Review Information
Game Reviewed Super Mario and the Sacred Bells, by Firestyle
Review Author Myuu
Created Feb 3 2010, 12:02 AM

General Commentary and Game Overview
An overall good platformer. You are allowed to play as Luigi or Peach as well as mario. They all play the same, but it's still a nice touch, and peach is brimming with personality. The ground pound and the spin jump are available. Powerups include:

-Classic Fire Flower

-Bomb Mushroom, lets you throw bombs

-Ice Flower, works as it did in NSMB, except the ice balls will also freeze sections of the surface of water into solid ice platforms

-Propeller Mushroom, Combines the midair high jumps (minus the horizontally debilitated descent) of the shroom's first appearance in NSMBW with the the slow descent when holding the jump button of the old cape feather

Also includes an authentic SMW-style Yoshi, which is, as in SMW, more than a mere powerup, but a durable, trusty steed who makes everything easier when he's around, until he falls in a pit after you're knocked off and you're on your own.

Also of note is that while not deep or anything, its story is present, to the point of even having cutscenes, which is more than most MFGG games can say.
 
Pros -3 different characters
-good set of powerups
-highly authentic Yoshi
-Good boss fights
-varied move-set
 
Cons -Engine is rough around the edges
-Characters all play the same
-Health meter instead of small-super-powerupped system
-no pause
-no exiting a level, even one you've previously finished, without finishing or running out of lives.
 
Impressions
Gameplay
9 / 10
I want to give it a ten for sheer fun factor, but its engine is rough enough around the edges to shave a point off. Stomps to bosses don't count while riding Yoshi, you can't ground pound as yoshi, and you occasionally get stuck in blocks, although only once was the sticking so permanent that I had to reset. There's also a few other small things that are just a little off. Still, the engine isn't bad enough to ruin the experience, not by a long shot. The boss fights are very original, and the level design, while not supremely exceptional, is not boring either.
 
Graphics
10 / 10
Sometimes the backgrounds or tiles don't fit perfectly with the sprites, but that's not even enough to drag the score down a single point. The sprites and most of the tiles seem to be entirely custom, or if not, at least heavily customized. Some work had to be done deciding how to make Peach look in a Powerup, of which there is no official reference for, and I'm certain that some boss-related sprites had to be entirely custom. Looks good, anyway, especially Peach.
 
Sound
7 / 10
I've heard most of it before at some point, but it isn't overused, and there's a wide enough variety of it that it doesn't get repetitive.
 
Replay
4 / 10
A second playthrough? Not likely, unless you go back for the 8 red coins in each level, but the game doesn't even keep track of that for you. You will probably finish it though.
 
Final Words
9 / 10
Good powerups, good bosses. Overall, worth playing.

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