version. There’s a time attack and a “VS. Mode” for players to go head-to-head with a friend in virtual reality races. You can also visit Tails’ Lab to listen to the soundtrack or view the game’s blurry cutscenes, or use the 3DS’ “StreetPass” feature, apparently to unlock additional missions but I’ve never actually used this. This version includes seven Special Stages, which can be replayed from the main map after you’ve beaten them, and the seven Chaos Emeralds. These Special Stages are similar to the classic Blue Sphere ones and have you flying through a cosmic void collecting Orbs and avoiding walls, electrified hazards, and navigating mazes. You have a strict time limit that decreases with each Chaos Emerald, so you must snag those time bonuses, and your reward is being able to tap the screen when you have 50 Rings to become the all-powerful Super Sonic. Unfortunately, while the Special Stages are doable and welcome, you’ll end up spinning around like a moron and giving yourself a headache as you’re forced to use motion controls to direct Sonic’s movements, making these more of a chore than they need to be.
Final Thoughts: This is only the second time I’ve played Sonic Lost World, which says a lot about how memorable it was. While the game is undoubtedly the best-looking Sonic game on the Nintendo 3DS, the execution of its new mechanics was troublesome, at best. I’ve never really cared for the Deadly Six and find them extremely one-dimensional and generic, though I admit that they did make for somewhat unique boss battles that subverted the usual Sonic formula. I’m also not a big fan of the Wisps, especially as their powers mean Sonic’s friends take a back seat, and their inclusion seems like more of an afterthought. While some Zones looks really good and the music is very catchy, others are painfully uninspired and they all drag on for far too long. There’s maybe too much crammed into each area (and this title), with all sorts of weird gimmicks being thrown at the player as though SEGA were desperate to copy Super Mario Galaxy and then make it unique by slapping unnecessary bells and whistles onto it. The constant bottomless pits were a headache, the parkour mechanics were clunky, and the forced gyroscopic controls were frustrating. It might’ve been okay if these were limited to the Zor fight and the Special Stages but tying them to the rockets and Gray Wisp was a kick in the teeth. The RC vehicles could’ve been really fun but they’re not really implemented here, the tilting and rotating effects were aggravating, and the weird not-quite-boost run mechanic just made the game feel slow. It’s nice that the developers tried to break up the action with some puzzles, but these are a drag and Sonic Lost World is much more fun when you’re blasting off at high speed, quickly hopping to rails and platforms and bopping Badniks. The stun mechanic was weird, too, Sonic takes forever to recover when hit, and it’s just far too easy to lose a bunch of lives on what should be simple sections made difficult by the half-baked mechanics. It’s a shame as it does have a certain visual appeal, even with all the pop-up, but Sonic Lost World fumbles more than it succeeds, making it a disappointing swansong for Sonic’s days on the 3DS.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
Did you enjoy Sonic Lost World? What did you think to the parkour mechanics and gyroscopic controls? Were you annoyed or happy to see the Wisps return? Do you agree that Zones stretched on for too long and had too many gimmicks? What did you think to the Deadly Six? Did you ever collect the Chaos Emeralds and defeat the Eggrobo? Which of Sonic’s Nintendo 3DS titles is your favourite and how are you celebrating Sonic’s anniversary this year? Whatever your thoughts on Sonic Lost World, share them below, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other Sonic content!
Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to gamers worldwide on June 23 1991 and, since then, has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon. Thus, in keeping with tradition, I’m dedicating some time to celebrate SEGA’s supersonic mascot.
Gameplay and Power-Ups: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is an RPG in which players form a team of up to four characters from a roster of ten familiar faces from the franchise (two being optional and one being newcomer Shade the Echidna) and battle against the mysterious Nocturnus Clan across ten chapters. While Sonic is always on your team unless you’re asked to form two teams to handle separate objectives, you can switch the onscreen character by tapping the lower screen and the story progresses regardless of who’s in your team, with only some optional additional dialogue and exploration options being available for each. Sonic Chronicles goes all-in with the Nintendo DS touch screen, meaning every action is conducted via the stylus and touch screen, including controlling your characters, progressing dialogue, solving puzzles, and battling enemies. This is a touch jarring, and disappointing, as it can be difficult comfortably holding the Nintendo DS and I found tapping the screen inconsistent at times (though this could’ve been due to my touch screen). You start as Sonic but quickly hook up with Miles “Tails” Prower and Amy Rose to rescue Knuckles the Echidna, with each giving a sense of what the game has to offer. Characters come in three classes: “Power” (who focus on attacking), “Shifter” (who shift between attacking, supporting, and afflicting status ailments), and “Support” (who focus purely on supporting your team and have low attack power). Personally, I focused more on powering through battles, which will serve you well for the most part as the game doesn’t get too taxing until the final chapter, though you can heal and inflict status ailments on enemies, such as stunning them or putting them to sleep. Naturally, you earn Character Experience (XP) from battles that allows you to level-up and become stronger, adding special “Power/POW Moves” to your arsenal, though the highest level you can achieve is thirty and I found you don’t gain much XP compared to other RPGs.
Whether you’re exploring, fighting, or chasing, everything’s controlled via the touchscreen and stylus.
As you awkwardly explore, uncovering more of the map and interacting with various non-playable characters (NPCs), you’ll see context-sensitive actions pop-up to help you navigate. This means tapping the screen to make Sonic or Shadow the Hedgehog run through loops, flying across gaps as Tails or Cream the Rabbit, and smashing crates with Amy or Knuckles. Knuckles is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades as he can glide over short gaps, smash crates, and climb walls, but you’ll need Tails to fly further and Amy to smash metal crates. Enemies appear on the overworld, meaning you can avoid most battles if you wish, and you can flee most battles or fight for XP, items, and Golden Rings (used to purchase items or retry if you’re defeated). When in battle, you must deplete the enemy’s hit points (HP) before yours are drained, regaining HP from certain POW Moves, restorative items (like Health Roots and Health Seeds), or when meeting at safe houses like Tails’ lab. While your regular attacks deal decent damage, especially with the right setup, and require only that you tap the “Attack” command, POW Moves cost POW Move Points (PP) to execute and see you completing various touch screen actions. You must also complete these when enemies use their own POW Moves, reducing or even avoiding damage if you tap every icon, mash in a circle, or drag the stylus as directed. These can be finnicky and become tougher when executing or defending against stronger attacks, but they can deal greater damage, damage all enemies, and inflict status effects. You can also defend against incoming attacks, use items to heal HP or PP or revive fallen allies (with you still being able to attack after selecting an item), and flee. Enemies may also flee, triggering a chase sequence where you must grab Rings, tap the screen to jump over obstacles, and use dash pads to catch your foes or escape, with your success largely dictated by how accurately you tap the screen and how high your “Speed” stat is.
Sadly, the side missions, puzzles, and various gimmicks don’t add up to much.
The “Speed” stat also allows you to attack first, or multiple times per “Round”, while the “Luck” stat dictates how often you “ambush” enemies, avoid attacks, or deal critical hits. You can boost stats by equipping gloves, shoes, accessories, and a Chao to each character. These are either purchased, found in crates, earned from battles, or (in the case of Chao) found on the overworld and take time to hatch. These all boost your stats and maximum HP, allowing you to land one-hit KOs or inflict elemental damage (with some enemies being weak to lightning or ice attacks), and increase your rewards, among many other benefits. With the right setup, your team can be virtually unstoppable, especially in “New Game+” where you decimate enemies without taking a single hit. While your primary objective is investigating the Nocturnus Clan, initially determining whether Doctor Eggman is still a threat and then briefly teaming with him against a common foe, NPCs offer side missions to tie into the main plot or offer secondary rewards (usually item crates or Chao eggs). Objectives often involve exploring, battling or clearing out all enemies, recovering key items, and activating consoles to power or deactivate barriers, doors, and even flooded corridors. These appear in the final chapter and see you using air bubbles to avoid draining your PP. While these gimmicks can be tedious, especially as enemies respawn and it can be annoying navigating environments without the right characters (you need Big the Cat to pass through toxic clouds, for example), they’re relatively simple. There are also more aggravating switch-based puzzles that see you placing each character on a specific switch, either in the correct order or to activate various machinery (like a crane or a lift). Some of these, such as the puzzle leading to Dr. Eggman’s secret tunnel, are unnecessarily aggravating, while others are just trial and error. Optional objectives can further bolster your team with additional characters and rewards and the final chapters see you earning the trust of the various aliens in the “Twilight Cage” and splitting into two teams to lead an all-out assault against Nocturnus leader, Imperator Ix.
Presentation: Sonic Chronicles opts for a cel-shaded, quasi-isometric aesthetic for the most part, with 3D modelled characters navigating what appear to be hand-drawn environments with some polygonal elements. Character models vary between the overworld and the battle screens, mostly appearing as chibi-style renditions somewhat reminiscent of Sonic Shuffle (SEGA, 2000), and are quite limited at times. Sure, they have some fun animations when idle, using their abilities, POW Moves, or succeeding in battle, but they also look a bit ugly, deformed, and low resolution. These co-exist alongside comic book-style animated sequences that badly echo the Sonic X (2003 to 2005) art style, resulting in some disturbingly off-model cutscenes. There are a fair few characters to pick from, however, with each offering different challenges in their POW Moves and most having decent story arcs. Knuckles largely takes centre stage as he’s reunited with his lost people, but there are some fun moments to mess with Sonic’s characterisation as the dialogue options see him mock, encourage, or dismiss his allies and enemies depending. I liked seeing outcasts like Shadow and newcomer Shade begrudgingly join forces with Sonic and the others, and seeing Sonic and Dr. Eggman team up (only for him to betray them in a sadly unresolved cliff-hanger), and that the story is peppered with references to the wider Sonic franchise. There’s talk of “Robotization”, for example, and you battle a few “Swat Bots”, and Imperator Ix delivers additional lore for the echidnas and the Gizoid fighting robots. While many complained about the game’s soundtrack, I never had an issue with it. It’s not the most memorable, save for a chip tune rendition of the “Doomsday Zone” theme in the final chapter that I always found fun, but it matches the action and events. There are also some recognisable sound effects from the games and a handful of sound bites peppered in, though even I have to admit that much of the presentation is very basic and lacking, with environments being clunky to navigate and largely empty.
Sadly, the intriguing story is bogged down by some confused and muddy visuals.
Sonic Chronicles sees you visiting and exploring some familiar, if drastically altered, locations from the videogames. Naturally, you start in Green Hill Zone, which acts as a tutorial, before venturing to Central City, where the Guardian Unit of Nations (G.U.N.) and Tails’ lab are. These areas also hide hidden bases used by Dr. Eggman and the Nocturnus Clan and see you using the Tornado to fast travel around. They also lead directly to the toxic Mystic Ruins and, after teaming with Dr. Eggman, players venture to his decimated main base, Metropolis, which gets further damaged after Imperator Ix steals the Master Emerald and causes Angel Island (a sadly limited play field) to crash into it. There are also some original areas to explore, like Blue Ridge Zone (an Old West style town that includes the remnants of Station Square and Dr. Eggman’s secret tunnel to Metropolis), and fun Easter Eggs (such as Eggrobos and a Mega Drive being strewn about Metropolis). Things really turn bizarre when Dr. Eggman helps Sonic and his friends travel to the Twilight Cage, a surreal, alternative dimension housing various wacky aliens. You’ll encounter the Kron, proud rock-monster miners, the gelatinous, slug-like N’rrgal, the Voxai (psychic manta ray-like aliens), and the warlike Zoah, who must be united against the Nocturnus Clan. The various areas in the Twilight Cage may be noticeably smaller than their predecessors, but they’re more visually interesting, including volcanic mines, bizarre alien fauna, and luminescent, high-tech cities. Imperator Ix’s citadel is a complex maze of paths and doors, one swarming with Gizoids and other powerful enemies, and desperately fending off the allied aliens’ assault. When in combat, things switch to a simple battle arena that reflects whatever area you’re in and, when exploring, you’ll constantly see the map on the top screen to keep track of alternative routes, your objective, and any Chao eggs you’ve missed.
Enemies and Bosses: Unlike most Sonic videogames, you won’t be freeing cute woodland critters from Badniks here. As the game starts with Dr. Eggman defeated and presumed dead, you mostly fight enraged armadillos, wild boar, and wasp swarms and their queens. Giant scorpions, raptor hawks, and giant millipedes also appear, with them parrying your attacks, poisoning with their quills, regenerating HP, or blasting you with their tails. The Nocturnus Clan’s Marauders and Dr. Eggman’s Swat Bots toss grenades to stun you and self-repair, respectively. Dr. Eggman’s various sentry bots and drones use buzzsaws, bombs, and self-destruct, while rocket-firing or shield-carrying Pawns up their defence. When in the Twilight Cage, you must initially battle the locals, with the Kron Warriors being noticeably durable (unless you equip wind, water, or ice elements), the brainwashed Voxai firing psychic waves and hiding behind shields, and N’rrgal drones draining your HP. The Twilight Cage is also swarming with higher-level Nocturnus soldiers and various Gizoids that are both far more durable and deal greater damage, especially as their POW Moves are trickier to avoid. Nocturnus Praetorians, for example, target one character with a Hellfire blast, Nocturnus Triarius leech HP with their blades, and these enemies are more likely to parry or avoid your attacks, too. The Gizoids can utilise every playable character’s and Nocturnus’ POW Moves and regenerate their HP, making them formidable and unpredictable to the unprepared player. Some enemies appear as mini bosses, too, like the Swat Bots that guard Dr. Eggman’s bases, the three powerful “Overmind” Voxai, and the Gizoid “Prefects” Charyb and Scylla, who are initially unbeatable before your two teams solve some puzzles to make them vulnerable.
Battles are ridiculously easy until you reach the final chapters, where the difficulty noticably spikes.
Shadow is also fought as a mini boss in the Mystic Ruins and Blue Ridge Zone, where Sonic must fight him alone after chasing him down. Although Shadow is fast and can hurl his Chaos Spear, he’s not especially difficult. Shade is initially fought as a mysterious Nocturnus “Procurator” who can activate a cloak and attack with her Leech Blade. You must also battle one of Dr. Eggman’s malfunctioning Egg Bots to reach the Twilight Cage and endure a gauntlet on the Zoah Colony that sees you battling General Raxos’ minions and Commander Syrax, with no chance to heal or save between bouts. This culminates in a one-on-one fight between Sonic and General Raxos that can be troublesome as the Zorah regenerate HP, target your allies, and use shields. Charyb and Scylla can also be formidable as their Mighty Slash inflicts sleep, though your greatest test comes from Imperator Ix. You first fight him on Angel Island, which isn’t much to shout about, but he’s far more formidable in the final chapter, where he’s fought in a multi-stage battle. First, Knuckles and his team battle Imperator Ix and his Power Pylons. These regenerate Imperator Ix’s HP so it’s worth taking them out (though he can also resurrect them), but you must also watch out for Imperator Ix’s Doom Orb (which will put you to sleep and/or stun you), his aggravating counter attacks, and his sceptre blast that can easily KO you or your allies. When you fight him with Sonic’s team, he’s much easier as the Power Pylons can be ignored. You then form another team to chase him down (hopping over his energy balls) and battle him alongside a couple of Gizoid Guardians, which is also a lot easier than the first fight (though you must defeat the Gizoids as well as Imperator Ix). Imperator Ix then transforms into Super Ix using the Master Emerald for a final bout with Super Sonic. This is fought entirely using automatically executed POW Moves, meaning you must tap and drag the stylus to avoid taking damage. Since you cannot use your items and Super Ix regenerates a load of HP, you must perfectly execute your POW Moves and taps to avoid taking too much damage and finish Imperator Ix off for good.
Additional Features: There are forty Chao to hatch in Sonic Chronicles, with numerous eggs scattered across every environment. There are also a bunch of treasure chests to find, each containing regular items and additional accessories to further boost your stats. Further rewards are earned by helping various NPCs and you’ll often need specific characters for this as you need different abilities to explore, but it’s not always mandatory unless you want a fully stocked inventory. I would advise helping E-123 Ω “Omega” in Metropolis, however, as he’s an absolute powerhouse who can really make a difference in a fight. I didn’t have as much use for Cream but, if you’re a fan, you can recruit her in Green Hill Zone. You can also review your Chao in the Chao Garden and even trade them with friends using multi-card play. Completing the game unlocks “New Game+”, which starts a new save file with all your skills, equipment, Chao, and XP carrying over. You must auto-level-up and set each character up, but this makes replaying the game a breeze as you’re so overpowered that nothing poses a threat until you reach the Twilight Cage.
Final Thoughts: I’ve always been a fan of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. It’s ridiculously easy at times, especially on “New Game+”, and incredibly basic for an RPG, but I’ve always found it a fun, hassle-free game for the most part. I enjoyed the story and how it expanded upon echidna lore in interesting ways, finally bringing in some new echidna characters and giving Sonic and his friends a chance to showcase more of their personalities through the dialogue options. I’m still annoyed we never got a resolution to the cliff-hanger and that Shade has vanished into obscurity, and have always defended the game as a decent enough adventure. Yet, Sonic Chronicles is far from perfect. The emphasis on the touch screen was a big mistake, in my opinion, and I would’ve much preferred being able to control my character and make selections with the left stick or directional pad rather than using the stylus. This control scheme makes it clunky and awkward to navigate the sadly barren worlds, whose puzzles are repetitive and often frustrating and amount to little more than accessing a new area or reaching another chest or Chao egg. I quite enjoyed the combat, as limited as it can be. Your enjoyment of the POW Moves may vary depending on how good your touch screen is, but they were a visually fun twist on the usual magic system of most RPGs and I quite liked the chase mechanic, as finnicky as it was. I do think more could’ve been done with this, the character-specific actions, and the character classes, however. It seems the only thing the developers did to make Sonic Chronicles unique was force you to complete touchscreen quick-time events, which is disappointing given the potential of the characters and this world. Graphically, the game’s okay and I never had an issue with the music, but I can see why these aspects are a turn off. Perhaps sticking to traditional 2D for everything but the combat would’ve been a better solution? Either way, I still think Sonic Chronicles is under-rated and over-hated. It’s not going to appeal much to die-hard RPG players but it’s a fun enough introduction to the genre that I’d love to see referenced again in the mainstream games.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
Did you also enjoy Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood or did you find it disappointing? Were you a fan of the touchscreen controls and mechanics? Did you find the graphics and music ugly and grating? Which characters made it into your final team? What did you think to Nocturnus Clan and Shade? Would you like to see these original characters return and get some resolution? Which of Sonic’s spin-off titles is your favourite and how are you celebrating Sonic’s anniversary this year? Let me know your thoughts on Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood in the comments and go support me on Ko-Fi to fund more Sonic content!
Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to gamers worldwide on June 23 1991 and, since then, has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon. Thus, in keeping with tradition, I’m dedicating some time to celebrate SEGA’s supersonic mascot.
Released: 7 June 2004 Developer: Dimps / Sonic Team Metacritic Scores: 79 / 7.9
Also Available For: Nintendo Wii U (Virtual Console, Japan only)
Gameplay and Power-Ups: Unsurprisingly, considering the history of 2D Sonic titles and the previous Sonic Advance series, Sonic Advance 3 is a 2D, sidescrolling platformer in which players race across seven stages (or “Zones”), each with three levels (or “Acts”), collecting Golden Rings to avoid losing a life (and to gain a life once you collect 100) and bashing Badniks to add to your score tally. Like its predecessors, Sonic Advance 3 gives you the option to toggle off the timer, which I’d recommend as the series continues to be stingy with its lives and Sonic Advance 3 substitutes the breakneck speed into bottomless pits from the last game with frustrating surprise hazards, awful enemy placement, and bizarre level geometry that makes Sonic the Hedgehog CD (SEGA, 1993) look well designed! Sonic Advance 3 can also be played on “Easy” or “Normal” difficulties to make bosses easier or harder and players can reconfigure the buttons, though I wouldn’t say there’s a need for this. While each character controls a little differently, being faster or slower and having different jumping heights, they all share some common abilities. Therefore, A always jumps and attacks, B always performs a “Special Attack”, holding the Right trigger always calls your partner to you and allows you to charge and perform a “Tag Action”, and you can pretty much always perform a Spin Dash by holding down on the directional pad and pressing B. All the same power-ups appear in Sonic Advance 3, too, with players getting a speed boost, temporary invincibility, either five, ten, or a random number of Rings, an extra life, being thrust to their maximum speed, being shielded from a single attack, or attracting nearby Rings. This time around, Omochao also appears to give you tips, remind you of the controls, and tell you what stuff does on the hub world. Since there are ten Chao hidden in each Zone, you may need Omachao’s help to find them if you want to enter the Special Stages. Finally, all the usual gimmicks return, such as air bubbles to stave off drowning, springs, boost pads, loop-de-loops, spikes, bottomless pits, and ramps to fly off and perform tricks with R (depending on your team).
Team up characters to change their abilities and perform special Tag Actions.
Yes, like Knuckles’ Chaotix(SEGA, 1995) and Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II(Dimps/Sonic Team, 2012), and in keeping with the theme of the “real superpower of teamwork!” emphasised in Sonic Heroes (Sonic Team USA, 2003), Sonic Advance 3 features a partner system. Players must make a two-person team, with Sonic and Miles “Tails” Prower being the default team and others being unlocked through the story mode. A second player can even jump in for some co-op action and some combinations have special team names, like Sonic and Amy Rose being “Lovely Couple”. While your partner often disappears from the screen due to the game’s fast-paced action and much of it can be played alone, there are times when it’s beneficial to use Tag Actions to bypass obstacles or reach hidden areas. Also, each team fundamentally alters the gameplay, adding or removing abilities from your characters. For example, Tails can still fly by twirling his tails, Knuckles the Echidna can glide and climb walls, Amy whacks Badniks with her Piko-Piko hammer, and Cream the Rabbit flies and commands her Chao, Cheese, to attack enemies, but these abilities change depending on their partner. Consequently, if you partner Tails with Knuckles, Tails cannot fly and instead performs a Knuckles-like glide; Knuckles’ glide gains a homing attack when partnered with Cream; Amy gains a jumping dash when teamed with Sonic; and Cream can spin Cheese in an attack when teamed with Knuckles. There are pros and cons to this; teaming Sonic with Cream, for example, lets him breathe underwater, but having Amy as a partner often leaves you defenceless when jumping. Holding R to summon them performs a Tag Action, such as blasting you ahead at breakneck speed, flinging you high into the air, having Tails carry you around, launching Knuckles as a projectile or gliding on his back, using Cheese as Cream would, and giving you better jumping options with Amy. It’s an interesting system, with some combinations working better than others (Sonic gains and loses his Insta-Shield, Tails his tail swipe, Knuckles his drill claw, and characters gain or lose their ability to perform tricks depending on their partner) but it’s not required to have specific combinations just to beat the game, so just find what works for you and experiment later when you’re hunting for Chao.
There’s a greater emphasis on platforming in this clunky, colourful title.
While the partner system is somewhat lacklustre, it’s a joy compared to Sonic Advance 3’s awful level layouts. The game’s faster than Sonic Advance but slower than Sonic Advance 2, blasting you along at high speeds but rarely to unfair deaths. This would be great if it didn’t still throw bottomless spits in the worst places, place Badniks and surprise spikes right in your path, and ask you to make leaps of faith into the void. You can swing on poles, dash up slopes, and run across gaps on moving platforms to falling stones (providing your partner doesn’t screw you over!) You hop in cannons, race across twisting paths, slide down (and jump up) waterfalls, fling into the air off bungees, and spring to higher ground using aggravating jack-in-the-boxes that randomly produce spikes! Often, Acts loop around unless you take the correct path, either using a spring, ramp, platform, or if you fall from a higher path, which gets very old very fast. Almost every time you build up speed, a hazard suddenly appears in your path or you run head-first into an insta-death trap, forcing you to slow down and get around them, Sonic Advance 3 features huge stages and, while the checkpoints help, your limited lives are whittled away by the game’s frustrating trial-and-error approach to gameplay. Sometimes, you bounce off balloons, grab rockets, or get fired from a freezing cannon to reach higher areas; often, you’ll be grinding on rails as shortcuts; and you run around spinning wheels or roll into pipes to reach new areas. Some Zones include platforms that carry you across a track, with you either having to duck or jump over hazards or even hop down to a lower platform to progress, and many include switches that temporarily spawn springs or moving platforms. Many Zones feature specific gimmicks, like Ocean Base largely being underwater, Cyber Track having a gravity gimmick that has you running on ceilings, while other mechanics (see-saw platforms and spinning handholds) are commonplace. Sonic Advance 3 forcibly breaks up the action with its annoyingly large hub worlds, which force you to manually enter each Zone and Act, though they also house minigames to break up the tedium. One sees you racing around an enclosed arena to defeat every Badnik, while the other has you hitting switches on a giant capsule to earn points, with players earning a handful of extra lives if they succeed.
Presentation: Sonic Advance 3 is the visual peak of this spin-off series. The sprite sheets and assets provided loads of content for my old sprite comics and remain the most expressive and visually engaging renditions of these characters, at least in 2D, in my opinion. The team up gimmick adds a bunch of additional animations for the five characters, such as Tails sporting boxing gloves, Cream getting a life ring or an umbrella, Cheese changing sprite depending on who’s using him, and Amy’s hammer changing size and colour. Each has a very cartoony and fun idle pose, new victory poses where they’re running along (with a pseudo-3D effect applied after beating bosses), and the game includes more voice samples, with Doctor Eggman’s “You’re going to pay for this!!” never getting old. The game’s soundtrack isn’t much to shout about, though we do get yet another remix of Green Hill Zone in Sunset Hill. The Chao Garden theme also returns, despite the minigame being sadly absent, and the game utilises more cutscenes. This time, the game doesn’t just use partially animated sprite art and large mug shots of the characters over their speech bubbles but also includes more interactions between the player sprites as they encounter meet during the main story and are unlocked. Despite Dr. Eggman’s newest creation being a copy of Emerl, and players encountering Gemerl several times, no dialogue or cutscenes delve into their shock at seeing him. In fact, the characters don’t refer to Dr. Eggman splitting the world apart either, and no effects of this are seen, which is a bit of a shame as there was a lot of potential in both plots, but especially in the game acting as a quasi-sequel to Sonic Battle.
The colourful visuals and variety are saving graces for this awkward mess of a platformer.
Sonic Advance 3 continues the aesthetic of the last game, which switched from a somewhat blurry and basic 2D recreation of Sonic’s 3D adventures to a more plasticine world. This gives some depth and colour to the environments, though things can get very cluttered and chaotic. Foreground elements are plentiful, backgrounds are deep and busy, and the play area can be so indistinct that it adds to the frustration of surprise hazards. Badniks are ridiculously small, which doesn’t help, and they don’t even release animals when destroyed, just Rings! While I didn’t care for the hub worlds, most Zones are pretty colourful and lively, if a bit barren and overly designed. In a change of pace, players start in a busy highway in Route 99, racing up and down walls and around loops as an egg-shell blue cityscape looms in the background. Sunset Hill actually has more in common with Turquoise Hill Zone and the later Splash Hill Zone than Green Hill, except for some familiar gimmicks, making me wish the developers had worked a little harder rather than relying on nostalgia. Ocean Base somewhat makes up for that, with its nautical theme, wavy water backgrounds, and steampunk/industrial theming. Toy Kingdom is an upgraded Music Plant, featuring big toy construction blocks, fireworks, an ornate background palace, and circus gimmicks like spinning panda cars, balloons, and rockets. It’s all very colourful, but I don’t think this aesthetic suits the franchise. Twinkle Snow veers back to nostalgia, being very reminiscent of Ice Cap Zone and even Ice Mountain Zone, with its aurora borealis and snowy mountain peak aesthetic. I liked the frozen grind rails and icicle spikes, the mine carts, and that the snow slowed you down. Cyber Track echoes Cosmic Angel Zone and Techno Base, apparently taking place in cyberspace, but the Zone is so messy and busy that it ends up looking ugly and being a chore. Finally, Chaos Angel is a riff on Sky Sanctuary Zone and Sonic Advance’s Angel Island Zone, being ruins up in the sky, and is perhaps the most derivative and aggravating area as a result thanks to all the bottomless pits. However, I liked the lightning storm brewing in the clouds, the rolling boulders, and the forgotten ruin aesthetic. This all culminates in a battle before the Master Emerald and, naturally, a final battle in space (albeit set against a cosmic cloud of sorts rather than in orbit).
Enemies and Bosses: While Buzzer and Spinner appear as returning Badniks, Sonic Advance 3 features an all-new selection of robots to smash. We’ve got little ladybug-like Badniks who wander about like Motobugs, jet-powered sharks who torpedo you at the worst possible moments, exploding penguins, crab-like robots who launch their shells, robot monkeys who toss bombs from trees, eel-like robots who burst from walls, and even a praying mantis Badnik who flings its scythe-like blades! Robot octopi hover overhead on propellers and spit projectiles, snowmen toss snowballs, little toy soldiers march along, robot frogs hop about and shoot their tongues at you, robot moles pop from the ground, and there are even robotic piggy banks and hanging spiders. Unfortunately, all these Badniks are way too small and often blend into the background or are placed in the worst places, making them extremely irritating since they’ll either damage you or send you careening down a bottomless pit! Players will battle Gemerl five times throughout the game, sometimes at the end of an Act 3 and sometimes prior to facing Dr. Eggman. In the first encounter, Gemerl is much like Silver Sonic and simply blasts across the screen; then, he gains a jump and homing attack to recall the Hidden Palace Zone battle with Knuckles. Then, he adds a slow-moving missile that gets upgraded into a full-blown airstrike, before protecting himself with a shield, learning to teleport, and taking a few more hits to defeat. However, what works in the first fight will work every time and he’s more a nuisance than a real threat, at least until the finale. Gemerl pulls double duty here and also gets plugged into Dr. Robotnik’s latest contraptions, occasionally popping out during boss fights but otherwise being a non-factor. Thankfully, the auto-runner bosses of the last game are gone, replaced with standard battles against Dr. Eggman, though they can still be a bit irritating.
Gemerl constantly gets in your way, eventually transforming into a massive mech!
Dr. Eggman tries to crush you in the spring-loaded Egg Hammer 3 (which is quite large and difficult to avoid), tries to run you down in the Egg Ball No.2, with players hopping to a temporary platform to time attacks on his cockpit, before hopping about in his frog-like Egg Foot that you can easily scoot under. The Egg Cube was a touch more threatening thanks to the gaps either side of the platform and its large homing missile, chained mace, and annoying toy soldiers. However, you must hit the cockpit enough times to force it over the edge and you can just to stay up close for an easy win. Things really ramped up with the Egg Chaser, where you desperately hop to falling platforms as Dr. Eggman clambers up an igloo tower. As if the bottomless pit wasn’t bad enough, it’s really easy to slip and you can only damage his craft by having the platforms drop on him, so it’s best to use someone who can fly. The Egg Pinball was also kinda annoying there are disappearing platforms either side of the arena and you must ricochet Dr. Eggman’s balls back at him. The best idea is to avoid Amy since she often removes your spin jump and just spam jump until you randomly hit him enough times. The Egg Gravity was a pain in the ass, too. You’re on this chain-like, spindly platform, and Dr. Eggman’s protected by an electric current and causes the platform hit into the spikes. You must run into the tubes on either side to quickly hit Gemerl’s head, which rams Dr. Eggman into the spikes, but this gets tricker as the battle progresses and things speed up. You then battle the gigantic, looming Hyper Eggrobo, who tries to crush you with his massive hands and temporarily removes platforms from the arena. However, you can hop onto those hands to attack the cockpit, but you’ll have to be quick as the Hyper Eggrobo produces spheres that can be tricky to avoid (but also act as platforms). Finally, Dr. Eggman tries to clap you between the mech’s hands and hit you with a wind-up punch! Grab all the Chaos Emeralds and you’ll battle the true final boss, Ultimate Gemerl, which unexpectedly sees Super Sonic team up with Dr. Eggman! In this fight, you must hold R to charge an attack that sees Dr. Eggman hurled at Ultimate Gemerl, though you’ll have to contend with your Rings constantly ticking down, Ultimate General’s long and spindly arms, his stunning laser, and his missile barrage.
Additional Features: There are ten Chao hidden in every Zone. Unlike the last game’s Special Rings, these are much easier to find and you only have to find them once, and you can find them with any character. However, tracking them down can be a ball ache and, once you do, you have to replay an Act to find a Special Key, which you must then bring to a Special Spring hidden in the hub world and then you can challenge the Special Stage! Again, you can carry a stock of Special keys but I’ll never understand why the Sonic Advance games overcomplicated the Special Stages so much! Although I never got all seven Chaos Emeralds, I did get five of them, which is more than the last two games. The Special Stages are a vast improvement over their predecessors, but still quite finnicky. You must move the Tornado about a surreal landscape, collecting Ring clusters and hitting speed boosts for multipliers, while avoiding bombs and missiles. Collect all seven Chaos Emeralds and you unlock a special cutscene where Gemerl turns on Dr. Eggman and forces him to team up with Super Sonic to battle Ultimate Gemerl in the true final Zone, “Nonaggression”, which earns the game’s real ending that sees Tails reprogram Gemerl to live with Cream. Beyond that, Sonic Advance 3 offers different languages, a harder difficulty mode, a time attack feature, and a multiplayer mode. I’ve never experienced this but apparently you can play the main game in co-op or take on up to four players in a race to the goal or to find and hold on to a Chao. Clearing Altar Emerald unlocks the game’s sound test, and you’ll also unlock a boss time attack if you get bronze, silver, and gold medals for every Act and boss fight. These medals are awarded for how quickly you beat each Act, which I’m sure is an incentive for speed runners but I wasn’t all that bothered.
Final Thoughts: As slow, dull, and uncreative as Sonic Advance was, I think Sonic Advance 3 is probably the worst of the series. There’s just enough here to keep it enjoyable and somewhat on par for the franchise, but my God did this game annoy me! I like the idea of the team up mechanic, and I enjoyed that different partners changed how characters played and what abilities they had, but all it really boiled down to was an extra layer of challenge if you pick a shite combination. There are rarely any instances where you need a specific duo, no significant alternative paths afforded to certain combinations, and your partner isn’t even on the screen half the time! It’s just so barebones and lacklustre that it makes me wonder why they bothered since even the Tag Actions rarely add much, especially if you use Tails or Cream to simply fly to where you need to go. The level layouts are also a mess this time around. Zones are a visual cacophony at times, which doesn’t help, with teeny-tiny Badniks and way too many surprise hazards, but the geometry had me running into walls or looping around in frustration. I honestly preferred the high-speed mechanic of the last game to this, which might’ve worked better here given Sonic Advance 3 is a bit fairer with its pits. They still appear and they’re still annoying, but I felt they were less prevalent, likely because the game’s focused more on platforming than racing. The lack of emotional significance given to Gemerl was also disappointing, though I did like the large role he played in boss battles (even if the two-on-one fights against him were quite tame). The lack of a Chao Garden was a shame, and I didn’t like that the game still massively overcomplicates accessing Special Stages (even if I was able to actually play and beat some this time). Ultimately, I feel Sonic Advance 3 failed to (dare I say it) advance the series to a satisfying conclusion as it replaced fast-paced action with muddling platforming and annoying mechanics, ending things of a bit of a downer for what was supposed to be a throwback to Sonic’s 2D glory days.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
What did you think to Sonic Advance 3? Did you enjoy the team-up mechanic and, if so, which combination was your favourite? What did you think to Gemerl, the battles against him, and the game’s ties to Sonic Battle? Did you also struggle with the level layout and focus on platforming? Were you also annoyed by the annoying requirements to enter the Special Stages? Did you ever collect the Chaos Emeralds and defeat Ultimate Gemerl? Which of Sonic’s Game Boy Advance titles is your favourite and how are you celebrating Sonic’s anniversary this year? Whatever your thoughts on Sonic Advance 3, leave a comment below, support me on Ko-Fi, and go check out my other Sonic content!
Sonic the Hedgehog was first introduced to gamers worldwide on June 23 1991 and, since then, has become not only SEGA’s most enduring and popular character but also a beloved videogame icon. Thus, in keeping with tradition, I’m dedicating some time to celebrate SEGA’s supersonic mascot.
Released: 8 November 1996 Developer: Traveller’s Tales / Sonic Team MobyGames Score: 6.9
Also Available For: GameCube, PC, Nintendo Wii (Virtual Console), PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, SEGA Saturn, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X
Gameplay and Power-Ups: Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island (as I’ve always known it) advertises itself as Sonic’s first 3D romp but is actually an isometric action game that’s basically a remake of the classic SEGA arcade game Flicky (SEGA, 1984). While many of the traditional Sonic mechanics and tropes remain, the new perspective and focus on rescuing Flickies significantly changes the usual gameplay, slowing the action and putting more emphasis on exploration. As ever, players collect Golden Rings to stay alive; 100 grant an extra life and players get a score bonus at the end of each level (or “Act”). There are no underwater sections in Sonic 3D so there’s no danger of drowning, and (thankfully!) no bottomless pits. Even insta-kill crushing hazards are few and far between, though players must avoid spikes, lava, and slippery ice. There are seven worlds (or “Zones”) to play through, each with three Acts (the third being a boss battle against Dr. Eggman), and no time limit (though, again, players get a time bonus upon competing an Act). From the main menu, players can tinker with the controls but they’re ridiculously simple: two buttons see you perform Sonic’s iconic spin jump to bop Badniks and hop to springs and platforms, while one sees you rev up and blast away with his Spin Dash. Both are quite irksome as Sonic 3D isn’t built for speed and Sonic slips and slides about even on stable ground, and the isometric perspective makes it tricky to judge the angle of your attack. Players can smash monitors to gain additional Rings, a near useless speed boost, an extra life, or a limited invincibility. There are also three shields to find that protect you from one hit: a regular blue shield, an extremely useful red shield that also makes you fireproof, and a gold shield that adds a super helpful homing attack to your jump to easily smash nearby Badniks. Players start with three lives and no continues, but can earn continues by collecting Sonic icons floating above springs; get ten and you get a continue.
Search all around for Flickies, using Zone gimmicks to rescue and safeguard the elusive birds.
Sonic uses boost pads, loops, springs, and special fans to twirl around like a tornado and smash pillars in Rusty Ruin Zone to reach other areas. You must also keep an eye out for cracked walls as these can be Spin Dashed into to access hidden areas. Sometimes, cannons blast you across stages; other times, pipes and teleports blast you across the surprisingly large maps. You’ll need all these gimmicks, and more, to hunt down the Badniks roaming the first and second Acts of each Zone. Unlike in other Sonic games, where bashing Badniks is somewhat optional, it’s mandatory in Sonic 3D as you must collect the Flickies each robot releases. Each Act has up to three areas in it, each with five Badniks (and therefore five Flickies) to find and bring to a Dimension Ring. Flickies trail behind you, giving you extra reach to snag Sonic icons, and are protected by your shields and invincibility, but you lose them if your trail is hit. You must then recollect the Flickies you’ve lost, which can be tricky as each has a different personality. The traditional blue Flickies actively fly towards Sonic or circle around; the pink ones are the same but fly in bigger circles; red Flickies don’t try to find Sonic and are hard to snag due to their large jumps; and green Flickies wander around at random, sometimes avoiding Sonic! Acts can be quite large and have many branching paths or sections, meaning you must often do multiple laps to find all the Badniks and Flickies, though the heads-up display helpfully keeps track of how many you’ve found. When you reach Panic Puppet Zone, the Badniks are empty so you must liberate Flickies from capsules, and every time you bring them to a Dimension Ring, you get a point bonus and activate a transport or path to another section. This mechanic is quite fun, on paper, and adds extra incentive to smash Badniks, but it can get frustrating running in circles looking for Badniks or if your Flickies get separated near dangerous sections. Sonic’s so slippery and sluggish that it makes precise movements difficult, to say nothing of jumps, attacks, and retrieving Flickies being compounded by the isometric angle.
The game’s simple difficulty is compounded by the awkward camera and clunky controls.
This is even more annoying in the many sections where players must jump, spring, or float to shifting or temporary platforms on angled slopes. It’s extremely difficult to angle Sonic correctly, causing you to constantly slip and have to retry, something even more aggravating when you must take a long route back around. Spikes jut from the floor or buzz along the walls, destructible stones reveal lava tiles surrounding shortcut tubes, the floor is often electrified or defending by land mines, and flames burst from the walls or up from lava. Sonic can hop to ballons (if you can angle him right) to avoid many hazards, or float about using floor fans, and high-speed tubes and teleports or hidden passageways will provide shortcuts. Often, areas are defended by turrets that fire laser bolts or rapid-fire projectiles. Some springs are buried beneath destructible snow drifts in Diamond Dust Zone, and you’ll bounce around like a pinball by Spring Stadium Zone’s bumpers and spring tiles. Diamond Dust Zone also features rushing water you must frantically jump across to avoid being pushed into icicles. Spear-like spikes jut from the floor, you’ll sometimes use wall springs or awkward jumps to cross gaps or hop to moving or temporary platforms (thankfully not that often, given the janky perspective), and you’ll be frantically seeking out a red shield in Volcano Valley Zone to safely cross lava and survive the many flaming hazards. Even when floor tiles open, you won’t fall to your death, at least, and the game is mostly pretty easy. It can be aggravating running around looking for Badniks and Flickies, especially in the more confusing Zones like Gene Gadget Zone, and hazards increase as you reach the endgame, but there are no cheap deaths in Sonic 3D. Still, the pacing can be very draining since the areas are so big, and the Badniks only pose a significant threat in Panic Puppet Zone, where you can largely ignore them.
Presentation: I remember getting Sonic 3D for Christmas as a kid. Back then, I was super excited for it and really enjoyed the new graphical approach, especially as the game ambitiously sticks pre-rendered videos and imaging onto a Mega Drive cart. Unfortunately, Sonic 3D hasn’t aged very gracefully and Donkey Kong Country was never at risk of being surpassed by it. The game makes a bad impression right away, replacing the iconic “SE-GAA!” fanfare with a desperate scream, before treating players to one of the blurriest and most pixelated pre-rendered openings of the era. The pre-rendered stills used in cutscenes are much more effective, and Sonic 3D is one of the few classic Sonic titles to use story text and even dialogue for Sonic in its cutscenes. Players are then dropped into an isometric landscape that is a real mixed bag. On one hand, the environments are somewhat impressive and fun to look at, particularly the outer edges, but the checkerboard floor tiles are ridiculously basic and really distract from the pre-rendered environments. In this regard, the Saturn fares much better, bringing environments to life with much more detail. Sonic looks pretty good and still taps his foot impatiently when left idle, but his sprite is very blurred and indistinct, and he hobbles about like he’s on rollerskates most of the time. Miles “Tails” Prower and Knuckles the Echidna appear as cameos, performing their own idles, which is a nice touch (though Knuckles’s socks are the wrong colour…) and I liked that Dr. Eggman’s crafts show battle damage as you land hits and that the Flickies had distinct personalities. While Sonic 3D recycles some sound effects from Sonic & Knuckles(SEGA Technical Institute, 1994), which is a bit cheap, they’re some of the best, bombastic sound effects in the classic games and the excellent soundtrack, courtesy of Jun Senoue, more than makes up for it. The boss themes and the likes of Green Grove Zone and Panic Puppet Zone, especially, really stood out for me and I’m glad some of the game’s music was repurposed for Sonic Adventure(Sonic Team, 1998) as Sonic 3D has some of the best tunes in the classic games.
As colourful and ambitious as Sonic 3D is, the Saturn version is visually superior.
It’s thus a shame that the Zones are so painfully lacklustre. The action begins in Green Grove Zone, which is essentially just Green Hill Zone in a pseudo-3D style. There are loops, ponds, grassy verges, and hills and dips all around this simplistic sandbox that allows players to get to grips with Sonic 3D’s clunky controls and gameplay mechanics. Things improve with Rusty Ruins Zone, where you explore the ruins of an ancient civilisation, smashing pillars and spotting vases and suits of armour in the moss-encrusted brickwork. This Zone uses a unique mechanic where players must carefully manoeuvre Sonic as he spins like a top, trying not to bounce off walls and into the spinning maces, to break open new areas. Spring Stadium Zone is an isometric rendition of the classic pinball trope, with players being bounced around by bumpers and spring tiles. Balloons help get you to higher ground, spiral tubes blast you around, and there’s far more emphasis on vertical traversal. Diamond Dust Zone is a frozen landscape of snow, freezing cannons, slippery slopes, and rushing water. Sonic can be frozen into an ice cube, must avoid exploding snowmen, and will skid along uncontrollably on ice. Volcano Valley Zone is kind of an isometric interpretation of Lava Reef Zone, featuring painful lava all over, flame bursts, hidden tubes, and elevators you must activate with your Spin Dash. Gene Gadget Zone is one of Dr. Eggman’s mechanical facilities, featuring a mess of tubes and wires, propellers to float you across gaps, energy barriers to dispel with Flickies, and teleporters to disorientate you. Panic Puppet Zone is the heart of Dr. Eggman’s operation, as indicated by his gigantic statue which you must work your way into. Flickies are held in capsules here, conveyor belts must be reversed so you can progress, and there are many annoying slopes with moving platforms on them. Things end up very basic in the finale, which is largely a black void filled with sparkling tiles, and even the Special Stages are disappointingly simple as you just run along a blurring path, the Rings vanishing with no special effect, compared to the Saturn version’s polygon halfpipe challenges.
Enemies and Bosses: Naturally, Dr. Eggman’s encased the local Flickies into robotic Badniks, the most useless and ineffectual to date! Their primary threat comes from the game’s isometric angle, which makes targeting enemies difficult unless you have the gold shield, as Badniks don’t even fire projectiles until late in the game! Anyway, we’ve got a pretty mediocre affair here, with some recognisable faces tossed in for good measure. The Snake, for example, resembles a Caterkiller; the Bug is not unlike a Motobug; and the Octopus turret is a bit like an Octus. While the likes of Hunter, Shell, and Scorpy have spiked appendages, these are little threat unless you’re at the wrong angle. Mouses are quite fast and tend to wander near hazardous floor tiles, Spiders spit projectiles (but also don’t contain Flickies), and the robotic puffer fish inflate themselves to skewer you, forcing you to properly time your spin attack. Some are less than useless, however, like a Charmy Bee lookalike, defenceless robotic penguins, crocodiles, and dragonflies, and pogo-riding rabbits. Honestly, it’s the various turrets, floor tiles, spikes, and wall defences that give you the hardest time as these cannot be defeated. Most Badniks just wander in a circle or stand still, making them easy targets, but it can be tricky retrieving their Flickies. Naturally, every third Act features a battle against Dr. Eggman. These take place in an enclosed arena with a handful of Rings, but can also contain environmental hazards, like spikes and lava, and the final fights also have multiple phases. Again, the biggest challenge here is getting the angle of your attack right as you can often only attack when Dr. Eggman descends in his craft. Jump too soon and you’re liable to take a hit; jump too late and you might just bounce off without dealing damage.
Angle your jumps just right to smash Dr. Eggman’s pre-rendered crafts.
In the first fight, Dr. Eggman circles the arena and drops a spiked ball that bounces around; you can ram him when he descends to retrieve it. In the second, he hides inside an armoured suit and tries to crush you with stone paws. You must hop to these to ram his cockpit while avoiding pellets from his belly cannon. Spring Stadium Zone sees Dr. Eggman frantically slap his craft’s spiked arms to the floor, making him very difficult to hit due to the deceptive angle. Although he drops exploding snowmen and his craft is protected by freezing appendages in Diamond Dust Zone, this boss is far easier as you’ll destroy his defences with each hit. Volcano Valley Zone’s boss is a bit trickier, despite Dr. Eggman being stationary, due to the travelling flames, the flames bursting from the pipes, and the lava. However, you can stand in one spot and spam your spin attack as long as you keep collecting a Ring. Gene Gadget Zone’s boss is a bit like Quartz Quadrant’s as you’re on a treadmill and must keep running to avoid the wall spikes, while also dodging projectiles, though you still ram his craft to win. Panic Puppet Zone concludes in a three-stage battle, with Dr. Eggman fleeing to lower levels and utilising different attacks each time. You must lure his arms to slam the floor in the first phase, dodge his flames in the second, and frantically avoid the ricocheting bullets in the third, targeting the shoulders of his craft each time and disabling each appendage in turn. If you collect all seven Chaos Emeralds, you’re taken to “The Final Fight”, where Dr. Eggman’s battlecraft uses five different attacks across a looping stage and can only be hit once per section, when it briefly moves forwards. First, you must avoid the lasers shot by his fingers; then, you must dodge dancing flames; then, avoid his slamming spiked hands; he rains missiles in the fourth section, and fires ricocheting projectiles in the fifth. As long as a you hit him each time, you can beat this in two loops, but don’t linger when moving to each section as you’ll lose a life!
Additional Features: There are loads of Sonic icons to find in Sonic 3D, with many requiring all five Flickies to reach. Ten grant a continue, which aren’t really necessary, but it gives you something else to do as you’re playing. Many areas sport hidden paths, tunnels, islands, or sections containing goodies like extra lives or shields, and you’ll encounter Tails and Knuckles in almost every Act. If you give them 50 Rings, you’ll warp to a Special Stage to challenge for one of the seven Chaos Emeralds, and Sonic 3D offers perhaps the easiest Special Stage in the entire series! You must run across a winding bridge, avoiding mines and collect 50, 100, then 150 Rings to get a Chaos Emerald, which is ridiculously easy to do (though finding Tails and Knuckles can be difficult). Though you won’t unlock Super Sonic, the seven Chaos Emeralds allow you to play “The Final Fight” and see the game’s true ending. If you fiddle with the Mega Drive cartridge, you can legitimately to unlock a level select feature (though a traditional push button code also exists on both this and the Saturn version). When playing on the SEGA Mega Drive Classics (SEGA/D3T, 2018), you can use the Right and Left triggers to rewind and fast forward the game, create and load save states, apply filters and borders, and earn a couple of Achievements.
Official and unofficial re-releases offer additional features alongside the standard true final boss.
If you’re lucky enough to own a SEGA Saturn, Sonic 3D has some additional features. Obviously, this version benefits from improved visuals, particularly in the appearance of the Zones, including textured floors and weather effects. The Special Stages are also completely different, featuring new cutscenes and a polygonal recreation of the iconic halfpipe stages. This version also features an improved and remixed soundtrack, clearer and longer pre-rendered cutscenes, and limits you to collecting one Chaos Emerald per act. However, the most definitive way to play Sonic 3D must be the Director’s Cut ROM hack by Jon Burton. This unofficially official re-release adds a world map so you can replay any Zone or Act, a time attack mode, a level editor, and a password feature to save your progress. Collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds also unlocks Super Sonic when you collect 50 Rings, giving you the benefits of all the game’s power-ups, as well as a score attack mode after attaining 100% completion. Sonic is made faster, the camera is vastly improved, and Sonic only loses one Flicky at a time when hit. As in the Saturn version, you can only get one Chaos Emerald per Zone, Sonic icons are now simply collectibles rather than gifting continues, scrapped Badniks have been programmed back in, and the HUD now flashes to alert you when you’ve lost Flickies. While the game still has its flaws, this is easily the best and most enjoyable way to play Sonic 3D due to the many gameplay and graphical improvements and it really goes to show the potential the game had, and how little effort SEGA often puts into its ports and remasters of the classic titles.
Final Thoughts: I have a lot of nostalgia for Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island. My Sonic fandom was at its peak when I first got it and I was consuming Sonic any way I could, so naturally I had to enjoy his newest and most ambitious release yet. And, yet, I remember being disappointed by it even back then. Sure, it uses “3D graphics”, but it limits you to playing as Sonic, the usual fast-paced, action-packed gameplay is gone, and the new mechanics can be laborious at times. The visuals are a mixed bag for me, with some aspects of the Zones being quite impressive and others being very bland. The size of the areas is impressive, until you realise how much backtracking and exploring you have to do, which just drags the game out as you’re shunted about the different areas. Sonic looks okay as a pre-rendered sprite but is so slippery and ungainly that he loses his trademark speed and it’s far too easy to take damage or miss your target due to the annoying angle. I’ve always disliked isometric games for this very reason and, while Sonic 3D isn’t too aggravating with this perspective, some platforming challenges are infuriating because you can’t properly see what you’re doing or where you’re going. I didn’t mind the scavenger hunt for the Flickies, and it was a fun, unique way to reinterpret Flicky (SEGA, 1984) and change up the gameplay, but it gets quite tedious after a while and Sonic 3D doesn’t offer anything to break up the monotony. I like that the game, and its Special Stages, are easy, but you can’t save your progress, so you have to do it all over every time, and it’s barely worth it to get 100% completion. Just about the only think worth mentioning about this disappointing title is the amazingly catchy soundtrack and the incredible work Jon Burton did improving its many flaws years after its release. It’s not a Sonic title I often revisit, and I wish SEGA would port the Saturn version, but Sonic 3D is okay if you haven’t played it before or in a while, just perhaps trying a little too hard to do something different and therefore losing what makes Sonic special in the process.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
Are you a fan of Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island? Which version did you grew up with, which do you think is superior, and have you ever played the Director’s Cut ROM hack? What did you think to the Flicky rescuing gimmick and isometric perspective? Were you also a fan of the soundtrack? Did you ever collect the seven Chaos Emeralds and see the true ending? Which Sonic spin-off is your favourite and how are you celebrating SEGA’s mascot this month? Let me know your thoughts on Sonic 3D in the comments, support me on Ko-Fi, and go check out my other Sonic content.
Sixty-five million years ago, dinosaurs ruled the Earth. These massive beasts existed for about 180 million years before a cataclysmic event left them mere fossils. Fittingly, “Dinosaur Day” gives dino fans an ample opportunity to pay homage to these near-mythical titans.
Released: 28 February 2021 Originally Released: 4 March 1997 Developer: Nightdive Studios Original Developer: Iguana Entertainment
Metacritic Scores: 85 / 8.0 Also Available For: Nintendo 64, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC (Original Release); Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S (Remaster)
Gameplay and Power-Ups: Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is an early FPS title for the generation-defining Nintendo 64, actually the first FPS game developed for the system and, as such, set the bar for future FPS games released for the console (to the point where Turok’s control scheme was often a default or alternative for other shooters). Naturally, Turok takes a lot of inspiration from Doom(id Software, 1993) for its gameplay and controls, with players assuming control of Tal’Set, the titular Turok (despite the original Nintendo 64 version depicting his successor, Joshua Fireseed), and journeying across eight levels (nine, if you include the hub world) to oppose the mysterious Campaigner’s plot to tear apart reality with his techno-organic army of dinosaurs and other minions. The game’s controls are entirely customisable, and I’d recommend tweaking them to your liking. For example, I set the “bindings” to have the Right Trigger attack with Turok’s current weapon, A to jump, and the Left and Right Bumpers switch weapons. I had X toggle between ammo types (where available), Y bring up the surprisingly useful wireframe map, and set the run toggle to the right directional pad. There’s no reloading in Turok, though you can tweak the settings to set whether or not you automatically switch weapons upon acquiring new ones, change the colour of the blood, toggle Turok’s head bob, and toggle various sound and graphic effects (such as draw distance and fog). Turok offers a “Training” mode for you to get accustomed to the gameplay, which mainly sees you exploring levels cutting down respawning enemies, collecting various keys, and tackling one of the worst affronts to FPS gameplay ever conceived: first-person platforming! Although this is a remaster of the classic Nintendo 64 game, Nightdive Studios haven’t implemented modern quality of life features like save states or rewinds, so you’ll still be relying on extra lives (acquired by collecting 100 Life Force points) and rare checkpoints and manual save points scattered across each level.
Shoot, jump, and explore to track down elusive keys in the classic but clunky FPS title.
Turok’s reasonably durable and can partially or fully recover his health with various pickups and can even permanently extend it by collecting “Mortal Wounds” that randomly drop when you kill enemies with your knife or basic arrows. “Spiritual Invincibility” temporarily makes you invincible and slows enemies, “Tek Armour” grant additional armour points, and backpacks increase how much ammo you can carry. Turok can (awkwardly) swim and climb vine walls and ladders; while he doesn’t take fall damage, he will be hurt by lava or boiling tar pits, and you lose a life if you plummet down a pit. This respawns you from your last checkpoint, though any collectibles and non-respawning enemies helpfully stay gone. Turok utilises a wide array of weapons, starting with a simple knife and a bow that fires regular and “Tek Arrows” that explode on contact. You quickly grab a pistol, a shotgun, and a fairly useless assault rifle. The automatic shotgun later became my default weapon, especially when you acquire explosive shells, while the minigun is great for shredding larger enemies. The rapid-fire pulse rifle is a far better alternative to the assault rifle, the grenade launcher is decent for blowing up enemies from a distance, and you even get a heavy-duty quad rocket launcher that’s best saved for bosses. Search around enough and you’ll find an alien weapon that fires explosive energy bursts, a shockwave cannon, and the ridiculously powerful particle cannon, though these all have very limited ammunition. Every level also hides part of the legendary “Chronoscepter”, the ultimate weapon that you’ll only complete right before the final boss and which decimates anything caught in its blast radius. Although ammo is plentiful, it’s usually best not to kill most enemies as they quickly respawn and most can just be avoided. However, there are times when you’re forced to defeat all enemies in a given area to lower barriers or raise platforms. It’s also worth noting that hazards like falls, falling boulders, and even some enemy attacks hurt your enemies, and also that some areas are rigged with flame bursts, spike pits and traps, wall lasers, and heavy cannons.
As if hazards and tough enemies weren’t bad enough, platforming becomes challenging as you progress.
Although things start fairly linear, later levels become much larger or more maze-like, which can leave you running in circles frantically searching for the right path. The map helps but it can be difficult following it when dealing with the respawning enemies. Each level contains several keys that must be found to unlock levels from the hub and these can be easily missed, meaning you must replay previous levels to hunt them down. The pause menu tracks which ones you’re missing and they’re fairly easy to spot, either being out in the open, across short jumps, or accessed via obvious alternative paths. Teleporters transport you across levels, pressure switches lower gates, raise paths, or open doors, and you must occasionally race from a switch to a door before it closes. Turok is littered with aggravating platforming challenges that start relatively safe (you’ll drop to water or a lower level if you fall and must climb back up to try again) but quickly become very tricky as you’re jumping to moving or extremely narrow platforms over lava or bottomless pits. The longer you hold the jump button, the further Turok jumps, and it can help to look down before you jump, but these platforms and columns eventually become so small that it’s very anxiety-inducing jumping to them. When on the Ruins level, you must jump to ledges so narrow they’re barely distinguishable from the rest of the environment or you must take running jumps from tiny platforms and will be frustrated by failure. The Lost Land sees you hopping to stone columns that rise and fall, making jumps difficult to judge while the Ancient City are more labyrinthine, offering higher paths and tunnels to goodies or shortcuts, and containing various doors and narrow corridors where enemies skulk around every corner. Blue portals also spawn all over, transporting you to relatively safe bonus areas where you must hop to or cross various platforms to stock up on ammo or Life Force points, though these are entirely optional.
Presentation: I remember the original Turok. I think everyone had a copy on Nintendo 64 back in the day. It was a foggy mess whose environments popped in from the murk and your vision was largely obscured when underwater. Thankfully, this remaster fixes most of that but there’s still a lot of fog. The Treetop Village employs it as a gameplay mechanic, however, as you’re high up in villages built around giant trees, watching as gigantic Brontosauruses stomp around you. Fog also obscures much of the Ruins level to make jumps to narrow ledges or wooden platforms even more troublesome and there’s a murky haze in the Lost Land that’s explained by the volcanic activity. Surprisingly, and disappointingly, there’s no story in Turok, not even some text setting the stage. You get no in-game context behind anything, no ending beyond watching Tal’Set escape the Campaigner’s exploding citadel, and no introductory sequence beyond Tal’Set dramatically shooting an arrow at the title screen. Even the old instruction manual was light on context, which is a shame as even Doom had some text to set the scene. You rarely see Tal’Set during gameplay unless you mess up, then you’re treated to various fun death animations (if enabled), but you do hear him grunt and scream when attacked and loudly proclaim “I am Turok!” when you earn an extra life. Turok’s music is a largely forgettable mixture of tribal sounds, ambient noises, and thumping bass. I did like the growls and screeches of unseen animals lurking in the jungle and appreciated the sounds of enemies teleporting in, which kept me moving at a steady (if often frantic) pace. You’ll often see wild boar, deer, and monkeys wandering levels that can be attacked for extra health, fish in the water, and blood will splatter with each attack. Enemies have some fun death animations, like slowly choking to death as arterial spray juts from the necks or blowing to pieces when you fire grenades at their bodies.
Sadly, the lack of story and visual variety drags the game down and the visuals remain as murky as ever.
Sadly, there’s not much visual variety to Turok. You start in the hub, which is a dense, linear jungle area consisting of various crumbling ruins, water pools, narrow canyons, and bottomless spits. This leads directly into the first level, the Jungle, which is mostly the same and establishes that you must find keys, press switches, and defeat waves of respawning enemies. The Jungle introduces log bridges, abandoned settlements, and that the Tek Arrows can blow up certain areas. You’ll venture into narrow, twisting caverns, wade or dive into water, and hop across some simple gaps as a taste for things to come. The Ancient City takes the jungle assets and muddies them up, placing more emphasis on vaguely Aztec ruins, temples, and structures made from dilapidated stone. The Ruins up the emphasis on platform as the level is based almost entirely around a cliffside area, with twisting log platforms winding around stone columns, narrow rope bridges threaten to drop you to your death, a maze of pillars, and various waterfalls and flooded areas. When in the Catacombs, things become more restrictive and maze-like as you avoid boiling tar and press switches to open various doors, dodging blade gears, raiding tombs, and being surprised when the brutish Pur-Lins burst through the stone walls. This ancient tomb also sees stone panels breathe fire at you, has you climbing blocky walls, and sees you pressing a specific switch to drain water and open a new area. The Treetop Village was surprisingly impressive, despite the fog, as you’re suspended high above, fighting past wooden huts, making numerous jumps to narrow cliff ledges, and battling waves of enemies against a thunderstorm backdrop. The Lost Land is a largely barren hellscape full of volcanos, lava pits, and the Campaigner’s heavily guarded, futuristic citadel. This level features some of the trickiest platforming as you hop to floating platforms and to extremely narrow columns, and narrow corridors within the highly advanced citadel that represents the game’s busiest location. It all gets a bit samey, however, as the same jungle environments, caverns, cliffsides, and ruins and recycled across each area, meaning many levels lack a strong visual identity.
Enemies and Bosses: The Campaigner’s forces are many and varied, ranging from humanoid to dinosaur to alien warriors. You’ll encounter aggressive natives who wield knifes, pistols, spears, and shotguns, with some tossing grenades or unloading with assault rifles. These are upgraded to cyborgs in the Final Confrontation, with their shotgun-wielding commanders being notably durable. Demonic humanoids also appear, with their priests being particularly annoying as they launch fireballs and lightning and can take a lot of shots to put down, while their skeleton-painted minions spit darts. Acid-spitting, man-eating plants later appear, extremely annoying beetles and gremlin-like Lurkers hop around the various caverns, and giant prehistoric dragonflies flitter about in the skies of the Lost Land. You’ll also encounter giant grabs in the fetid sewers of the Campaigner’s citadel, giant burrowing sandworms, and heavily armoured battle robots who boast minigun arms and quad rocket launchers. The hulking Pur-Lins are smartly positioned like mini bosses, dropping in to guard keys, switches, or gates. They also produce a shockwave, launch fireballs, and tumble into you when downed so it’s best to keep your distance, especially if you’re near a pit. Various cybernetically enhanced, frog-like aliens also appear, firing plasma shots, flying with a jetpack, and occasionally initiating a self-destruct. You’ll also encounter voracious Utahraptors who bite, swipe, and jump kick you, slower Dimetrodons wander about snapping at your heels, and enemies will ride Triceratopses in the Lost Land. Like later Dimetrodons and Utahraptors, these are cybernetically enhanced, boasting miniguns and grenade launchers, which can make these usually simple (if annoying) enemies much more formidable as they’re packing serious heat!
The gigantic and powerful bosses are impressive but sadly in short number.
Although Turok boasts eight levels, there are only five bosses to contend with so the battle robots, Pur-Lins, and Triceratopses often act as mid- or end guardians. When you do fight bosses, they boast a health bar and you respawn in the boss arena if you die, which is super helpful. You may encounter some bosses out of order depending on what keys you have, but you’ll most likely fight the Longhunter first. This is a two-stage battle that first sees you attacked by two Humvees that race around firing machine guns and rockets and ram into you if you get too close. Once they’re gone, the Longhunter rolls about firing plasma shots and tossing a boomerang-like razor blade that’s tricky to avoid. Oddly, the gigantic Mantis was a far easier fight despite it being much larger and having better attacks. The Mantis leaps about, destroying walls and spitting corrosive acid that lingers for a short time. It also swipes with its bladed arms and eventually flies about dropping gunk or scrambling about on the ceiling and firing explosive shots, though I did pretty good with the minigun and pulse rifle. After clearing out the aliens, cyborgs, and hulking robots littered throughout the Campaigner’s futuristic citadel, players area teleported to a circular arena and fight a titanic, cybernetically enhanced Tyrannosaurs rex named “Thunder”. A fast, huge enemy, Thunder quickly stomps towards you and will decimate your health if it bites you. If you stay back, Thunder produces a shockwave off a leap and breathes fire, eventually sweeping the arena with is laser eye as your attacks destroy its mechanical parts. Thankfully, you’re given a save point and loads of gear prior to battling the Campaigner, who frantically teleports about, hides behind an energy shield, and unleashes a barrage of enemy projectiles. He also attacks with an axe-like club and can restrict your more powerful weapons if they’re used, though the Chronoscepter drains huge chunk of his help if you have it and if you can get a clear shot.
Additional Features: There are a paltry ten Achievements up for grabs in this remaster of Turok, with one being awarded each time you defeat a boss and when you complete the game on any difficulty. You’ll get another if you collect enough Mortal Wounds, another for killing three enemies at once with the knife (I recommended doing this against the beetles), and another for clearing the “Training” mode and assembling the Chronoscepter. Although the game has four difficulty modes, you’re better off sticking to “Easy” unless you really need a greater challenge, and there’s little point in jumping into the blue bonus portals unless you’re really low on resources. There are a bunch of secret areas to discover, which generally yield additional health or weapons, and finding them all grants you another Achievement. Though there’s no multiplayer option, there is a time trial mode that gifts another Achievement if you beat it fast enough. You can input a bunch of cheat codes to gain infinite lives, all weapons and keys, big head mode, invincibility, and more, however they disable the Achievements.
Final Thoughts: Like I said, it seemed as though everyone owned Turok: Dinosaur Hunter back in the day, and that includes me. However, this is the first time I’ve ever legitimately beaten the game much less played through it from start to finish. I used to just mess around with cheats, blowing enemies up with the Chronoscepter and skipping to the bosses, so it was nice to finally sit down and play it. Sadly, Turok hasn’t aged well, despite the graphical and performance enhancements made to this remaster. It’s a very barebones FPS, even with the emphasis on exploration to find all the keys and Chronoscepter pieces. You’ll mostly see the same enemies in every level, the same assets recycled into tougher challenges, and repeat the same gameplay loop of shooting, pressing switches, and teleporting about until you reach the end. The game is disappointingly light on story, even for an FPS title or an early Nintendo 64 release, and I found myself holding back from using most of the heavier weapons as I wanted to save them for the bosses, only for bosses to be extremely rare and such bullet sponges that you quickly exhaust your best ammo. I really liked the cybernetic dinosaurs and wish these had been more prominent, with less humanoid enemies and more prehistoric or alien enemies to lean into the game’s unique setting. The environments also really needed more visual variety. The jungle setting and Aztec ruins are fine for the first two levels, and I loved the atmosphere of the Treetop Village, but the futuristic, alien aesthetic should’ve been incorporated more prominently, perhaps with crashed alien craft or outposts set up by the Campaigner in each area. The lack of multiplayer is a surprising omission given how popular “Deathmatches” were back then and the focus on FPS platforming really drags Turok down. It’s a fairly unique gimmick, for sure, but FPS platforming is never fun and some of the jumps are ridiculously finnicky and frustrating. Therefore, while Turok: Dinosaur Hunter may be a Nintendo 64 classic and have a place in the history books, it’s largely inferior to other FPS titles from yesteryear even with its bizarre enemies and setting.
My Rating:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Could Be Better
Did you own Turok: Dinosaur Hunter on the Nintendo 64 back in the day or was this your first time discovering it? Did you ever read the Valiant comics? Were you also annoyed by the finnicky, first-person platforming? Did you also find the levels lacking in visual variety? Did you ever construct the Chronoscepter and defeat the Campaigner? Which Turok videogame is your favourite and how are you celebrating Dinosaur Day this year? Whatever your thoughts on Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, and dinosaurs in general, leave them below and donate to my Ko-Fi if you want to see more Turok content.
Since Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) first appeared in May 1984, they’ve achieved worldwide success thanks to many influential cartoons, videogames, and action figures.
Gameplay and Power-Ups: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed is a direct follow-up to the surprisingly energetic and entertaining 2023 animated movie of a similar name and directly follows the events of that film, with mutants like the TMNT living freely in New York City. However, when the malevolent Techno Cosmic Research Institute (TCRI) sends mutants into a frenzy with a pheromone harvested from anthropomorphic chameleon Cammy, players must journey through the sewers, subways, and rooftops to subdue the threat and find a cure. Unlike most TMNT videogames, Mutants Unleashed only offers single or two-player co-op and, as far as I can see, there are no team-based attacks on offer (though you can compete for letter grades). The TMNT all share the same basic controls and are somewhat differentiated by their weapons and gameplay. Raphael, for example, seems slower and has a shorter reach, Michelangelo seems much faster, Donatello has great reach, and Leonardo seems like an all-rounder. Combat is extremely simple, with players unleashing basic combos by tapping X (or holding it for a stronger attack) and performing a stronger dash attack with Y. You can string these buttons together for more elaborate combos, but mashing X or Y generally does the job. Players jump with A, double jumping by pressing it twice, and run by holding the Right Trigger. This allows you to wall run, hop to pipes to skate across gaps or areas, and perform additional attacks. You hold B to block or tap it when indicated to dodge roll from enemy attacks, unleashing a powerful counter with either X or Y (though these can leave you vulnerable). As ever, pizza restores your health, though you must restart the mission if you fall in battle as there’s only ever a checkpoint before a boss battle, which can get aggravating.
Mindless combat, aggravating controls, and frustrating hit detection drag this game down.
Pizza and other temporary power-ups, like fizzy drinks that increase your attack power, are dropped by enemies or found in destructible objects. You can hit explosive barrels to damage enemies (though these also blow up in your face!), knock them off rooftops and into water (both of which damage you as the TMNT can’t swim!), and use environmental hazards like speeding subway trains to hurt enemies. As you complete missions and collect VHS tapes, you’ll earn experience points (XP) to spend upgrading characters in their sewer lair, adding additional moves to their arsenal. You can also increase their maximum health, their damage, and how fast and long the assist gauge raises by finding hidden ooze canisters. You can also find arcade tokens to spend on single-use items that, for example, refill your health when it’s drained but, to get the most out of each character, you must chat to various non-playable characters (NPCs) to offer encouragement, guest star on podcasts, and complete combat and time trial missions for additional XP and rewards. As you dish out damage, the assist gauge fills and allows you to call in another character to assist you using the Left Bumper, either by attacking enemies or spawning pizza and fizzy drinks. I found these extremely temperamental as most have a short range, cutscenes cancel them out, and you must smash crates to get the power-ups rather than them just appearing. Donnie, Mikey, and Raph also have unique special abilities: Donnie stuns enemies with a camera flash, Mikey automatically twirls his nunchaku, and Raph briefly enters “Rage Mode” after a successful dodge and counterattack. Again, I had trouble with these, and they weren’t as intuitive as I’d like. The game is also extremely finnicky with its lock-on and camera, which makes platforming a chore, combat a hectic mess at times, and often sees you taking a plummet or being bashed about and forced to frantically mash B to get up before you’re stun locked.
Alongside the endless combat, you’ll be exploring the same locations helping NPCs with their troubles.
Mutants Unleashed uses an odd time-based mechanic where some missions must be completed within a certain number of days. Time passes as you chat with NPCs and complete tasks, like running obstacles courses to deliver pizzas for Bebop, Rocksteady, and Ray Fillet, battling enemy waves as part of Splinter’s training regime, and hunting down “contagious” enemies. I’m not sure what the penalty is if you miss the deadline for a mission as I completed them all on time, but it was frustrating being limited by this mechanic. Most of these sub-missions involve revisiting the same areas and battling the same enemies but in different configurations and contexts, though you do unlock additional apps for your smartphone, such as a monster finding game and fun stickers to virtually place on people’s heads! When in story-based missions, you quickly see everything Mutants Unleashed has to offer as you visit the same locations over and over, sometimes at night or in reverse, with little variation beyond tougher enemies. You can make enemies more manageable by passing time on the world map and even run past most of them unless you’re forced into a fight. Environmental hazards like electrical pylons and live wires, giant fans, sticky oil, and moving or bouncy platforms can really mess up your combat especially as it’s easy to get snagged on the environment. Occasionally, the mindless action is broken up by the odd zip wire or autoscrolling section, with you often battling through (and on the roof of) subway trains or hopping to various vehicles on a busy highway (extra dangerous given the janky camera and controls!) You’ll hop to submerged shipping containers (some of which sink), run across collapsible wooden planks, jump to rooftops and giant fans over dangerous sewer water, and occasionally chase the TMNT’s infected mutant allies (though this is merely a ploy to lead you to the same platforming and combat sections). Mutants Unleashed can be surprisingly frustrating even when you’re at full power. The TMNT can be pummelled to death quite easily if you’re not careful and the lack of checkpoints gets especially frustrating in the late game, where enemies are naturally more formidable.
Presentation: Mutants Unleashed does a fantastic job of mirroring the art style and action of Mutant Mayhem, a fact helped by the four leads being voiced by the same teenage voice actors from the movie. The graphics adopt a sketchbook-like, cel-shaded style that mimics the unique presentation of the film and adds some interesting touches to the action, such as scribbles for shadows and character outlines when they’re obscured. This comes to a head in the endgame when Cammy riles the “Mewbies” into a mob, with the rioting crowd represented by shifting, distorted, potentially 2D art, which is a nice touch. Comic book style sound effects and cutaways add to the combat, though the voice samples do get quite repetitive. I did like that the TMNT chat with each other and their allies to progress the plot, though I wasn’t expecting the game to focus so heavily on NPC interaction. Each character has an NPC they interact with alongside the team helping their other allies in various ways. Leo gets leadership and self-confidence pointers from shifty influencer Toby, Raph helps a disabled swimmer get back on form, Mikey guests on a podcast, and Donnie helps a young, drone enthusiast. You also snap pictures of graffiti and learn about art from Mondo Gecko, help budding reporter April O’Neil chase leads, watch movies with Splinter, and play dance rhythm games (in cutscenes…) with Wingnut. Each area changes as you progress and explore, with different NPCs in the background or changing entirely, such as scientist Sai Modi being forced from his laboratory and Bebop and the others temporarily relocating their pizza business. The TMNT have some fun banter with each other, with Raph surprising the others with his knowledge of various animals after binge-watching nature documentaries and the others mocking Leo for his crush on April. Mutants Unleashed is surprisingly long, too, with a lot of cutscenes to sit through (which you can thankfully skip), which is very unusual for a videogame tie-in to a movie.
Although the game captures the aesthetic of the movie, its locations are extremely repetitive.
Sadly, as good as the presentation is, it’s very visually repetitive. Between missions, you wander about the TMNT’s cramped sewer lair, upgrading characters or engaging with Splinter, before choosing your next mission from the world map. Almost every mission has you venturing to the city streets from either the sewers or the subway, hopping across various rooftops, or visiting the docks. These areas have many variations, with the subways tunnels sometimes being active, flooded, or you fighting through moving trains and the rooftops being at different times of the day, but it all gets very old very quickly. Sometimes, you revisit an area backwards (meaning you start at where you exited before and head right instead of left) or at different times of the day, or tougher enemies and new hazards appear. These are usually giant fans that blow you into the water, bouncing washing lines, or more water and bottomless pits. Areas are pretty well detailed, for the most part, with the city streets being an obvious standout. You’ll see businesses, graffiti, alleyways, overground trains, and sewer pipes all around and it can be fun veering off the painfully linear path to explore or wasting time in the skate park. Some missions see you stuck in claustrophobic interiors, such as the abandoned movie theatre, the cramped shopping mall, or the hazardous TCRI facility, where pistons threaten to crush you or push you into spiked walls. Other times, you’re attacking generators to briefly disable electrical hazards around construction sites, desperately avoiding the rushing tarmac on the highway, or clambering to piles of shipping containers or disused boats. Mutants Unleashed eventually adds a bit more variety, such as snow or you battling across the wreckage of the Brooklyn Bridge. In the endgame, you venture into TCRI airships, grinding around the wings and smashing consoles inside, before storming their main facility, battling hordes of the game’s worst enemies and smashing power nodes to stop them pumping out the madness-inducing pheromone.
Enemies and Bosses: Mutants Unleashed has you striking down waves of Mewbies, bizarre anthropomorphic animals driven crazy by TCRI’s pheromone. While you are forced to fight waves of them, as indicated by the anime-like cutaways and annoying focus on nearby groups, others can simply be avoided (which I would recommend). Although the same Mewbies pop up all throughout the game, each has different variants and they’re all aggravating in different ways. Crabapults are the most common, weakest enemy and even they can protect against your attacks by hiding in the bins strapped to their backs and toss rubbish from a distance that always seems to hit! Later, defeating them sees a smaller variant linger about, which was very frustrating as they also always seemed to do damage. Rumblebees are also very common and can be tricky to hit with your mid-air attacks. They swoop at you, attack with their boxing gloves, and later swing chainsaws or emit a damaging gas cloud and even explode upon defeat! The luchador-like El Hippo takes quite a pounding before going down and charges up a punch or especially annoying charge that send you flying, or performs a belly drop that homes in on you to make dodging it even more frustrating. Fin Harris attack with tridents, charging a dash and sometimes protecting themselves with an electrical field, while the bulky Eel-A-Watts also employ a body slam alongside a devastating laser cannon! Zebrakens can be ridiculously annoying as they can snag you with their extendable, crab-like pincer; Rock N Moles pop up from below, sometimes sporting drill-like noses or unleashing a soundwave; and Roller Blade mantises quickly dash about on roller skates. I found the worst enemies were the Roaster Fish and Maul Tusks. Roaster Fish weild flamethrower-like blowtorches and nail guns that constantly knocked me out of the air, sent me flying, or hit no matter where I was; and they teleport, too! Maul Tusks are mutant snails that swing massive mallets to decimate your health bar or unleash a barrage of rockets, sometimes being protected by forcefields and fought in small areas where you either can’t dodge or get snagged on the environment!
Bosses can be an uphill battle thanks to some odd perspectives and cheap exploits.
Despite Mutants Unleashed featuring a world map and many side missions, the story follows a linear path, and you battle the TMNT’s crazed mutant friends in a set order, often after chasing them or cleaning up their messes. As is common in TMNT videogames, your first boss battle is against the duo of Bebop and Rocksteady, who take it in turns battling you in a mosh pit. Rocksteady tries to gore you, though gets stunned if you trick him into running into the walls, as Bebop tosses grenades from the DJ deck, while Bebop fires a laser from his ghetto blaster and tosses those same grenades as Rocksteady fires flames. After besting both, they attack together, which can be a tough fight even with pizzas being flung into the arena (I recommend focusing on Rocksteady first). The first fight against Genghis Frog is merely a teaser as he quickly flees after a short battle. When you fight him in the water treatment facility, his axe game is much improved, with him swinging it wildly and in an overhead arc. When he hops to the background, you must trick him into snagging explosive barrels with his tongue and pummel him when he’s stunned. Leatherhead was a much trickier boss as you must sneak around her lair from a quasi-overhead perspective, avoiding making noise or being spotted or she basically immediately kills you with her shotgun. Instead, you must follow glowing cables to a generator that must be attacked to temporarily blind her, and then do this again but without visual indicators. When you finally confront Wingnut at the cinema, she’s fought on a 2.5D plane before the movie screen and attacks from above, swooping low before landing and firing energy waves both high and low. After enough hits, she adds a bombardment of flaming projectiles to her arsenal, but her attacks are easily telegraphed so she’s not too difficult to beat if you time your jumps properly.
Turbo Cammy represents the game’s toughest, cheapest boss challenge due to some awful mechanics.
When Mikey also turns feral, he’s temporarily removed from the playable roster and you must track him to the city streets. Although he’s fast and seems to boast all his regular attacks, Mikey was the easiest boss battle and went down in no time. At first, this is true for Cammy, who you fight a few times amidst the rioting Mewbies. Each time, I hit her enough for her to flee and tag in her minions, so I never saw her use a single attack. After she joins the TMNT in opposing TCRI, Cammy’s mutated into the far more monstrous and formidable “Turbo Cammy”, who’s fought in three phases (with no checkpoints). Turbo Cammy first attacks with claw swipes, a big stomp, and turns invisible, which is pretty manageable. She then uses her extendable tongue, adds a charge attack, and leaps across the wrecked bridge to crush you. Finally, she spews ooze, spitting at you, and adds faster combos to her arsenal. Luckily, your allies toss pizza to help, but this was a gruelling boss battle as I kept getting stun locked, caught on the environment, or tossed about due to the dodgy lock-on gimmick! After Cammy seemingly dies, Leo’s ally Toby is revealed to be a traitor and is fought in a giant, distinctly Krang-like mech aboard a TCRI airship. This was a much easier boss battle as it’s ridiculously easy to avoid his missile barrage, sweeping lasers, and jet powered drop. Even when Toby regenerates his health for the second phase and adds more lasers, a flying attack, and a punch combo, it’s super easy to get behind him and pummel him into submission, especially if your TMNT are fully upgraded.
Additional Features: Twenty-seven Achievements are up for grabs in Mutants Unleashed, with one awarded every time you defeat a boss, upgrade a character, or reach maximum friendship with each NPC. You’ll snag another if you find all the “DigiMutants” using the smartphone app, photograph every piece of graffiti, and locate all the ooze cannisters to max out your health, damage, and assist gauge. Even playing casually, you should manage to complete all these Achievements on a single playthrough, though it was surprising to not see extra Achievements for playing with a friend or defeating thousands of enemies. Beating the game unlocks “New Game+”, which carries over all your skills and makes the enemies even tougher, though I wouldn’t recommend playing this game more than once (specially as there’s no Achievement for clearing New Game+). By inputting codes into the TMNT’s computer, you unlock additional skins that see the characters transformed into action figures or wear their casual clothes, and extra skins can be bought as DLC to turn them into Metalheads or their counterparts from the 1980s cartoon and original comics. The “Fresh Meat Mission Pack” offers additional missions, featuring three new enemies, a “Horde Mode”, and a new boss battle against Scumbug, though there also aren’t any Achievements tied to the DLC so you’re probably better off saving your cash.
Final Thoughts: I was expecting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed to be another arcade-style beat-‘em-up that simply saw one to four players battling waves of mutants through the sewers and streets of New York City. Instead, the mission-based narrative and focus on side missions and upgrading the TMNT has more in common with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan (PlatinumGames, 2016) than the simple, mindless simplicity of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (Konami, 1991). On the one hand, the game is thus far longer and more involved than I would expect from a videogame based on a movie, cramming in so much story and so many character interactions that it starts to become tedious. It feels unfair to criticise this as it’s clearly not a cheap cash-in like other tie-in videogames, but Mutants Unleashed wears out its welcome very quickly. The basic combat is fine, but it’s thrown all out of whack when you sprinkle in platforming or precarious environments to fight in. It’s especially aggravating that the TMNT take damage when they fall in water, that they can easily get caught on the environment and pummelled by enemy hordes, and that the game’s so stingy with checkpoints. I didn’t mind the NPC side missions, but most are just cutscenes or reskinned areas you’ve already visited a dozen times. The deadline gimmick seemed an arbitrary way to extend the game’s life, as was forcing you to repeatedly do the same tasks for basically the same rewards. While the game faithfully captures the look, humour, and atmosphere of the movie, I felt no sense of accomplishment from upgrading the characters, barely cared about the NPCs, and was extremely disappointed that the 16-bit titles have more variety in their environments. The bosses could be fun but were also extremely cheap at times due to the dodgy controls, janky camera, and awful collision detection. With little incentive to replay the game and no collectibles or unlockables worth shouting about, I’d definitely say you’re better off avoiding Mutants Unleashed and sticking to the classic TMNT videogames as they might be short, but at last they’re fun!
My Rating:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Could Be Better
Were you also disappointed by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed despite how long the story mode was? Did you enjoy how it mimicked the presentation and continued the story of the movie? How invested were you in the NPC’s problems? Which of the bosses was your favourite? Did you also get frustrated by the controls and collision detection? Which TMNT videogame is your favourite and how are you celebrating the TMNT this month? Tell me what you think in the comments and go donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest another TMNT videogame for me to review.
Since Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) first appeared in May 1984, they’ve achieved worldwide success thanks to many influential cartoons, videogames, and action figures!
Released: 23 April 2024 Originally Released: November 2017 Developer: Cradle Games and Raw Thrills Original Developer: Raw Thrills
Metacritic Scores: 53 / 5.4 Also Available For: Arcade (Original Release), Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S (Port)
Quick Facts: Despite the TMNT being dramatically redesigned for new animated and big-screen adventures in 2019 and 2023, developer Raw Thrills released an expanded port of their 2017 arcade game, which was based on the popular all-CGI 2012 cartoon. While Wrath of the Mutants perfectly captured the visual and humour of the cartoon, it was criticised for being a short, unfulfilling title that coasted on nostalgia.
Gameplay and Power-Ups: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants, besides being a mouthful, is a 2.5D sidescrolling beat-‘em-up based on the all-CGI 2012 cartoon (which, I’ll be honest, I’ve never watched and am not very familiar with). The game supports up to four players both on- and offline, though only the titular TMNT are playable. While they all play the same and don’t appear to have any unique stats, Raphael obviously has a harder time in combat as his sai have a shorter range than Leonardo’s swords, though it also felt like Michelangelo was faster. Wrath of the Mutants uses a simple four-button control scheme where you attack with X (executing some basic combos with repeated taps), jump with A (jumping higher the longer you hold it), grab and throw stuff with X, and unleash your character’s “Turtle Power” with Y when the gauge is full (either by defeating enemies or grabbing power-ups). You can bash enemies on the ground and toss them at the screen, perform jumping attacks and dive kicks by double tapping A or pressing A and X in mid-air, or do a spinning attack on the ground with A and X for crowd control. Each character has a different Turtle Power attack, with Donatello summoning electricity through his staff and Mikey raining pizza slices and can grab additional temporary power-ups as they play. These see you performing a breakdance-like spin move, toss smoke bombs to stun enemies, chuck a limited supply of shuriken, or hurl the Ice Cream Kitty to ricochet off enemies. You can also toss trash cans and rocks and such, hit explosive barrels, and use fire hydrants to even the odds, and restore your character’s health with some “Pizza Power!”
Batter ninja robots with ninja power and alongside some friends in this fun, if mindless, throwback brawler.
You can also ride surfboards in the “Sewer” stage and summon aid from Leatherhead and Metalhead when their icons appear, with the former performing a screen-clearing roll attack and the latter unleashing a missile barrage. Wrath of the Mutants pays homage to the classic TMNT arcade titles by featuring various Foot Soldier robots who burst from the background or up from the sewers and various hazards to watch out for. You can drop down holes, get blown up by dynamite and spiked mines, and battle waves of enemies on elevators. Each stage has different interactive elements: the “Amusement Park” stage, for example, has you dodging runaway rollercoasters, cars will barrel at you in “New York City”, and Krang’s gigantic mech suit zaps you with a weird, gigantic eye in “Dimension X”. You won’t have to worry about falling to your death at any point, which is good, but your lives and continues appear to be more limited on the harder difficulty settings. Enemies sometimes hide offscreen and stages are surprisingly long, with your performance being tallied up at the end to award additional points. You can pick from any stage but the final one right from the start, but there’s no story to link the levels together (though this is beneficial as your lives and continues are reset with each stage, making it easier to tackle the game’s “Hard” mode). There isn’t much variety to the stages, however, with even the aforementioned autoscrolling sewer surfin’ section only lasting for the beginning of the “Sewer” stage.
Presentation: Fittingly, Wrath of the Mutants mirrors the 2012 animated series almost perfectly, with all the voice actors returning to deliver fun voice samples. While these clips do get repetitive, I liked that each character reacted to events and bosses differently and there are some fun call-backs to previous TMNT videogames. Since I never watched the show, I have no idea if the music is ripped from it or even similar. To me, the soundtrack was just a fun, if forgettable, series of rockin’ tunes to beat baddies to. While characters only assume a “ready” stance when left idle, each animates a little differently, with Mikey having a fun little jog, for example, and sports a victory pose upon completing the stage. When electrocuted, you’ll see your character’s skeleton and when they’re knocked down, stars spin around their heads like in the old arcade game. Sadly, Wrath of the Mutants doesn’t really feature a story and there are no cutscenes linking the stages together, though characters do interact with the bosses when they burst onto the screen and the game ends with a motion comic-like cutscene of April punching out Oroku Saki/The Shredder. The game’s graphics, gameplay, and overall feel reminded me of the Turtles in Time (Konami, 1991) remaster, though the controls are a bit more responsive and things are much brighter and detailed here. There’s a fair bit happening in the backgrounds, such as traffic in the distance in “New York City”, subway trains speeding past in “Sewer” (where you also battle in the TMNT’s ransacked/untidy lair), and bizarre, crystalline formations in “Dimension X”. The game doesn’t get too crazy with its environments, though, saving most of the weirdness for the hyper-futuristic labs in the Techno Cosmic Research Institute (T.C.R.I.) building and the warped Dimension X. Enemies teleport in, enter from elevators, or float across energy bridges. They toss explosive barrels from vans, attack in haunted house rides, and await in ominous, gothic castles in areas that marry the classic arcade titles with the all-CGI show to give the best of both worlds.
Enemies and Bosses: I you’ve ever played a TMNT videogame before, you know exactly what to expect here. Foot Soldiers, in all the colours of the rainbow, pour from everywhere and attack with various weapons. You’ve got the standard purple-clad grunts who attack with punches and kicks or toss manhole covers, sword-wielding black ones, yellow variants who toss shuriken from afar, and annoying orange ones who rush across the screen carrying a spear! Blue-hued Foot Soldiers fire lightning blasts from cannons, red ones chuck explosive barrels or dynamite, and some (or all, I couldn’t quite tell) can grab and hold you. While there are no flying variants, they do ride surfboards in the “Sewer” stage and most mini bosses and regular bosses are accompanied by a few of these minions. Mousers also spew from sewer tunnels and chew up from the floor, alongside the distinctly Xenomorph-like Pizza Monsters (who pounce from the water, swipe with their claws, and spew acid), T.C.R.I. agents in black suits, and the brain-like Kraangs in android bodies. Each stage sees you battling a mini boss halfway through and, while each has unique attacks, they all emit shockwaves after landing a jump. A distinctly slimmer version of Bebop is fought in “New York City”, with him teleporting about and tossing either his mohawk or firing a spread shot, and breakdancing when knocked down rather than relying on brute strength. I fought the samurai android Chrome Dome next, who charges about using a rocket pack and attacks with lightsaber-like blades, an energy whip, and eye lasers. You fight Fish Face Midway through “T.C.R.I.” with him stunning you with acid spit and executing a spinning attack like you (though he’s easy to batter from behind) and the Creep in the “Amusement Park” (an intriguing horror-themed glob monster who doesn’t use his pitchfork enough for my liking).
Fans of the 2012 cartoon may get a thrill out of battling these largely repetitive bosses.
Like the mini bosses, all the regular bosses share a shockwave attack, are bolstered by minions, and can send you flying. The brutish Rocksteady guards the end of “New York City”, goring you with his massive horn, tossing pipe bombs, and going ham with his chunky flamethrower. Doctor Baxter Stockman attacks in the “Sewer” stage in his mutated fly form, hovering overhead and spewing acid while taking pot-shots from his unreliable laser cannon and performing a spinning attack. Tiger Claw is a bit nimbler, swiping with his katana and showcasing martial arts skills that rival the TMNT. The 2012’s horrifically redesigned Rahzar is fought in “Amusement Park”, dashing across the screen to slash with his claws and seemingly firing spines from afar. When in Dimension X, the TMNT fight the 1980s Krang as a mini boss in a fight that largely resembles those of the classic arcade games. Krang hovers around in his mech suit, raining missiles stomping the ground, and knocking you away with punches and kicks but isn’t much of a threat. He’s superseded by Kraang Sub Prime, a decidedly more lethal mech suit that spins its bladed arms, fires a targeted missile, and zaps you with its eye laser. When fighting through the Shredder’s heavily guarded, gothic castle, the TMNT encounter his adopted daughter, Karai, who uses smoke bombs to teleport about, tosses a shuriken spread, and attacks with blades up close in one of the more challenging encounters. After you dispatch his minions, the Shredder attacks in a two-stage boss battle, fittingly being the toughest foe in the game. At first, the Shredder utilises Karai’s smoke teleport and attacks with a plasma shot and his signature blades but, after being defeated, transforms into the monstrous Super Shredder! His basic attacks remain the same, however, though he can regenerate some health with his aura and whip up a tornado to be slightly more troublesome.
Additional Features: There are twenty Achievements up for grabs in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants, with players getting one each time they beat a stage on any difficulty and three more for beating the game on each difficult mode. As each difficulty must be tackled on a separate save file, these cannot be stacked so it’s probably better to start on “Normal” as that’s the only way to unlock “Hard” mode. Additional Achievements pop when you defeat 1000 enemies, enter or beat a high score on the leaderboard, and go repetitive tasks like eating 100 pizzas or summoning allies thirty times. Sadly, the Achievements aren’t very creative and there’s nothing else on offer here. There are no additional characters or skins to unlock, no other game modes (like time trial or boss rush), and no collectibles, making for an unfortunately barebones package.
Final Thoughts: I was excited when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants was first announced as I thought it was a remake of the original arcade game, but oddly using the 2012 cartoon aesthetic. Even when I discovered it was an expanded port of a different arcade game, I was up for the challenge as I enjoy a good, old-school beat-‘em-up and have always had fun with the TMNT’s efforts in this genre. While I never watched the 2012 show so I have no idea who many of the enemy characters are, I liked how closely the game matches the cartoon’s visuals and energy; it’s just a shame the developers didn’t splice in a bit more story to link everything together. Gameplay wise, Wrath of the Mutants is as basic as it gets, but no less enjoyable. Everything feels very familiar to the classic arcade titles, from the TMNT’s attacks to the level layouts, which position the game more as another remake of Turtles in Time than anything else. I enjoyed the many boss battles, though it was disappointing that they all shared the same shockwave attack and could be easily battered into submission by looping behind them. I also liked the power-ups and the assist characters, though it would’ve been nice to see Splinter and Casey Jones added to the roster, and the lengthy, generally enjoyable levels. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of meat on the bones here and Wrath of the Mutants is probably best experienced as a budget digital download than a full priced game. Even for me, a die-hard fan of these games, Wrath of the Mutants is pretty lacklustre as there’s little incentive to come back to it once you’ve beaten it a few times (except to mop up the Achievements) unless you’re nostalgic for the 2012 cartoon. Since I’m more a fan of the classic TMNT, I’d take Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge(Tribute Games, 2022) over this one any day.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
Did you enjoy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants? How do you think it compares to other TMNT arcade brawlers? Were you a fan of the 2012 cartoon? Which character was your go-to and which of the many bosses was your favourite? Were you disappointed at how barebones the game was? Which TMNT videogame is your favourite and how are you celebrated the TMNT today? Whatever your thoughts, leave them below, check out my other TMNT content, and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest another TMNT videogame for me to review.
In 2013, DC Comics declared April 18 “Superman Day” to celebrate Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman, the superpowered icon widely regarded as the first ever costumed superhero.
Released: 24 September 2002 Developer: Infogrames Sheffield House
Gameplay and Power-Ups: Superman: Shadow of Apokolips is a third-person, cel-shaded, 3D action-adventure game set within the continuity of Superman: The Animated Series (possibly between the first and second seasons). The game is divided into thirteen chapters, with no difficulty levels and some surprisingly generous checkpoints. Superman has all his usual abilities but is still vulnerable, so you must wait for his health and “Super Power Energy” to automatically replenish when you take damage or use his various superpowers. Players lock on to nearby targets with L1 and R1 (though there’s no way to cycle between targets), execute a surprisingly weak and boring combo with X, and also hold X to grab things. You can lift cars, crates, and explosive barrels to toss at enemies, grab billboards to make bridges, and carry civilians to safety. When enemies are stunned, you can also grab them to send them flying with a “Super Punch”. Square pulls off a “Speed Dodge” to avoid damage, Triangle unleashes your heat vision, and Circle blows enemies away or extinguishes fires with super breath. While on the ground, you can press X and Square together to perform a “Super Spin” to send enemies flying, or press it while hovering or flying to hit a slam attack for crowd control. While the left stick moves Superman, the right controls his flight. You take off by moving the right stick up (or pressing R2), bank and strafe while flying, and land by holding down or double-tapping R2. While in the air, you can press X and Square together to speed up, ramming into enemies, through certain doors, or chasing airborne targets. Finally, you can enter first person mode with L2 to better aim your heat vision or hold Circle to highlight hidden destructible walls with your x-ray vision.
When not awkwardly fighting or saving civilians, Superman struggles to sneak past eagle-eyed scientists.
While these abilities can be fun, they do have drawbacks. Their limited use is the most obvious, but many enemies take a lot of hits to put down. Sure, you can set most on fire with your heat vision and blow them back with your breath, but these don’t do much damage. It’s usually better to toss cars or swing pipes than to use your fists, and Superman is constantly being knocked from the sky or into walls by missiles. Superman is rather clunky to control, both on the ground and in the air. When you get used to the janky controls, the flying mechanics are quite fun but, when asked to dart at enemies or perform precision turns, the gameplay fells apart. The finnicky camera doesn’t help, either. You can centre it with L2, but I constantly lost track of who I was targeting or had my vision obscured by the environment. Superman’s powers are primarily used for busy work, and in very rare, specific situations. You’re more likely to be getting civilians to safety or retrieving objects than putting out fires with your super breath, for example, with Superman opting to plug lava spills and volcanic eruptions with boulders and coolant tanks later in the game. Heat vision is often used to seal objects, but only after you’ve mashed X like a madman (a frustrating mechanic that often failed for no reason). Amusingly, one level sees you infiltrating LexLabs as Clark Kent, using your heat vision to short out control panels and security cameras and sneaking past Lex Luthor’s scientists. You do this by clumsily walking behind them and hoping they don’t randomly spot you because the game decides they should, making for one of the worst stealth sections I’ve ever played. Clark must also dash past laser traps, mash X to fight past a giant fan, gently blow about explosive mines, and repair leaking gas pipes with cylinders, none of which is particularly fun.
Your objectives are not only repetitive, but needlessly frustrating, especially when you have a time limit.
When he’s not rescuing civilians and smashing Intergang’s robots, Superman is defending scientists or police officers from said robots, escorting guards through Stryker’s Island Penitentiary at one point and helping to apprehend rioting inmates. Often, Superman faces a time trial to resolve some crisis, with your time represented by little red dots that creep around your radar. At the dam, you must find and replace three generators, fly to Lois Lane’s endangered cable car, and then frantically mash A to plug up the dam before it bursts. When LexLabs threatens to self-destruct, an audible fifteen-minute countdown pressures you to wipe out all nearby enemies, activate switches, and then bring a glowing orb to a control panel to stop the sequence. However, you then have a scant few minutes to plug another gas leak and extract the poison from the area. Deep in Intergang’s mountain lair, you must protect three scientists as they activate Luthor’s portal technology and then get about five minutes to cool down the overactive reactor, all of which can be extremely aggravating as Superman moves and fights like a bag of sand. Things are much easier when you’re not being timed and you can freely take out tanks, soldiers, and turret placements to defend shield generators or scientists. In the dam level, you must cool down fuel tanks with your breath and break open doors to find civilians; at one point you must take out waves of enemies to open new areas and short out five control panels; and you’re often asked to destroy a certain number of enemies to clear each area. It all gets quite repetitive and challenging very quickly, with the awkward controls and tight time limits artificially increasing the difficulty of even mundane tasks, and the sheer number of enemies and projectiles is often as daunting as it is frustrating. I admire the attempt at some variety but there’s very little margin for error, button inputs often fail to register, and Superman’s powers aren’t used as much as I’d like (I only used his x-ray vision once, for example, and even then it was confusing!)
Presentation: Superman: Shadow of Apokolips opts for a cel-shaded look to better represent the cartoon and therefore looks pretty good, having aged rather gracefully and visually appearing like the animated series. This is aided by Tim Daly and Clancy Brown reprising their famous roles and adding further authenticity to this as a “lost” episode. Consequently, the likes of Lois Lane, Perry White, Jimmy Olson, and even the tyrannical Darkseid pop up in cutscenes as cameos, though sadly Lois and Darkseid play almost no part in the in-game action. On the downside, the game isn’t tailored for newcomers to the series or character, explaining basically nothing about this world and restricting exposition regarding Superman’s powers to tutorial text and unlockable biographies. Superman looks just as he did in the cartoon, being bright, broad-shouldered, and powerful. Even Clark makes an impression in his eggshell-blue suit, even if his stealth skills aren’t anything to write home about! The game performs pretty well, though combat is often sluggish and Superman always feels like he’s moving through jelly. Enemies conveniently teleport in or come crashing through walls so there’s very little pop-up, there’s no distance fog either as every level is constrained to a small area, though I did notice moments of slowdown when a lot was happening and the load times are pretty atrocious.
While the game perfectly mirrors the cartoon, environments are as tedious as the gameplay is clunky.
Things start off promising hereas the opening tutorial sees you flying around Metropolis, which appears just as it did in the cartoon, warts and all. This means that while you’ll see skyscrapers, bustling traffic, and the iconic Daily Planet building, buildings are incredibly basic and blocky, with no textures and simple colours bringing them to life. While this mirrors the minimalist style of the cartoon, it does make the game seem very basic, lifeless, and samey. This is exacerbated when you’re stuck in the claustrophobic corridors and rooms of Luthor’s facilities and Intergang’s lair, which assault your eyes with drab greys and browns. To be fair, these environments try to spice things up by basing Intergang’s operation within a volcanic mountain, with lava spilling out, flames bursting from the floor, and volcanic eruptions needing to be plugged. Intergang also use Apokoliptian technology, apparently trying to create a Boom Tube, and their lair does eventually fall apart around you. The dam stage made for a good follow-up to Metropolis as well, featuring different areas with different crises needing to be averted, and I did enjoy escorting the guards around Stryker’s Island, which is damaged by Intergang’s attack and caught in a thunderstorm. Unfortunately, that’s about as crazy as locations get as, despite its title, you don’t visit Apokolips or venture off-world. I did enjoy fighting John Corben/Metallo in Luthor’s office in the penultimate chapter, especially as the walls take battle damage from your fight, and that you confront Metallo in an auto factory, but environments are still disappointingly bland and there’s rarely a chance to fully flex Superman’s muscles or stretch his legs.
Enemies and Bosses: Things are equally disappointing here as you fight the same, generic enemies over and over. Conveniently, Intergang deploy humanoid androids, meaning Superman can fight them without breaking his “no kill” rule. The Intergang robots are as basic as it gets, often just standing in place and shooting (though they occasionally take cover) or whacking you with their weapons up close. These robots carry machines guns and Apokoliptian plasma rifles, sometimes snipe from above, and later self-destruct upon defeat. Sometimes they use jetpacks, or pour from armoured personally carriers, and their slightly lager variants wield rocket launchers that send you flying. Intergang bolsters its forces with a few military armaments, like turrets and tank-like vehicles. These can be tossed or simply bashed, but sport chainguns, plasma cannons, and missile launchers. Intergang also employ Apokoliptian attack copters that can be tricky to target as they’re quite nimble, but they simply circle around the main areas so you won’t need to chase them or anything, and you’ll sometimes find mines in crates. That’s literally it for the basic enemies as they never get, like, energy swords or tasers or shields and there are no hulking brutes to match wits with. It’s just the same enemies recycled again and again. To be fair, there are a lot onscreen at once, but this isn’t a good thing as Superman’s better in one-on-one fights. Also, while on Stryker’s Island, you come up against the rioting inmates, but these guys are knocked out with a single punch or left dazed to be comically punched into their cells and are hardly a threat.
You wait all game for the bosses to show up and then they’re ridiculously dull affairs.
The bosses are even more of a let-down, with your first test being to chase down and disable a helicopter, a mechanic that never returns. When you finally confront the Intergang Leader, he turns out to just be a more formidable version of the regular enemies. Once you shoot him from the sky, deal with his minions, and whittle down his life bar, you must quickly dash him to drop him into molten metal or the fight repeats until you succeed. Similarly, while I was excited to see the Machiavellian Iluthin/Kanto appear, Darkseid’s weaponeer simply fights in you in a variation of the same tanks you see everywhere. Oddly, the game ends with three consecutive boss battles, starting with a three-phase fight with Leslie Willis/Livewire. As you’ll be electrocuted if you touch her, she teleports about, and her electrical blasts either stun-lock you or send you flying, you must trick her into falling into water. You can do this by side-stepping her attacks and blasting bridge controls with your heat vision, but you can also whittle her down by tapping Triangle to fire concentrated blasts. To short circuit and finish her, you must avoid her attacks and fight the useless camera and destroy seven locks with your heat vision, gaining only a temporary reprieve when you blast her away as her health regenerates. Rudy Jones/Parasite is fought on the city streets, where you toss cars and blast him with heat vision from a distance and extinguish his fires. While he’s constantly flying around, tossing energy bolts, and regenerating health, your best bet is to crash into him and land your slam attack to make short work of him. Finally, you face Metallo in a multi-stage fight across two chapters. Metallo fires a deadly Kryptonite beam, rushes you, grabs you and punches you across the room, and later wields a machine gun and an Apokoliptian plasma rifle. It’s best to toss stuff at him and use your eye beams as your punches don’t do much, but you’ll have to quickly fly up and blast a control panel if you want to best him.
Additional Features: That’s about it for Superman: Shadow of Apokolips. There are no collectibles to find, no difficulty modes to challenge, and no skins to unlock (which is criminal for a superhero game, if you ask me). As you clear each mission, you can freely replay them from the “Level Attack” menu, though there’s little point as there’s nothing to go back for and no time trials or anything. Clearing the game also unlocks the cutscenes to view in the “Movie Theatre”, character biographies, and loading screens to look at if that’s your thing. Thankfully, you don’t have to unlock these or deal with the onslaught of enemies as there are some super helpful cheat codes to access everything and enable invincibility and such. These cheats won’t help you beat the horrendous timed missions, but they do make the game more bearable.
Final Thoughts: I was really excited to play Superman: Shadow of Apokolips. Ever since I started collecting for the PlayStation 2, this game had been on my wish list and I purposely scoured a retro videogame market in mid-2025 to find a copy, believing it would be a fun (if mindless brawler) that mirrored the cartoon. Well, the last part was right, at least. Superman: Shadow of Apokolips looks really good, especially for a PlayStation 2 title, thanks largely to its cel-shaded aesthetic that perfectly captures the vibe of the cartoon. Sadly, it’s all downhill from there as this is a clunky, aggravating mess at the worst of times and repetitive nonsense at the best. While Superman looks great and occasionally feels fun to control in the air, his attacks and powers are pitifully weak, with no new combos or abilities being added to your arsenal as you progress. The enemies are painfully tedious, especially considering Superman’s colourful rogues’ gallery, and your objectives rarely challenge you to do more than fetch stuff against a tight time limit. It got to the point where I was almost wishing for a ring-based time trial! It was so monotonous, and even Clark’s stealth section didn’t add much variety as it was so poorly implemented. The worst part was the back-loaded boss battles, which could’ve easily been sprinkled throughout the early and mid-game, and the lack of a confrontation with Darkseid, who basically appears as a cameo, leaving all the heavy lifting to the far less interesting Metallo. I was so disappointed by Superman: Shadow of Apokolips, which is more frustrating than enjoyable as even simple busy work is complicated by the janky controls and clunky camera, sadly resulting in yet another poor videogame outing for the Man of Steel.
My Rating:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Could Be Better
How high do you rate Superman: Shadow of Apokolips? Were you impressed by the cel-shaded look and fidelity to the cartoon? Did you also find that Superman was quite difficult to control and his powers were poorly implemented? Were you disappointed by the repetitive environments and back-loaded boss battles? Would you have liked to see a sequel where Superman actually fights Darkseid? Which Superman videogame is your favourite and how are you celebrating Superman Day today? Whatever your thoughts, share them in the comments below, check out my other Superman content, and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest another Superman game you’d like me to review.
So, for no better reason than “Mar.10” resembling Mario’s name, March 10th is widely regarded as being “Mario Day”, a day to celebrate Nintendo’s portly plumber, an overalls-wearing mascot who literally changed the videogame industry forever and shaped the home console market of the nineties.
Released: 12 February 2021 Originally Released: 21 November 2013 Developer: Nintendo EPD
Original Developer: Nintendo EAD Tokyo Also Available For: Nintendo Wii U (Original Release) Metacritic Scores: 89 / 8.6
Quick Facts: Following the critical acclaim of Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo EAD Tokyo, 2011), a blending of Mario’s 2D and 3D mechanics, the developers explored ideas for a follow-up for Nintendo’s ill-fated Wii U console. Desiring intuitive controls and unique movement in a 3D space, the team developed a new cat suit to enable players to climb walls and producer Yoshiaki Koizumi lobbied to make Princess “Peach” Toadstool a playable character. The game was met with universal acclaim and inspired a spin-off series based on its diorama-like minigames and this enhanced port. Despite high sales and reviews praisingBowser’s Fury’s experimental, open-world mechanics, reviewers were frustrated by the game’s inconsistent performance, uninspired challenges, and its more chaotic presentation.
Gameplay and Power-Ups: Super Mario 3D World is a 3D/2.5D hybrid action platformer that mixes gameplay elements from the New Super Mario Bros. series (Nintendo EAD, 2006 to 2019) with his 3D adventures, allowing for a limited degree of movement on the whimsical Sprixie Kingdom overworld and in certain stages (referred to as “Courses”) while also offering traditional, sidescrolling platforming. The game supports up to four players in simultaneous co-op, with players initially picking between the classic Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo R&D4, 1988) line up of Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad (though a blue-coloured version). While each character shares the same controls and many basic abilities, they all play a little differently: Mario is the all-rounder, Luigi is faster can extend his jump by kicking his legs but is very slippery, Peach is slower but can float for short periods, and Toad is the fastest but has a stunted jump. As ever, players collect yellow Coins (with 100 granting an extra life, also gifted by 1-Up Mushrooms or defeating multiple enemies in a row), play against a timer (extended by collecting +Clocks), and must reach a flagpole to finish each Course. Players can hop to platforms and bop on heads using A or B, holding it to jump higher and tapping it to swim, and run by holding X or Y. ZL or ZR see you crouch to fit through narrow gaps and you press B to jump, or press a trigger in mid-air for a ground pound (performing a boosted jump if you hit B as you land). Rotate the left stick and hit B to perform a spinning jump, hold a trigger and press Y to roll or press B for a long jump, and press Y in mid-air for a jumping roll. Characters perform a wall jump by jumping against walls, perform a side flip with a flick of the left stick and a press of A/B, and spawn a reserve power-up by pressing up on the directional pad (D-pad), with left allowing you to scan an Amiibo and down activating snapshot mode. You can also hold Y to grab and throw items (like Koopa shells and snowballs), with the projectile collecting Green Stars and Stamps, and you can bash blocks for Coins and power-ups or hit POW Blocks to wipe out all onscreen enemies.
Your platforming abilities are bolstered by a new cat suit, team up moves, and a dino surfing.
When hit, your character loses their power-up and/or reverts to a “small” form, though you can power back up with any item and will return to your base “super” form by passing a checkpoint. The classic Super Mushroom grows you to normal size, the Fire Flower lets you toss bouncy fireballs with Y to light torches and defeat enemies, the Super Stars turns you invincible for a short period, and the Super Leaf garbs you in a Tanooki suit to whip enemies with your tail or flutter jump. Super Mario 3D Land’s Boomerang Flower and the Double Cherry let you toss boomerangs with Y or produce up to four duplicates to activate weighted platforms. The returning Mega Mushroom grows you to gigantic sizes to smash through the environment, and the Super Leaf spawns an invincible Tanooki suit if you struggle to clear a Course. The game’s big gimmick is the Super Bell, which puts you in a cat costume and lets you scramble up walls, swipe with your claws with Y, and perform a claw dive by pressing Y in mid-air. The game greatly emphasises this, with special ramps and goodies purposely hidden unless you have the power-up, and you can even grab a Lucky Bell to become a golden statue off a ground pound for extra Coins. You can hop into ice skates to better cross slippery ice, and grab a Goomba Mask to stop Goombas attacking you, the Cannon Box to fire cannon balls to blow up weak walls or hit far away switches, the Light Box to light up dark areas and dispels ghosts, and the Propeller Box to fly and hover for short periods. You’ll also jump on Plessie to careen down rapids, flying off ramps, bopping on enemies, and passing through rings for extra Coins. Captain Toad also transports you to a diorama-like world that limits your movements since the explorer can’t jump. In these fun little side sections, you must rotate the diorama with the right stick and hit switches to rotate the environment, move platforms, or use pipes to collect five Green Stars all while avoiding enemies and hazards since Captain Toad cannot attack.
Explore as Captain Toad, hop to platforms, and brave haunted mansions in search of Green Stars.
When exploring the overworld, you’ll find Toad Houses to grab random power-ups, slot machines to gain extra Coins, and find hidden areas in each Course that lead to more goodies. While your main goal is the end flagpole, each Course hides three Green Stars needed to unlock additional Courses and boss castles. Some Green Stars are in plain sight, others require power-ups to reach, and others are hidden in alcoves or out of the way areas, so it pays to explore. You can use pipes to warp across stages, hop to moving and temporary platforms, and must avoid spikes, fire bars, fireballs, and crushing Thwomps (though these can also boost you to higher ground). Some Courses have a strict time limit; some contain clouds the blast you above the clouds for a quick run through the sky; and some contain blocks that extend horizontally or vertically to cross gaps. Some Courses contain deadly lava or toxic gunk, others see you swimming through water and avoiding vortexes and spiked hazards, while haunted mansions contain door mazes and Boos masquerading as flagpoles and items. You’ll clamber to moving and flipping fences, race across conveyer-like platforms, explore behind waterfalls, and navigate tricky platforming sections where every jump flips coloured platforms. You’ll also have to light up tiles to progress, use spring pads, hit switches to generate tracks to keep from falling, and even tap the screen in some Courses to open doors. Mystery Boxes on the overworld warp you to timed platforming and combat challenges to earn additional Green Stars, Bullet Bills must be tricked into destroying certain blocks (or bombs must be tossed), and you’ll race through autoscroller sections to hop across a speeding train, avoid blasts from tanks, or to keep from being devoured by ravenous Fuzzies! You’ll also be avoiding searchlights, hopping to turning platforms and jumping between cogs, swinging from trapezes, chasing panicked rabbits, being blasted along by dash panels, gingerly hopping to seesaw platforms, and traversing invisible platforms to snag goodies and reach the flagpole.
Your open-world adventure is continually interrupted by bad camera angles and Bowser’s attacks.
In Bowser’s Fury, you only play as Mario (with all the same abilities and power-ups as in the main game), though a second player can jump in as Bowser Jr. If you don’t have a friend, Bowser Jr. will still automatically help out, attacking enemies and grabbing items and interacting with the environment when you touch the screen, and you can customise how much he aids you from the settings. This game is akin to Super Mario Odyssey(Nintendo EPD, 2017), with Mario tracking down Cat Shines like Power Moons. Each area has four islands or sub-areas that hide five Cat Shines and a bunch of additional ones. The easiest Cat Shines are at the foot of lighthouses, which will clear the goop covering them to offer tips and additional power-ups (with multiples of each held in reserve), though you’ll also be collecting Blue Coins and five Shine Shards to earn additional Cat Shines. Others are earned by fending off enemies in an enclosed arena, racing across the water on Plessie, running to a specific point against a time limit, finding a key to unlock a cage, chasing a suspiciously familiar “Fury Shadow”, and defeating mini bosses. You’ll be clambering up walls, desperately running around rotating blocks and cylinders, avoiding lava pits, dealing with switch switches, and hopping to moving and temporary platforms and blocks, tapping the screen to reveal invisible areas and blasting across gaps with cannon-like pipes. Wearing the cat suit lets you spin special wheels or fling yourself about using special coils, and you’ll again need bombs and ice skates to progress. The purpose of the Cat Shines is to clear up the goop, uncover the “Giga Bell”, and access new areas, but you’re constantly under threat from the Kaiju-like “Fury Bowser”. After a short time, Fury Bowser rises from the oil and bombards the island with falling spikes and unleashes his devastating fire breath, though these can be used as temporary platforms and will shatter “Fury Blocks” to uncover additional Cat Shines. Fury Bowser’s rampage ends after a short time but can be dispelled by collecting Cat Shines and using the lighthouses. You can also engage him directly by activating the Giga Bell, though the mechanic does quickly grow tiresome despite how epic and ominous hiss appearance is.
Presentation: Super Mario 3D World is as gorgeous and colourful as you’d expect from a Mario title. All the usual tropes and mechanics are here, from vivid overworlds, warp pipes, an abundance of mushrooms and various platforms, to quirky moments like Goombas panicking when they spot you and Boos going shy when you make eye contact. Each character plays differently, which I very much appreciated, and is accompanied by gibberish sound bites and cries of enthusiasm or pain, celebrating with a victory pose at the end of each Course. Mario and Luigi even lose their hats when in their “small” forms and characters scamper about with meows when wearing a cat suit, a gimmick also adopted by the game’s title screen and many enemies. Similarly, translucent pipes are everywhere in Super Mario 3D World, with the Fire Flower and Fire Bros. even shooting down them, alongside new gimmicks like the ice skates and 2.5D reimagining of the tank stages from Super Mario Bros. 3(Nintendo EAD, 1988). Courses and Worlds adopt recognisable aesthetics such as sunny hills, dark underground passages, deserts full of quicksand, and ominous castles full of lava. The game’s jaunty soundtrack features remixes of returning themes and enjoyable beats, though nothing really stood out to me as all that memorable. There aren’t too many cutscenes here save for the intro and outro, though there’s often a little cutaway when you enter a castle or confront a boss. Similarly, the story is mostly conveyed through an omniscient narrator and pantomime, with both being employed to amusing effect in Bowser’s Fury, where Bowser Jr. conveys his thoughts and concerns through crude paintings. The overworld is quite lively at times, with new areas and shortcuts popping up as you progress and collect Green Stars, and it’s fun seeing the captive Sprixies both crying for help on the overworld and waiting at the flagpole after you defeat the boss guarding them.
Some impressive, colourful visuals and a large sandbox make this a visual treat, even by Mario’s standards.
Unfortunately, the Courses aren’t all that inventive in Super Mario 3D World. While not surprising as Mario games always stick to a well-crafted formula, it is a bit disappointing seeing the game rely on the same gimmicks and aesthetics as previous titles. While each World’s overworld has a theme, Courses don’t always reflect that: you’ll explore rolling hills, haunted mansions, and toxic swamps whether the overworld is a desert, in the clouds, or at the beach. Some Courses are pitch black, requiring the Fire Flower or Light Box to illuminate the way; other times, you run around in silhouette, pushing over Bowser standees and hopping to blocks. Sometimes, you jump into paintings or use mirrors to see goodies hidden behind you; other times, the game pays homage to Super Mario Galaxy(Nintendo EAD Tokyo, 2007) or features Easter Eggs celebrating the “Year of Luigi”. Some Courses adopt a quasi-third-person perspective and are pure 3D platformers, while others incorporate 2.5D sidescrolling, with the perspective often shifting mid-Course, especially if you’re in water or riding platforms. Some Courses are autoscrollers, forcing you to race away on a 2.5D plane or desperate jump as Fuzzies consume the ground. Panels shift and move, the ground and cog-like platforms turn over bottomless pits, and you’ll hop across and racing down lit-up blocks to avoid plunging to your doom. The Courses are all very colourful and have a fair bit going on, with hidden areas access by pipes or hopping to suspicious out of the way alcoves, and a fair bit of depth in the background, though I did sometimes struggle with the camera perspective, which led to me repeating certain jumps or get confused about where I was. This is even worse in Bowser’s Fury, where the camera is a constant headache, sticking either too close to Mario or being obscured by the environment. I enjoyed the quasi open-world nature of this mode, which basically acts as a scaled down version of Super Mario Odyssey, and the additional rain and ominous storm effects really added to the ambiance and panic when Fury Bowser awoke. However, it can be difficult to navigate the islands as the map isn’t much help and you’re not given much indication on where to go or when the areas have spawned new Cat Shines.
Enemies and Bosses: Hordes of Goombas, Koopa Troopers, Boos, Cheep-Cheeps, Spinys, and Piranha Plants all return and many are bolstered by their own cat power-ups. Goombas also slide around in ice skates or attack in totems, sometimes with Fire or Hammer Bros. atop them, and Piranha Creepers stretch out from pipes and walls to make hopping across lily pads even trickier in the swamp stages. Boos disguise themselves as items and flagpoles and Big Boos loom out of walls and chase you through shifting mansions, Parabones constantly rebuild themselves, Stingbys incessantly pursue you, and Conkdors try to crush you with their beaks. You can hop to higher areas or goodies using bouncy Biddybuds, uncover frog-like Coin Coffers hiding in bushes and topple bigger, meaner Galoombas, and will find mouse-like Skipsqueaks running on rolling platforms and adorable Blocksteppers marching to the game’s soundtrack. Bullet and Banzai Bills fire from cannons, often homing in on you, different bro variants Boomerang, Fire, and Hammer) and teleporting Magikoopas act as mini bosses and you’ll be precariously hopping onto giant Ant Troopers to cross spike beds. Spikes toss pointed logs to upset your jumps, Brolders pop from the ground in lava Courses but can be thrown as projectiles, Bullies try to push you to your doom, and Charvaarghs and Fuzzies instantly kill you if touched. Walleyes try to block you, Ty-foos can blow you off the Course, you must plan your jumps and positioning to avoid being hurt by flipping spiked squares, jump over flaming shockwaves emitted by Ring Burners, and avoid Rammerheads when swimming through tight underwater passages. Cat variants of many of these enemies also pop up in Bowser’s Fury, alongside the fleet-footed Fury Shadow and kittens corrupted by Fury Bowser’s goop, though they otherwise function exactly the same, despite their cuter appearance.
Some unique and lively bosses add a surprising level of challenge to the game.
The brutish Boom Boom and the more effeminate Pom Pom regularly appear as boss battles in enclosed arenas, with Boom Boom whirling his stumpy arms like a dervish, temporarily turning invisible, and ricocheting off the walls as a spinning shell. Pom Pom prefers to throw shurikens and spawn duplicates to disorientate you, though bouncing on each of their heads three times will do them in. Cat variants of both also appear in Bowser’s Fury, though the strategy remains the same. This is true of the Cat Prince Bully, a variation on the armoured Prince Bully from World 6. When first encountered, you must force the Prince Bully into one of the pipes lodged into the arena walls to compress him and attack and, in both encounters, players must watch for his charged fireball. The regal Hisstocrat also pops up twice, first in World 2 and then in World Bowser, with subtle differences between them (their gender, for one thing, and raining either boulders or fireballs). In both encounters, players must avoid the falling hazards and scamper up snakes to attack Hisstocrat’s weak spot, being careful not to linger as the snake columns will bite and Hisstocrat will destroy them. Players will also battle Boss Brolder in a sweltering volcano, avoiding his lava trails and hitting the Brolders he spawns to toss them at him. This can be a gruelling fight in World Castle as flaming Splorches also patrol the small platform and King Brolder’s attacks are far more aggressive. The jester-like Motley Bossblob is also fought several times, with this trickster transforming into a bulbous form that bounces around, producing shockwaves, and splitting into gelatinous orbs that scatter across the circus-like arena. Finally, there’s King Ka-thunk, a giant Ka-thunk who flips about the arena and tries to skewer you with his spikes. To beat him, simply stand in the middle to avoid being hit and jump or butt stomp onto his backside, though be wary as his movements speed up. All these bosses return in “Boss Blitz”, the final Course in World Flower, where you must run the gauntlet against them all with no power-ups and no checkpoints.
While pretty simple in his base form, Bowser becomes a menace when powered up or on a rampage!
In addition to hopping along his trains and tackling his tank brigade, players will naturally battle Bowser on numerous occasions. The first time is at the end of World 1, where he awaits atop his keep and drives his bitchin’ muscle car. Bowser accelerates away from you, forcing you to chase, dodging pools of lava left behind by his fireballs. Bowser tosses bombs that you must kick back to deal damage to his car and eventually send him packing. This fight is revisited in World Castle, though made much more gruelling as the “road” is littered with hazards such as spikes, gaps, and flame bursts, alongside Bowser’s usual and much more lingering fireball attacks. Bowser’s bombs can also have a short fuse this time, or are thrown at odd angles, or you’ll have a hard time hitting them due to the obstacles, though projectile-based power-ups help chip away at his car. In the finale of World Bowser, Bowser grabs a Super Bell and transforms into “Meowser”, a gigantic, cat-like form that scampers up and down a tower, bursts from walls to swipe at you with his huge claws or his Tanooki-like tail, and breathes fire. You can scare him off by hitting POW Blocks but cannot attack him directly, and Meowser even duplicates himself with a Double Cherry to make the frantic climb even more tense. This is actually a fun platforming challenge, however, and an incredibly simple boss. Once you reach the roof, you must hit a Super POW Block four times before the duplicated Meowsers finish you off, sending him into the gloop-infested islands of Bowser’s Fury. Here, Fury Bowser awakens and causes havoc, prompting you to activate the Giga Bell and transform into Giga Cat Mario to fend him off. In this titanic fight, you can melee attack Bowser but mainly attack by butt stomping his exposed belly after dodging his shell slam. Bowser charges at you, leaving a trail of goop that slows you down, spits fire, rains spikes across the environment, produces shockwaves, and spawns bombs and pillars you can use against him. After the fifth encounter, players battle Giant Bowser, riding around on Plessie to dodge his projectiles and ramming a crystal to damage his vulnerable belly.
Additional Features: There are a whopping 380 Green Stars to find in Super Mario 3D World, many hidden out in the open, spawning after collecting eight Green Coins, or hidden behind platforming or combat challenges or in obscure areas. You can earn additional Green Stars in the Captain Toad and Mystery Box challenges, which test your puzzle solving, platforming, and combat prowess, and earn others for battling mini bosses like Boom Boom when they appear on the overworld. Green Stars unlock additional Courses and adds a special stamp to your save file, with another awarded after beating the game. There are also 85 Stamps to find across each World and in Sprixie houses, with players earning a piece of character art for each one, and players can track their progress regarding these collectibles by pressing the – button on the overworld. Courses and Worlds also contain hidden exits and optional routes, hidden areas where you can stock up on Coins and extra lives, and even Luigi cameos to celebrate Mario’s brother. Clearing the main game unlocks Luigi Bros., a modified version of the original arcade Mario Bros. (Nintendo R&D1, 1983), and opens World Star, World Mushroom, World Flower, and World Crown. These Worlds feature much tougher, remixed Courses with tighter time limits, tougher enemies and challenges, and rematches against previous bosses. Clearing the “Super Galaxy” Course unlocks Rosalina, a slow character with a spinning attack, as a playable character, and you’ll also be encouraged to replay previous Courses to set new times and high scores. There are 100 Cat Shines to collect in Bowser’s Fury, with additional ones appearing after you clear the game alongside a useful quick travel feature. Grabbing all the Cat Shines alters the final battle with Giant Bowser and also awards an alternative ending and grants Mario and Bowser Jr. some new cat duds.
Final Thoughts: You can never really go wrong with a bit of Super Mario. The franchise excels by taking what should be a repetitive and tired formula and presenting it with colourful visuals and crisp controls, constantly delivering top-notch titles despite recycling the same gimmicks. Super Mario 3D World doesn’t stray far from this formula, presenting fun, varied 2D and 2.5D worlds that get progressively more challenging and reward exploration, skill, and trial and error. The game heavily relies on the Super Bell power-up and constantly reminds you of the cat suit by dressing enemies up as kitties but, while the suit is fun to play as, it’s not really doing much new and its abilities are somewhat limited. I liked seeing the Tanooki Suit return and useful power-ups like the Boomerang Flower, though the Mega Mushroom was similarly wasted and the Double Cherry was more of a hindrance. While I had fun with the Courses and the different gimmicks, it was a bit disappointing seeing the same assets recycled and not tying each World to a specific theme. The Captain Toad sections were a fun distraction, and it was enjoyable hunting down Green Stars, though having to backtrack to collect more to unlock new areas can be a pain. The bosses were all visually interesting and generally unique, save for the repetitive battles with Boom Boom and Pom Pom, though the final battle with Meowser was a bit simple. Bowser’s Fury makes up for it with its epic depiction of Fury Bowser and open-world aesthetic. However, the camera ruins the immersion, it was a bit confusing figuring out where to go, and Fury Bowser’s repeated attacks quickly become more aggravating than entertaining. Still, I had a lot of fun with Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury and there’s a lot to see and collect, and a decent challenge on offer. Super Mario 3D World features everything you could want from a 3D/2.5D hybrid Mario title and constantly rewards you with collectibles and power-ups. While Bowser’s Fury feels a bit tacked on, limited, and a like a poor man’s Super Mario Odyssey, I liked how it offered a different twist on the main game’s mechanics and challenged the player in different ways that leaned into open-world exploration.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Great Stuff
Did you enjoy Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury? How do you feel it compares other Mario titles, specifically the New Super Mario Bros. games? Which of the playable characters was your favourite and what did you think to the Super Bell power-up? Were you disappointed that each World didn’t stick to a set theme? What did you think to the Captain Toad challenges and the boss battles? Did Fury Bowser also annoy you, and did you enjoy the open-world aspects of Bowser’s Fury? Did you ever collect all the Green Stars and Stamps and best the additional Worlds? Which of Mario’s Switch games was your favourite and how are you celebrating Mario’s birthday this year? Whatever your thoughts on Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, feel free to share them below, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other Mario content!
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