MFGG - Mario Fan Games Galaxy

Review Information

Game Reviewed	Super Luigi Country, by Kablamooie
Review Author	Vitiman
Created	Aug 6 2016, 11:24 PM

General Commentary and Game Overview

Although the fangame's description aptly asks us to "remember the nineties?", a far better nostalgic recollection for this Cavalcade of Clickteam Chaos would probably be "remember the specific year 2002?"

For those of you not catching on quite yet, Super Luigi Country aims to recreate the experience of playing a retro odd-ball fangame from around the time when fangame makers were less concerned about making the next breakthrough in GML coding and more concerned about what funny characters they can put into their bizarre levels at once. It's an incredibly accurate homage, complete with shoddily animated (and voice acted!) cutscenes that made me giggle at the sheer audacity at which he was willing to screw up every aspect of the story telling and its presentation. That said, is it a fangame worth playing? Stay tuned to find out...

Pros	Absurdly amusing Perhaps the most accurate throwback fangame I've ever played The Games Factory, everyone! Need I say more?
Cons	Really... just about everything else

Impressions

Gameplay 5 / 10	I'll try and be fair here. This game is not a game you play for the gameplay. While each stage is short enough to not get grating and it only lasts roughly 25 levels (I think that's the total number?), this is NOT a well made fangame. Then again, this was a deliberate choice on the creator's part, intentionally trying to make a fangame that hearkens back to a time when Multimedia Fusion was still the dominating force in the fangaming world and Game Maker was nothing more than a cheap curiosity that made a fangame stick out in a bad way (seriously, go back to about 2004 on this very site and play some of the early Game Maker games: they have NOT aged well beyond a shadow of a doubt). On top of that, the game can get very frustrating very quickly. It's nothing to really make me rage quit (in fact, I beat the game shortly after downloading it), but it was still a clear and glaring flaw through and through. One particular stage near the end (spoilers... sort of!) pits you against a room filled with spikes. This wouldn't be too much of an issue if it weren't for the almost cheeky and cruel use of the default platform engine that forces you to abuse ceiling stick and loss of horizontal momentum just to get to the star. Oh, I forgot to mention: each stage is about collecting stars. Well, I guess you'd find that out on your own anywho. Anyways, back to the weaker levels: one level pits you against an I Wanna Be The Guy-esque death trap haven, complete with a sign that flies up at you from out of nowhere once you step in front of it, and a (surprisingly reoccurring) Dixie Kong from DKC2 that is trying to kill you by any means necessary. It was funny the first time it happens, but then you die and have to re-do it and... what I'm trying to get at here is the game runs on trial-and-error. Mmmmmuch like the games it attempts (successfully) to imitate. So I'm not sure whether to praise this or not. So if this game isn't very well made, and can be frustrating to play through, where's the charm? Weeeellll... I don't know about you, but it's mainly the nostalgic value. It's a new-old retro fangame! That's pretty neat to me, as someone who grew up playing fangames like this alongside the genuine article (the "genuine article" being actual games, of course). Some people might not get the appeal, and that's okay! This game definitely isn't for everyone, it's really only for a certain subset of people on this site who both fondly remember a lot of older, wackier fangames and had fun playing them all the same.
Graphics 3 / 10	The phrase "so bad it's good" comes to mind. There is absolutely NO rhyme or reason to any of the graphics used in this, and in some cases the clash is so bad it actually kind of hurts your eyes. Case in point: 8-bit Poorly Ripped SMB1 Luigi against DKC2 visuals that lose a lot of their colour depth because this was made in what I can only assume is 256-bit colour mode to yet again imitate the older fangames of yore. It goes a bit overboard at times with the clash - not even some of the most glaringly dated fangames from way back when could get this bad, but as it stands... that's probably a part of the joke. Something about parody vs. satire, I believe.
Sound 6 / 10	Old MIDIs, all apparently from VGMusic, which has been a long standing resource for video game MIDIs since back in the day. As such, it would make sense it's used here for the same purpose it had in 2002: to provide a variety of transcribed game music for use in a bizarre tribute to Nintendo's classic franchises (and then some). I think there might be an alt rock MIDI in there somewhere too. If not, then maybe I was just hearing things. Honestly though, wouldn't surprise me if there was one: that would just add to the authenticity value.
Replay 3 / 10	Ehhhh... I wouldn't play this again, except maybe perhaps to show someone else who would either A.) be amused by the absurdity of it or B.) get the retro throwback nature of it in regards to older fangames. I mean, don't get me wrong, I had fun with this! It's just not something I'd come back to, in all honesty.

Final Words

Deliberately retro in a charming way, Super Luigi Country is fun for the right kind of person, and annoying for most other folks. Try it out if you remember this era of fangaming well, and if you do: you'll no doubt be impressed by how on-point it got everything.

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