monkey wrote:

I didn't realise anyone had played it. Where's your review?

A couple of pages back (Olija). I'm useless at updating the OP.

Bowser's Fury question, as we're exerts in here now. What does the item do that's all the way to the right? They were quite scarce but when I used one it just seemed to turn me into a cat.

I thought I'd be done today but the last boss is gated behind 170 stars, which is a bit annoying for laid back co-op play (we got there on what I thought was a pretty reasonable 146).

It used to be my favourite 3D Mario but the crown belongs to Odyssey now.

We had a quick mess about on Odyssey last week. It's a spectacularly polished game and I don't know how they managed it on a Switch. I think I prefer gentle invention to full-on challenge in Mario, so I'm happy with the respective difficulty on both games. Love both but Odyssey really is astonishingly good, so one retains its [10] and one gets its wings slightly clipped to a [9].

nick_md wrote:

Galaxy (terrible game)

Um...

It'd make a good loading screen activity whilst waiting for a real Mario game to boot.

I want to tell him to go get his shine box but it won't make sense unless he picks a different incorrect favourite.

Galaxy brains lose their hair over 64 but the real stars are still mooning about.

Two previous GOATS for me - I've slapped a knee-jerk [10] on both in the past, and both have graced my top ten in the Cinty 100 thread at one time or another.  How did they fare on reappraisal?  Let's see!

19. Super Mario 3D World - Switch (6hrs)

I sold my Wii U when Tilly was 3, then she got hugely into Mario Odyssey aged 4, so it's been an agonisingly long wait to finally play this one in two player.  After a second playthrough it's no longer my favourite 3D Mario - Odyssey too stronk - but it's still glorious.  I'm a huge fan of the short courses and 'three hidden things per stage' thing is one of the best additions to the Mario franchise for years (introduced for the Wii NSMB, mayber?).  It's an easy game on the whole, which made it perfect for playing with a 6yr old.  The only stage she couldn't get through was the penultimate one.  I've never subscribed to the 'too easy' school of thought though; the post credits stages are there for anyone looking for more resistance.  I've not tackled those yet, but I remember the final one being insanely difficult.

I mostly have positive thoughts on the game, but I will weigh in with a criticism of the Switch port: the speed bump isn't welcome.  It's fairly minor, and my memory could be playing tricks on me, but it feels around 20% nippier.  It makes for a more haphazard experience, in multiplayer especially, and an option to revert to the OG settings wouldn't have gone amiss.  The characters always controlled slightly differently to other 3D Mario games, and the injection of pace exacerbated the feeling of slippyfeet on solid ground for me.  The best way I can describe it is that the tweaked performance makes the characters feel like they've got ice underfoot when they haven't and the Scooby Doo running-on-the-spot-before-accelerating thing is more pronounced.  I didn't think much of the clock or lives system in sp but they were a Godsend in co-op because they helped me dodge activities like 'pretend I was a homeless cat and you found me on the street but you were a kid so you have to get hit and be little' when there were platforms to be jumped.  Aside from the excellent 100 second stages the constant ticking clock and collectible stopwatches go in the minus column overall though.       

Still, you can't keep a near perfect game down, even by adding/not removing minor imperfections.  It's a speed runner's delight once you unlock the clock and the whole thing shines.  [9]                



20. Ori in the Blind Forest - Switch (6hrs)

I think I allowed others to influence my opinion on this, as I rescinded the perfect score without revisiting the last time 10s were discussed.  The auto-aim fire gets the most flack, but that allows it to breathe as a platformer - the beating heart of the experience - which probably has plenty to do with the fact that I prefer this to its own sequel.  Tempy and a handful of others never warmed to the floaty controls, but to me it's a flowing masterpiece that controls almost as perfectly as Meat Boy/Celeste/The End is Nigh.  Transpose the single screen precision to a Metroidvania, add those visuals, that music and the expanding kitbag of pitch-perfect abilities coupled with expertly crafted mini assault courses and you've got what is, was and forever will be one of the best games I've ever played.  The chase sequences are majestic and those frozen falling blocks never bothered me anyway.  It's a fairly linear Metroidvania with big glowing 'GO HERE' signposts on the map, but outside of Hollow Knight I prefer that approach anyway.  As mentioned elsewhere the Switch port is astonishing too.  

It's going back up lads/lasses, I reckon it's magnificent.  [10]          

lol is that alien trying to punch on with a 4 year old?

Alien Storm is basically the same bones as Golden Axe but somehow it is (and always was) a bit rubbish.

Heh, that looks like the sort of game people only ever played on a deep dive of an OPM demo disc.

Looks horrendous.

I'm going camping on Friday, I might play it again.

7. Bowser's Fury (Switch) - 6hrs 40mins 

A few have already gone into depth in their reviews of this here, so I'll just give it a quick once over.

Decent idea for a Mario game, and a very good addition to have alongside the full price re-release of 3D World. Seeing as most re-releases come out barebones or including past DLC, it's nice to get something a bit more substantial.

My biggest gripe is there's far too to much repetition in the Cat Shines, It's such a small game with so few areas that the formula of race, catch, collect etc get a bit much. The multiplayer also seems a bit tacked on, it's much more Galaxy-esque in that respect than the full blown MP of 3D World or the NSMB games.

It only took just under 7hrs to get all 100 Shines, and only 3-4 gave me any trouble, which even by Mario standards it quite a low amount.

What's here is good though, very good in fact. I hate to bring prices into reviews but had this been £40 standalone then it would be a bit of a piss take, as a freebie and an experiment for a more fully blown effort going forward, its great.

Oh, and it's better than Super Mario Sunshine.

8/10

My list

I think part of that post is in my disappointment in going back to 3D World. It didn't feel as fun as I remember, and I have fired up 3D Land recently which just feels like unfettered creativity.