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Game Corner [Kirby Month]: Kirby’s Dream Land 2 (Nintendo Switch)

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Created by Masahiro Sakurai, the disgustingly cute, ever-ravenous Kirby is one of Nintendo’s most popular characters. Accordingly, I’m dedicating most of July to celebrating the pink puff-ball.

Released: 16 March 2023
Originally Released: 21 March 1995
Developer: HAL Laboratory

MobyGames Score: 7.7
Also Available For: Game Boy, Nintendo 3DS (Virtual Console), Nintendo Switch 2 (Online), and Nintendo Wii

Quick Facts:
HAL Laboratory made their name thanks to nineteen-year-old Masahiro Sakurai and his pink puffball, Kirby, with Kirby’s Dream Land (HAL Laboratory, 1992) being their most successful title at the time and Kirby’s Adventure (ibid, 1993) being a highly praised NES classic that forever changed Kirby’s gameplay by allowing him to copy enemy abilities. Following Kirby’s Adventure’s success, Kirby returned to the Game Boy for a much bigger portable adventure featuring three animal friends and noticeably expanded gameplay. Kirby’s Dream Land 2 sold over a million units and is largely praised as a fun portable adventure.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Although Kirby’s Dream Land 2 is essentially a bigger, better version of Kirby’s Dream Land, sharing the same controls, reusing many sprites, and featuring very similar gameplay, I was happy to see that it was bigger and better. Players guide Kirby across seven levels, represented by a rudimentary world map and containing anywhere from three to seven stage doors to challenge. Clearing each stage unlocks the next until you inevitably tackle a boss and Warp Star to the next level, with players able to replay previous stages to hunt down any Rainbow Drops they missed or tackle a “Bonus Chance” sub-game. Kirby plays and controls exactly as in Kirby’s Dream Land, jumping with A, inhaling and spitting out enemies with B or X, and inflating to fly indefinitely by tapping up on the directional pad (D-pad). Kirby can also crouch and drop through certain platforms by pressing down on the D-pad and attack enemies with a waterspout (much like his air gun projectile) by pressing B or X underwater. Kirby can suck up and spit out enemies and blocks, or spit whatever he’s got in his mouth to destroy these same blocks to progress or find shortcuts and goodies. Kirby’s pretty durable but still a big target, but luckily you can still find Pep Brew and Maxim Tomatoes to partially or fully restore health. 1-ups can also still be found, and special Stars are scattered throughout every level. Collect seven and you get an extra life, and you get a bunch when taking on the “Goal Game” at the end of every level. These are similar to the bonus stages in Kirby’s Adventure and see Kirby flinging himself up past cloud platforms, automatically destroying any enemies and snagging power-ups as he goes, and reaching greater heights if accompanied by one of his new animal friends.

Kirby’s previous abilities return and further power-up his new animal friends.

Before that, I must obviously mention that Kirby can absorb the abilities of certain enemies, just like he could in Kirby’s Adventure. After inhaling an enemy, press down on the D-pad to swallow it and see if it gifts a new ability, which you trigger with B or X. When using an ability, Kirby loses his inhale mechanic, but you can press – to dump your current ability (or animal friend) to try a new one. There are eight copy abilities in Kirby’s Dream Land 2, seven return from Kirby’s Adventure and one (the Rainbow Sword) only appears when you collect every Rainbow Drop. Burning sees Kirby attack with a flaming charge, both on the ground and in mid-air, to destroy enemies and melt ice blocks. Cutter tosses a boomerang-like projectile for a ranged attack, Ice freezes enemies into ice blocks you can then hit into other enemies, and Needle transforms Kirby’s lower half into spikes. Parasol allows him to float (somewhat redundant considering his natural flying abilities) and swipe enemies and blocks with a melee attack, Spark sees Kirby unleash an electrical discharge, and Stone transforms him into a heavy rock to crush anything beneath him (including certain blocks). While each are beneficial, I found Cutter the most useful (though it seemed to have weaker attack power). These abilities are expanded whenever Kirby’s joined by an animal friend, allowing Rick the Hamster to spit fireballs or fire an electrical whip, Coo the Owl to throw ringed boomerangs and perform a tornado attack, and Kine the Sunfish to effectively become invincible when you have Stone or surround himself with a snow storm (though this eventually freezes Kine). These animal friends are super cute and helpful; Kine makes swimming and passing through water streams a breeze but is effectively useless on land. Coo offers flying mechanics like the autoscrolling flying sections in Kirby’s Dream Land and Rick laughs at spikes and slippery ice. Sadly, there is no invincibility power-up or screen-clearing microphone here and the points you acquire for defeating enemies again seem for show, but Kirby’s expanded abilities from the NES and his new animal friends certainly spice up the gameplay.

Kirby’s animal friends help him navigate levels and bypass obstacles.

While many gameplay mechanics from Kirby’s Dream Land return, they’re spread across many more levels and presented in a way that feels more complete and challenging, making the first game more like a proof of concept. Things start simple in “Grass Land”, a very flat and easily traversed environment that introduces platforming, bottomless pits, and underwater areas. “Big Forest” puts more emphasis on vertical traversal, with you hopping to leaf platforms in the treetops as much as trunks and avoiding the many enemies patrolling the upper canopy. “Ripple Field” is essentially an expanded version of the tropical setting briefly seen in “Float Island”, though mostly underwater, with you pushed along or fighting against water streams from pipes. Kine is your best option for full control, though he flounders when platforming on dry land. Unsurprisingly, “Iceberg” features slippery platforms, falling icicles, and a raging snowstorm autoscroller (though Coo cuts through the wind with ease). Autoscrolling sections are much more common in Kirby’s Dream Land 2, with you being forced to make split second jumps to avoid a plummet or being crushed against walls. You’ll often need various copy abilities to bypass these sections faster as they’re littered with enemies, blocks, and the ever-annoying spikes. “Iceberg” is also where you see more doors on the world maps and these only increase from then on. “Red Canyon” features more maze-like rock tunnels, single-use doors to either goodies or a slew of enemies, bottomless pits (it is a canyon, after all), and introduces narrow, treacherous vertical scrolling sections. “Cloudy Park” sees you riding vertical wind currents, hopping to temporary cloud platforms, and being buffeted about by gusts of wind. Finally, “Dark Castle” recycles basically every previous gimmick, forcing you to pick between copy abilities and animal friends by taking certain doors or inhaling enemies hiding in cells, and challenging you to platform your way to the left (sometimes against the wind). You’ll also encounter crumbling platforms (sometimes hiding spikes), narrow shafts filled with spikes or enemies, and dark areas that you can light up with Spark.

Presentation:
At first glance, Kirby’s Dream Land 2 is virtually indistinguishable from his first Game Boy outing. Kirby is exactly the same sprite, with all the same basic animations and quirks, many environments are very similar, and all the regular enemies are recycled from Kirby’s Dream Land. Aside from some impressive sprite art showcasing the new animal friends, the title screen is virtually the same (though with only one dancing Kirby this time). Kirby still has no idle animations, though continues to bust out the dance moves upon completing levels, and has the same adorable falling and pained animations. He showcases additional personality in the new, expanded pre-level animations and by floating between areas on the world map, and through his returning copy abilities. These expand his animation frames and change his sprite, gifting him a rock-like form, enflaming his body, and seeing him carry a cute little parasol. Kirby’s three new animal friends are delightfully cute and take up a lot of screen space, but are carried between levels and give the gameplay a little spice. Best of all, these large sprites don’t slow the game down and neither do Kirby’s returning abilities. In fact, Kirby’s Dream Land 2 performs remarkably well compared to his first Game Boy outing, filling the screen with respawning enemies with little to no slowdown or sprite flicker, which was very impressive. The soundtrack is just as catchy as ever, with some themes returning or being slightly remixed and new themes adding to the fantastical whimsy of this dream-like world. Unfortunately, Kirby’s Dream Land 2 features less cutscenes than its predecessor, but it does boast different endings depending on if you collected all the Rainbow Drops.

The visuals and gameplay are vastly expanded upon and improved from the original.

Kirby’s Dream Land 2 also impresses with its expanded world. Sure, levels are short bursts of fun, but there are way more of them, a world map, and more mini bosses and reasons to explore thanks to the Rainbow Drops and Kirby’s returning copy abilities. “Grass Land” and “Big Forest” may be a little too similar to each other and “Green Greens”, but they’re perfect introductory levels. They also showcase how much better Kirby’s Dream Land 2 is at utilising the limitations of the Game Boy, showcasing the more detailed and varied backgrounds that help this game surpass the original. I especially liked the thick forest canopy, log platforms, and tree trunks in “Big Forest”. “Ripple Field” takes the tropical island aesthetic from “Float Island” (including falling coconuts and flailing fish enemies) and expands it with a vast underwater cavern full of jet streams and Gordos. “Iceberg” was one of the most visually impressive and varied areas thanks to its slippery platforms, snowstorm gimmick, meltable ice blocks, frigid caves, and tricky platforming sections. “Red Canyon” combines precarious jumping with claustrophobic tunnels and, while platforming is a breeze thanks to Kirby’s floating and Coo, it’s tough to outrun the screen when it’s pushing you along and giving you little time to react. I really enjoyed “Cloudy Park”, too, though it was a shame it didn’t do more with its volcano setting (like incorporating lava or fireball hazards). The wind currents were a fun gimmick, and the level significantly ups the difficulty by filling narrow, autoscrolling corridors with enemies. “Dark Castle” sadly doesn’t really utilise its medieval castle setting until the finale, preferring to recycle gimmicks and areas in an expanded version of the final stage obstacle courses seen in “Mt. Dedede”. These see you playing against type and heading left, picking different doors for different pros and cons, and battling every mini boss again (though at the end of each level, rather than in a gauntlet).

Enemies and Bosses:
Kirby’s Dream Land 2 features an assortment of recognisable enemies recycled from the previous games. Kirby’s most recognisable foe, Waddle Dee, is back, sadly reduced to just wandering around or floating on a parasol rather than attacking with an eye beam. Bronto Bird, Broom Hatter, the mushroom-like Cappy, all return on land while floundering Blippers, squid-like Squishiess, and bubble-firing Glunks patrol the seas. Cannons blast from destructible blocks or floating platforms, indestructible spiky Gordos are everywhere, mummy-like Mumbies pass through the foreground, and Kabu stone heads teleport about and try to crush you. Poppy Bros. Jr. still ride apples and bombs, and five enemies from Kirby’s Adventure bestow copy abilities. Blade Knights toss their boomerangs from afar, Flamers roll around platforms, Pengys freeze you into ice blocks, Rockys try to squish you, and Sparkys emit a shocking attack up close. There are also a few new enemies, like the spring-loaded Bouncy Ty, Crack Tweets (cute chicks who hatch from eggs), Elieels that pop from pipes, and anthropomorphic parasols. Spiteful Propeller Bombs home in on you if you approach with an animal friend and leave a lingering explosion when defeated, the toad-like Slippy (not that one) hops about, and hedgehog-like Spikeys skewer you with their spines or grant you the Needle ability. Lil’Krackos and Tincells appear during boss battles and you’ll also battle three knight-like robots who look tough and certainly stand out and are even positioned as pseudo-mini bosses but are just as weak as other enemies. Sadly, you can’t gain Blade’s sword (which he uses to defend against attacks and even your inhale), Butch’s axe (which he tosses when you get close), or Masher’s ball-and-chain weapon as these three cannot be inhaled.

You’ll constantly battle some fun mini bosses to rescue Kirby’s animal friends.

As you explore each level, you’ll inevitably wander into enclosed areas and battle a mini boss to rescue an animal friend. There are seven of these to contend with, with each recycled throughout and one (Mister Frosty) returning from Kirby’s Adventure. The first you’ll encounter is the strange, hedgehog-like Efreeti who hops about and charges at you with a flaming attack that burns on contact. If you don’t have a copy ability, you can trick him into colliding with the wall and spit the stars that fly out from him like in the final battle against King Dedede in Kirby’s Dream Land. You next fight the aggressive sentient umbrella Jumper Shoot, who spins around above and tosses its wooden sandal for you to inhale and spit back, if required. Its rapid spin can be difficult to avoid but abilities like Cutter make short work of it. The massive jellyfish Master Green was next, with him leaping about the arena and unleashing a Sparky-like electrical attack. Flamer isn’t bad for this fight, though you must time the attack just right or you’ll end up being hit by Master Green’s massive hit box. Blocky tries to crush you from above in “Iceberg”, his jumping stomp producing rocks on impact that either hurt you or can be inhaled. Captain Stitch is essentially an enlarged Gordo, being a black sphere that tries to skewer you with is blades or flings them at you, leaving its core briefly vulnerable for a Cutter attack. You’ll also battle Waiu, a ninja-like enemy who teleports, tosses kunai, runs up walls, performs a somersault kick, and executes a diving attack, making him perhaps the most versatile mini boss. Finally, Mr. Frosty returns from Kirby’s Adventure, charging at you and tossing blocks of ice from across the screen.

Kirby battles some familiar faces, some new foes, and faces a tough final challenge.

Each level ends with a boss bottle, with three returning from the previous games. Whispy Woods now sports a bandage from previous battles and summons spiked roots from the floor alongside raining apples. Mister Shine and Mister Bright also return from Kirby’s Adventure, again fought in tandem and with separate health bars. You must again avoid the stars they fire, shield against Mr. Bright’s explosive attack by hiding in Mr. Shine’s light cone, and dodge their fireballs and spin attacks. Kracko also returns, again starting as a floating eye before regenerating its health and reforming into a cloud to rain fire. Nruff and Nelly are fought in “Big Forest” and attack from tunnels like Lololo and Lalala from Kirby’s Dream Land, firing cannonballs and tossing minions for you to spit back. Sweet Stuff is an angler fish fought in an underwater tunnel. Flanked by Tincells and Squishies, this monster charges at you and fires arrow-like projectiles so it’s advised to use Kine to even the odds. The Ice Dragon freezes you with its breath, fires an icy projectile across the slippery floor, and performs a stomp to rain icicles so you might want Rick and Flamer for this one. The final battle against King Dedede is fought atop his ominous castle and closely mirrors the finale of Kirby’s Dream Land, with the penguin king sliding at you, swinging his mallet, inhaling you, and performing a ground pound. Oddly, King Dedede often falls asleep mid-battle, but he also flies into a rage and tosses explosive mallets as the fight progresses. If you defeat him with all seven Rainbow Drops, you’ll gain the Rainbow Sword ability and battle the true final boss, Dark Matter, in a challenging two-phase finale. In the first, you attack Dark Matter directly or deal big damage by reflecting its energy orbs. In the second, you must attack its flailing appendages while avoiding its charge, circling beams, and piercing laser beams. You must be quick, though, as you’re in freefall and will slowly take damage as Kirby re-enters the atmosphere.

Additional Features:
There are seven Rainbow Drops in Kirby’s Dream Land 2, one in each level, and you’ll need different copy abilities and animal friends to reach them. I managed to find three without much difficulty, but you might need a guide to track down the others as they can be hidden behind doors or blocks or tricky areas that you need specific abilities to reach. You get three save files that track your completion percentage, though there are no other difficulty settings or extra modes. You can return to any area and level to hunt down the Rainbow Drops, but you can’t battle the bosses again. Instead, the boss door takes you to the “Bonus Chance” mini game where you must collect fourteen Stars while dodging enemies and other hazards. You can bring copy abilities and animal friends to help, but you’ll instantly fail if you take a hit. Completing all of these unlocks the “Bonus” game from the main menu, where you’re challenged to collect more Stars across a marathon of levels. Achieving 100% overall completion also unlocks the “Boss Endurance” mode, which pits you against every boss with no breaks or recovery between each. Naturally, when playing the Nintendo Switch Online version, you can utilise save states and the rewind feature to make Kirby’s Dream Land 2 a breeze but, back in the day, you could play the game in vivid colour by plugging it into the Super Game Boy.

Final Thoughts:
Now this is much more like it! Just as Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins (Nintendo R&D1, 1992) improved everything about its ridiculously basic original, better utilising the Game Boy’s limited hardware and incorporating elements from the home console videogames, so too does Kirby’s Dream Land 2 improve upon everything that held the first portable game back. Not only does the game look and sound just as good, if not better, it expands the world considerably, adding a fun little world map, multiple and ever-increasing levels, and presenting a much more well-rounded and complete game compared to the first. Kirby felt naked without his copy ability so it’s much appreciated to see that mechanic incorporated here to make him a more versatile character. Sure, it’s disappointing that his copy abilities are recycled from Kirby’s Adventure, but they’re incorporated very well, giving you new options to explore and hunt down those elusive Rainbow drops. I also really enjoyed how they powered-up Kirby’s new animal friends, adding new attacks to their arsenal, and the inclusion of these buddies helped the game stand out even more, even if they don’t live up to their full potential at times. I loved the constant challenge presented by the many mini bosses, how the main bosses could be made harder without a copy ability, and that the game offered an incentive to explore with its tough true final boss and unlockable modes. I was very impressed with Kirby’s Dream Land 2. It took everything that made the first game so adorable and refined it, incorporating elements from the NES title and offering a wealth of bite-sized levels, enemies, and abilities without any slowdown. I might even go as far as to say that newcomers to the franchise should skip straight to this title, but it’s hard to rate it higher than the 16-bit games and the previous titles are still enjoyable… this is just far superior.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Did you own Kirby’s Dream Land 2 back in the day? Were you happy to see his copy abilities carried over from the NES? Which of the three animal friends was your favourite and do you think they lived up to their potential? Do you agree that this is a vast improvement over the first Game Boy title? Did you ever collect all the Rainbow Drops and defeat Dark Matter? Which Kirby videogame is your favourite? Whatever you think about Kirby, drop a note in the comments and be sure to support me on Ko-Fi if you liked this review.

Game Corner [Kirby Month]: Kirby’s Adventure (Nintendo Switch)

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Created by Masahiro Sakurai, the disgustingly cute, ever-ravenous Kirby is one of Nintendo’s most popular characters. Accordingly, I’m dedicating most of July to celebrating the pink puff-ball.

Released: 13 February 2019
Originally Released: 23 March 1993
Developer: HAL Laboratory
MobyGames Score: 8.3

Also Available For: Game Boy Advance (Remake), Nintendo 3DS (Virtual Console), Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), NES Classic Edition, Nintendo Switch 2 (Online), Nintendo Wii

Quick Facts:
After nineteen-year-old Masahiro Sakurai Kirby’s Dream Land (HAL Laboratory, 1992) put HAL Laboratory on the map, Sakurai spearheaded Kirby’s much-praised NES debut the following year alongside lead programmer Hiroaki Suga and producers Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Takao Shimizu. Kirby’s Adventure forever changed the franchise by allowing Kirby to copy enemy abilities and also debuted Meta Knight, Kirby’s oft-recurring rival. Now regarded as an NES classic, Kirby’s Adventure was widely praised as an improvement over the Game Boy title, though still noted to be on the short side.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Kirby’s Adventure is, essentially, a NES remake and expansion of Kirby’s Dream Land, recycling many of the same gameplay mechanics and locations (though with new names) and tasking players with guiding Kirby through seven main, dream-like levels battling many of the enemies and bosses from the handheld title. This time, players get three save files that track their completion percentage, encouraging you to both play in bursts and try out every game mode as opposed to finishing the game in one sitting. Additionally, Kirby’s Adventure features various hub worlds containing doors to levels, mini games, and bosses, with more of each hub world uncovered as you progress and the game allowing you to fast travel to previous areas as you wish. Kirby jumps with A and tapping up on the directional pad (D-pad) inflates him for indefinite flight, just as before, which does mean the platforming challenge is minimal but Kirby’s also a bigger target when inflated. Kirby dashes by double-tapping left or right on the D-pad, pressing down and A performs a slide attack to smash star blocks or fit through narrow gaps, while tapping A swims. If you press B when inflated or underwater, Kirby expels air or a spout of water to attack enemies and destroy star blocks, and Kirby can again enter doors and climb ladders by pressing up on the D-pad. Kirby also still replenishes health with Pep Drinks and Maxim Tomatoes, earns 1-Ups either by collecting them, increasing his score, or completing various mini games, uses Warp Stars to rocket across levels and occasionally becomes temporarily invincible after eating candy tossed to him by the mysterious anti-hero, Meta Knight. When falling from a great height, Kirby seems to defeat any enemies beneath him, but you’re just as likely to take damage as Kirby can’t typically defeat enemies this way, so it’s better to avoid hitting anything when in freefall.

Alongside his usual abilities, Kirby can now copy and utilise his enemy’s attacks for extra variety.

Kirby’s repertoire is significantly expanded by his new ability to inhale enemies with B or X and then copy their abilities by pressing down on the D-pad. Some enemies don’t offer new abilities, some have limited uses, and all can be discarded with – if you fancy trying a new one, or are lost if you take too much damage (though you can reacquire the ability if you’re quick). There are twenty-five copy abilities here (twenty-six if you count “Mix”, which appears when you swallow two viable enemies at once and initiates a roulette to randomly select an ability), with each explained on the pause menu. You can toss boomerang-like projectiles with Cutter, cut enemies to pieces with Sword, crush anything beneath you with Stone, add an umbrella melee attack to your arsenal and float through the sky with Parasol, and light up dark areas with Light. Mike destroys all onscreen enemies as in Kirby’s Dream Land, and Hammer crushes enemies and special wooden pegs. You can leap to higher ground to escape autoscrolling sections with Hi-Jump, fire ricocheting shots with Laser, and barrel across hills and straights with Wheel. Sleep is more of a hindrance, causing Kirby to take a nap and leaving him vulnerable, Crash is a one-use, screen clearing ability, and Ball adds a bouncing mechanic to the game. UFO is one of the most overpowered abilities, allowing Kirby to freely fly about in a spacecraft and fire various beams at enemies but disappearing when you finish the level. Some abilities are somewhat redundant; Freeze and Ice are largely indistinguishable, with both turning enemies into ice blocks. The same is true of Fire and Fireball; though Fireball unleashes a flaming charge, they both scorch enemies and light fuses to either destroy special blocks or fire Kirby from cannons. Similarly, both Backdrop and Throw let Kirby perform wrestling moves and I fail to see why Spark couldn’t have just had Light’s functionality. Still, these abilities are super fun and there are always different ones to try. It’s rare that you cannot pass obstacles or clear levels if you don’t have the right ability, but certain abilities access hidden switches that open more of the hub world and count towards 100% completion.

While the hub worlds and mini games add some spice, levels suffer from a lack of visual identity.

While the copy abilities add some much-needed depth to Kirby’s gameplay, the rest of the game is largely copy and pasted from Kirby’s Dream Land, though expanded considerably, with each level having four to six stages to explore, alongside various mini games. While most levels are very linear, others scatter platforms for you to jump to, bottomless pits to avoid, floor and ceiling spikes that can be tricky to bypass when inflated, and claustrophobic tunnels and caverns to explore. Many of these are underwater, some levels feature wind that pushes you back, much of “Orange Ocean” features slippery, icy platforms, and some areas are blocked by destructible star blocks. Autoscrolling sections or parts where you’re chased by enemies occasionally provide an additional hazard and anxiety as you scramble up through narrow, hazardous shafts, explosive coconuts often drop from trees, spiked Gordos and annoying cannons are strategically placed to mess up your progress, and “Butter Building” features a rotating stone tower. Sadly, you’ll see the same areas recycled over and over here, with the challenge increasing and gimmicks getting mixed up but often to the detriment of the level theme. “Ice Cream Island”, for example, is noticeably devoid of ice cream and spends more time in the clouds and you’ll return to the forest aesthetic of “Vegetable Valley” even when exploring the mountains of “Yoghurt Yard”. Every time you clear a level, you can press A to fling Kirby up to platforms for points and 1-ups and there are four mini games to tackle in the hub worlds to earn more 1-ups. These see you picking up Kirby dolls with a crane, catching eggs tossed by King Dedede while avoiding bombs, pressing A at just the right time to gun down enemies, and battling the various mini bosses in a coliseum-like arena.

Presentation:
Kirby’s Adventure is as cartoony and whimsical as its Game Boy predecessor but naturally far more colourful and much bigger, increasing the length of the adventure and offering numerous mini games and extra modes upon 100% completion. Although Kirby largely looks and animates exactly the same, he’s now his trademark pink and you can track his status on the heads-up display (HUD). This alerts you when you’ve taken damage or shows what ability you have equipped, though the HUD does take up a lot of real estate and somewhat limit the gameplay area. Kirby is as expressive as ever, showing pain when hit, dancing alongside his kin upon clearing levels, and even changing colour with certain abilities. These also come with additional animations and effects, such as surrounding Kirby with ice shards or flames, transforming him into a heavy stone, or gifting him a sword. There’s a lot more attention paid to narrative in this title, with each level being introduced by small cutscenes, Meta Knight popping up to challenge you, and fun little cutscenes in the finale. These see the self-righteous Kirby ignoring King Dedede’s pleas and accidentally unleashing Nightmare from the Fountain of Dreams, leading to Kirby and King Dedede setting aside their differences to safeguard their home. Kirby’s Adventure features some returning tunes from Kirby’s Dream Land, including the victory fanfare and even evoking the Game Boy visuals and memorable tunes in one area of “Rainbow Resort”. Sadly, while things start off enjoyable enough, Kirby’s Adventure is crippled by horrendous sprite flickering, screen tearing, and slowdown in the middle-to-late game, with the game chugging along as more enemies and obstacles fill the screen and even struggling to render the environment when Kirby’s using certain copy abilities. It doesn’t help that enemies constantly respawn, but it does make some sections unbearable difficult as the NES hardware is clearly struggling to put everything onscreen, which is a shame as there are some unexpected visual elements here, such as rippling water and rotating backgrounds.

Though colourful and enjoyable, this classic title suffers from performance issues.

Kirby’s Adventure essentially rips its levels from Kirby’s Dream Land but gives them new names to provide the illusion of being an all-new adventure. However, “Vegetable Valley” is just “Green Greens” under a different title, “Ice Cream Island” pulls is tropical setting and underwater caverns directly from “Float Islands”, and “Castle Lololo” and “Bubbly Clouds” crop up time and again, especially in “Butter Building” and “Grape Garden”. Essentially, Kirby’s Adventure has a handful of level themes (woods, castle, clouds, sky palace, etc) that it recycles across all levels. While this adds some visual variety, it means the levels have very little cohesion. I already mentioned how “Ice Cream Island” is devoid of ice cream, but “Grape Garden” spends more time amongst the clouds than the trees, for example, and all these areas return with new colour palettes and tougher gimmicks in “Resort Island”. The only level that really stood out to me was “Orange Ocean” as it features a colourful dusk-time aesthetic, takes you from a dock to the deck and interior of a pirate ship, and ends with you skidding about on precarious ice platforms as a sadly basic (almost ugly) aurora borealis shines above. I also liked when areas were plunged into a black and purple darkness, with only Kirby visible until you get the Light ability, and I guess I didn’t mind “Butter Building”, which mixes its castle setting with a sort of toy box aesthetic, gothic visuals, and an impressive rotating tower. I also liked how “Grape Garden” sees you hopping to blimps and battleships, but again this has nothing to do with the level theme (I saw no grapes and very few gardens). The eighth stage might just be a glorified background for the penultimate boss, but the Fountain of Dreas was very colourful and beautiful and I liked that you fought Nightmare against the rushing night sky, with stars twinkling around the Moon and such. Unfortunately, I think Kirby’s Adventure suffers from not giving each level a distinct visual identity. If it had stuck to a theme for each level, it would’ve been even more impactful when the aesthetics and gimmicks returned in “Rainbow Resort” rather than simply presenting the same caverns, sloping rounds, narrow shafts, and level layouts we’ve seen a dozen times or more already just with a different colour palette.

Enemies and Bosses:
Seventeen enemies return from Kirby’s Dream Land, with each posing the same threat level as before. Obviously, Waddle Dee is back to wander about and float down on parasols but Waddle Doo is also back, now gifting the Beam power. Poppy Bros. Jr. continues to roll around on apples and bombs, you can now utilise Sir Kibble’s Cutter attack, Kabu still teleport about and try to crush you, Scarfy still leave a lingering explosion when defeated, and Glunk still take pot shots when you’re underwater. Sadly, you can’t improve Kirby’s swimming abilities by devouring Blipper, but you can become a whirling tornado by eating Twister (once it stops spinning), gain a sword by eating a Blade Knight (providing you avoid their surprisingly effective slashes), and perform a Hi-Jump after swallowing a nimble Starman. You’re best off quickly destroying or fleeing whenever a Bomber appears as their self-destruct can damage you if you’re too close, Chilly’s will also freeze you solid if you don’t give them a wide berth, and Hot Head’s will similarly roast you alive. Wheelies blast along at high speed (but can easily be tricked to fall down pits), frog-like Slippys (no relation) can catch you off-guard while you’re happily platforming above water, Cool Spooks allow you to light up dark areas, and Rockys crush you from above if you’re not careful. Enemies respawn once you leave the area and often fill the screen, causing massive slowdown and making it difficult to pass certain sections without taking damage. Most enemies are defeated in one hit, however, or award a copy ability, with some waiting behind museum doors in the hub world or helpfully trapped within block walls to give you the edge before trickier sections.

Though he battles many mini bosses, Kirby’s constantly tested by Meta Knight’s minions.

You battle a bunch of mini bosses in Kirby’s Adventure, often after being transported to their territory via Warp Star or challenging the “Arena” mini game. Each is also fought as you progress up the “Rainbow Resort” tower and also awards a rare copy ability when their corpse is swallowed. Poppy Bros. Sr. returns to toss bombs that you must spit back at him (unless you have a copy ability on hand), though you sometimes fight two at once, which can cause performance issues. The ape-like Bonkers swings a massive hammer, sometimes multiple times, tosses explosive coconuts, and charges at you. The beetle-like Bugzzy was quite tough as it tries to skewer you with its needle-like nose and performs the Backdrop if it grabs you. Similarly, the Rolling Turtle hurls you with Throw if you’re not careful, closing the distance with his roll attack, and the Fire Lion can both unleash a flaming charge and ponce on you, scratching with its claws, meaning you must be on your toes when fighting these mini bosses. Mister Tick Tock and the Grand Wheelie were jokes by comparison, especially with the Cutter ability. You simply slide under the former and stay away when he unleashes his sonic blasts and hop over the latter as it charges back and forth, with even its smaller minions being easily avoided. Likewise, the walrus-like Mister Frosty was a complete pushover, especially if you have Fire, with him barely getting a chance to toss his ice blocks if you corner him. Meta Knight constantly forces you to endure a gauntlet against waves of his formidable Meta-Knights. These guys continuously respawn until you whittle down their combined health bar, often occupying different platforms and making it difficult to manoeuvre due to their weapons. You’ll face four of his formidable Meta-Knights in these gauntlets, with some hacking or tossing axes, others flittering about and flinging javelins, another swinging a nasty mace, and others tossing tridents.

Familiar faces are joined by some of Kirby’s most memorable foes.

Three bosses return from Kirby’s Dream Land, meaning you battle Whispy Woods again, with it still raining apples and spitting air puffs (though Freeze decimates it). Paint Roller was an interesting boss as he spawns various enemies you can either destroy or use as projectiles. While his movements are erratic, I found Cutter easily beat him. Mister Shine and Mister Bright have separate life bars and fling fireballs, summon shooting stars, charge at you, and spew pixelated rain. Kracko returns in “Grape Garden”, beginning as an invulnerable eye that chases you past destructible cloud platforms before it assumes a monstrous form and blasts the ground with lightning bolts. With the wrong copy ability, this fight can be tough as Kirby’s hit box is especially sensitive to Kracko’s attacks, Kracko also has a large hitbox, and the sprite flickering causes serious issues. Heavy Mole was also an interesting fight as you must chase it as it bashes away dirt, making sure to not get crushed by the screen or thumped by its boxing glove-like appendages or hit by its missiles. Tornado works well but also had me taking damage if the ability wore off in the wrong place. When you fight Meta Knight in “Orange Ocean”, he tosses you a sword for a fair fight and proves an adept swordsman, attacking from above, performing a spinning slash, and using quick swipes on the ground. King Dedede is largely the same as Kirby’s Dream Land, with him sucking you up and spitting you out, inflating to fly about, performing a ground pound from above, and swinging his mallet. Defeating him kicks off a two-phase final fight with Nightmare. In the first, you freely fly firing projectiles with the repaired Star Rod and must quickly whittle down the eye-like Nightmare’s health, avoiding his projectiles, before the ground crushes you, which is tricky as he’s a hard target to hit! Next, he assumes a wizard-like form and you must battle him with whatever health you have left (though you restart from this section if you die). In this fight, Nightmare teleports about, swoops by, and flings stars, with his only weak spot being his distorted torso, which is only exposed for a short time.

Additional Features:
Each level has anywhere from two to six hidden switches to find, which will open more of the hub world and contribute to your 100% completion score. Hitting them all also unlocks all the mini game doors and brings you closer to unlocking the “Extra Game” mode. “Extra Game” mode limits Kirby’s health to three hits and disables in-game saves, and beating it unlocks the game’s sound test. Clearing the main game also unlocks a boss rush mode and the Nintendo Switch Online version allows for save states and rewind functionality, making it easier than ever to clear levels, find hidden switches, or unlock these extra modes. If you want to jump right into a 100% clear saved game, however, you can load up the “SP Version” to explore all the unlockable features. If you play the Game Boy Advance remake, not only will you have the benefit of far better graphics and multiplayer modes, encounter different bosses, and altered copy abilities, but you can also play as Meta Knight in the unlockable “Meta Knightmare” mode.

Final Thoughts:
I’ve put off Kirby’s Adventure for some time. I first bought it from the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console, played about ten minutes, and never came back to it because of life and such. That was a shame as there’s a lot to like about this classic 8-bit title. It’s everything its Game Boy predecessor was and more, with the hub world, multiple levels, and extra unlockable modes all adding to the replay factor. Allowing Kirby to copy the powers of his enemies was an inspired way to expand his repertoire and make the gameplay more fun and interesting. While there aren’t many chances to explore levels further with each copy ability, they make combat much more enjoyable and its fun testing out different copy abilities and seeing how they can help or unlock hidden doors. I enjoyed the many mini bosses, even if fighting them gets a bit old after a time, and the colourful, interesting boss battles. Meta Knight’s always been a favourite of mine and I enjoyed seeing him pop up, but I got a bit fed up of repeatedly fighting his minions. While Kirby’s Adventure is very colourful and packs a lot into it, the NES is clearly struggling with the game; the screen tearing, slowdown, and sprite flickering was honestly awful at times. I was also disappointed that levels lacked recognisable theming, recycling many backgrounds and gimmicks and making everything feel very samey very quickly. While this is still is an enjoyable title, a must-play for any fans of the NES, and its many improvements mean it’s the superior choice to Kirby’s Dream Land, I’d wager you’re better off playing the Game Boy Advance remake.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Was Kirby’s Adventure in your childhood NES library? Do you agree that his new copy abilities vastly improved the gameplay? Were you disappointed that the levels didn’t have strong thematic identities? Did you enjoy seeing Meta Knight crop up or did you find his gauntlets tedious? Were you also bothered by how much the hardware struggled with the game? Did you ever unlock all the extra modes? Which Kirby videogame is your favourite? Whatever your thoughts on and memories of Kirby’s Adventure, leave them below and be sure to support me on Ko-Fi if you want me to cover the Game Boy Advance remake.

Mini Game Corner [Kirby Month]: Kirby’s Dream Land (Nintendo Switch)

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Created by Masahiro Sakurai, the disgustingly cute, ever-ravenous Kirby is one of Nintendo’s most popular characters. Accordingly, I’m dedicating most of July to celebrating the pink puff-ball.

Released: 9 February 2023
Originally Released: 27 April 1992
Developer: HAL Laboratory

MobyGames Score: 7.6
Also Available For: Game Boy, Nintendo 3DS (Virtual Console), Nintendo Switch 2 (Online), Nintendo Wii

Quick Facts:
Founded in 1980, HAL Laboratory produced games for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) before nineteen-year-old Masahiro Sakurai put them on the map in 1989 with this title. Originally known as “Popopo” during the laborious development, the rotund character sprite was initially a placeholder before the developers decided to keep it (and there was some confusion about what colour he was meant to be). Kirby’s Dream Land became HAL Laboratory’s most successful title at the time and received mostly positive reviews despite its short length. Kirby’s Dream Land began a cute, colourful franchise that became a Nintendo staple and Kirby is largely regarded as one of the company’s principal mascots.

The Review:
Those who’ve noted the short length of Kirby’s Dream Land aren’t wrong. Even for a Game Boy title, the game is incredibly short, hence this more truncated review, with players visiting four full worlds (or “Stages”) before battling the mischievous King Dedede to restore peace to Dream Land after the penguin king steals their food and magical “Sparkling Stars”. Naturally, the controls are super simple: A jumps while B or X sees Kirby inhale most enemies and objects. Unlike his later games, Kirby cannot copy enemy powers here. Instead, you can only spit your load as a star projectile with B or X to destroy blocks, defeat enemies, and damage bosses. While Kirby’s jump is pretty good thanks to him being essentially a balloon with limbs, you can inflate him by tapping up on the directional pad. While this makes him a bigger target, you can fly indefinitely by tapping A to bypass most enemies and bottomless pits. Though Kirby’s somewhat limited here, especially as he can’t defeat enemies by jumping on them, you can occasionally find items to add some flair to his repertoire. The Invincibility Candy makes Kirby temporarily invincible, the microphone destroys all nearby enemies with a loud screech, and bombs are sucked up and spat out to defeat multiple enemies at once. You can also eat super spicy curry to temporarily spit fireballs, gain extra lives with 1-ups or partially or fully restore Kirby’s health with Pep Brew and Maxim Tomatoes, or grab a Mint Leaf to auto inflate and continuously spit projectiles for as long as the item lasts. Finally, when visiting Mount Dedede in the finale, you can rescue fellow Kirbys to clear away all onscreen enemies, and defeating enemies awards points (though these appear to have no benefit to the player).

Inhale and spit out your foes or inflate to simply float past them and other obstcales.

Kirby’s Dream Land is a very simple and whimsical title. While most Stages are quite basic, there’s a fittingly dream-like quality to them and they have different screens and sections, with many housing a mini boss and a Warp Star to transition between areas. While Kirby has no idle animation, he exudes a lot of character in his little trot and the way he falls and reacts to damage, and with his little victory dance after clearing each Stage. The music is also absolutely top tier; memorable tunes like “Green Greens”, the victory fanfare, and “Mt. Dedede” all make their debut and they’re very enjoyable to listen to. Each Stage is preceded by a cute little introductory animation and brief cutscenes serve as interludes, showing Kirby rocketing into King Dedede’s palace and such. The game also performs very well, wisely limiting how much action appears onscreen, though there is some slowdown when the screen gets clogged and enemies respawn once you shift the screen. The game starts in the now iconic “Green Greens”, with basic mountains looming in the background and a grassy flavour to the foreground, though it eventually transitions to a forest and you’re invited to enter some tree-trunk areas for a spot of platforming. Indeed, while most Stages are very horizontal, you’ll go all over when exploring “Castle Lololo”, which features a lot more vertical platforming and a bunch of doors to different areas. “Float Island” was easily the most interesting Stage as, while things start pretty simple with a tropical island aesthetic, you’re soon floating over water, exploring spike-filled caves, and rocketing up to the clouds. “Bubbly Clouds” also impressed with its heavenly aesthetic, cloud platforms and tunnels, and starry sky background as you progress higher into an ornate palace. Sadly, “Mt. Dedede” lets the game down a touch as it’s simply a staging area to revisit short obstacle courses of the previous Stages and battle the previous bosses before you take on King Dedede in a boxing ring.

There isn’t much challenge here but the bosses are at least cartoonish fun.

While Kirby’s enemies are little more than nuisances, they’re all very bizarre and cartoony. Even the harmless Waddle Dees can be troublesome when their Waddle Doo variants drift down on parasols or fire eye beams, however. Poppy Bros. Jr.s toss bombs you must spit back, floating Mumbies are immune to your inhale, Sir Kibbles toss boomerang-like projectiles, and cannons regularly mess up your floating. Wizzers echo the Waddle Doos, however, the sentient mask Two Face chases when you come close, and Scarfy explode when defeated! Three mini bosses appear here, with two being preludes to their Stage’s main boss. The imp-like Poppy Bros. Sr.’s bombs must be spat back at him, Lololo emerges from a different tunnel each time pushing a block you must spit at him, and Kracko Jr. floats about firing projectiles and only being damaged when you suck up Waddle Dees and spit them at it. “Green Greens” ends with a battle against the giant sentient tree Whispy Woods, who puffs projectiles and drops apples which you can use to damage him. Lololo and Lalala emerge from tunnels, forcing you to strategically think about which blocks to inhale and when to hop between platforms to strike each one. Kabula was easily the most unique main boss as this anthropomorphic dirigible is fought in an autoscroller, with you permanently inflated and flying and firing projectiles as you dodge its rocket charge and cannonballs. Kracko reforms in “Bubbly Clouds”, becoming a monstrous cloud that swoops down, fires a beam spread, and is again only vulnerable to the Waddle Doos you use for ammo. After battling all four of these bosses again in “Mt. Dedede”, you battle the penguin king himself, with him swinging a giant mallet, diving across the ring, performing a butt stomp, and even inhaling you spit you out! The only way to deal damage to King Dedede is to lure him in and inhale the stars that appear when he misses his mallet or butt stomp. Fire these back at him enough times and he’s toast, though he (and every other enemy and boss) becomes much more formidable if you hold up, A, and – on the title screen and challenge the much tougher “Extra Game”.

Final Thoughts:  
I try to keep my expectations low for Game Boy titles, though it can’t be denied that Kirby’s Dream Land is an extremely brief and simplistic experience, even for the handheld. And this excuse doesn’t hold much weight when you consider some of the titles produced for the system. On the plus side, it is a very cute and fun little platformer. Kirby is a very unique and quirky character and his trademark suck and blow gameplay is very fun, though obviously made far more interesting in subsequent games where he assumes new forms by copying enemy abilities. While he is noticeably limited here, I enjoyed inflating and flapping about and the power-ups you can consume, even if they were few and far between. The autoscrolling sections were also a nice change of pace and I liked how much visual variety was on show, even considering the Game Boy’s limitations. The music, especially, was a joy, as were the fun little interludes that served as cutscenes. I also had fun with the bosses, which required a surprising amount of strategy to best, and while it was disappointing to face them all again in the end, I appreciated the tougher, truncated versions of the previous Stages prior to them. King Dedede was a great final boss, too, forcing you to think outside the box a bit. I almost wish he’d popped up between one or two Stages as a recurring boss to test you, or in some kind of mini game to earn you extra points or something. Ultimately, as fun and visually appealing as it is, Kirby’s Dream Land isn’t good for much more than an hour of gameplay, at best. It’s a great introduction to the character and the franchise, but easily surpassed by subsequent games, any of which would make for a suitable first time experience with Kirby.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Was Kirby’s Dream Land a treasured entry in your Game Boy library back in the day? Did you enjoy his suck and float gameplay? Were you disappointed by how short the game was? Did you ever beat the harder “Extra Game” mode? Which of the Kirby videogames is your favourite? Whatever your thoughts on Kirby, leave a comment below, support me on Ko-Fi, and and check out my other Kirby reviews.

Mini Game Corner [Sonic Month]: Sonic Battle (Game Boy Advance)

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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.

Released: 30 December 2003

Developer: Sonic Team

Metacritic Score: 69

Quick Facts:
After many costly decisions forced SEGA to withdraw from the “Console War”, they developed ports of their games and teamed with Dimps for the first two Sonic Advance titles (2001; 2002) to establish a successful foothold on the Game Boy Advance. To coincide with their “Year of Sonic” celebration, SEGA developed a new fighting game for their mascot that became notorious for its lacklustre and repetitive combat.

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 Adventure games (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.

Game Corner [Sonic Month]: Sonic Lost World (Nintendo 3DS)

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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

Quick Facts:
Shortly after the release of Sonic Colours (Sonic Team, 2010), Sonic Team teamed with Dimps once more for a more streamlined and diverse Sonic title that emphasised “parkour” mechanics. Sonic Lost World was developed for the Wii U and 3DS due to SEGA’s previous success on Nintendo’s consoles and saw the debut of the “Deadly Six”. The Wii U version got special editions and downloadable content (DLC) and both received mostly mixed reviews.

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 Galaxy games (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!

Game Corner [Sonic Month]: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (Nintendo DS)

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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: 6 August 2009

Developer: BioWare

Metacritic Score: 74 / 6/3

Quick Facts:
Forces to abandon console manufacturing, SEGA developed games for Nintendo’s GameCube and Game Boy Advance alongside Dimps. Following a highly praised trilogy and two very successful dual screen adventures, SEGA partnered with noted roleplaying game (RPG) developer BioWare for Sonic’s first RPG and BioWare’s first handheld title. Developed with a darker theme focused on characterisation and accessible combat mechanics, Sonic Chronicles was heavily criticised for its low quality MIDI soundtrack and forever changed Sonic’s comic book adventures when hack artist/writer Ken Penders sued SEGA for copyright infringement.

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!

Game Corner [Sonic Month]: Sonic Advance 3 (Game Boy Advance)

Dr. K4 Comments

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)

Quick Facts:
When SEGA lost their stake in the home console market, they produced software for their rivals, Nintendo, teaming with Dimps for Sonic Advance (2001), 2D throwback to Sonic’s glory days and a Game Boy Advance best-seller. Following the equally lauded (if difficult) Sonic Advance 2 (2002), Yuji Naka conceived of the third game’s team-up mechanic. Sprite scaling created psuedo-3D rotation effects and the game surprisingly tied in to the under-rated Sonic Battle (Sonic Team, 2003) with its new robot antagonist, “Gemerl”. Like is predecessors, Sonic Advance 3 was met rather warmly, with the new team-up mechanics being widely praised but the level layouts criticised.

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!

Game Corner [Turtle Tuesday]: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed (Xbox Series X)

Dr. K1 Comment

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: 18 October 2024
Developer: Aheartfulofgames
Metacritic Scores: 66 / 4.6

Also Available For: Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S

Quick Facts:
Following Michael Bay’s monstrous reimaginings, Nickelodeon partnered with Seth Rogan and Jeff Rowe on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Rowe, 2023), a visually impressive box office success. Mutant Mayhem was accompanied by this tie-in videogame, which was marketed as a direct follow-up and bolstered by downloadable content (DLC). While the visuals and writing were praised, the game’s performance was heavily criticised.

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.

Game Corner [Turtle Tuesday]: TMNT Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants (Xbox Series X)

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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.

Game Corner [Mario Month]: Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury (Nintendo Switch)

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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 praising Bowser’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!