MFGG - Mario Fan Games Galaxy

Review Information

Game Reviewed	P-Switch Predicament!, by Vitiman
Review Author	Cap'n Coconuts
Created	Feb 29 2016, 8:23 PM

General Commentary and Game Overview

The Oxford Dictionary defines parody as "an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect." A true parody is a transformative work; it creates something new and fresh from its source of inspiration, whether it be good-natured or satirical.

P-Switch Predicament tries to be a parody of assorted fan games, with each level being based on a different game, but fails miserably. Besides Dudim's Skype calls, the game offers very little in the way of comic effect. Being a "parody", this is a disappointment.

Pros	+ Dudim's Skype calls are funny. + Great work imitating other people's stuff, I guess.
Cons	- Almost nothing else is. - Boss fights are utterly boring. - Platforming physics are slippery. - Has a handful of glitches.

Impressions

Gameplay 4 / 10	As I run the executable for this game, I notice that the game seems to lack a title screen. To me, this raises a red flag that the game doesn't have much effort or care put into it. Instead, the game starts with Mario on the map screen, which looks like a map from any SMB3 clone. Given the relatively short length of the game and its status as a pastiche of several other fan games, I will give an in-depth description of each. Levels are numbered by order of play and not by the world map's idiosyncratic numbering. The first level (Division Fields) is based on the Hello Engine games, down to using the unedited Black Squirrel Tileset. It's a pretty ordinary fan game grassland level, with Goombas and Koopas and Mushrooms and Fire Flowers. Now here's the thing: Hello's more recent games are a goldmine for parody. Super Mario Dynamo and Hello Fangaming Collection have Mario say little more than transcribed voice clips, and HFC has all the toads give so much praise for Hello's games that it feels like an ego trip. Where are the jabs at the tropes and cliches that Hello relies on? This level makes fun of absolutely none of that--it's nothing more than a level inspired by Hello, which is a poor source for straight inspiration. The second level (Casual Chat) is based on Vitiman's own Super Charisma Bros. Unfortunately, the bulk of the level layout is ripped directly from Super Charisma Bros., with some enemies and blocks added here and there. This level features Heavy Fire as a boss, who happens to have an AI pattern similar to Jay's from Charisma 5. He's such a nice fellow that you get infinite free fire flowers each time you get hit. Yes, you read that right. The game spawns a fire flower for you each you get hit by the boss. This level is disappointing due to the sheer lack of effort put into it, being essentially cut-and-pasted from the Charisma games. There are no new jokes or features that make this level much different from its source material. The least you could do is hang a lampshade on how utterly stupid Heavy Fire's movement is, for crying out loud! The Phone Booth is in your way to the next level. Answer Dudim's call, because it is one of the few funny things in this joke game. You have to answer it to move on, anyway. The third level (Giant Island) is based on Captain Jeff Silvers' Super Mario Epic games. For the most part, it's not much different from any SMB3 clone (and as the name implies, it's based on SMB3 World 4). This is where the game starts making certain blocks and power-ups inaccessible. I don't understand this. Is this intended to be a joke at Super Mario Epic's expense? If it is, it's more annoying than funny. The fourth level (Launch Base & Walrus Beach) is a two-for-one deal, intended to parody Thunder Dragon's Mario in Space and VinnyVideo's Revenge of the Walrus. I do not understand why both of these radically differently themed levels must be completed back to back without any checkpoint, but that's how it is. Launch Base is the hardest level in the game, and it manages this with all the glory of bad level design combined with the bad fireball physics. Epileptic piranha plants periodically spew fireballs at your general direction which pass through walls. This also exists in Mario in Space, but I wasn't laughing at that game and I'm not laughing now. The only reliable way to pass the three plants at the start of the level is to tank contact damage with a fire flower. When you've climbed up through Piranha Plant Hell, jump towards the coins because almost anywhere else you could land will damage or kill you (hooray for leaps of faith!). Some platforms in this level will disappear underneath you in a fraction of a second, and the level seems to be impractical to finish without the second fire flower you find. At this point, I'm wondering: would it be so difficult to just place message blocks here and there to lampshade all the stupidity in these levels? Seriously, adding just a few quips would make this game much more enjoyable. Walrus Beach is yet another unremarkable Mario level with absolutely no walruses to be found. Don't try to swim in the oddly reddish water, as Mario cannot swim in this game. The end of this level has a sign labeled "Fangame Duplicate #27067" (my memory of the number may not be accurate), which is funny in an ironic way because P-Switch Predicament is more of a fangame duplicate than Revenge of the Walrus ever was. The fifth level is the P-Switch, and was intended to parody Yoshi vs. Windows. Instead of getting a quality parody, we get a boss fight with Clippy that is utterly boring. He literally just moves back and forth from the left and right edges of the game's window. You also get infinite fire flowers in this fight, making the fight a total joke (and I don't mean that as a compliment). So you've pressed the P-Switch and beat Clippy. Great! Now go back to the Phone Booth, listen to Dudim's other Skype call (because again, it is one of the few things in this game that is actually entertaining), go to the Toad house you are now able to access, explore said Toad house, and you're done. Congratulations, you're finished with this joke game. So that's my beef with the level contents. Besides that, the game's coding is crude and glitchy. Mario himself is slippery, and fireballs have more gravity yet more bounce than most fan games. Fireballs will often fall through certain objects and platforms, like the cloud platforms in Giant Island. I've managed to get Mario stuck in a few places, such as the left side of the screen when picking up a Mushroom. The game also fails to keep track of coins and score in between levels, and it doesn't end when you run out of lives. These glitches serve no purpose except to make the game a little less enjoyable. So, given all of the above with the exception of things Dudim says, it doesn't really feel any different from an average-to-low quality fan game. How disappointing.
Graphics 5 / 10	The graphics for this game are mostly taken directly from the games on which they are based, which makes them largely unremarkable. The endgame features a few trippy special effects and graphical glitching on purpose, but otherwise the game's graphics are nothing to write home about. On another note, why does the water turn reddish as you progress? Maybe it's intended to be a sunset, but the outdoor backgrounds are all mid-day. This makes absolutely no sense.
Sound 6 / 10	Most of the music is good. I didn't hear anything that was particularly new and amazing, but the music and sound effects are mostly A-OK. I didn't care for the voices in the map theme, though--it just sounded kinda dumb to me. There does not seem to be a theme for completing levels with flagpoles. Perhaps my sound card decided to be a butt at those exact moments, but I doubt it.
Replay 2 / 10	Since P-Switch Predicament relies on humor for entertainment (and fails to have it most of the time), there's not much reason to play it again. About the only thing that makes it worth playing is Dudim's messages.

Final Words

While intended to parody other fan games, P-Switch Predicament is mostly just Fangame Duplicate #27068.

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Comments

	Vitiman Mar 1 2016, 1:27 AM
"which is funny in an ironic way because P-Switch Predicament is more of a fangame duplicate than Revenge of the Walrus ever was." Seems you took the joke the wrong way; the number of the fangame duplicate happens to be the submission number of Revenge of the Walrus, I wasn't trying to imply it was yet another Hello engine clone, but rather that the game's world and aesthetics were duplicated (rather poorly, as you'll notice with the intentional BG glitching) by a malicious entity. In fact, that's why all of the other fangames were "duplicated", not to poke fun at them, but to poke fun at fangaming in general, specifically the Hello branch of clone games. Get it? Clone games? Literally cloning other games? The joke was something to that effect, it's been a while. I'll forgive you for thinking the physics are sub-par, for finding the concept lackluster, but the least you could do was consider that maybe you read the game's humor incorrectly. Pardon me if I sound bitter at all, I don't mind critique (especially since a lot of the groundwork for this game was done 3 years ago, ergo: pretty meh), but it seems the joke flew over your head and then some.


	Cap'n Coconuts Mar 1 2016, 7:23 PM
According to the credits, each level was a parody of (a) certain fangame(s), so I largely wrote my review with that in mind. I get the whole "clones" thing in the plot. After all, I did listen to Dudim's calls, the first one of which explained the whole cloning thing. While that may have been an interesting idea, I feel it that it was just kind of there. I get the impression that the game didn't try very hard to poke fun at anything, whether it be specific fan games or fan games in general. In my opinion, the game could have been so much more than it is, which is why I gave it a 4. Nonetheless, I'm glad that you responded to my review in such a mature manner. Of course, there are people who will no doubt disagree with my analysis, and they are more than welcome to write their own thoughts about it. In fact, they definitely should write their own reviews. There are too many games on MFGG with few to no reviews.


	Astrakitu Apr 15 2016, 6:24 AM
Quote (Vitiman on Mar 1 2016, 9:27 AM) "which is funny in an ironic way because P-Switch Predicament is more of a fangame duplicate than Revenge of the Walrus ever was." Seems you took the joke the wrong way; the number of the fangame duplicate happens to be the submission number of Revenge of the Walrus Yes, he has his point. Remember Attack of the Fangamers? There are also fangames being invaded by the plumber of the Mushroom Kingdom...(like the Miraculous Boss Battle) Speaking of the submission number, call in VinnyVideo, STAT!

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