Review Information
Game Reviewed Super Mario Gaiden (Demo), by radel999
Review Author NovemberJoy
Created Dec 19 2016, 4:36 AM

General Commentary and Game Overview
It may just be a demo, but it shows immense promise.
 
Pros +Excellent graphics and sound, although not entirely custom
+Decent level design
+A good variety of power-ups
 
Cons -Level 1-2 has a spot where you can get stuck and have to wait out the timer
-Physics feel off
 
Impressions
Gameplay
6 / 10
It's pretty standard Mario gameplay, and it seems to take a lot of inspiration from the newer Mario sidescrollers. To keep things fresh, there are quite a few different power-ups to use - fire flowers, ice flowers, turnip flowers...wait, what? Yes, there's a turnip flower, which is also the most useless power-up in the game, due to its tendency to bounce around and not hit anything.

The level design feels like it came from an actual Mario game...probably because parts of it come from actual Mario games. From SMB1 to NSMB, there are plagiarized sections from multiple Mario games, which is interesting since it's still a demo. The second level also has a serious issue - at one point, you can get on top and run over the rest of the level, which leads you to a pipe...that doesn't do anything. You have to wait out the timer if you're unfortunate enough to end up there, and that's the kind of thing that should be checked before you upload a game.

I have one more major complaint to talk about - the physics just feel wrong. Running feels like it should be the default walking speed, and you can't control the height of your jumps - Mario just soars as high as he can go every time you push Shift, no matter how long or how short you hold it for. This makes it a bit harder to play it like a Mario game than it should.
 
Graphics
8 / 10
I'm not entirely sure where the graphics are from, but I really like them. Nothing clashes with the design, and it all feels like a real Mario game.
 
Sound
8 / 10
There's a decent selection of music, and not all of it is from Mario games, although it's all in the same 8-bit style. It all fits very well, however.
 
Replay
2 / 10
There really isn't much replaying to do, since there aren't all that many secrets, not all that many levels to go through, and no collectibles. It does its job of showing off a taste of what its final product will be, though.
 
Final Words
7 / 10
It's a very, very promising demo indeed, but it suffers from odd physics and a lack of playtesting.

Comments
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KingGeoshiKoopshi64
Dec 28 2016, 4:44 AM
The turnip flower is Betroot in marioforever and that is how it worked in that game.
 
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