Date played: November 29th
Platform: Switch
I've jumped back into Mario and got dozens of moons, explored two new worlds and even unlocked another. My journey began in the Metro Kingdom's New Donk City. Having recently removed Bowser's wedding planning party, the city's mayor, Pauline, asked for my help to prepare a festival, celebrating the newfound liberty of the city.
I had to find 4 musicians, scattered throughout the metropolis. I intentionally focused on the main objective because I've decided to kind of just do the main story missions to unlock the worlds, then I'll go back for additional moons after. The whole city is now bubbling with life instead of tanks and other nasty shit. There's taxis everywhere, citizens milling about and a ton of construction all over, perfect for some fun platforming.
After finding all the musicians, Pauline inaugurated the festival with a beautiful song! The next segment was one of the coolest in the game yet, as Mario goes 2D for a short but beautiful homage to Donkey Kong, Mario's first nemesis. I really can't describe how great this was, but let's just say I really enjoyed it!
I was free to choose the next destination, between the Snow Kingdom and the Seaside Kingdom. I chose snow, where I found a great blizzard blowing all over the level. Vision was limited, and there were plenty of traps and secrets hidden behind meters of snow. It was pretty cool because I had to move through the snow blindly a few times.
Hidden deep beneath the snow was an underground village, populated by a number of weird, but friendly people. These people are spherical and hold a traditional race, where each of them rolls down a giant slope, similar to the penguin race in Mario 64. I had to gather a number of special moons from 4 different rooms to re-open the portal to the race, closed by Bowser's wedding party. Once that was completed, I took control of one of these blob-people and practiced their race event, then took on the Bowser minion.
Next was Seaside Kingdom, a pleasant beach that reminded me of Super Mario Sunshine. Unfortunately, their signature champagne was being held hostage by a pirate octopus! I had to open up some big bottles of champagne to hit the octopus in the face with the corks. They were scattered throughout the level, though the most iconic element here is the enemies I got to control.
These guys are weird little water blobs. I can shoot some water behind me to move faster or use a jet to launch myself high in the air. Many puzzles required that I use these abilities to progress, including some pretty cool sections where I had to douse fire with the jet. This one seems like a bit of a smaller Kingdom, so I didn't get to do too much else here. The next level is called Luncheon Kingdom and it looks like it's a very colorful one!
Platform: Switch
I've jumped back into Mario and got dozens of moons, explored two new worlds and even unlocked another. My journey began in the Metro Kingdom's New Donk City. Having recently removed Bowser's wedding planning party, the city's mayor, Pauline, asked for my help to prepare a festival, celebrating the newfound liberty of the city.
I had to find 4 musicians, scattered throughout the metropolis. I intentionally focused on the main objective because I've decided to kind of just do the main story missions to unlock the worlds, then I'll go back for additional moons after. The whole city is now bubbling with life instead of tanks and other nasty shit. There's taxis everywhere, citizens milling about and a ton of construction all over, perfect for some fun platforming.
After finding all the musicians, Pauline inaugurated the festival with a beautiful song! The next segment was one of the coolest in the game yet, as Mario goes 2D for a short but beautiful homage to Donkey Kong, Mario's first nemesis. I really can't describe how great this was, but let's just say I really enjoyed it!
 |
| I battle against the original Donkey Kong during the festival! |
I was free to choose the next destination, between the Snow Kingdom and the Seaside Kingdom. I chose snow, where I found a great blizzard blowing all over the level. Vision was limited, and there were plenty of traps and secrets hidden behind meters of snow. It was pretty cool because I had to move through the snow blindly a few times.
Hidden deep beneath the snow was an underground village, populated by a number of weird, but friendly people. These people are spherical and hold a traditional race, where each of them rolls down a giant slope, similar to the penguin race in Mario 64. I had to gather a number of special moons from 4 different rooms to re-open the portal to the race, closed by Bowser's wedding party. Once that was completed, I took control of one of these blob-people and practiced their race event, then took on the Bowser minion.
Next was Seaside Kingdom, a pleasant beach that reminded me of Super Mario Sunshine. Unfortunately, their signature champagne was being held hostage by a pirate octopus! I had to open up some big bottles of champagne to hit the octopus in the face with the corks. They were scattered throughout the level, though the most iconic element here is the enemies I got to control.
These guys are weird little water blobs. I can shoot some water behind me to move faster or use a jet to launch myself high in the air. Many puzzles required that I use these abilities to progress, including some pretty cool sections where I had to douse fire with the jet. This one seems like a bit of a smaller Kingdom, so I didn't get to do too much else here. The next level is called Luncheon Kingdom and it looks like it's a very colorful one!
