Review Information
Game Reviewed Toadette Strikes (Toad Strikes Back 2), by Thunder Dragon
Review Author MidnaKoopa
Created Apr 11 2015, 1:09 PM

General Commentary and Game Overview
TSB was a great game. Psycho Waluigi was a fantastic game. And now here Thunder Dragon is with Toadette Strikes. I played the demo some time ago, and I was sold. Now I've played the full game, and it is definitely more than I was expecting. And I was expecting a lot.
 
Pros +Varied and interesting levels, many with unique mechanics
+Fluid gameplay and controls
+Colorful and entertaining cast of characters
+Creative and enjoyable boss fights
+Pretty fantastic bonus content
 
Cons -Health is not refilled after levels, which sometimes presents a problem
 
Impressions
Gameplay
10 / 10
Naturally, similar to TSB, but definitely feels more polished. The ability to aim the hammer and fireballs actually comes in handy far more often than you'd think. The controls for the flying Yoshi take a bit of getting used to, but overall, the game controls great.

As for the game itself, the levels tend to be just about the right length, and the checkpoint placement is fair. Some levels are a bit shorter than others, but rightfully so more often than not. Many, if not most levels, have some sort of theme to them, often with mechanics unique to the level in question. Even the levels that stick to the basic concepts tend to use them in new and unique ways. For example, Key Crazy comes to mind. But, yeah, the levels kept things interesting, and never really felt like they were repeating concepts. Except the castle hallways. Which were explicitly supposed to.

The characters in this game are all kinds of fun. You've got a colorful cast that I found myself sweeping the villages for just to hear what they had to say. A definite testament to this game's writing. Thought it was neat to see Reckloo back, and to learn his name. And I love what was done with him.

The boss fights were, for the most part, memorable and fun, particularly the later bosses. And they must've been pretty well-designed, seeing as how it never took more than a few moments to figure out how to fight them.

The difficulty level is just right, I think. It can get pretty challenging, especially if you're going for 100%, but the difficulty always seems fair. Throughout the entirety of the game, I could probably count on one hand the number of deaths I felt weren't my fault. Honestly, even the switch palaces never felt "too hard". The challenge in this game is there if you want it, which I think is a good way to be.
 
Graphics
10 / 10
The graphics are pretty great. What can I say. You've got your basic Mario graphics, some backgrounds I've seen before like Cloudy Climb, and a whole mess of graphics I can only assume are custom. It seems like the NPCs tend to be a bit smaller, and the enemies tend to be a bit bigger, and the whole lot of them feel almost a little cartoony. Which I think suits them just fine.
 
Sound
10 / 10
Sound effects were jaunty and boinky. Which suits the game well. And the music tracks were pretty great. It definitely made me smile to hear the item minigame boss remix again.
 
Replay
10 / 10
There are certainly a lot of levels that feel like they're worth replaying. Hell, it might even just be all of them. Might be worth replaying on Hard mode. Any way you look at it, this is definitely a game I'll be coming back to.
 
Final Words
10 / 10
Toadette Strikes is everything I've come to expect from Thunder Dragon, and somehow, even more. A fantastic game that I feel improves on TSB in a number of ways.

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