Mario Kart World (NS2) Review

It's been a bit, hasn't it? Hope you haven't missed me too terribly much! ...Was that crickets I just heard?

Regardless, from one mascot racing game reviewed several months ago to a new one being reviewed now, we turn our collective attention to the most anticipated (and expensive) of Nintendo Switch 2 launch titles: Mario Kart World!

Race, if you want to. Race around the world.

With nearly 80 million total units sold between Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Nintendo Switch, there seemed to be no other alternative for Nintendo than to launch its highly anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 with the latest in the powerhouse that is the Mario Kart franchise. Sure, there has decidedly been a fair amount of controversy surrounding the game's launch price, but overall, the hype for a new Mario Kart was palpable--and massively so--for many.

Enter and revving onto the raceway: Mario Kart World. Unlike past Mario Kart games that pretty much strictly followed the multi-lap or multi-section races and circuits that have been synonymous with the series since its inception on the Super Nintendo, Mario Kart World breaks new ground by offering, at least in its Grand Prix mode, a different take altogether.

Take the racing action from closed tracks to the open road!

Grand Prix numerous cups feature a traditional lap-based race to start a given cup, but what follows isn't three more multi-lap ventures as would be seen in past Mario Kart games. Instead, the rest of the cup features routes that take racers from point A, a trip TO the next track, to point B, a one-lap race around the track that serves as that route's destination. It's these series of worldwide rallies that really distinguish this Mario Kart from previous games in the franchise.

The routes are indeed wide, but that seems pretty necessary when you have 23 other racers breathing down your neck and attempting to bash, crash, and mash up your character as they all compete for first place. Then, there's the return of double item boxes, meaning chaos isn't atypical in a Mario Kart World race. While routes are seldom narrow, they generally aren't just straight affairs either. You'll follow along curves, weave through oncoming traffic, be inundated with items littering the route and enemies chucking hazards every which way. There aren't many rules of the road in Mario Kart World, except chaos being law.

Put on your racing best with various unlockable costumes for most of the roster!

Now, while many will miss the ability to race in a traditional Grand Prix where you speed through multiple laps on four courses one after the other, there is the ability to race more traditional multi-lap excursions, though this is limited to Versus mode. It would appeal to me, and no doubt other players, if Nintendo added a new series of Grand Prix events that allow for these standard multi-lap races in cups. Not only would it add more longevity to the Grand Prix mode, but it'd give players the best of both worlds. 

With 24 racers on the track, things can get wild, crazy, and occasionally crowded in an instant!

That notwithstanding, apart from the altered version of Grand Prix cups available, what really makes Mario Kart World stand out is the highly exciting, immensely involved, adrenaline-inducing Knockout Tour. These pit 24 players against each other across six sections. At the conclusion of every section, the amount of players that can proceed to the next gets smaller and smaller. If you're not above the certain position required to advance to the next section, you're eliminated. You've essentially got to place to continue to race! 

Knockout Tours are an awesome addition to Mario Kart World, and these bring you all across the game's world and various destinations. Each Knockout Tour ends with a final section taking place on a given circuit in the game. For instance, one of the early Knockout Tour cups has you finishing the tour on a familiar course from Mario Kart DS: Desert Hills! These tours certainly show how interconnected Mario Kart World's... well, WORLD, really is!

Monty Mole celebrates a stunning come-from-behind victory!

And that isn't limited to Grand Prix cups or Knockout Tours, either. One of the chillest and most enjoyable experiences I've had in a Mario Kart game is that of the Free Roam mode. You really get let loose in this open, expansive world, featuring plenty of locales and circuits interconnected by various routes, rivers, and railways located in various biomes. Everything is connected together on one large mass of land, from racetracks like Shy Guy Bazaar and Desert Hills in the westernmost desert region, to the central locations of Mario Circuit and Peach Stadium, to the easternmost lands featuring the most frigid of races: DK Pass, Starview Peak, and Sky-High Sundae. 

Some iconic divas of Mario Kart World: Princess Peach and Rosalina, heat up the icy heights of Starview Peak.

It's not just aimlessly driving around, either, in Free-Roam, though you are more than welcome to do so--in fact, encouraged to do just that! There are multiple goodies to be discovered within Mario Kart World's boundaries. P-Switches that upon driving over them put you into a racing or platforming-based challenge of some kind are abound within Mario Kart World's Free Roam world. There are over 300 of these! Aside from challenges that test your racing and driving mettle, there are Peach Medallions, hidden coins scattered throughout the world, requiring a sharp eye, keen exploration, and the know-how to reach them. 200 of these await to be discovered by players. Finally, within the perimeters of each circuit are multiple panels a la Super Mario Kart that are mostly hidden in devious places or require some extra effort to ride over. 150 of these populate the world.

Now, that sort of gets into grinding my gears about the unlockables. While it would have been nice to gain characters, vehicles, and costumes from meeting certain conditions of collectibles gathered and challenges completed, all you obtain from Mario Kart World's Free Roam mode is that of an absolutely staggering assortment of stickers. However, seeing that only one sticker can be applied to your profile and thus a vehicle at a time, and some vehicles hide where said sticker is placed, this sticker feature seems half-baked at best. That said, that didn't stop me from wanting to explore and discover more of the world, engaging with Free Roam's content in the form of the P-Switch challenges, hidden Peach Medallions, and the panels.

Just a portion of map within Mario Kart World.

However, that's another issue altogether. There is no real way of tracking which P-Switch challenges you've completed or Peach Medallions collected via the map. You get a basic total of all collectibles, but no marker on the map to display which have been completed/collected. While P-Switches in the wild will change from blue to grey for completed challenges, and Peach Medallions will go from glowing gold to turning transparent upon collection, it's near impossible to otherwise track them. I can understand Nintendo wanting to not turn the map into a checklist for players and make exploration more organic, but I imagine there must have been a better method to helping wanted completionists to collect and complete to their heart's content. 

Other things like there being no compass in Free Roam, requiring players to constantly press the Y button to bring up the full map just to see what direction their character is facing, and the inability to unlock characters in a non-random, non-Kamek way, makes for a frustrating experience as well. There is also no stats for how many coins you've collected overall, distance driven, times Lakitu rescued you--all things that were in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (added features post-release, sure), but why aren't they already in Mario Kart World?

Mario Kart World takes the philosophy "you can't teach an old series new tricks" and absolutely runs it over and then backs up over its carcass. World is teeming with new tricks, quite literally, to change up the competitive portion of the series immensely with this installment. From being able to charge up a jumping boost along straightaways to riding up the sides of walls, to rail-grinding, Mario Kart World's gotta brand-new bag, indeed. The maneuverability and acrobatics on display in races allow for greater opportunities to reach new places, pull off some insane shortcuts, and make for just an even more enjoyable and exhilarating time on the track.

Speaking of tracks, while the overall amount of standard, traditional circuits is understandably lower than previous modern Mario Kart games, sitting at just 30 total, these are engaging and exciting all the same. Various tracks from Mario Kart games' past return in a much more morphed and transformed form, such as Wario Shipyard from Mario Kart 7 (which shows off the water tech and the new ability to ride ON water as opposed to the decidedly sluggish underwater racing of recent past entries), the absolutely thrilling Airship Fortress from Mario Kart DS, and the glow-up that is Mario Kart: Double Dash's Dino Dino Jungle, going from a bog-standard dinosaur-filled jungle to more of a Jurassic Park-styled laboratory. 

Explosions in the air to fit right in with the explosive racing action going on!

The new tracks stand out well, too, especially some of my absolute favorites from the bunch, including Crown City (both of its circuits), DK Spaceport (which is multiple sections each winding up an arcade Donkey Kong-inspired tower filled with barrels, contraptions, and a mecha DK), and of course, the track de resistance, the all-new Rainbow Road, which needs to raced on to be believed, as it's my most beloved incarnation of Mario Kart's final track, period!

DK's new mug seems mighty happy and right at home here at DK Spaceport!

 Mario Kart World, of course, features online play, allowing up to yourself and 23 other players to race in standard-to-custom lobbies. Unfortunately, there are still limits to this. In custom lobbies with friends, you are unable to limit who can join friend-wise. Additionally, Knockout Tour with a combination of randoms and your friends is not possible either. I sort of understand the reason for this, as multiple friends together could target randoms to give each other an edge in competitive play, but it'll no doubt be a bummer for some. Otherwise, Knockout Tour with friends is limited to the CPU. (More on the CPU in just a little bit, by the way.) 

Apart from picking races in either circuit or route forms, choosing from one of eight arenas to combat friends and rivals in the Battle mode, and even enjoying Free Roam together (but without the ability to complete P-Switch challenges online), there are a considerable amount of online modes to enjoy with or without the company of your friends. Even waiting around in lobbies has been improved by having everyone drive around the Free Roam mode as they wait. If you're playing with friends, you can select their icon from the map to instantly transport to them. A nice and welcomed feature indeed!

Farewell, gliding--hello, flying!

When not playing against real players, the thorn that is the CPU really sticks into your side. It appears from doing some online sleuthing and just attempting it myself, the CPU uses a dynamic difficulty at the time of this review. What I mean by this is that your CPU opponents will adjust their skill level to yours. Do you find yourself drifting and getting boosts a bunch, or wall riding or grinding rails like a pro? Well, then, the CPU will get fiercer and fight you tooth and nail. Or maybe, tire and axle would be more apropos... Either way, it really felt like the less I played like I usually do, the easier the game became. I was three-starring cups with relative ease when I was letting up, not boosting, not drifting, and wall riding as much as I would otherwise want to do. Needless to say, this is a pretty awful design decision. It makes playing well a punishment for the player, and makes it feel genuinely artificial for difficulty and rather cheap at that.

My complaints aside with the CPU and some of the methods for unlocking content within Mario Kart World, what the game really, absolutely, positively, definitely gets right is with regard to its presentation. Goodness, is this game a stunner in its visuals, from the huge draw distance, to driving across the map without a loading screen in sight, to the amazingly expressive characters on display, and without question, the insanely good soundtrack. Many have made jokes (perhaps overly so to the point of them needing new material) that this is an $80 soundtrack with a game, but at the same time, the amount of stellar music within Mario Kart World is jaw-dropping. 

Koopa Troopa's copping some 'tude towards Baby Daisy.

From the original, new tunes played within the game's circuits and menus, to the voluminous remixes and re-arrangements that span the Mario and Mario Kart series' illustrious histories, this is far and beyond my favorite Mario Kart soundtrack yet. That's saying something too, since Mario Kart 8 was phenomenal for many reasons, as well as in a musical regard. I felt like that one Leonardo DiCaprio meme of him pointing at the screen whenever a new remix that I heard and recognized played. And let me tell you--there are some DEEP cuts thrown in, too. I won't spoil them--but to listen is to believe.

I guess the elephant in the room remains with us: is Mario Kart World worth $80 full price? That's a subjective question, of course, and no doubt or at least I hope that Nintendo will continue adding value to the game for the rest of the Switch 2's life. Why? Because with the current state of the game, I'm really wanting more from it. There are plenty of features missing from the base game. Don't get me wrong--this is a much better package than Mario Kart 8 was at its respective launch on the Wii U, but comparing it to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at its launch followed by the Booster Course Pass additions (which seems like cheating)? Yeah... 

That said, Mario Kart World as it stands, makes a good case for itself a launch title for the Nintendo Switch 2. The foundation is there for more in the way of expansions, and the base game itself is more than entertaining and enjoyable, whether alone, with randoms, or with friends. New ways to race and new moves and tricks at Mario and friends' disposal add more depth to the racing while also keeping that accessibility that the Mario Kart series is known for. The Free Roam is my favorite Mario Kart solo content yet, essentially taking Mario Kart DS's Mission Mode and putting it within a contextual world. The base roster, costumes, and vehicles are fantastic, even if unlocking the majority of them is lacking in fun, and the game itself is just wonderful. Mario Kart World may not have made a stellar case for itself in beefing up its price, but it does make a magnificent case for continuing Mario Kart as being the premiere mascot racing franchise around.

[SPC Says: B+] 

Chocobo Racing (PS1) Retro Review

Birds, Behemoths, Bahamut--oh my! It's time for a retro review of the racing variety with Chocobo Racing. This take on the Mario Kart-esque racer in the world of Final Fantasy from 1999 saw a successor on the Nintendo Switch with Chocobo GP. But, how does the original hold up after all of these years? Let's take to the track to find out!

"Kweh"-zy racing in the realm of Final Fantasy

I previously took a look at Chocobo GP, which I ended up enjoying even with its various issues, which you can read about in my review from a few years ago. However, despite playing Chocobo GP and liking it, I never played the original game in the series: Chocobo Racing. Back in the PlayStation 1/Nintendo 64 era, no doubt every major franchise wanted a piece of the Mario Kart pie--or at least wanted to expand outside of their typical genres. Final Fantasy was no different, and thus, a racing game starring the cute, cuddly, golden Chocobo sped onto the PlayStation 1 and into many owners of Sony's console's hearts.

Chocobo Racing features ten characters to race as. As you play through the story mode (recommended for first-time players), you unlock new characters, slowly get introduced to the Magicite system (more on that shortly), and learn the ins and outs of the game while experiencing cute and charming cutscenes in a children's pop-up book-like presentation. The story mode, effectively a tutorial, isn't a lengthy endeavor by any stretch of the imagination, taking about an hour or so to complete. Though playing through it multiple times (and no worries--you can thankfully skip cutscenes on repeated playthroughs) unlocks new characters to race as, including the then-most current Final Fantasy protagonist: Squall Leonhart. 

That's no chicken on wheels--it's Chocobo!

Each character introduces a different ability that can be utilized while racing: Chocobo has a turbo to grant a swift boost of speed, Moogle can fly over terrain that would otherwise slow any other racer down, White Mage's Shield will absorb most magic, and Goblin can pilfer another player's magic with his Mug ability, just to name a handful of abilities each character possesses. Understandably, different characters contain unique stats in numerous categories, as well, from acceleration, to handling, to top speed.

Rather than use basic items to cause chaos on the track, competitors within Chocobo Racing utilize magical crystals known as Magicite, which serve as the various items in the game and give an additional Final Fantasy touch to the game. These can either help you or hinder other opponents. If you've played Diddy Kong Racing, Chocobo Racing's Magicite uses a similar system of collecting up to three of the same colored Magicite to strengthen your magical moves to unleash all kinds of craziness onto your opponents. 

"Mini" thanks for this particular magic used on Black Mage,
as it causes him to shrink in size and slow down in the process.

For example, Fire simply shoots out a flame without any homing capabilities, while Fire2 ends up homing in on the character directly in front of you--red shell-style--while collecting three Fire Magicite in a row enables you to use Fire3, which takes on Mario Kart's blue shell and homes in on first place to cook their proverbial goose. 

While the abundance of Magicite and this upgrade system are both novel approaches to the kart racing genre and perfectly fits in with the Final Fantasy realm, it also causes maybe too much chaos on the track. When you have multiple magic that can affect everyone in and out of the running, you're constantly getting pelted and hit with something while racing. This can be greatly annoying, understandably, and makes for moments where you can be ahead by a large distance only to have magic be the deciding factor in losing your lead in a frustrating fashion. That said, the many methods to get back into races means that they stay exciting and anyone can win.

With so much Magicite and magic on the track, races can become quite chaotic in a hurry!

Unlike something like Mario Kart or even the aforementioned Diddy Kong Racing, the amount of tracks is nowhere near as large. You won't have sixteen unique circuits to race and blaze a trail on. Instead, about ten total tracks are on offer in Chocobo Racing. That said, the variety of the tracks and what is available is enjoyable. You have your tutorial track: Cid's Test Track, what is essentially a basic oval with some easy curves to learn the ropes (or the turns of, I guess, in this case). Things get more interesting with races through the serene Moogle Forest, the industrial, mountainous paths of Goblin Mines (and sadly one of the only tracks in the game with what I would call an actual shortcut), and the tight, right angles and tricky turns of the haunted rooms and corridors of Black Mage's Mansion. By the last tracks, you'll need to be a master of both cornering and turning, or else you'll find yourself repeatedly smashing into walls or worse yet, tumbling off the track.

Go, go, Golem! The fun has just begun at the Goblin Mines, so it's anyone's race!

A lot of kart racers don't really encourage the use of braking. Generally, you drift around corners to maintain your speed. Chocobo Racing isn't one of these types of racers. Instead, tapping (note: not holding) the brake button around tight turns and corners is absolutely mandatory for success. If you're skidding around turns while maintaining speed, you're doing it right. That notwithstanding, that's easier said than done, and it took a ton of forgetting muscle memory and how to play other kart racers to become somewhat skilled with Chocobo Racing. Be prepared to bash your head into a wall (and quite literally within the game) as you try to unlearn how you played other racers! 

Outside of the story mode, which players who wish to unlock all characters will want to spend the most time in (as repetitive and somewhat tedious as that can be), there is Grand Prix mode, which works differently than most games with such a feature in it. Instead of choosing a cup with preexisting selections of tracks, you choose your difficulty, and then you choose four tracks ahead of time for your own personally constructed cup. It's a novel approach, and makes sense for this game to use, as again, Chocobo Racing isn't exactly packed with tracks. There are also Time Trials to take on, the ability to customize characters after completing the story mode, and versus play for local (duh) multiplayer fun.

Squaresoft certainly took advantage of the PlayStation hardware, much like it did with practically every other release it developed and published on Sony's freshman system. Right from the starting line, the impressive prerendered cutscene opening that is as cool to watch as it is humorous, greets prospective players. From there, everything from the Magicite used to the Bombs that count down the start of races give a uniquely Final Fantasy touch to them. While draw distance is a major bummer, with clear signs of backgrounds and geometry popping in the closer you approach them, everything else about Chocobo Racing looks great for the hardware. 

Each character has their own mode of transportation, which adds to their personality and charm.

Of course, what would a Final Fantasy spin-off that gives a nod to the games that came before it be without incorporating Nobuo Uematsu's legendary themes? Fortunately we don't have to find out that answer with Chocobo Racing, as the arrangements from Kenji Ito do more than their fair share of making Final Fantasy fans feel at home. From the Mysidia track's ending theme from Final Fantasy V to Goblin Mines' Mt. Gulg theme from the OG Final Fantasy, the versions of Nobuo Uematsu's utilized compositions were given proper tender, loving care and the respect they deserve. 

Overall, Chocobo Racing does deliver competent arcade "kart" (for lack of a better term) racing action. The Magicite system, while novel and appropriate for the Final Fantasy franchise, does lean heavily on the spammy side, making for some truly frustrating races against the more fiendish CPU opponents. Really, I'd like to say that was improved in its Chocobo GP sequel, but... At any rate, if you're able to track down a copy of Chocobo Racing, or if the game ever arrives on PSN via a PS Classic release, it's worth checking out for either a Final Fantasy fan or enjoyers or cartoony racing games. Just make sure to tell your opponents to get out of your kweh! ...I mean, "way". Sorry. Ahem.

[SPC Says: C+]

Seafrog (PC) Review

May is here, and with it, we're now less than a month away from two special occasions, both occurring on June 5th: the Nintendo Switch 2's launch and SuperPhillip Central's 17th anniversary!

Before we dive into a new Nintendo console generation and celebrate 17 years of gaming together on SPC, I do have lots of content coming your way.

Let's start off with Seafrog, a recently released Metroidvania with a super-cute visual style and some sick tricking potential. Here's the SuperPhillip Central review.

Stick to the pond, Froggy.

The indie space has no shortage of clever concepts and meshing of genres and gameplay types. Seafrog fits the bill marvelously here. Combining the gameplay stylings of something like OlliOlli World meeting Metroid, Seafrog is a 2.5D platformer that takes players along for a seafaring adventure. While the game has a ton of heart, charm, and creativity to it, Seafrog's execution is unfortunately where it stumbles quite a bit.

The story behind Seafrog sees our protagonist, a wrench-wielding frog who uses said wrench as a makeshift skateboard, and his companion--the hologram head of a pirate captain--are adrift at sea. Suddenly, they go topside over a giant waterfall into a mass of water, something of a ship graveyard with various vessels in close proximity. Fortunately, refashioning and fixing up one of the ships allows our heroes to jettison themselves to each vessel remaining, via cannon. The catch? The cannon on their ship can only fire so far, so massive amounts of gold nuggets need to become acquired to power it up so it can shoot them to further away ships, and thus, eventually, a cannon to blast them out of the ship graveyard itself!

Ridin' on a wrench--the only way to travel!

Seafrog's gameplay has you skating, grinding rails, leaping up halfpipes to get big air, and performing tricks while you do all of it. Bailing isn't a thing, as like a cat, our frog protagonist (...frog-tagonist, maybe?) automatically lands on his wrench even if he's upside-down with only an inch between him and the ground--he always lands right-side up. That said, it's quite easy to get frustrated with the physics and platforming. For one, taking damage while in mid-jump/in midair results in the seafaring frog's body to become totally limp and for the player to completely lose control of the character as he falls. This means you're stuck watching this, getting increasingly more annoyed the higher you fall down from--seeing all the time, effort, and energy it took to get up there--wasted. It'd be great to be able to maneuver and try to course-correct, but sadly, this is not a thing.

That notwithstanding, Seafrog does otherwise feel and play nicely. The Zen-like flow you can get from chaining together combos, jumps, and wallrides is as feverishly addicting as something out of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater or OlliOlli World. The areas in the game are set up in a way that feel natural to explore and keep a combo going. Really, Seafrog doesn't bail when it comes to the controls or feeling as if the game has a good flow to its gameplay. It succeeds here.

Platforming challenges like these abound within Seafrog's four ships.

There are four main ships within Seafrog, and the game is designed as a Metroid-structured game. The more new abilities you gain, the deeper inside the various ships you can go and explore. The gameplay loop essentially has you exploring a ship you enter, tightening up loose bolts that serve as your means to get into the next hull, or hub of rooms. The deeper you go in each ship, the more challenging the platforming and tasks become, but the more rewards in the form of new abilities and those ever-important gold nuggets are there for the taking.

"Bawk" at its name all you want, but the Chunky Chicken is one hazardous place!

However, rather than automatically learning new abilities you stumble across, most of them you're required to equip via MOD chip. Not only do you have precious few slots for these chips, which replace other helpful functions like gaining additional health or boost speed, but every time you need to switch the chips out, it's a drawn out process of equipping and un-equipping them from the inventory menu. 

Regardless, outside of this niggling annoyance of futzing around with equipping MOD chips, they have their uses. and thankfully, not every new ability that you learn throughout the game comes in the form of a MOD chip either. Whether it's a midair boost that thrusts Seafrog forward to cross otherwise impossible gaps, riding along the sides of specially marked walls, or bouncing off of circular bumpers, there is quite a bit to teach our hero. I guess it shows that you can teach an old frog new tricks. ...Ahem.

Being a Metroidvania, as you can imagine there is some backtracking to be found in Seafrog. In fact, I would argue there is way too much of it by virtue of only being able to hold one item at a time, whether that be a key to unlock a door, a gear to activate a mechanism, or what have you. Understandably, this gets quite frustrating when you stumble upon item after item, but can't carry them without dropping your currently held one. A pocket system of some kind would have worked wonders and brought down these "moments of tedium that quickly into long stretches of obnoxious backtracking" immensely.

Furthermore, perhaps feeling the need to take something from Hollow Knight, death is punished by having all of our skatin' and thrashin' frog's current stash of nuggets stolen from what is essentially his corpse by a gremlin character. You, upon returning to the land of the living, must track this creature down, chase his goofy butt down, and attack him enough times to have your nuggets returned to you. This feels like a shoehorned inclusion to the game that serves no real purpose but to annoy the player. If you want your gotten gains back, the process of tracking down the gremlin means you must return all the way back to where you died. Fine enough, but seeing as every time you die, you start back at your ship, instead of a more convenient spot--it adds up, both the tedium and the irritation.

Our froggy friend grinds on this rail with perfect eggs-ecution!

The map isn't necessarily the most helpful to look at, just being a bunch of squares and rectangles depicting concepts of rooms, and not the actual shapes of the rooms themselves. With how "samey" a lot of each ship can seem, it's easy to forget where certain points of interest are. There is fast-traveling, which is very welcome, though the issue with the map really shows how difficult it can be to know and remember where to transport yourself to.

On the presentation side of Seafrog, we have graphics reminiscent of something out of the PS1-era, chiefly resembling something like Mega Man Legends. You can't go wrong with that kind of art style, and Seafrog doesn't go wrong with it either! It's fluid and it looks fantastic. The same goes with the frame-rate, which held up while playing Seafrog on my Steam Deck. The game is currently, as of the time of this review, listed as "Unknown" with regard to its verification status, but it truly runs well on Valve's portable. While the visuals look fabulous in Seafrog, the sound design is simply serviceable at best and completely forgettable otherwise. It's merely "there".

I entered into Seafrog with high expectations, but in the end, no matter how creative and charming this game presented itself could belie as anything else but a frustrating experience. Between moments of severe backtracking (whether because of repeated deaths or fetching items), the confusing map system, or the camera locking up, preventing me from seeing my character as he was far off screen--requiring quitting out--there are too many downsides to Seafrog to wholeheartedly recommend. That bums me out, as I really wanted to love this game. Instead, Seafrog threw a wrench into my plans, and not the fun kind that he skates on, either!

[SPC Says: C-]

A code was provided to SuperPhillip Central for the purpose of this review.

Best Levels in Gaming History - Volume 23

It's been over four years since we've last seen this special series of posts, so why don't we gently ease it back out of hibernation and its hiatus with an all-new entry? Best Levels in Gaming History certainly is a subjective list that holds some of the most enjoyable, entertaining, and exhilarating video game levels, areas, racetracks, and missions for me within gaming's illustrious history.

We've built quite the collection together of levels, and no doubt you may require a refresher or maybe you would like to fondly stroll down memory lane. Fortunately, you can easily do both with these following 22 (wow!) volumes:

Volume One
Volume Two
Volume Three
Volume Four
Volume Five
Volume Six
Volume Seven
Volume Eight
Volume Nine
Volume Ten
Volume Eleven
Volume Twelve
Volume Thirteen
Volume Fourteen
Volume Fifteen
Volume Sixteen
Volume Seventeen
Volume Eighteen
Volume Nineteen
Volume Twenty
Volume Twenty-One
Volume Twenty-Two

Now, let's begin Volume 23 of Best Levels in Gaming History!

Downsize Surprise - Astro Bot (PS5)

Let's begin with something big... or small... or both, really! Astro Bot was without question my favorite game of the ones I played in 2024, and it reminded me so much of Super Mario Galaxy in how the game constantly brought new, fresh mechanics and ideas into each level it presented players. Much like with Galaxy, it took lots of willpower to stop myself from playing marathon sessions in Astro Bot, as I wanted to play "just one more level" to see what wild and wacky concept Team Asobi would showcase for the next level.

So, we've settled on the fact that for me, Astro Bot is oozing with creativity in its levels, but what is one of the levels that best presents this? Well, me listing the level name above and spoiling that answer notwithstanding, one of the most impressive levels within Astro Bot's story comes within the second major cluster of levels.

Downsize Surprise is unassuming enough at first. Nothing really stands out apart from the massive building in front of Astro. It's only until our hero slams open a block of cheese that he finds himself seemingly stuck within a cage! Curses--a trap! However, a chest inside said cage reveals the solution and the main, crafty mechanic of this stage. Forming mouse ears from the special item in the chest, players can shift into tiny mouse size to pass through the bars of the cage. What is revealed, then, is that players are able to switch between small Astro and regular-size Astro at will. 

This, as you can imagine, opens up incredibly clever level mechanics and creates situations where Astro must switch sizes to pass certain platforming obstacles and challenges. A door to small for regular-sized Astro? Switch to teeny, tiny Astro! If it's a matter of not being able to reach a platform as small Astro, switch to his bigger self! 

The fact that all of this is done seamlessly without any discernible loading is just awe-inducing. How the level is built to take advantage of this mechanic and how said mechanic wouldn't really be possible without major sacrifices on lesser hardware than the PlayStation 5, really makes for an incredibly impressive technical feat of a level. And heck, it's also--like so many other levels in Astro Bot--just a dang pleasure to play through in general!

Piranha Plants on Parade - Super Mario Bros. Wonder (NSW)

I brought up Mario earlier, but rather than speak of the 3D games, we're delving into the most recent 2D entry of Mario, and the one that brought back some much-needed freshness to the franchise. Well, at least that of the 2D Mario games. 

The "Wonder" in Super Mario Bros. Wonder refers to each and almost every level possessing a Wonder Flower that turns the level into quite a trip. Some levels result in an abrupt freefall, another turns Mario and our playable cast of characters into different enemy types, while another transforms pipes from being stagnant and resting to ones that bend and inch along the ground as if they're doing "the worm"!

However, at least early in the game, nothing comes close to the sudden surprise of the second level's Wonder Flower transformation. Piranha Plants on Parade is the name, and it sort of tricks you into thinking with the first Piranha Plant that you see in the level, that that is the stage's gimmick. This Piranha Plant doesn't stay stationary in its pipe. Instead, it pops out and marches along. 

Of course, this isn't actually what the level name references. Upon touching the required Wonder Flower soon after, the real fun begins. Piranha Plants from their various colored combo of pipes pop out and begin singing. Some march, some just peek out to say hello, but they all do so in rhythm to the new song that plays. It's almost a fever dream--seeing this sort of ode to Little Shop of Horrors in the Flower Kingdom happen. All the same, it's a darn enjoyable fever dream!

This transformation sets the scene for Super Mario Bros. Wonder's campaign and essentially tells players, "expect the unexpected" for the rest of the adventure. While future levels and their Wonder effects may surpass the craziness and awesomeness of Piranha Plants on Parade's effect, it's this very level that sets the expectations--or lack thereof--for the entirety of the game, being quite memorable and a fantastic early highlight of Wonder in the process.

Kingdom Valley Act 1 - Sonic X Shadow Generations (Multi)

This next level comes from a recent release from last year: Sonic X Shadow Generations, chiefly the entirely brand-new Shadow Generations portion of the game. Like Sonic Generations, Shadow's half of the game sees the brooding hedgehog play through various levels, old haunts, and highlights from his gaming career. There's the Space Colony Ark from Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes' Rail Canyon, and yes, even a stage from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)--that of Kingdom Valley.

To say 2006's Sonic game was rough around the edges (ow, the edge) would be an understatement and underserving just how much of a radical trainwreck the game was. That said, Shadow Generations takes Sonic 2006's stage representative and much like every other past stage it references in the game, it improves upon it in pretty much every way.

Kingdom Valley (specifically Act 1, which stands as my favorite of the two acts in Shadow Generations) takes much of its references from the original Sonic '06 level, including the eagle that Shadow can cling onto to take him to higher areas, smashing his way through pane glass windows of castle towers, speeding through the water whirlwind tunnel where Sonic's Mach speed section from the 2006 game took place, and also adds new touches, too. One of these is introducing a new Doom Power to Shadow, that of Doom Surf, allowing Shadow to automatically bust out a surfboard made of Doom energy to coast along watery channels and corridors within the level. 

It says a lot about a game with mostly stellar designed stages that one could easily pick any of them to represent Shadow Generations, but for me, my highlight for Shadow the Hedgehog's half of Sonic X Shadow Generations no doubt had to be Kingdom Valley. Proof that you can polish what I considered in 2006 to be a turd into something truly magnificent when enough TLC has been put into it.

The Raging Sea - Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (Multi)

From riding the waves as Shadow the Hedgehog to walking the waves as the Prince, the Raging Sea is one of the most impressive areas within Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown's amazing Metroidvania world. The concept of the area is that it's completely frozen in time, so the Prince can literally run along the top of the water itself. Within the sea is a series of ships, a fleet, frozen solid, where the Prince can enter into the various vessels and explore. Lightning strikes, too, are forever documented as snapshots of the weather phenomenon, but also quite painful to the touch and resulted in frozen fires burning as well.

While the area itself is rather flat, the map reveals itself as essentially one straight horizontal line from left to right, there is a fair amount of variety to be found. The aforementioned ship fleet lends itself to having plenty of places to perform proficient platforming, enemy types are numerous, and secrets abound indeed. The boss fight that takes place at the far right edge of the map also brings the heat and is quite challenging for unprepared players. Hell, even seasoned action-platforming vets may find themselves having to redo this fight multiple times.

All in all, it's not every day that an area or zone from the Metroidvania genre delights and delivers in concept and execution. Nowadays, the genre is a dime a dozen seemingly, but Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown made its case for one of the top titles in the genre last year--and just one of the best games of 2024 as well.

A Trip to Alivel Mall - Kirby and the Forgotten Land (NSW)

Let's shift away from dark, stormy, and brooding with something more cute and cuddly to wrap up this volume of Best Levels in Gaming History. Kirby and the Forgotten Land brought the long-running Nintendo / HAL Laboratory franchise into full 3D, and the experiment was an absolute success. 

One of the early levels of the game remains one of my favorites within the entire campaign--that being A Trip to Alivel Mall. Kirby and Forgotten Land, as the name implies, features Kirby running and jumping through a dilapidated land, once bustling and teeming with life. It's decidedly reminiscent of a world humans left behind, and this concept is no clearer early on in the game than Alivel Mall.

With a quaint and cozy theme, Kirby runs up escalators, enters the food court, and passes by abandoned, shuttered stores in this once-thriving and happening location. Though, it's far from lacking occupants inside, of course, as enemies and caged-up Waddle Dees have taken up residence--the latter against their will. 

It's a setting that we don't see too much in games--that of a mall, sure, but also one that's been virtually abandoned and allowed itself to be eroded by the sands of time. Between solving puzzles on which hall to enter based off of cleverly-hidden signs as hints, and battling the pink puffball's way through the bright and bouncy level, A Trip to Alivel Mall is a standout early stage within Kirby and the Forgotten Land.

BAKERU (NSW, PC) Review

This Sunday evening review closes this weekend out on a positive note. We do love a positive review here, don't we? That said, I shouldn't say any more, as I don't want to entirely spoil why BAKERU is such a good game! Instead, I'll let the actual SuperPhillip Central review do that!

Drumming up some big time fun

Otogi Katsugeki Mameda no Bakeru: Oracle Saitarou no Sainan!! is developer Good-Feel's latest independent game project. For those who might not be familiar with the developer, Good-Feel is best known for its work with Nintendo as a development partner, working on such games as Kirby's Epic Yarn, Wario Land: Shake It!, Yoshi's Woolly World, and most recently, Princess Peach: Showtime!

While those aforementioned games used Nintendo's help and support to make and publish them, Mameda no Bakeru was a self-published game at least in Japan, which begged the question if anyone would pick up the proverbial slack to publish it outside of the Land of the Rising Sun. For someone like myself who loves platformers and feels the gaming world needs more of the 3D variety at any point in time, I eagerly anticipated any news towards a proper localization.

Well, needless to say, the game finally was brought over to the West in due time (specifically, almost a year wait) and in North America by none other than Spike Chunsoft. Now simply titled BAKERU in the West, the game saw its release last year and most recently, a physical Nintendo Switch version two months ago. Was the wait of myself and others (there were more than dozens of us, I'm sure!) really worth it?

A little girl from the Issun Clan named Sun stumbles upon a tanuki boy named Bakeru while being chased by the evil Oracle Saitaro's troops. After being saved by Bakeru, Sun relays information about the Oracle, expressing that Saitaro's scheme of turning all of Japan into a giant dance party is underway. In order to stop this, Sun suggests that together, her and Bakeru should head to and get the aid from various legendary Japanese heroes to thwart Oracle Saitaro's master plan. What follows is a charming, cute, and crazy (in the best ways) adventure that takes Bakeru and Sun all across and over fairytale Japan.

Oracle Saitaro's troops are all over Japan causing a ruckus,
so it's up to Bakeru and Sun to crash their party!

BAKERU is a 3D platformer with lots of heart and lots of drumming, too. Bakeru's main form of attacking is with his two taiko drumsticks, one in his left hand and one in his right, using the left and right bumpers respectively. Both can be used together or alternated to strike enemies or one or both bumpers can be held down to unleash more powerful attacks. The drumsticks aren't just for warding off and beating down foes, either. They're used for drumming on gears and other mechanisms to spin platforms, open doors, and much more. 

Here, Bakeru strikes these gears with his drumsticks in order to move this green platform along its attached rail.

Early on in his journey, Bakeru learns various Henge powers, four to be exact across the adventure. Each one possesses unique abilities and has contextual uses for when they're best used. One allows Bakeru to shrink to fun-size, Sun's size, entering into small alcoves, doors, and passageways that he otherwise wouldn't be able to fit into. Another is an absolute powerhouse of a Henge ability, offering immense strength in exchange for the Henge meter depleting at a super swift pace. The final two Henge powers grant fishing lines that can rapidly attacks foes with light strikes from faraway, while the other allows Bakeru to skate around while firing off pellets from a pair of guns. Switching between forms is as simple as holding down the shoulder button and selecting from the menu with the corresponding face button for the Henge power you want. Returning to normal Bakeru form is easy peasy--a tap of both shoulder buttons at once.

In this Henge form, Bakeru wants his enemies to talk to his hands, because the drum does not understand!

One of the most impressive aspects to me of BAKERU is that the game is constantly throwing new gameplay ideas and mechanics at the player, all the while spreading itself across over 60 levels. There is of course your standard 3D action-platforming where Bakeru runs, jumps, and drums through areas, beating down enemies, evading obstacles, and exploring the relatively lengthy levels for collectibles. More on those in a little bit. However, there are also races, literal dogfights in the air (if only because your vessel is a block-shaped pupper of a dog), and even giant mecha robot boss battles, apart from the typical on-foot-as-Bakeru boss fights. 

These epic mecha robot battles play out similarly to boxing matches--complete with knockout counts!

Each level contains eight collectibles players can opt to find, and these are rather rewarding. Not just because they encourage exploration and are sometimes in some truly tricky spots, but also because they provide information and trivia to the player. Five of these collectibles are Scoop's trivia. Scoop is character, also a member of the Issun clan that when found in levels, provides interesting trivia and imparts his knowledge onto the player. From learning aspects of Japanese geography and culture, to learning the difference between "clouds and fog" or better yet, where farts go (yes, really), Scoop is fountain of fun information. Other than the five "scoops" from Scoop in each level, there are three Souvenirs based on the areas and prefectures of Japan that each level in BAKERU are based off.

Don't worry, Bakeru. That's no piece of poop--that's none other than Scoop!

The platforming stages within BAKERU have a wide amount of variety all in themselves. There are verdant forests, bright beaches, lush gardens, bustling cities, chaotic construction sites, tall mountains, fiery volcanoes, snowy slopes, underwater amusement parks, gigantic bridges, traditional Japanese temples, and so much more within the game to discover and platform through. 

The amount of enemies in BAKERU is impressive, as well, offering lots of unique foes to take on, some requiring skillful dodging, evading, or better yet, timing in order to parry their attacks to leave them wide open to an offensive onslaught of Bakeru's own. No doubt a skill check early on within the game are the enemies dressed in armor and wielding kendo sticks. Trying to take them on as Bakeru with but simple drumstick strikes is a fool's errand. They'll simply block each and every attempt to attack them. And then there's when their eyes light up bright red, ready to make their move, dash forth, and strike Bakeru. These enemies gave me quite a bit of trouble starting off in the game when they were introduced, but as Bakeru learns additional Henge powers, they go down with relative ease as more and more tools and tricks are learned.

Bakeru hasn't exactly gone fishin', but he does "cast" some lines of pain onto these projectile-firing foes!

One of these tools is that of helpful items from the tanuki shopkeeper Uriko, who frequents levels at checkpoints throughout the game. For an amount of gold found readily throughout levels, not only does she sell food that can instantly heal Bakeru when needed, but passive, temporary buffs like increased speed or attack, as well as items that can be saved for a rainy day (or in BAKERU's case, a difficult boss or challenging level) like an item that instantly replenishes Bakeru's Henge energy, or even a shield that guards against any and all attacks for 30 seconds. There are also premium items like crackers in the shape of hearts that permanently boost Bakeru's maximum health. Truly helpful in the long term.

While BAKERU is by no means the most arduous adventure around, it does have some challenging points to it, whether when Bakeru faces more-fiendish boss battles, trickier platforming trials, or even searching for hidden Tanuki disguised as objects in some stages, where only feint occasional movement or a tanuki stamp reveals their locations. That said, it's overall a relatively breezy experience if you're a seasoned gamer, but at the same time, BAKERU as a game is not something you can simply sleepwalk through and expect to easily complete it. Finding all 200+ Scoops, all 150+ Souvenirs, all 20-something hidden Tanuki, and securing all the game's achievements will certainly take some effort. For me, this process to 100% the game took about 20 hours.

In most sections of BAKERU, you'll have fully free 360 degree
camera movement available to you. ...Not exactly here, though.

BAKERU is a gorgeous game, and depending on the platform you play it on, it will be more or less a technically sound experience. While the lesser-powered Nintendo Switch does sometimes simply struggle to hold a steady framerate--this is most apparent in the hot springs level--it does an admirable job of running well. The Steam version is understandably more capable and consistent in performance, seldom showing signs of FPS drops. Both versions I did not encounter much in the way of bugs nor glitches, which really impressed me, as when a game has over 60 levels, I would think something would have to give somewhere. This is thankfully not the case with BAKERU. The game features voice acting, though this is Japanese-only, which works for the game since it's set in Japan and stays authentic. 

Time for some construction destruction, courtesy of Bakeru!

If you're looking for another charming and well-designed game from Good-Feel, well, you certainly have one with BAKERU. The developer once again shows with BAKERU that it doesn't necessarily need Nintendo's supervision in order to create a fantastic game. That's not to discredit either Good-Feel or Nintendo here, of course, as together, they do create some awesome gaming experiences. Between BAKERU's colorful and engaging levels to explore--each based off a Japanese prefecture--a multitude of secrets housed within these said levels, an astonishing amount of gameplay variety, entertaining boss battles, cute and charming humor, and gorgeous graphics, BAKERU marches to the beat of its own drum and is a great, original game for doing so.

[SPC Says: A-]