New Super Mario Bros U (Wii U) (2012) Review

February 27, 2015April 3, 2016 ragglefragglereviews6 Comments

The New Super Mario Bros Series first originated when New Super Mario Bros was released for the Nintendo DS in 2006, old school Raggle Fraggle readers will recognise that I mentioned this game in my top 5 Mario games of all time back in 2012.

I love the original New Super Mario Bros it felt just like Super Mario Bros 3 but with a more modern twist, it had newly improved graphics, more power ups and most importantly a save feature.

Super Mario Bros 3

New Super Mario Bros (DS)

The Original New Super Mario Bros game was fantastic and I still love playing through it today, but I was never able to get into the other games of the series because they felt boring to me and I haven’t looked forward to the series for a good couple of years.

Ever since I got a Wii U I kept getting recommended that I pick up the latest New Super Mario Bros game, obviously I argued that I wouldn’t buy the game but I just kept getting told to play it and it wasn’t until I saw Jirard the Completionist Review the game telling me that its actually good that I gave in and got myself a copy.

The first thing that really stood out to me was the plot, yes it was still the usual Super Mario Bros formula where Mario needs to rescue Princess Peach from the claws of Bowser, but this time there is a slight twist because instead of kidnapping the Princess, Bowser has taken her hostage within her own castle and at the same time he manages to toss both Mario, Luigi and two Toads to the other side of the Mushroom Kingdom, what makes the plot different this time around is that now our heroes need to adventure back towards Princess Peaches castle instead of the usual formula of them heading towards Bowser’s castle, apart from that the plot is still very standard but this does not bother me because I never expected anything more in a New Super Mario Bros game.

Just like the other games in the series this particular title is also a side scrolling platform adventure, in the single player story mode you take control of everyone’s favourite Italian plumber Super Mario on his quest to save the Princess from the infamous Bowser and in the traditional Super Mario style you will be dealing with common enemies such as Goombas, Koopa Troopa’s, Para Troopa’s and Cheep Cheep’s, but don’t be put off by the lack of new enemies to fight because the game really shines when it comes to Power-up’s sure you got the usual Fire Flowers, Power Stars and Mushrooms including some Power-ups introduced through the New Super Mario Bros series such as the Ice Flower and the Mini Mushroom but this time around we are also given a new type of power up the acorn, acorns turn Mario into an adorable flying squirrel allowing him to glide freely across levels with ease.

Mario’s lovable side kick Yoshi returns to help him on his quest, Mario can ride Yoshi which allows him to gain more air as well as being able to take an extra hit, Yoshi can also eat apples that he finds on bushes and after eating enough of these apples the player will be presented with either a power up or an extra life.

Its not just ordinary Yoshi that’s helping Mario on his adventure this time around because you can also get help from Baby Yoshi’s, the Baby Yoshi’s are these adorable little chubby Yoshi’s which come in three different colours Red, Blue and Yellow, each of these Baby Yoshi’s have a different ability which they can use to help Mario get through different situations.

The Red Baby Yoshi can inflate into a giant balloon lifting Mario up into the sky allowing him to float over difficult platforms and too avoid some of the more dangerous enemies in the game.

The Blue Baby Yoshi has the ability to shoot bubbles out of his mouth trapping enemies into bubbles and successfully turning them into coins.

Finally the Yellow Baby Yoshi can be used to light up dark caverns as well as temporarily stunning enemies.

I really enjoy the introduction of the Baby Yoshi’s as they add more flavour to the game and are genuinely very useful, the best part is that they sing while you are carrying them and trust me its very adorable.

This is the first entry of the series that is on a system that uses a HDMI output so it is expected that the game will look fantastic in HD and for the most part it looks really good the graphics are very colourful and genuinely nice to look at, the textures are smooth and the game in general is very nicely presented, the visuals look good but with this being a launch title they should look amazing because this game is supposed to be showing off the capabilities of the Wii U and having visuals which literally just look like the graphics from New Super Mario Bros Wii but with more polish is not going to make the game a system seller.

New Super Mario Bros Wii

New Super Mario Bros U

All of the music in the game is super fun to listen too, it’s essentially the same music from the old games with a more modern twist as its more engaging and upbeat, this kind of music is perfect for this type of game because due to this being a standard Super Mario plat-former using standard Mario music is fine and honestly I am a happy with Nintendo keeping the epic orchestrated Mario music in their larger and more serious games such as Super Mario Galaxy.

There are 8 worlds in the game and each world has a various amount of levels for you to complete, the worlds them selves are nothing new just the basic over world map for a 2D Mario plat-former you’ve got the grass area, the desert area, the water area, the ice area and so on, this does not bother me in the slightest because the levels themselves are really fun to play and honestly I had blast running through all of them, however one world really stood out to me and that is the Jungle Area the levels here are really fun but the back grounds are really awesome and very well detailed, about half way through this world you get to a haunted section of the Jungle and the stages have painted backgrounds which genuinely look really beautiful and this really helps show how creative Nintendo can be.

I was pleasantly surprised with how difficult the game was because in my opinion we haven’t had a very challenging Super Mario game since Mario 64 and I honestly thought that we would never get a very difficult Mario game again, but that’s all changed now that I played New Super Mario Bros U because this game is really tough, I believe this due to the game having genuinely difficult game play but also due to the fact that the player has limited chances to save their progress, this is because just like in the older games the only way to save your progress is too beat a mini boss tower and if you game over before you do this then its back to the beginning of the world.

I am very happy that this game was hard and it felt almost as challenging as the Mario games from back in the day, personally for me it genuinely made the game very nostalgic to play through, the controls are perfect I had no trouble playing this game with the Wii U game pad as it was very comfortable to use and I found the controls to be very responsive to my actions which is great because that means that even though the game is very difficult the controls are not too blame for me losing lives meaning that my only cause of death was own mistakes.

If you do find the game tough then do not worry as Nintendo has added a small mini challenge to the game, a new character has been introduced called Nabbit the Bandit Rabbit, Nabbit has stolen a new type of power up called the Super Acorn from Toad and its your job to run through previously beaten stages as fast as you too catch Nabbit, doing this will reward you with the Super Acorn which allows you to fly as much as you want during one stage but after you have used it you are left with the abilities given to you from the normal Acorn power-up, this new item is very similar to the Super Leaf from Super Mario Bros 3.

As well as Nabbit you can also find the usual Toad Houses which can be used to help you gain more power up’s and lives.

In every stage there are three star coins for you find and collect, if you mange to collect all of the star coins in the game you will get access to Superstar Road which is essentially a bunch of new very challenging levels for you too complete, in order for you to collect all of the Star Coins you will also need to find secret exits in some of the levels of the game, finding these exits will present you with a new path and a new level on the world map.

Multi-player is loads of fun in New Super Mario Bros U, it is essentially the same as the single player mode but you can have up to five players, four of the players will use Wii remotes to control Mario, Luigi and the two Toads while the fifth player will use the game pad to create platforms for the other players and they can also help defeat enemies by tapping them.

From the Main Menu you have various options for extra modes in the game these modes are called Challenges, Boost Rush and Coin Battle.

Challenges- Just what it sounds like you have a bunch of different challenges you can play and unlock, some of these challenges include racing against the clock in time trials, jumping on enemies to gain lives, finishing stages with a certain amount of coins, avoiding fireballs for a set amount time and some challenges require you to create platforms on the game pad while controlling your character with the Wii remote or the Wii U Pro Controller.

Boost Rush Mode- This mode gives you various packs to choose from and each pack contains a certain amount of levels from the game, these stages are now different because they have now been turned into scrolling stages and your tasked with getting through the levels quickly so that you don’t get crushed by the other side of the screen that is coming towards you, as you progress further in each level the faster the screen scrolls making this mode very challenging but also very fun.

Coin Battle- This mode is super fun you and your friends must run through multiple courses and the idea is you want to collect as many coins as you can in the level, you can attack your friends to make them lose coins which you can then try to collect and the overall winner is whoever reaches the flagpole with the most coins in their pocket as you can tell this mode can get a little crazy.

I was very sceptical of whether this game was as good as everyone made it out to be, sure I had few personal complaints about the game but it was still loads of fun to play and it brought a lot of new things to the table such as the Baby Yoshi’s and the challenge modes, New Super Mario Bros U is loads of fun to play and even though it is very challenging this game is a great time for the whole family, but I wouldn’t go out of your way to buy a Wii U just to play this particular title.

Check out the Completionists Review here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmCQ5ZSdShk

I give New Super Mario Bros U a 7.4/10

Thank you for reading my review of New Super Mario Bros U for the Nintendo Wii U

By Padawan

Want me to review a specific game/movie/product or do you have a general question you would like me to answer? if so please email me at ragglefragglereviews@gmail.com

You can find me on Miiverse by searching for draskafer

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64/3DS) (1998-2013) Review

February 21, 2015February 21, 2015 ragglefragglereviews4 Comments

HEY HEY LISTEN !!!!

The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of time is the fifth game of the series, it was released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64

People were very excited for this games release due to it being the first Legend of Zelda game to have 3D visuals, when the game got released it was extremely popular among previous Legend of Zelda fans and new comers, Ocarina of Time was known by many as the greatest game of all time and even today 16 years later it is still often considered to remain in the number one spot, it is so popular that it was remade in 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS and it was given an upgrade in graphics, general game play and audio, this is a comparison review so I will be using screenshots from both versions of the game.

I love this game, but can I honestly say that its greatest game ever made or even the best in the series?

You take control of Link a 10 year old boy who lives in the Kokiri Forest, the other Kokiri are also children and they are looked after by the forests guardian the Great Deku Tree.

Every resident of the Kokiri Forest will some day get their own fairy, as you may have guessed Link is the only child who does not yet have a fairy, but one day a fairy does come to him bearing message from the Great Deku Tree who has summoned Link to ask him to perform a very difficult task, the Great Deku Tree is very sick and he needs Link to defeat the monsters that live within him so that he can die in peace.

Just before his passing the Great Deku Tree tells Link that he does not carry Kokiri Blood but that he is Hyrulian, his mother was murdered by an evil man and in her final breaths she brought her new born son to the Great Deku Tree and asked him to raise her baby.

After a cutscene explaining how the land that surrounds Hyrule was created as well as the origins of the Legendary Triforce, The Great Deku Tree gives Link the Spiritual Stone of the Forest and then he sends link to go and visit a very young Princess Zelda, when Link arrives she explains that the Triforce can grant a wish of the holder, a good person will make a wish that will bring peace to the land of Hyrule and an evil person will bring chaos and destruction to the land of Hyrule.

Princess Zelda had a nightmare that a man in black armour (Ganondorf) is trying to get hold of the Triforce but a hero in green saved the day, the Princess foresees this dream as a vision and she wants Link to make a wish to prevent Ganondorf from bringing evil to the land, the Triforce is sealed within the sacred realm which is located in the Temple of Time but in order to pass the barrier that protects the entrance to the sacred realm, Link will need to locate the other two Spiritual Stones (the Spiritual Stone of Fire from the Gorons of Death Mountain and the Spiritual Stone of Water from the Zora’s of Zoras Domain) and he will also need to bring along the treasure of the Royal Family The Ocarina of Time, by bringing the three Spiritual Stones to the Temple of Time he can open the barrier by playing the Song of Time.

Once you have collected the three Spiritual Stones and you bring them to the Temple of Time, you will find the Master Sword if you take it you will be transported to the Sacred Realm, when you arrive you are greeted by a sage called Rauru who tells you that Ganondorf planned for you to open the Sacred Realm so he could get hold of the Triforce before you, Rauru also explains that you are now 17 years old and the reason that they kept you here for seven years was to protect you from what has become of Hyrule until you were a good age to take on Ganondorf and to eventually save Hyrule from the chaos he has caused.

Now your new quest is to find the 5 secret Temples (Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow and Spirit) and too defeat the evil within them by doing this you will also find the five other sages that represent the element of each Temple, these sages are important because they will eventually help you in your final battle.

There is a lot to do in Ocarina of Time, the main objective that you have to finish in order to beat the game requires you to get the three Spiritual Stones, beat the two mini tasks,conquer the five hidden Temples, fight your way through Ganon’s Castle and eventually defeat Ganondorf

Each of these tasks is unique in game play and level design

Inside the Great Deku Tree

First dungeon of the game, very easy to get through its not too complicated and the enemies are simple to defeat, puzzling aspects help teach the player basic game mechanics such as setting fire to things and jumping.

Dodongo’ s Cavern

A little more difficult this dungeon requires the player to use bombs in order to destroy fake walls, you will also need to activate switches and use some quick firing sling shot skills to get though fiery sections.

Inside Lord Jabu Jabu

By far the coolest of the child dungeon’s, you are swallowed by a giant fish and your mission is to find the missing Princess of the Zora’s ,the problem is that she makes you carry her throughout the dungeon so the puzzles in this dungeon require you to throw the Princess on to switches and on to high ledges which you will then climb, another puzzle aspect is the boomerang you receive it in this dungeon and it is very useful item because you need it in order to get past certain sections of the game.

Forest Temple

The first of the adult Temples, the Forest Temple tasks you catch and defeat four Poe Sisters, you defeat them by pulling them close with your hook shot and then slicing them with your sword, each Poe Sister has a unique way for you to find them,the first two require you to shoot paintings that they are hiding in with the bow and arrow, the green Poe makes you complete a block sliding puzzle before she will let you fight her and the purple Poe will create copies of its self and its your job to memorise her movements and attack her real form.

Fire Temple

In this Temple you will need to have a very good memory as its very large and is quite complicated to get through, the objective here is to release the captured members of the Goron Tribe who are to be fed to Volvagia the Dragon, this Temple is fire based so you will need to wear a heat proof tunic so you can resist the hot temperatures, by using the hammer you must smash sections of the floor to make them drop to lower areas, you will also need to use bombs to destroy fake walls and in order to free the Goron’ s you must find the switches to open the cage doors, this Temple is quite challenging and may be difficult for new players.

The Ice Cavern

The first of the mini dungeons, the ice cavern takes place in a cave above the now frozen Zora’s Domain, in the cavern you will need to collect blue flames in your empty bottles, these flames can be used to melt the red ice that blocks your path, other puzzles require you to use quick responses to avoid giant blades of ice, defeating new enemies that can freeze Link causing serious damage to your health and a puzzle that requires you to push a giant block of ice across the icy floor in order to reach new areas.

Water Temple

Easily the most hated part of the game, the Water Temple is the first Temple that needs you to use your trusty Ocarina, by playing Zelda’s Lullaby to the stone tablets on the walls you are able to raise and lower the water level, this is a very important aspect to the Temples puzzles because some puzzles can only be solved when the water is at a certain height and lets not forget a fight with someone that old school Zelda fan’s may recognise, since you will be spending a lot of time under water you should wear a special tunic that allows you breath under water. Honestly I don’t think that this dungeon is that complicated but due to you having to constantly switch between your normal boots and your iron boots it does make this Temple very tedious and slow to finish.

Bottom of the well

Another child dungeon, the bottom of the well can be finished very quickly if you don’t intend to finish the game 100 percent, the only objective here is to find the eye of truth (an item that allows you to see through hidden walls and to see items that appear invisible to the naked eye), the eye of truth can be found very early into the dungeon and if you know where to go you can finish it in under 10 minutes, one thing this dungeon does introduce is the Dead Hand which is a horrifying fleshy zombie creature that grabs you with his many hands and then proceeds to bite at you with his sharp teeth, I am sure this gave nightmares to children all over the world because Dead Hands are absolutely terrifying.

Shadow Temple

My personal favourite Temple, the Shadow Temple has the player using their newly discovered eye of truth to help them solve puzzles and to help them make their way across invisible paths and platforms, other puzzle sections include the player having to swap between the three types of boots in the game so that they can get past some of the more difficult obstacles that can be found in this particular Temple.

Spirit Temple

This Temple is very interesting because you need to complete it as both and adult and a child, being the final Temple in the game before your final encounter with Ganondorf it is very difficult, you will need to fight these very powerful enemies called the Iron Knuckles they are huge and attack at you with a giant axe players must be careful because one hit takes away three hearts from your health, the majority of the puzzles require you too reflect light from the sun in order for you too hit these sun switches on the walls, floor and ceiling, you do this by using the Mirror Shield and ordinary mirrors to bounce the light from one place to another eventually hitting your target, this is in my opinion the most complex Temple but it is also one of the coolest.

Ganon’s Castle

So you’ve beat all of the Temples and now your ready to take on Ganon’s Castle and the final part of the game, I’m not actually going to explain too much here just to avoid spoilers for people who have not yet gotten this far, but what I will say is that it’s not that difficult to beat, you will be required to finish trials based on each of the Temples you have already finished these trials are quite complex but not too difficult to figure out, getting to Ganondorf is quite easy because its all one straight path so you wont get lost and all enemies that you encounter are enemies that you have defeated previously, the final boss is very cool and fun to fight and again I wont say much here but I will mention that the final boss has three sections for you to beat before you finally finish the game and the final fight its self is really awesome and one of my favourite final bosses in video game history.

When your not tackling the games main quest there is plenty of other things to keep occupied, you can win a horse called Epona if you win the horse you are able ride it across Hyrule Field and other outdoor areas and you can also shoot your bow and arrow while riding, you can go fishing and certain fish that you catch at the fishing pond you are able can cash in for some really cool prizes, as a child you can help a mask sales man to sell his masks and if you finish this side quest you get a really cool mask that allows you too read peoples minds.

Of course you get the usual Heart Pieces that are in all Legend of Zelda games but collecting them in Ocarina of Time is really fun too do as some of them require you to win mini games or to discover secrets.

Some of my favourite mini games include Hyrule’s Famous Shooting Gallery which requires a good aim and fast reflexes to shoot rupees before they disappear and another favourite of mine is Bombchu Bowling which has the player setting off Bombchu’s (Essentially Bombs that move in the direction you face them at) to hit targets while avoiding obstacles.

One of the creepier fetch quests in Ocarina of Time is the quest to collect the 100 Gold Skulltula Medallions, a family in Kakariko Village has had a curse put on them which has turned them into Skulltulas and the only way they can be freed is if some one brings them Gold Medallions left behind by Gold Skulltulas, these creatures are hidden throughout the entire game and some are much easier to find than others, even though this side quest is not a requirement it is really fun and rewarding because every now again after you have collected a certain amount of Gold Medallions you will be given some sort of prize.

One of the most useful side quests in the game is finding the hidden Great Fairies, these fairies will help Link in certain ways, sometimes they will give you enhancements or spells that can help you on your quest and sometimes they will upgrade your magic meter allowing you to cast more magic before you need to replenish it.

That’s only a few things you can do in the game but I assure you there is a lot more, I have been playing this game for about 11 years now and I am still discovering new secrets and cool little Easter eggs that I never found previously.

The most important aspect to this particular Legend of Zelda game is music and that’s where your Ocarina comes into play, throughout the game you will learn many different songs and by playing these songs you can trigger certain events, six songs in the game are warp songs playing these will warp you to certain locations throughout Hyrule, the only two other songs that are important are Zelda’s Lullaby and the Song of Time as most temples and dungeons have puzzles which require you to play these particular tunes, other really cool songs include the Suns Song which allows you to switch between day time and night time as often as you want and Song of Storms which makes it rain

For a lot of people the games biggest flaw is Navi the Fairy, fans often complain that she is much too annoying and I would be lying if I said that I didn’t agree, the problem with Navi is that her only real purpose is to constantly remind the player of their current objective which can get annoying especially during side quests, she may be annoying but her being there isn’t technically a flaw since you don’t have to listen to her since she will only speak too you if you press the button to allow her too speak, she will alert the player that she wants to speak to them by speaking her famous line “Hey, Listen” but she only does this once each time so its not a huge problem.

With a game this big the controls are a very important aspect and for the most part they are fantastic, with the game being in 3D Link now has more free range when it comes to fighting compared to the original 2D games, Link can now roll, dodge, stab, slice, cast magic and leap into the air to slam enemies with his blade and genuinely the battle system is much more complex here than it was in the older titles, a new mechanic introduced in Ocarina of Time is Z-Targeting (L-Targeting on 3DS) this allows the player to lock on to enemies while fighting this makes the fight more cinematic and genuinely easier to handle, the controls are tight and very responsive to the player, the only real issue with the game play is the camera and this is a problem seen in a lot of N64 games, sometimes the camera goes behind a wall or an enemy and due to this the player cannot see Link which is obviously a big problem however the 3DS version still has this issue but not as much, something I really hate about the 3DS version is the Sheikah Stones these stones allow you to crawl inside of them and they explain how to solve puzzles and they also tell you where to go if you get lost, I can see how this may help a very young player but for me it takes away the sense of adventure and that really sucks.

Visually I think its fair to say that the 3DS game is superior but you also need remember that the original came out in 1998 and for a game that was on the N64 it looks beautiful, personally I don’t mind which version I play because I can appreciate the visuals of both versions but I do feel that the younger generation of gamers will appreciate the more modernised graphics of the 3DS port because at the end of the day they are cleaner, smoother, more colourful and genuinely better looking, also in game text scrolls faster on the 3DS version which is great because a problem I have with the original is that the text scrolls too slowly.

The music is incredible and there is plenty of it, one of my biggest issues with the original Zelda was the lack of music tracks so having lots in this game is much appreciated, every song suits the area you are in and it really enhances the already fantastic experience this game has to offer, my favourite music in the game is the music that plays in Gerudo Valley, I found the audio to be very similar between both versions obviously the 3DS versions was more cleaner and genuinely sounded better due to it being on a newer gaming system but its not so different that I can say its better than the original.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a fantastic game no matter what system you play it on, but I don’t think that its a masterpiece the game is great but it does fall short in some aspects for example the original suffers from slow text and camera problems and the 3DS version has those Sheikah Stones that I really dislike, overall as much as it pains me to say the 3DS version is the better version of the game plus it does also give you Master Quest for free which is something you cant get with the original game.

Ocarina of Time is a great adventure that has warmed the hearts of millions, Including myself

Original 9.2/10

3DS remake 9.6/10

Thank you for reading my review of Ocarina of time for the N64 and the 3DS

By Padawan

Want me to review a specific game/movie/product or do you have a general question you would like me to answer? if so please email me at ragglefragglereviews@gmail.com

You can find me on Miiverse by searching for draskafer

Wave Race (Game Boy) Review

January 9, 2015August 24, 2020 ragglefragglereviews2 Comments

Big thanks to Michael Elvidge for sending in Wave Race

Wave Race on the Nintendo Game Boy is one of the very few Game Boy games that I owned when I was a child, I remember that I would always bring this game to the playground and me and my friends would often challenge each other to see who was the fastest racer.

Back then I thought that Wave Race was a fantastic game, but how does it hold up today?If you haven’t figured it out yet,Wave Race is a Jet Ski racing game, you and three other players which can either be CPU’s or your friends who you have the ability to race against by connecting via the Game Boy Link Cables.

If you decide to play alone you will be have the ability to select one of three options

Practice- Selecting this option allows the player to select any course they desire, they can then race through the selected course alone with no other players or CPU’s, this option can be extremely useful as some of the tracks later on in the game have been built for more advanced players as they contain more obstacles such as whirl pools and strong currents of water which slow down the racers, also these later courses have a more complicated and challenging layout compared to the earlier courses.

All Courses for Circuit mode

All Courses for Slalom

Record- This mode shows the player their best times for every track in circuit mode and it also shows them the total amount of time they have spent on each track, this is a really useful feature that any competitive players will enjoy using for bragging rights it is also really cool to see this kind of feature on such an old game.

and finally 1P aka the single player mode, as soon as you select this option you will be greeted to another screen which will give the option of playing Circuit Mode or Slalom.

Circuit Mode is essentially just a Grand Prix of the four available courses, the player will have to race three CPU’s through out each course while trying to avoid being bashed by the other racers while also steering away from any obstacles in their path to victory, depending on what place you finish at the end of each course you will be given a set amount of points and once the Grand Prix is over all of the points will be added up and the player with the most points will be crowned the winner.

Slalom is similar to Circuit mode as you are still racing three CPU’s in all four of the Slalom Courses, the big difference is that now instead of racing to a finish line the main objective is to race through marked flags in a set order, again depending on how long this takes you will determine what place you will finish, once all of the courses are complete every players points will be added up and the one with the most points will become the winner.

The overall look and sound of the game is mediocre to say the least, even though we are given two different game modes I wish that a larger selection of courses were available because 8 courses isn’t enough to keep bringing people back.

I also cant say much for the music as again there really isn’t a lot of it, during the different selection screens and menu’s we are presented with some catchy little tunes, but during the racing segments there is no music at all and the only sound you can hear is the penetrating sound of the jet ski’s motor and this gets very annoying. very quickly.

Overall Wave Race is nothing special but that in no way makes it a bad game,it has tight and simple controls and even though we are not given much variety in course selection or music the game it self is still fun to play especially with friends, I don’t recommend this game if you plan to play it alone though as I can see most people getting bored with it rather quickly, but if you plan to buy the game I suggest either playing it in short bursts or competitively with friends, as long play sessions did tend to give me a headache due to the annoying buzzing you hear during races.

Wave Race for the Nintendo Game Boy is an ok game but sadly that’s about it 5.4/10

I hope you enjoyed this review of Wave Race

If you respect my opinion, I will respect yours

By Padawan

Want me to review a specific game/movie/product or do you have a general question you would like me to answer? if so please email me at ragglefragglereviews@gmail.com

You can find me on Miiverse by searching for draskafer

Time Lord (NES) Review

March 7, 2013January 15, 2015 ragglefragglereviews91 Comments

Today I review a game called time lord , now from looking at the cover you may think that the game looks awesome and you instantly want to buy it but beware hide your wallets and stay far away because behind that awesome cover art is a real video game demon.

Story

Time lord released in 1991 by Milton Bradley is based in the year 2999 it is January 1st and the earth is under attack by aliens, the aliens have sent armies to four historical locations with a plan to destroy the earth on January 1st 3000, the goverment send a time lord to travel to the four historical locations and wipe out the aliens before the planet is destroyed and to save mankind.

Gameplay

You take control of the time lord in this side scrolling action platformer and you need travel to all four historical locations (Medieval England 1250 AD, Western USA 1860 AD, Caribbean 1650 AD and France 1943 AD) before heading to the final stage to fight the Alien leader. Time lord suffers from a lot of issues within its game play you see before the player can fight a levels end boss they need to find and collect 5 orbs which they can use to power the time machiene to get to each location, the problem is that the game is so glitchy that sometimes these orbs don’t turn up so the only option is to die or hit reset, another issue is that the game is pretty much impossible due to it being time based, that’s right that one year or the planet is destroyed actually has the player racing against the clock the problem is that a day passes every four seconds meaning that the player only 24 minutes and 34 seconds to finish game otherwise its gameover. I don’t know if this was some sort of sick joke by the developers but you can not expect children to have that sort of patience plus the game is really difficult to play with its dodgy controls and the enemies having an unfair amount of health compared to the player so these issues really don’t help.

Graphics

The enviroments and colours used in a lot of the locations in time lord are quite pleasent to look at I only wish that the screens wouldnt repeat most of the time and because of this I feel the game lacks in creativity, for example in the medieval stage you are on top of a castle but all you can see in the background is mountains couldnt the developers have had dragons flying around, castles within the mountain, wizards etc. Its the same with the western stage all you seem to do is pass saloons and other buildings you have seen 10 times already. I would comment on the other areas but to be honest my copy never seems to give me the final orb in this stage so ive never passed stage 2. The characters in time lord for some reason all seem to be one colour the most common being the colour red, you could argue that there may be some radiation in the future or say that the time lord altered history and caused all the characters to look like they are from the old nicktoons show Doug but I blame laziness?

Music

Time lord may be a pretty awful game but if there is one thing it does right its the music, the music in time lord is awesome. The tracks are really enjoyable and they suit the evironments perfectly which is a real shame because if the game was this good in all departments I can asure you it would have become an instant classic.

Final Verdict

Time lord was desperatly trying to be Doctor Who, it had a similar concept but it failed in almost all departments. Like I said the music is fantastic but that does not make up for the rest of the game, time lord is one big false advertisement, what you see on the cover art you dont get and the game is a cruel and broken mess and so I now have no choice but to give time lord the lowest score we here at Raggle Fraggle have ever given a game , I give time lord for the NES a 2/10 definatly a game to avoid.

This review was written by Dan (Padawan)

Banjo Kazooie (N64) Review

February 21, 2013February 21, 2013 ragglefragglereviews1 Comment

I loved Rare Ware Studios as a kid because they were the gods of the video game industry creating games like wizards and warriors, battletoads, the donkey kong country franchise, conkers bad fur day, super mario 64, diddy kong racing and golden eye just to name a few. Rare Ware were known to make some of the greatest games of all time which is what made them so popular back in day. Sadly all great things come to an end and in 2002 Rare Ware Studios was purchased by Microsoft Corporation because Rare Ware no longer had Nintendo to help them out and was now in the hands of Microsoft not so great games got made like grabbed by the ghoulies and perfect dark zero and sadly Rare Ware have remained this way ever since.

I like to remember Rare Ware the way i did when i was a kid and what’s a better way to remeber them than reviewing one of the most popular and well known games they ever made Banjo Kazooie.

Story

The story to Banjo Kazooie is that the evil witch Gruntilda

Is angry because she is not the prettiest person in the land any more and has been told by her magic cauldron that Banjo’s sister Tooty is the most beautiful being in all the land. Because of this Gruntilda swoops down from her lair on her broom stick and kidnaps Tooty so she can swap her ugliness for Tooties beauty using a machiene she built. a lot of noise was made by both Gruntilda and Tooty which wakes Banjo and his pet bird Kazooie up, Banjo with Kazooie in his ruck sack rushes out to see what all the noise was about but little do they know of the adventure that lies ahead. The story may seem a little basic but trust me if you play the game you will reslise that the story is actually really clever and creative.

Game play

The way Banjo Kazooie works is that you play as both Banjo and Kazooie (they have these names because of the instruments they play). You use Banjo for basic things like punching, walking and swimming and kazooie for just about everything else. Both Banjo and Kazooie control satisfyingly for the most part, the game dosent lag at all and even though there are a lot of different moves in the game the button combinations to pull off these moves are easy to remember. One issue is the in game camera, the camera is fine when Banjo and Kazooie is on the ground but for some reason whenever I swim underwater or fly the camera just has a mind of its own and this can get annoying fast. The controls are not too bad I just wish that the camera issues when performing certain tasks were fixed before the game got released because if they were the controls would have been perfect.

Things to collect
There are a lot of things to collect in Banjo Kazooie which may seem like a bad thing but trust me it isnt because the game overly generous with these items locations.

Jiggy’s- To enter each world in Banjo Kazooie you will need fill in a picture of each world with jigsaw pieces AKA jiggies. Each world has 10 Jiggies to find and one switch you can hit which will release a jiggy in the games hub (Gruntildas Lair).

Eggs- ammunition that Kazooie can shoot from both his mouth and butt (OUCH sounds painful)

Red feather-these allow Kazooie to fly

Gold feather- these allow Banjo and Kazooie to be invincible for a limited amount of time

Notes- throughout each world the player is able to collect 100 musical notes, a certain amount of notes are needed to progress to the different parts of Gruntildas lair

Mumbo skulls- certain jiggies can only be collected if Banjo is tranformed into another animal, this can only happen if Banjo collects a certain number of mumbo skulls which he then needs to give to the voodoo master Mumbo who will turn Banjo into the needed animal form in exhange for the skulls he collected.

Jinjo- the final thing you need to collect in each world are these cute kangaroo things called Jinjo’s. There are five Jinjo’s to collect in each world and to my knowlege in order to actually defeat the final boss you need to collect all of them. The reason I believe you need to collect each Jinjo is because in everyone of my playthroughs of the game I collect all of the Jinjo’s and everytime they have helped me defeat Gruntilda.

Graphics
This game is beautiful I’m not even kidding for an N64 game every aspect of Banjo Kazooie is a piece of art, the textures really help enhance the wonderful environments in each world, the character detail is very impressive and overall the game looks better than some modern games look today which is saying a lot since Banjo Kazooie came out in 1998. There are 9 worlds to explore in the game (not including the hub world or Spiral mountain). My favourite world in the game is called Freezeezy Peak its a Christmas themed world, its my favourite world because not only is it the best looking world in my opinion but it also has the best music.

Music

This game just keeps getting better and betted because even the music is kick ass, its not often that the music in a video game suits the environments perfectly but just to add the cherry to an already perfect cake Banjo Kazooie manages to do just that. Its hard to explain why the music is so good but go and listen to the music from Freezeezy Peak, Gobi’s Valley and Mad Monter Mansion and you will see what I mean. If were not gonna get another decent Banjo Kazooie game a Banjo Kazooie soundtrack would be nice.

Final Verdict
From reading this review you can probably tell that I like this game, in my opinion its one of greatest video games of all time and highly suggest buying Banjo Kazooie because even though it has some camera issues it still is a really awesome game and because of this i rate Banjo Kazooie a 9/10.

I hope you enjoyed this raggle fraggle review
This revie is of my own opinion if you respect my opinion I will respect yours
this review was written by Dan (Padawan)

Batman the video game (NES) review

November 8, 2012 ragglefragglereviews1 Comment

OH NO a movie that got turned into a video game this is never a good sign and before I played batman the video game on NES I figured it would be like most other movie to video game adaptations completely TERRIBLE !!!. I was very wrong to think this because once I put the game cart into my NES and pressed the start button I then realised I was playing one of the best NES games I have ever played.

Story

According to the game manual the citizens of Gotham City are preparing for their 200^th anniversary festival, little do they know that the joker and his henchman are planning something really evil I am ashamed to say that I haven’t seen the movie so I don’t exactly know what this evil plot is. Batman hears of this terrible news and heads towards the cathedral where he will fight the joker. On his way to the cathedral batman will need to take out all of the Joker’s henchman before he will endure his final battle with the mad clown himself. On a side note the five stages in the game are

Gotham City
Axis Chemical Factory
Underground Conduit
Laboratory Ruins
Cathedral

Game play

Believe it or not batman on NES has a very similar feel to the Ninja Gaiden games, it has a similar playing style and batman can do the all famous Ninja Gaiden wall jump. It has some very tight controls which are very easy to learn so the game is easy to pick up and play. This game is very difficult from stage 3 onwards and it takes a lot of patients and continues to see the end of the game.

Graphics

The best way to describe how good the graphics are would be to tell you the date the game got released I personally thought that the game came out in the 90’s because of the really smooth graphics but little did I know that the game actually came out in 1989. That’s right 1989 that’s crazy and because if the release date the graphics are extremely impressive did I also mention that this game provides cut scenes like in Ninja Gaiden another resemblance and another factor which makes batman on the NES so great.

Music

This game just gets better and better because as well as it having great graphics and some amazing game play it also has some of the best music in the NES library, as usual I’m not going to give an in depth description of every single track in the game but I will provide a YouTube link to one of my favourite songs in the game this time I will provide a link to the theme of the first level. I don’t know why but for some reason the music in the first level of the game really gets me pumped to fight my way through Gotham City to defeat the Joker which is not as easy as it sounds so the reason chose this song is because it gets me ready for one hell of a difficult battle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlGDKfgz4fA

Bosses

As you may expect as well as having to fight your way through each of the five stages and killing a bunch of enemies along the way each level gives you a boss which you must defeat to be able to progress. There are five bosses before the final boss and each one gets harder and harder though out the game.

Killer Moth

The first boss of the game is Killer Moth he will fly to a corner and shoot fireballs at Batman, Batman needs to avoid these fireballs and return fire at Killer Moth, Killer Moth will also occasionally sweep down to attack Batman, but if Batman avoids these attacks and keeps firing at the boss Killer Moth will eventually fall.

Machine Intelligence

This time Batman seems to be inside of a giant machine this boss is a bit more tricky than the last boss because he takes more hits and in more places, First Batman must take out the guns this is done best with the gun, next Batman must take out the blue light on the top left and finally batman must then take out the main part of the machine in the top right. This boss can be tricky especially on the last part but there is a specific spot that Batman can stand in where he won’t take damage but the machine will.

The Electrocutioner

If you don’t have full health and a hell of a lot of batarangs I wouldn’t even bother trying to defeat this guy, he is pretty much impossible I have tried every strategy I can think of to avoid his attacks so I can’t help you there but I can help you kill the bastard my strategy is have full health and go and stand in one of the corners, then when he is getting close batarang him to death I believe this is the only way to kill him and it really shows the lengths the game will go to prevent you from finishing it.

Dual-Container Alarm

NO image this time sorry folks but I just couldn’t find one :(. There are two blocks in the room each of these block will got around the room following some sort of pattern, the block will shoot missiles at Batman but I found that if you stay on the of the centre platform and duck and punch the first block will miss you with the missiles and it will fall easily. The second block will now turn red and it will start shooting fire all over the room this is where the boss gets a little difficult as Batman will need to go to ground level and shoot batarangs at the block until it eventually blows up, this would be much simpler if Batman wasn’t taking damage every time the block touched him. Best way to beat this boss is with plenty of health and a good amount of batarangs.

Fire Bug

OH MY GOD this boss is insanely difficult I remember it took me approximately 2 hours to beat him of game play until I eventually beat him since he kept killing me, I did eventually come up with a strategy though my advice would for you to use the dirk (The weapon which allows you to shoot what appears to be 3 batarangs at once) stand on the left hand side and keep jumping over his fire attack every time you jump shoot Firebug strait after otherwise he will hurt you. This process may seem a bit tedious but trust me getting to the Joker and seeing the ending is worth all of your pain.

Final Boss- The Joker

The joker is not as difficult to defeat as Fire Bug but he is still pretty tough he will make lightning come out the sky and he will shoot you with his big ass gun seriously it’s almost as big as him and with a big gun usually means a powerful shot yep 3 life bits of life get taken every time Batman is shot and one piece of life for each lightning hit. So how do you beat the Joker? Well I tried every weapon in the game and nothing worked but my last resort did yeah that’s right I found the best way to kill the Joker is with your bare hands. I don’t know how the hell that works but crouching down next to him and beating the living crap out of him seemed to do the trick and the falling of the joker ends a kick ass game with a kick ass ending.

Final Verdict

If you like batman you will love this game if you don’t like batman you will probably love this game. The game is perfect it’s one of those few video games available that I can actually say yeah that’s a great game. With great game play, bad ass music, epic graphics for the time and experience which is amazing none the less I rate Batman on the Nes a 10/10. I hope you enjoyed this review of Batman on the NES this is my opinion of the game if you respect my opinion I will respect yours.

Thanks for Reading this Raggle Fraggle Review

This review was written by Dan

Now if you excuse me I got a city save

Luigi’s Mansion (Nintendo GameCube) review

October 25, 2012November 3, 2019 ragglefragglereviews3 Comments

This review was partially rewritten in 2018 by the original author due to how terribly it was written

Its Luigi time !! (sorry that was terrible) XD

In 2001 the Game Cube was released and too a lot of peoples surprise it was the first ever Nintendo console to not be released alongside a brand new Mario game however it wasn’t so bad as his often pushed aside brother Luigi took the spot light instead.

In the game our hero Luigi receives an invitation to come and view a mansion that he won in a competition, Mario agrees to meet Luigi at the mansion but isn’t there when Luigi arrives, with his brother no where in sight Luigi enters the mansion hoping to find him, it doesn’t take long for dastardly ghosts to attack Luigi but thankfully he is rescued by a strange old man called professor Elvin Gadd who gives Luigi a vacuum cleaner and teaches him to capture the ghosts, Luigi re-enters the mansion with his trusty new weapon in search for Mario.

Apart from having some slippery controls there is plenty to do in Luigi’s Mansion, the main objective is to re-capture all of the ghosts, standard ghosts can be captured once they have been stunned and some are stronger than others and each is unique in how they attack Luigi, your vacuum can blow as well as suck which is often needed in order to defeat elemental spirits, throughout the game you can collect elements which you can use to defeat some of the more trickier ghosts for example ice spirits can be defeated with fire and water ghosts can be defeated with ice.

Your main goal however is to capture the portrait ghosts, these ghosts can be considered mini bosses due to how complex and different each ghost is to defeat not to mention that they also have more health, some my favourite ghosts to fight are the grandmother, the baby and the twins.In the bottom right corner of the image above you can see the game boy horror this device can be used to communicate with the environment, allow Luigi to enter mouse holes, can warp Luigi to the beginning of the mansion by communicating with the mirrors, it contains a full map of the mansion and it also indicates when you are nearing a Boo.

There are 50 other boos which Luigi needs to find and capture throughout the game one in each room. There are two reasons why you should try to capture all of the boo’s the first reason is because if you don’t collect enough boo’s the game won’t let you fight the final boss and the second reason is because if you collect them all you will receive a boo crystal which is worth a hell of a lot of money and this can help increase your grade at the end of the game.

For a game that came out in 2002 the graphics in Luigi’s mansion are pretty good, The overall design of the mansion is satisfying and the ghosts look really awesome, Luigi looks great too I think his facial expressions are hilarious, the one complaint about the graphics I can think of is the textures I don’t expect them to live up to video game textures of today but some things in the game look like pieces of Lego without the stumps I say some because most things in the game look great, a small complaint but nothing too disappointing.

This game doesn’t have too much music but the music you do get is really awesome and catchy, I don’t know every track in the game so I’m just gonna talk about the main theme I personally think it kicks ass plus when you beat the game the end credits theme sounds amazing it’s a really nice track and it is satisfying to hear it after beating the game.

Putting behind the fact that the game doesn’t look great in all aspects and the lack in music, I’m going to award Luigi’s Mansion an 8/10. The game is definitely no masterpiece but it’s a great game none the less and if you own a Nintendo GameCube I would recommend Luigi’s Mansion for your collection. I can’t wait for Luigi’s Mansion 2 on 3ds and from the amount of time it’s taken to make I have got high hopes for the sequel to one of my favourite GameCube titles. I hope you enjoyed this review of Luigi’s Mansion this is my opinion of the game if you respect my opinion I will respect yours.

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In October of 2018 the game was re-made for the Nintendo 3DS and I want to just briefly go over some differences.

3DS_LuigisMansion_01

The biggest update was local multiplayer for story mode, unfortunately the multiplayer lags really badly and isn’t really worth the effort because of this. Amiibo functionality was added along side a boss rush mode, the best new feature was having the in-game map appear on the bottom screen of the 3DS at all times making exploration of the mansion much easier.

Apart from this the base game is essentially the same and this remake really does not add enough for it to be any better than the original, in fact I would still recommend the original game over this for the fact that you can experience it on a larger screen.

I hope you guys have a spooky Halloween and try not to rot you teeth with all that candy 😉

Thanks for Reading this Raggle Fraggle Review

This review was written by Dan

Nintendo PETA Style

October 16, 2012October 16, 2012 ragglefragglereviews2 Comments

Nintendo PETA Style

I love Nintendo they are by far my favourite game developers of all time, if it wasn’t for Nintendo we wouldn’t have Star Fox, Mario, Donkey Kong, Pokémon, F-Zero, the legend of Zelda or any of the other game series that Nintendo has created. Nintendo is amazing they really know how to make great games and at the same time making the games blood free and family friendly.

There is one particular cause which really dislikes Nintendo and the messages they apparently tell children who play their games. I am of course talking about PETA (People for the ethical treatment of animal). PETA is a cause which fights for animal rights and they try to reduce the amount of animal abuse in the UK, they also try to spread their message to other continents such as the USA. It’s not just Animal abuse either PETA is also against using animals as food, wearing their fur, for entertainment purposes or any other reason you could possibly think of.

I am on PETA’s side when it comes to not abusing animals but one thing PETA has recently started is saying that Nintendo games encourages people to be violent towards animals, so far I have found three Nintendo games that they say are spreading the message that animal abuse is good this is obviously complete and utter rubbish but PETA must really believe this is true because they have actually made their own versions of the games, since PETA made the effort to do this I’m going to make the effort of actually comparing these games to the originals so let’s jump right in and try to have some fun.

Cooking Mama

If you’re wondering what cooking mama is the first clue is in the title I’m not so sure about the mama part but the idea of the game is to cook many different types of food. The problem is that PETA is against using animals for food and in cooking mama you cook a lot of meat of course PETA doesn’t agree with this so they made their own version of cooking mama which is called Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals.

Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals just from the title you can tell PETA is over exaggerating. I was correct PETA really are over exaggerating with this one the idea is that you’re Cooking Mama and you need to prepare a thanks giving dinner, that may not sound too bad but when you start to prepare the turkey it’s pretty ridiculous because of all the blood and guts, even the eggs bleed in this game that’s how much PETA have over exaggerated but if you keep playing you unlock a new mode which gives you the opportunity to give mama a change of heart and a love for animals or you could just go on your DS and play cooking mama.

(If you want to play Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals here is the link) http://features.peta.org/CookingMama/

Super Mario

If you’ve played Super Mario Bros 3 or the more recent Super Mario 3D land you will know all about a power up Mario can get called a tanookie suit, now I had no idea that the tanookie suit is the fur of a real animal called a tanookie dog. According to PETA the tanookie dog is an endangered animal and poachers skin them alive so they can sell their fur as it is quite valuable and sells for a high price. Since Super Mario wears a tanookie suit PETA gets the idea that Mario is one of these poachers, obviously PETA has never played any Mario games because if they did they would know that Mario gets his tanookie suit from eating a leaf but PETA are idiots so they released yet another game called Mario Kills Tanookie.

I would tell you what this game is about but PETA has already doe that for us this is what PETA says Mario kills Tanookie is about

When on a mission to rescue the princess, Mario has been known to use any means necessary to defeat his enemy—even wearing the skin of a raccoon dog to give him special powers.

Tanooki may be just a “suit” in Mario games, but in real life, tanooki are raccoon dogs who are skinned alive for their fur. By wearing Tanooki, Mario is sending the message that it’s OK to wear fur. Play Super Tanooki Skin 2D and help Tanooki reclaim his fur!

You play as a naked tanookie dog who is chasing Mario to get his fur back if you catch the tanookie dog is happy there is no special ending or anything.

(Wanna play Mario Kills Tanookie here is the link)

http://features.peta.org/mario-kills-tanooki/

P.S there is one more Mario related game by PETA called Super Chick Sisters but I didn’t feel the need to mention it in this blog because Mario Kills Tanookie is more Mario related since it has Mario in it. Super Chick Sisters actually isn’t that bad of a game and you play it by going to this link

http://www.mccruelty.com/SuperChickSisters.aspx

Pokémon

I left the most recent and defiantly the stupidest till last according to PETA Pokémon games encourage cruelty toward Animals because they are stuffed into the poke balls and then they are sent out to fight which apparently encourages animal fighting. PETA obviously played Pokémon Black and White because they felt the need to release a game about the Pokémon’s escaping from their trainers and adventuring towards their freedom this so called game of PETA’s is titled Pokémon Black and Blue.

I got to admit this game is pretty funny but I don’t think it’s meant to be which just makes it funnier

(Wanna Play Pokémon Black and Blue here is the link)

http://features.peta.org/pokemon-black-and-white-parody/

I hope you enjoyed today’s blog

You know PETA haven’t made a Zelda game yet and in Zelda you can kill chickens it probably won’t be long till PETA release a game where we play as a chicken and have to violently murder Link but until then good night, sleep tight and try to hold on to that little part of your childhoods which hasn’t been ruined by PETA.

This blog was written by Dan

Super Mario 64 (N64) Review

September 27, 2012September 27, 2012 ragglefragglereviews1 Comment

Super Mario 64 Review (N64)

When it comes to Nintendo 64 games there is one that I believe everyone has played and that’s Super Mario 64. Super Mario 64 was the first 3d free roaming Mario game to ever be released this was a big step up from the old side scrolling Mario titles and it was also the first game which allowed us to hear what Mario voice sounded like. This game had quite a big impact on Mario fans so big in fact that there was a remake on the DS which included more playable characters and more in game levels the DS version was also very popular but I’m not here to review that game I’m here to review the original so lets a go and jump straight into this 64 bit masterpiece.

The Story

Mario receives a letter from Princess Peach telling him to go to the castle as the princess has baked a cake for him (don’t they have servants to do that) any way Mario’s a doofus and lets his hormones take over his common sense and so he leaves the dodgy letter and go’s to the castle anyway when he arrives and enters the castle he finds out the letter was fake and Bowser has kidnapped the princess and is hiding in the castle somewhere and it’s Mario’s job to go and rescue her.

The game itself

The controls in this game are perfect that’s because Mario has a lot of moves which all require a different button combination to pull off, luckily Mario 64’s controls are very easy to remember. The game play is really smooth and there is no lag when pressing the buttons, what I really love about the game play is the fact that Mario talks while you play whether it’s a yahoo or yippee it’s pretty awesome it may not be too impressive now but back when the game came out it was pretty mind blowing. The game play is not all perfect though as Mario 64 very slightly suffers from what most N64 games suffer from and that’s bad use of the in game camera, it’s not as bad as in some games but at times the camera seems to have a mind of it s own and will hide Mario under platforms which can be annoying since at times its caused me to fall off cliffs and die.

Graphics

The graphics in Mario 64 are beautiful and I’m not over exaggerating for a game that came out in 1996 the graphics are pretty damn impressive and with it being one of the first game to be released on the system it really showed the 3d capabilities that Nintendo are capable of producing. From beginning to end the smoothness of the graphics are really shown off with character movements, in game animations and amazing looking environments throughout. Super Mario 64 looked awesome back then and it still looks pretty awesome today.

Music

If you thought the music in Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario Land was good you haven’t heard shit until you’ve heard some of the music from Super Mario 64. Before this game came out Mario fans were used hearing catchy tunes in Mario Titles and catchy tunes is what we expected from Mario 64 but what we heard was like the sound of angels singing from the heavens it wasn’t just a catchy tunes we heard in Mario 64 instead the music was an orchestrated masterpiece today it’s not as good as the music from titles such as Mario Galaxy but back then it was just as good. My personal favourite track from the game is the final music when you’re on your way to final fight with Bowser.

Bosses

The big guys

In every couple of paintings you will have to defeat what I like to call the big guys these are very large enemies who will usually challenge you to defeat them if you do you will earn a star they can all be defeated similarly and their not too difficult. The big guys I can remember fighting from when I was a kid are King Bob-omb, a giant Thwomp and Giant boo, King Bob-omb is my favourite because he talks about moustaches and moustaches are awesome.

Bowser

I hate this boss because every time I do it I end up with a blister this is caused by the player having to spin the joystick really fast and pressing the A button to hurl Bowser into bombs which are spread around battle area. This wouldn’t be so bad but the problem is you need to defeat Bowser four times in different locations of the castle until you finally beat the game. The whole idea to beating Bowser is to run behind him and grab his tail (This where the camera really starts play up) once you have his tail spin him around with the joystick and throw him into the bombs do this three times each time you fight Bowser to defeat him make sure you avoid his fire balls though because they take away a lot of health. Once you beat Bowser you see the final cut seen before the end credits to legendary game.

Final Verdict

I love this game and I going to give it an 8/10 because apart from the annoying camera angles and the game physically hurting me it’s a really awesome experience and it was the first 3d Mario game that Nintendo ever made it also really revolutionised the world of gaming so if you own a Nintendo 64 and you don’t have Mario 64 in your collection go out and buy it because it’s pretty bad ass and its great game to have your shelf.

I hope you enjoyed this review of Super Mario 64 this is my opinion of the game if you respect my opinion I will respect yours.

Thanks for Reading this Raggle Fraggle Review

This review was written by Dan

Super Mario Bros 3 (NES) Review

September 13, 2012February 24, 2015 ragglefragglereviews3 Comments

Super Mario Bros 3 (NES) Review

Super Mario Bros 3 if like me you enjoy playing old Nintendo games every time you say or hear that name you feel like a god why you may ask I will tell why you feel like a god because its Super Mario Bros 3. Considered to be the one of the greatest video games of all time Mario 3 really left an impact on our childhoods it was the game that made up for Super Mario Bros 2 and it showed what kind of game play, graphics and sound the NES was capable of producing, but enough of me having a nerdgasm lets get on with the review.

The Story

The story to this game is simple but awesome take a wild guess what happens I’m going to give you five seconds 5 4 3 2 1 still don’t know well Princess Peach gets kidnapped by Bowser and Mario has to save her geez what a shock. This may seem cliché but there is a small twist Bowser now has seven children known as the Koopa kids each of these kids have some sort magic staff which gave them the power to take over 7 kingdoms using the staffs to turn the kings of each land in to animals. This means that as well as defeating Bowser Mario needs to take out each of the Koopa kids as well other than that it’s a basic Mario story line.

The game itself

The game controls for Mario 3 are perfect there is no delay on the controls throughout the entire game. As you may have guessed there are many different ways to attack your foes in this game you can jump on enemies to defeat them shoot fireballs with the power flower, become invincible with the power star, Throw hammers with the hammer bros hammer and you can hit enemies with your tanookie suit tail. The tanookie suit is my favourite suit in the game because of one small thing it allows Mario to fly yes that’s right you can fucking fly in this game it may not be that special now in 2012 but trust me in 1991 this was the greatest thing ever and I’m so glad they brought back the tanookie suit Super Mario 3D land.

Graphics

As well as being an amazing experience Mario 3 looks amazing too it’s brightly coloured throughout the entire game, it has amazing character detail and overall its one of the happiest looking games I have ever played. I love this game so much I think it looks better than the Legend of Zelda and trust me a game needs to be pretty fucking impressive for me to say that.

Music

The Music in this game is amazing now the NES had a lot of games which suffered from non enjoyable soundtracks but there are few NES games out there which have soundtracks which in my opinion are better than most video game soundtracks from modern games if you like the soundtrack to halo go play any of the Mega Man games and you’ll see what I mean and once you’ve played Mega Man go Play Mario 3 because it provides a soundtrack that you don’t wanna miss out on. Another aspect about the Music in Mario 3 I love is the amount of different tracks in the game just like Mc Kids there is almost a new track for every single level and there are 48 levels in this game and for the NES to be able to produce a new track for each of them levels is pretty god damn impressive.

Bosses

There are three different kinds of bosses in Mario 3

The Gatekeepers- OK there not really called the gatekeepers there called boom booms but they hold the keys to the gates in the first 7 worlds, opening these gates allows Mario to have a check point so that if you get game over you don’t have to start at the beginning of the world and instead you can start from half way through, any way to defeat these guys you got to jump on their heads three times and once defeated you can then earn the gatekeepers key.

The seven Koopa kids- Just like the gate keepers to defeat the seven Koopa kids you got to jump on their heads three times to defeat them but don’t think this is an easy talk to do the Koopa kids become really challenging towards the end of the game. The Koopa kids each look different and each have different skills which they use to the best of their abilities some are faster than others, some are stronger than others, some are big, and some are small and so on.

Bowser- I love this Final boss because Bowser pretty much kills himself which is hilarious instead of jumping on Bowser’s head you fight him on top of a load of bricks and Bowser tries to squish Mario with giant turtle ass all Mario’s got to do is avoid Bowser and eventually he will fall through the bricks the final battle isn’t as easy as it sounds though just like the Koopa kids Bowser provides a lot of challenge but he’s not too difficult.

Final Verdict

It’s probably no surprise that I’m going to give Super Mario Bros 3 a 10/10 because it’s one of the greatest video of all time and with good reasons, it never gets boring, it looks and sounds great and overall it’s an experience you should never live without and it will live in our hearts forever it isn’t just game is Super Mario Bros 3 man it feels good to say that. I hope you enjoyed this review of Super Mario Bros 3 this is my opinion of the game if you respect my opinion I will respect yours.

Thanks for Reading this Raggle Fraggle Review

This review was written by Dan

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