Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992) Review

September 24, 2019September 20, 2019 ragglefragglereviews3 Comments

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins was released for the Nintendo Gameboy in 1992, It is the sequel to the 1989 game Super Mario Land.

While Mario was in Sarasa Land during the events of Super Mario Land his home island as well as his castle has been taken over by his evil counterpart Wario, Wario has brainwashed the island inhabitants making them attack Mario leaving him no choice but to defeat Wario and claim back his home and save the island.

The game uses a world map which allows players to choose stage locations in any order they please, this is really cool and was a first for a Mario game, I always play the game starting from the left side of the map working my way clockwise across the zones

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There are six worlds in the game and completing each world will earn you a golden coin and you need all of them to take on the final stage and boss.

My favourite worlds are the space zone because you can float making the platforming much more challenging than the rest of the game which is very easy and I love the pumpkin zone because of its creepy imagery.

If you use the route I do you will tackle each world in this order

Tree Zone

Space Zone

Macro Zone

Pumpkin Zone

Mario Zone

Turtle Zone

All of the worlds have a different theme and each one stands out due to how they mix up the game play for example as previously mentioned the space zone adds anti gravity, the turtle zone is mostly water based and the macro zone has the player shrunken to the size of an ant.

Every world has its own boss and they all very creative, however they are all very easy to beat.

The game has the usual Mario items such as mushrooms, power flowers and power stars but one new addition is introduced here and that is the bunny ears, if Mario finds a carrot he will grow bunny rabbit ears which allow him to float through the air, this is the best item in the game in my opinion and it makes the adventure much easier than it should be.

In each stage if you hit the highest bell at the end of a level you can play a mini game, there are two types you play one uses a crane and the other one is a game where you have to create a path for electricity.

A final note is that with the money you collect in the game you can use it in special zone where you can win multiple prizes and lives.

The soundtrack is nothing special but I do really like it, its got very simple tunes and melody’s which all suit each zone and the levels that they represent however none of the music really stands out and I wouldn’t say its that memorable.

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins is a great game and is a lot better than its predecessor, the developers took a different approach with this one and it works really well even with its odd premise and weird design for a Mario game, it also introduced us to Wario who would eventually go on to spawn his own popular video game series Wario Land, Wario World and Wario Ware. The game is really easy and can be finished in just a few hours but that does not take away from the experience and this is one weird Mario adventure you do not want to miss.

I really hope for a HD remake one day.

8.5/10

I hope you enjoyed this review of Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins for the Nintendo Game Boy.

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Super Mario World (1991)Review

May 7, 2019 ragglefragglereviews1 Comment

Super Mario World is a Side Scrolling Platformer for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was developed and published by Nintendo, It was directed by Takashi Tezuka and was produced by Shigeru Miyamoto it was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in the United States and 1992 in Europe.

After the events of Super Mario Bros 3, Mario and Luigi take a vacation on Dinosaur Land, an Island that is swarming with prehistoric creatures called Yoshi’s, during the vacation Princess Peach mysteriously disappears, they soon discover that King Bowser is behind the dissapearance and his children the Koopalings have also kidnapped some of the Yoshi’s leaving Mario and Luigi to rescue the missing dinosaurs as well as the Princess.

The game plays similarly to other 2D Mario games, the player must travel across a large map that is filled with themed areas, in order to traverse the world you must complete a set number of levels or discover a secret path to get through the game faster but the secret stages are much more difficult than the regular stages in the game.

There are two aspects of the game that I really want to discuss compared to some of the smaller additions that this game brought to the series, the first is the cape item, with a cape Mario is able to hover through the air in a similar manner to Princess Peach in Super Mario Bros 2, the other ability gained through this item is that you can temporarily fly after a sprint, you can only fly for a short amount of time but during these moments you can discover a lot of really cool secrets and when Mario eventually dives back towards the ground the impact can cause some serious damage taking out a lot of enemies.

The other important new addition I want to discuss is the introduction to a Nintendo favourite character which is Yoshi, the famous video game dinosaur is able to help Mario on his quest, Mario can hop onto a Yoshi in order to take an extra hit as you wont take damage if you are attacked while on top of the dinosaur, Yoshi can also eat enemies and help Mario to gain extra height during a jump.

It should be noted that the game introduced ghost houses to the series.

The graphics are absolutely outstanding, they are a serious upgrade from Super Mario Bros 3, the increased power from the Super Nintendo really push the game to have smooth and colourful visuals, it also has some great animations and uses scaling to help the background and foreground of the game come to life.

The soundtrack at the time was the best music we had ever heard in a Super Mario game, the soundtrack was composed by Koji Kondo and they did an awesome job, the music is so much fun to listen too and while maybe not as epic as some of the later Super Nintendo game soundtracks this one has never been forgotten, the best tune by far is the end credits music which to this day is one of my favourite video game soundtracks.

Super Mario world is an extremely beloved game, it helped to shape the 2D Mario games into what they are today, after Super Mario World they all stuck to a similar formula with most of the new additions seen here staying as well, the game looks wonderful, it has tight controls, an epic soundtrack, fun and memorable boss fights and is genuinely a wonderful experience to play through. Super Mario World is one of most important games of the franchises history, it wasn’t just another Mario game, it was and still is a masterpiece.

10/10

I hope you enjoyed this review of Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System

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Super Mario Bros 2 (NES) Review

June 9, 2018June 9, 2018 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

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Super Mario Bros 2 is a really strange game, to be honest the version of the game released outside of Japan isn’t even the real version of the game, the original sequel was deemed to difficult for both the Americans and the Europeans, so instead of giving us the game that was similar to the first Super Mario Bros Nintendo decided that they would reskin a game called Doki Doki Panic to now involve Mario character for release outside of Japan and the rest is history.

maxresdefault The first thing players noticed in this game was the character select screen, now not only can you play as Mario and Luigi but you can also play as a Toad or Princess Peach.

Each character has unique characteristics.

Mario is a great all round character with good strength, jump height and speed, Luigi is a little weaker and slower than Mario but has the best Jump height in the game, Toad has the best strength and speed in the game but is not very good at jumping and finally the Princess has low strength and speed along with a mediocre jump however she can float in the air which makes up for her lower stats, the Princess is my favourite character to play as.

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Due to this being a reskin of another game Mario 2 changes the way you play the game compared to other titles in the series, now you cant jump on enemies to kill them instead you need to pull up vegetables, blocks or enemies and hurl them at the bad guys.

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At the end of each stage you now have to fight a sub boss, some of these are really fun to fight and some will catch you off guard such as the exit door which comes to life and tries to defeat you although most of these sub bosses are Birdos who appear in almost every stage.

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At the end of each stage you will have a chance to use a slot machine to win 1-ups, you can only use coins found in levels on the slots machine, you find these coins in bonus doors that you can open when you find a magic potion and throw it on the ground.

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Visually this is the best looking Mario game on the Nintendo Entertainment System, while all of Mario’s NES era games have smooth graphics with great animations Mario 2 definitely has the most interesting enemy and world designs, this is mostly due to the game taking place in a brand new area with different and unusual landscapes.

The soundtrack is definitely better than the first Mario game although its still lacking in tracks and often loops the same music.

Super Mario Bros 2 is a pretty good game, I wouldn’t say its one of the best games in the series although it is still worth giving it a go if you get the chance, it controls great, has fantastic visuals and a brand new story and location however in my opinion the soundtrack and slow game play holds it back a bit, as I previously stated this is only a reskin of Doki Doki Panic with not many changes at all so consider this a review of both games and due to this I would personally recommend you play one over the other Mario 2 is slightly more polished and a little easier so I would choose that one although if you want the intended experience play Doki Doki Panic, either way no matter which version you choose they are both fun games which I can happily give a fair 7.4/10

I hope you enjoyed this review of Super Mario 2 for the NES

Click the following Link to be directed to my review of Super Mario Bros for the NES https://ragglefragglereviews.com/2012/11/22/super-mario-bros-nes-review/

Click the following Link to be directed to my review of Super Mario Bros 3 for the NES https://ragglefragglereviews.com/2012/09/13/super-mario-bros-3-nes-review/

I wrote both of these back in 2012 when I hadn’t long started writing so please go easy on them 🙂

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Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga (GBA/3DS) Review

May 5, 2018May 6, 2018 ragglefragglereviews1 Comment

Mario is back and this time its an rpg?

Mario and Luigi superstar saga was released in 2003 for the Game boy advance it was developed by a team called Alpha Dream and was produced by Nintendo, as mentioned the game is an RPG and was likely made due to the success of the first Paper Mario game, Super Star Saga was very popular after its release and is still a fan favourite to this day so it was of no surprise that a remake was made for the 3DS I am just surprised that the remake didn’t get released before this, so which version of the game is better?

The plot between both games is exactly the same with the exception that the remake has an additional campaign.

An evil witch called Cackletta and her minion Fawful go to Princess Peaches Castle with a plan to steal the Princesses voice and replace it with explosives, a Toad travels to the home of Mario and Luigi informing the two brothers about what happened, when they both arrive they find Bowser who was hoping to Kidnap Princess Peach but decided against it after he noticed the Princesses rather dangerous new set of pipes, instead the Koopa King decides to team up with the Mario brothers in order to help Peach get her voice back meaning that he could kidnap her without risking the destruction of his castle.

The Game play is where the differences really start to show and the 3DS version has gotten a lot of backlash due to the changes it has made, in both versions the battle system is turned based and as far as I am aware the way you fight is also the same, the brothers can both jump, hammer, use magic and perform combination attacks in order to defeat enemies, the 3DS version is slightly more lenient than the original as I found avoiding attacks and performing combos here a lot easier than I did back in the day, there is also an easy mode that can be switched too at anytime so the battle system isn’t too complicated for younger fans either.

The game is also filled to the brim with puzzles that the brothers must solve when travelling across the games large map, not many stand out to me but one of my favourites is the mine cart game and the barrel matching game on the pirate ship.

The visuals in the original game are outstanding, it’s full of exciting and explosive colours, the animations are beautiful not to mention impressive for a game of that era and the little touches help bring a lot of emotion and well timed comedy to the game, the remake while also beautiful doesn’t really push the 3DS to it’s full potential and it’s more of a nicer re skin of what we already had than anything new and unique however it’s still nice to look at and still helps the game maintain its charm and originality.

The music is fantastic, the game has a great soundtrack which varies between nice and cheerful music to scary and intense tracks and each help to build up the mood of the game

The biggest new addition to the remake is Bowsers minions a brand new 6 hour long campaign, the game is not what you would expect, I wanted a full RPG experience but it’s more of a game that focuses on building an army and levelling up your troops, I personally don’t like this type of game style so the fact that I really couldn’t get into it does not mean that you won’t

Mario and Luigi superstar saga is one of the best RPG’s you can buy it’s fun, easy enough to learn and it gives a whole new and interesting spin to the Mario universe, the remake adds a whole new campaign and a new coat for the visuals which makes it worth buying if you like the style of games such as age empires and star craft otherwise I wouldn’t spend money on the 3DS remake as this is the only massive bonus available, you can also purchase the original game through the Nintendo Eshop for much cheaper than the 3DS version, I love both versions of the game so it’s hard for me not to give both version a very high score but I think the 3DS remake beats the original by a nudge due to the additional content and clearer visuals.

The orginal game 9.4/10

The 3DS remake 9.6/10

I hope you enjoyed my review of Mario and Luigi Super Star Saga for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo 3DS.

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Super Mario Land (GB) Review

March 19, 2018March 19, 2018 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

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Released in 1989 along side the Nintendo Game Boy, Super Mario Land was the first ever hand held Mario game and to be honest the strangest as well.

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Like most Mario games this one is also a 2D Platformer but its a little bit different to your average Mario experience for one the game takes place in Sarasa Land not the Mushroom Kingdom and instead of rescuing Princess Peach its instead Princess Daisy, Sarasa Land has some new enemies and is a completely different place, the worlds are mostly based on different countries in a similar manner to Mario Odyssey although not quite as creative in my opinion, the idea is to get from point A to Point B through the different levels although in this game a fair portion of the stages are side scrolling shooters in the style of old space shooters such as Galaga, there are only 12 levels in the game so it really doesn’t take long to finish I would even argue that its quite easy for people who are used to playing games such as this so don’t expect much of challenge or a very immersive experience.

Super Mario Land is fun game but to be honest there isn’t much too it and the new enemies and world while nice are a bit too weird for a Mario game, but with tight controls and half decent graphics this isn’t one too pass up if you get the chance to play it, it is available on the 3DS Eshop which is a plus, even though this isn’t one of the best Mario games on the bright side the sequel is a lot better and is an entry to the series I am excited to cover in the future

5.2/10

I hope you enjoyed my review of Super Mario Land for the Game Boy

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Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo Switch) Review

November 18, 2017November 18, 2017 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

Is this Mario’s greatest adventure to date?

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Usually I would just post a picture of a games cover art but in this rare occasion I wanted to show off the free Cappy hat you got for pre-ordering Mario Odyssey, Its pretty cool being able to wear your hat while playing the game I think its a great collectible for little kids and big kids too 😉

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Bowser and Peach are actually getting married and its up too Mario to stop Bowser and save the wedding but the only problem is that Bowser wins the fight and destroys Mario’s trusty hat which many fans know gives Mario most of his power, Bowser kicks Mario off his air ship to a mysterious land where he lays unconscious,defenseless and without his hat powerless so how can he save Peach this time?

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Meet Cappy a helpful Boo who Mario Meets in the cap kingdom a world filled with top hat inspired architecture, Bowser has stolen Cappy’s sister Tiara so he’s quick to turn himself into a replica of Mario’s hat in order to help Mario on his adventure.

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metro kingdom I have to say that this is the strangest Mario game I have ever played, its not a bad thing but its very different to its predecessors for one their are no power ups in the game but Mario has the ability to transform into most enemies and objects in the game by throwing Cappy at things, also the game adds a whole new wardrobe of outfits that Mario can purchase and wear throughout his adventure these new features are a nice change for the series and I hope that at least the outfits stay for future entries.

maxresdefault1 He’s collected Stars, he’s collected Shine Sprites so we all knew it wouldn’t be long before Mario was collecting moons and this game has a whopping 999 for you to find and buy, most of them can be collected fairly quickly but they are well hidden, thankfully you can collect the majority of the moons in a kingdom in a single visit as Mario Odyssey takes away the need to revisit a level every time you want to collect a moon.

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For the majority of his games Mario has had very tight and responsive controls and the case isn’t much different for Super Mario Odyssey, I found the controls a little slippery at first but I soon got used to them, one issue with the game is that even though it has many control options available only the motion controls actually allow you do all of Mario’s moves, it really sucks because most people don’t care much for motion controls these days and it baffles me how this problem wasn’t fixed before shipping especially from a company such as Nintendo.

The music is an odd choice for a Super Mario game but it works extremely well, I find it has a jazzy beat to it and each soundtrack suits each world differently for example the forest world has a calm and natural feel to it while the city music is loud and upbeat and all of the different sounds give off the effect of a noisy and energetic place, although by far the best song in the game is “I’ll be your one up girl” which is sang by none other than Pauline from the Donkey Kong arcade game, to my knowledge its the first song in the series to use vocals and its a perfect fit for Mario’s adventure across the unusual world of Mario Odyssey.

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Super Mario odyssey is an epic edition to the Super Mario series and it takes Mario in a whole new direction, gone are the limited power ups, the graphics are the best the series has seen yet, the colors are eye popping and its the small details such as falling snow, dust blowing in the wind and grass moving to one side as you step through it which really helps immerse you into the experience, the soundtrack is absolutely brilliant as always and the controls while they are not best are easy enough to get used too, I wish the game had a hub world, I imagined New Donk City to be the hub while different shops would take you to each stage so I was disappointed when this wasn’t the case, but apart from this Super Mario Odyssey is an amazing game however I personally don’t think its the best game in the series but its definitely a close contender.

Super Mario Odyssey is the Mario game that you could only dream of but with a few things missing and slightly slippery controls it doesn’t quite make a top score 9.6/10

I hope you enjoyed my review of Super Mario Odyssey for the Nintendo Switch

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

February 27, 2015April 3, 2016 ragglefragglereviews5 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.

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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.

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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

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Paper Mario Sticker Star Review (3DS)

January 24, 2013February 10, 2013 ragglefragglereviews4 Comments

I love the Paper Mario games with one exception the Wii version (Super Paper Mario) but I will talk about that game some other day. The Paper Mario games are great for many reasons, they are full of hilarious comedy, they have epic story lines and most importantly they are really fun to play. With me being a big fan of the series I couldn’t resist but to buy Sticker Star as soon as I possibly could

Story

The Story of Sticker Star is nothing of an epic tale which is a shame since other games in the series have had some really good story lines. The story line may not be epic but it’s not a terrible story line. The story is that the members of the mushroom kingdom are having their annual sticker festival which they have each year to celebrate to power of the royal stickers (five crown stickers which have the power to grant the wishes of the person who wears them). When presenting the royal stickers Bowser gets his claws on one of them and the rest get blown away to other locations in the game. Bowser’s wish comes true and he becomes a super shiny sticker, he then kidnap’s Princess Peach and Mario has to save her.

Game play

The Paper Mario we all know and love is back, that’s right we have gone back to turn based game play with a little twist. We have gone back to turn based game play which is great but now we fight using stickers instead of using partners who have different abilities and powers and this works really well surprisingly.

It’s not just fighting you need stickers for in some cases in the game you will need to use stickers to communicate with certain objects communicating with these objects will either give you a new item which you can turn into a big sticker or you will need to communicate with certain objects in the game in order to continue.

You do not level up in sticker star which is unusual for a Paper Mario game instead you need to find health upgrades throughout the game to increase your overall health, you can get your health to a Max of 100hp and I recommend that you find all of these health upgrades because when you get to the Final boss you may need that little bit of extra hp.

Finally I want to talk about a certain type of sticker called a blue door sticker. Throughout the game you will find doors on objects but you are not able to access them. You are not able to access these doors because you need to buy some blue door stickers to access them, once you place a blue door sticker over the door you can then open the door and go inside. Inside these doors can be anything from money, sticker/objects or health upgrades. You will need to access certain blue doors in the game in order to continue but you can find them yourself.

Apart from the story line the only other negative aspect to the game I can think of is that there are only 6 worlds and I can’t help but feel that there should be 8 worlds in the game.

Graphics

You’re going to want to crank that 3D right up for this game because the 3D really helps the game look amazing and it’s not the kind of 3D that hurts your eyes or makes you feel sick. The game looks amazing, it’s full of colour, the characters and environments are smooth and at times it really feels like there is a real paper world in your hands, the 3D is perfect it doesn’t make the game look any different and it actually enhances the experience. I won’t say this too often when talking about 3DS games but if you get Sticker Star I recommend playing in 3D throughout the entire game.

Music

My favourite Paper Mario soundtrack used to be from the thousand year door but now my favourite Paper Mario soundtrack is from Sticker Star. The music in this game is absolutely fantastic and so far some of the best I have heard on the 3DS. The music fits the characters and environments so well and just like the 3D it really enhances the experience. My favourite Piece of music is right at the end of the game before you go into Bowser’s Castle it is pretty much a rock and roll remix of the over world theme.

Final Verdict

If you like Paper Mario you will love sticker star and I highly recommend buying it. It looks and sounds amazing and finally turn based game play is back. Paper Mario Sticker Star is a hilarious adventure which can be loved by the whole family. The game may be amazing but there are a few issues I found with the game. The story line is basic and there are only 6 worlds in the game and for those reasons alone I am going to give Paper Mario Sticker Star a 8/10 the game had a few flaws but overall it is a very good 3DS title which is worth picking up.

My top 5 Mario games

November 27, 2012 ragglefragglereviews2 Comments

Wow another blog that’s related to Super Mario good lord I just can’t leave this guy alone, there is good reason behind my slight obsession with everyone’s favorite Italian plumber though and that is of course the games and the fact that he is the Mickey Mouse of video games. There are a lot of Mario games so choosing just five for this list was one tough job. Of course I’m only basing this list on games that I have actually played and I will only be choosing one game per console.

5. NEW Super Mario Bros (NDS)

Last Thursday I gave my honest opinion on the original Super Mario Bros for the NES in the style of a review, even though it is one of my favorite games off all time it does have a few issues one of them being the fact that the game has a very small music library and after a few hours listening to the same music can get very frustrating. I also mentioned that a lot of the levels look similar and the bosses are all pretty much the same these reasons are why the game didn’t make this list. Nintendo released not a sequel but more of a remake of the game on their hand held system the Nintendo DS it fixed all of the previous issues with the original game, it has stunning new visuals and even the Bowser boss battles have been changed immensely I love this game even more than the original and it truly deserves a place in this list.

4. Super Mario RPG (SNES)

Remember when Square Soft (Square Enix) teamed up with Walt Disney and together they gave us the Masterpiece Kingdom Hearts, Well before Disney Square Soft teamed up with Nintendo to create a Mario based RPG as a farewell gift for Mario Fans entering the world of 3D gaming, as expected what got released was yet another Mario Masterpiece. Role Playing had never been used in a Mario game before and as you may expect Nintendo was not sure how the game would turn out, luckily for us Mario Fans it was great the best thing about the game in my opinion is that it is not all an RPG you still need to tackle some platforming areas which all have a 3d look to them I gather this was to help get players ready for Super Mario 64. The paper Mario Series may have never happened if it was not for this games success.

3. Mario Kart Double Dash (Game Cube)

How could I do a top 5 list for Mario games without mentioning the Mario Kart series and more specifically Mario Kart Double Dash for the Nintendo Game Cube, What makes this game better than all the rest well for one thing you race with two characters in your Kart one throws Items while the other drives the Kart, even though apart from this the game is similar to all the other Mario Kart games in the series it does provide us with one of my favourite maps DK Mountain and of course like I said before two racers instead on one. Mario Kart Double Dash, double the racers, double the power, double the fun.

2. Super Mario 64 (N64)

Time for Mario to step up to the 3D gaming in his first proper 3D game Super Mario 64, What makes this game so great well pretty much everything apart from the biggest pain in ass the camera which is a serious issue in a lot of N64 game, but if you can ignore the camera problems you will realise that you are playing a brilliant game which really showed that Mario can be awesome in any 2D, 3D or any other kind of D wait that don’t sound right. As well as the game having tight controls, a humorous story, enjoyable levels, a free roaming over world and amazing music Super Mario 64 is also the first game that I recall allows you to hear that sweet Mario voice we have all grown to love.

I have previously done a full review of this game if you would like to read it please click this link https://ragglefragglereviews.wordpress.com/2012/09/27/super-mario-64-n64-review/

Super Mario Bros 3 (NES)

If you read my review of this game you probably expected it to be number one on this list and it has every right to be. Super Mario Bros 3 is what I consider to be a perfect game now granted it doesn’t live up to its remake New Super Mario bros wii but that game didn’t come out in 1991 so I feel Mario 3 deserves a place in the spotlight instead. The game provided us with an overall world for each land, secrets and mini games hidden within them as well as levels and boss fights, a great soundtrack, amazing graphics for the time , good multiplayer and you could even play the original Mario Bros on the multiplayer mode, a good and enjoyable story line with loveable characters, New power ups such as the tanookie suit, the game never seems to get boring and finally it has Mario in it where could you wrong Super Mario Bros 3 was my favourite Mario game back then, it is now and chances are its going to stay that way.

Want to read my full Review of Super Mario Bros 3 click this link

https://ragglefragglereviews.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/super-mario-bros-3-nes-review/

Games which almost made the list

Super Mario Galaxy (WII)

Super Mario Sunshine (Game Cube)

Super Mario Land 2 (GB)

Super Mario World (SNES)

Super Mario Bros (NES)

I hope you enjoyed my Top 5 list

The games in the list are of my own opinion if you respect my opinion I will respect yours

This Blog 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

ragglefragglereviews

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Tag: super mario

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992) Review

Super Mario World (1991)Review

Super Mario Bros 2 (NES) Review

Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga (GBA/3DS) Review

Super Mario Land (GB) Review

Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo Switch) Review

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

Paper Mario Sticker Star Review (3DS)

My top 5 Mario games

Nintendo PETA Style