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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQkT2j_431M When I was a child, I used to pour through a guidebook of several Game Boy titles, full of mostly correct information and tips for beating these titles. I, of course, owned maybe three of the titles that had guides written for them, but for some reason I drank in as much as I could. Over time, as I grew up, I thought it'd be a fun project to tackle every game in the book. The tome boasted a volume of hundreds of games, but the extensive guides were only listed for about 25.  But then I figured "why not go bigger?" With a dumb title in mind, I amassed a list of 50 Game Boy titles to play to completion. From all time classics, to some that should remain forgotten, the stage was set for a thorough, albeit incomplete, examination of what the Game Boy had to offer. July 31, 2019 marked the 30th anniversary of the North American release of the Game Boy. As a sucker for anniversaries, I launched a series of streams to work through this list on that day. All footage was recorded live as a challenge run of sorts, but the idea was born with Let's Play in mind. So now I have touched up the footage with bonus information and a bit more concise footage. It's a little bit of a blind run, a little bit of an educational LP. Do these mesh well? Probably not! Hopefully it's enjoyable all the same.  You can also get early access to edited episodes through my patreon! SOME GROUND RULES: - no spoilers for longer form games. yeah this sounds kind of dumb for a 31 year old system but some of these runs are genuinely blind! - no discussing games that haven't shown up yet - be cool. don't be a weirdo. Now let's introduce the crew! Because I like dumb group names we are known as The Full Nasty.  Action Shakespeare (she/her) The leader of this expedition, Action Shakespeare likes to tow the line between smooth and informative to rough and overenthusiastic. She can barely control this. The Game Boy was her first Nintendo console ever and she has very fond memories of playing Revenge of the Gator.  Public Opinion (he/him) Public Opinion is the informational rock supporting the crew. He likes dragons, pro wrestling, and providing helpful facts straight from the manuals themselves. He also made these great lil sprites! His old favorite Game Boy title is Donkey Kong.  Beedrops (they/them) Dragged onto this crazy adventure after being tricked into playing Kingdom Hearts for so long, Bee provides fresh insight and moral support during the arduous challenges of the episodes to come. They did not own a Game Boy, but in the Game Boy Color era they enjoyed Kirby's Tilt n Tumble.  Wordse/AlmightyWords (he/him) Words is a slime. He is also the freshest set of eyes on this entire experience having never interacted with much of any old consoles, let alone the Game Boy. As such he doesn't have a favorite Game Boy title, but his favorite game boy is Hideki Naganuma. Without further ado, let's kick it off with our first entry: Super Mario Land  The first Mario on the Game Boy gets the first spot in our lineup. Join us through an adventure through Sarasaland to rescue Daisy from the evil clutches of Tatanga! Ya know...Mario stuff! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s37EpX3i_jE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoSz9rmo2o Action Shakespeare fucked around with this message at 07:49 on Mar 24, 2022 |
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Jul 31, 2020 20:17
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TABLE OF CONTENTS = Edited Playlist = Raw Stream Playlist                                                             
Action Shakespeare fucked around with this message at 09:31 on Jul 31, 2023 |
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Jul 31, 2020 20:17
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EXTRAS Super Mario Blue Twilight DX Jungle Book (the game that sucked so bad we picked a different one) THE RANKING OF SNAKES The 50 game TIER LIST Antonball Deluxe Let's Talk About Pokemon (the final word) GOODBYE WORLD (the REAL final word) Gallery  courtesy Angry_Ed  Ghost Girl by Action Shakespeare  Ghost Girl by Beedrops  Ghost Girl by an anonymous buddy  Ghost Hiker? by Captain Hygiene  Ghost Girl by SwimmingSpider  Ghost Mouth by Ayndin  Ghost Girl by Angry_Ed  Ghost Girl by PublicOpinion  Tiny Batman by SwimmingSpider Action Shakespeare fucked around with this message at 08:48 on Aug 1, 2023 |
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Jul 31, 2020 20:18
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Action Shakespeare posted:When I was a child, I used to pour through a guidebook of several Game Boy titles, full of mostly correct information and tips for beating these titles. I, of course, owned maybe three of the titles that had guides written for them, but for some reason I drank in as much as I could. Over time, as I grew up, I thought it'd be a fun project to tackle every game in the book. The tome boasted a volume of hundreds of games, but the extensive guides were only listed for about 25.  Maybe it's just because I was like, 8, but every single game in that guide looked like it'd be worth a try. Even though (as you said), the 'hundreds of games' included a lot which can be summarized as "yeah, this is a game that exists, it's on the GameBoy, here's two screenshots of it to prove we didn't just make it up", I still thought those ones looked fun.
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Jul 31, 2020 20:40
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MagusofStars posted:I had this exact same strategy guide growing up and did the exact same thing. This act is apparently more universal than I previously thought!
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Jul 31, 2020 20:45
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Action Shakespeare posted:This act is apparently more universal than I previously thought!  I'll be along for the ride!
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Jul 31, 2020 22:57
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I remember this game. It was awesome. Hopefully TMNT is also on the list. When I had a Gameboy, that was the game I played the most. That and Spider-Man.
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Jul 31, 2020 23:08
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Action Shakespeare posted:This act is apparently more universal than I previously thought! Hell yes. That was me and Nintendo Power Player's Guides in general.
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Jul 31, 2020 23:17
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drat this is a cool idea. For all I loved the Gameboy I was fairly deprived on the number of games I could actually afford to play so a lot of these I've never seen in practice. Naturally, this evening turned out to be "ah, time to relax with some youtubes" *power goes out* though, so I'm just enjoying it hypothetically for now.
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Aug 1, 2020 04:53
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MagusofStars posted:I had this exact same strategy guide growing up and did the exact same thing. You can add me to this pile. My favorite Game Boy game is Wario Land "Super Mario Land 3" I played it until it broke. (The Cartridge not the gameboy)
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Aug 1, 2020 07:10
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AtomikKrab posted:You can add me to this pile. Game Boys don't break. They wait for you to do so first.
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Aug 1, 2020 07:48
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Ah, the Game Boy was my first console too. Fond memories. This LP looks like a fun ride. Also some really really hard games where I couldn't get anywhere as a kid. We'll see those if they're on your list I guess. I guess you're not gonna show off the extra mode of Super Mario Land? One small point of criticism: I hope that 30 second intro thing where nothing happens isn't in every video. That's gonna get on my nerves. If it is, please put a timestamp on the embedded videos here so we can skip that.
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Aug 1, 2020 08:35
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Action Shakespeare posted:Game Boys don't break. They wait for you to do so first. This is true.
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Aug 1, 2020 08:41
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Action Shakespeare posted:Game Boys don't break. They wait for you to do so first. Christ is this true. Mine got dropped off a 10 foot ladder. Not even a crack. Got run over by a minivan. Aces. Sat for >10 years with a set of batteries in it, still turned on when I remembered it. Hell, I still got my original Red save file that's still kicking
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Aug 1, 2020 20:45
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Action Shakespeare posted:Super Mario Land (Nintendo, 1989) Now that I've had the time to actually start watching, this is really well done. I appreciate the effort adding extra info rather than just sticking with gameplay. For the game itself, this is one that I weirdly never got to play somehow. Yeah, it's a bit odd and it's obviously a very early game, but there's something about it's simple/sparse look that I like.
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Aug 1, 2020 21:17
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mercenarynuker posted:Christ is this true. Mine got dropped off a 10 foot ladder. Not even a crack. Got run over by a minivan. Aces. Sat for >10 years with a set of batteries in it, still turned on when I remembered it. Hell, I still got my original Red save file that's still kicking
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Aug 1, 2020 23:50
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Captain Hygiene posted:Now that I've had the time to actually start watching, this is really well done. I appreciate the effort adding extra info rather than just sticking with gameplay. Thank you so much! This is my first foray into LP proper (at least running one) so I'm drinking in the validation. mercenarynuker posted:Hell, I still got my original Red save file that's still kicking https://twitter.com/thatgalinthehat/status/1284186202342449154  7
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Aug 2, 2020 02:59
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I have to assume that most of my favorites aren't in that book. They're probably not in any book. But I enjoyed the heck out of some games that people have heard of as well. The original Mario Land was simple, but fun for what it was.
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Aug 2, 2020 03:22
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 That's a minion.
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Aug 2, 2020 11:56
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Captain Hygiene posted:Now that I've had the time to actually start watching, this is really well done. I appreciate the effort adding extra info rather than just sticking with gameplay. I agree with this btw.
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Aug 2, 2020 18:50
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I really still love the visuals of Super Mario Land, there's something satisfying about it. "Give Mario a happy ending" huh Nintendo, really?
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Aug 4, 2020 04:18
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Shout-out to my old babysitter Isabelle who helped me beat this game 25-some years ago. For as long as the Mario games have gone on, I'm surprised how little Nintendo has revisited anything from this game. I guess because a lot of the locations are too close to just being real-world places?
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Aug 4, 2020 21:52
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This is a really cool project. A friend of mine had the Game Boy player's guide, and whenever I was over I'd read through it again and again. I'm positive some of the games in there didn't even come to Europe, haha. I never owned or played many GB games, so for a lot of your project this might be a first look - definitely stoked for more.
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Aug 4, 2020 22:11
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Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNrRPpB1TV8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg4dYHEaPb4 Double the Mario! Double the fun! In almost every way it could be I feel like this entry made sure it was twice as much as the previous, including things to actually talk about regarding it. As much as I think I prefer Super Mario Land 1 over its sequel, I will say it cannot compare in terms of how much is actually logged and recorded with regards to Super Mario Land 2's history was recorded. Not that I'm complaining, but it made me pick and choose what info I kept in the video. Jokes on me, though, because I can just type about it here! The main thing I didn't get to in my introduction was the story of the early build of Super Mario Land 2. As I mentioned, the dev team was a little bitter about continuing to work on secondary Mario games and that fueled them to really make something unique to the Mario series. Supposedly, an early build of the game was made that was so different, that Nintendo staff were concerned it wouldn't feel like Mario at all. R&D1 dialed it back a bit from there and produced what we know today, and nothing of this early material really exists outside of a few beta screenshots from old magazines. It's probably unlikely that this old build is even around, much less that it will surface, but...stranger things have happened right?  As one last note, the version of the ending theme I used for the intro video was recreated from a pretty incredible sight read by one Tom Brier. Give it a listen sometime! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg5-RpqenfQ bonus snake 
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Aug 7, 2020 18:55
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Late to the party but the other game I can think of that used the can can was Lemmings, by the studio that later gave us Grand Theft Auto. Other thoughts, from someone who spent too much of his youth playing this: - The second world of Mario Land 1 isn't just water-themed. The manual names the four kingdoms as the Biabaruto Kingdom, the Muda Kingdom, the Easton Kingdom, and the Chai Kingdom, and I'm pretty sure the Muda Kingdom is a reference to Bermuda and in particular the Bermuda Triangle, which is why there are UFOs everywhere. - There must be a subset of people for whom that opening sting of the Chai Kingdom's theme immediately triggers the "poo poo is getting real" response in them, regardless of context. - I can't unsee Daisy's sprite as rocking a steampunk 'tache Whybird fucked around with this message at 20:45 on Aug 7, 2020 |
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Aug 7, 2020 20:08
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Action Shakespeare posted:As one last note, the version of the ending theme I used for the intro video was recreated from a pretty incredible sight read by one Tom Brier. Give it a listen sometime! I haven't watched your game play videos yet but this is loving incredible, great pull.
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Aug 7, 2020 20:35
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Whybird posted:- The second world of Mario Land 1 isn't just water-themed. The manual names the four kingdoms as the Biabaruto Kingdom, the Muda Kingdom, the Easton Kingdom, and the Chai Kingdom, and I'm pretty sure the Muda Kingdom is a reference to Bermuda and in particular the Bermuda Triangle, which is why there are UFOs everywhere. This is the poo poo I love to see. Also it's never too late to kick in info or personal anecdotes about an already shown game! This whole endeavor is born out of goofy nostalgia so nobody should feel discouraged from sharing.
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Aug 7, 2020 20:55
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I recognized the spooky ghost house music--it's based on the coin pipe music from the first SML: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoSz9rmo2o&t=308s (t=308 if it doesn't carry over).
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Aug 7, 2020 22:29
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Mario Land 2 I actually did get to play and I liked it a lot. The music's still catchy enough to randomly pop into my head even now (especially that moon theme). I think it was the first game I realized the main level music was mostly variations on the same theme (I know Mario World did a bit of that first, but I didn't really play it until after this one). e: haha I forgot Tatanga was in this too. Probably because I didn't know who he was until later on account of never playing the first one. Captain Hygiene fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Aug 7, 2020 |
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Aug 7, 2020 22:49
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 The Lego level in SML2 is not actually about Lego.It's about N&B Blocks, Nintendo's very own attempt to compete with Lego. 
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Aug 7, 2020 23:10
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Wario's really mellowed out since that commercial huh.
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Aug 9, 2020 10:54
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Beartaco posted:Wario's really mellowed out since that commercial huh. I forgot about that original voice.
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Aug 9, 2020 11:46
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Action Shakespeare posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQkT2j_431M I used to do this with the How to Win At Nintendo Games books. They didn't even have pictures, but I used to really want to try all the cool games I'd only ever gotten to read about. At first I didn't even have a NES when I got the first volume, but I'd read through it cover to cover wishing I did.
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Aug 10, 2020 09:48
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There's something that I find really charming about the fact that none of the enemy names were localized for the English release of this game. I wonder if they would have localized Wario's name if they had decided to localize the other enemies, I feel like that's a dodged bullet.
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Aug 11, 2020 21:03
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C-Euro posted:There's something that I find really charming about the fact that none of the enemy names were localized for the English release of this game. I wonder if they would have localized Wario's name if they had decided to localize the other enemies, I feel like that's a dodged bullet. It was definitely one of my favorite things about researching all the stuff for this game. The thoroughness with every named enemy and even NON LIVING OBSTACLES drives me wild.
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Aug 11, 2020 22:10
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Mario Land 2 was one of the first Game Boy games I got as a kid, with the system when I bought it. I'm not really sure how the original version was apparently "so different from normal Mario" because the photos shown in that article look very similar to the final game. And really, the Mario Land 2 we actually got has a ton of similarities to the previously released Super Mario World - a couple different 'final' power ups, themed worlds, spin jumps, secret exits, etc. So that whole "angry devs trying to be different" thing? I just don't see it, to be honest. Watching someone else play, one of the things that always strikes me as interesting about Mario games is how often the games are actually easier when you're a bit more aggressive and less cautious - the more often you stop and slow down, the more often you put yourself in situations where enemies can bounce right into you, wreck the timing of various obstacles, etc. Also, this is a total side note, but am I the only person who gets totally thrown off by the release dates of GameBoy games? Maybe it's because I got a GameBoy growing up but didn't really have a SNES until later in its' lifespan or maybe it's because the GameBoy seems more primitive because it's black and white...but in my mind, the GameBoy was a system much earlier than the SNES, which nope. Most of the GameBoy games are well after their SNES counterparts - Super Mario World was out shortly after Mario Land and well before Mario Land 2, Link to the Past was released two years before Link's Awakening, Donkey Kong Country and its' top-tier SNES graphics came out at about the same time as the arcade-style Donkey Kong GameBoy, etc. Heck, the #2 best-selling GameBoy game of all-time was Pokemon Red/Blue, which was released in Japan shortly before the N64 and not in the US until a couple years after the N64's release.
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Aug 11, 2020 22:33
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Action Shakespeare posted:It was definitely one of my favorite things about researching all the stuff for this game. The thoroughness with every named enemy and even NON LIVING OBSTACLES drives me wild. It's especially striking when you consider that all of the names in Super Mario World were localized a year or two prior. Were they not planning to release SML2 outside of Japan?
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Aug 12, 2020 00:11
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MagusofStars posted:Mario Land 2 was one of the first Game Boy games I got as a kid, with the system when I bought it. I'm not really sure how the original version was apparently "so different from normal Mario" because the photos shown in that article look very similar to the final game. And really, the Mario Land 2 we actually got has a ton of similarities to the previously released Super Mario World - a couple different 'final' power ups, themed worlds, spin jumps, secret exits, etc. So that whole "angry devs trying to be different" thing? I just don't see it, to be honest. I mean what I'm positing is all second hand from various interviews with the devs. When I say cynicism or even bitterness, that still does come form the lens of early 90s Japanese game developers working for the most rapidly growing game company of the time. You can only be so salty, and Wario is basically all we get out of that mindset. I highly doubt anything we've seen are what those supposed early builds are. The only consistent story is R&D1 said that they made a first draft, presented it internally, and then had second thoughts. We'll probably never see it or anything like it, but I would like to believe.
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Aug 12, 2020 02:18
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I never played Mario Land 2 so that was a fun watch. I did however play the hell out of the Wario Land games as a kid which I adored. It was funny to me just how similar Mario Land 2 was in terms of music and aesthetics.
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Aug 12, 2020 08:33
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ML2 is super trippy. It looks pretty normal at first glance, with an overworld, some grassy plain levels at the beginning, but takes completely absurd turns into crazy territory. I love how even within already weird-rear end zones like the Mario one that could carry an entire world on their own, they still vary themes level by level. Not!Lego, bouncy balls etc. - that's a lot of effort to dress up literally every level differently. I never owned the game but played it plenty at friends'. Didn't quite get the concept of secret exits, so there were a lot of weird spots on the map I couldn't reach. Looking at them now, it's a little weird what's in those secret levels - mostly just a few lives, maybe a powerup at the end, and coins? I feel like until they introduced the collectibles, Mario games really struggled with actually meaningful rewards. What good is a single life when you can get much more by claw gaming well, or get lucky in gambling? What's another powerup gonna help you if you already have one? Even the enemy counter thing is just super bizarre, so hard to control to be useful at all.
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Aug 12, 2020 09:39
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