Review Information
Game Reviewed Super Mario Comic Strip, by Maxence2
Review Author Cruise Elroy
Created May 5 2015, 2:25 AM

General Commentary and Game Overview
At first glance, you might think, "Woah, someone made a comic strip into a game? How's that possible?" This is what I thought at first, but it's a scrapped fan game from seven years ago that wasn't uploaded until now. As for me, I like this game in certain aspects, but, if you've already seen the other reviews, you may find more...controversy.
 
Pros +Innovative ideas
+Crisp graphics
+A good nostalgia trip
 
Cons -Buggy
-Sound glitch rawrawrawr
-Almost no replay value
 
Impressions
Gameplay
5 / 10
The story is like any other story you could expect from the official games. Mario receives a letter from Princess Peach, telling him that she made a cake for him at her castle. As Mario sets out the door, he has a sense of déjà vu and, believe it or not, he actually learns about something from his past encounters from scenarios like this before: WHERE THERE'S A PRINCESS AND A CAKE, THERE'S A BOWSER AND A KIDNAPPING. After this moment of insight, he heads straight to Bowser's castle without a moment to lose.

The gameplay, for the most part, runs alright. The controls feel responsive when you're moving, and they're not too difficult to get the hang of. Running does work differently than in the usual Mario games, and works more like a Mega Man game: You just tap a key and you instantly move in that direction without any momentum. It's weird at first, but it's something that you'll get used to by the time you get to the first groaning point.

Only ten seconds into the level, you fall underground and find a block with a fire flower in it. The fire flower is useful to clear out the enemies that are hiding in the maze. Yes, that's right, there's a maze you encounter in the first 20 seconds of the first level. You'll have no idea if there's blocks you can jump through or fall through, and it's not something to put in the first (or in this case, only) level. I did have to look at other reviews to find out there's actually something there, but it's not the worst thing you could put in a first level (*cough* Super Mario Dynamo *cough*).

As you emerge from the depths (hopefully pressing the green switch in it first!), you find a new suit at your disposal: Demon Fox Mario. This new form lets you double jump and make clones of yourself that turn into blocks when they hit a wall. This is all necessary to advance over pits and humongous walls. Eventually, you'll even be able to combine the two powers together, a lot like in Super Mario Stardust, into what can only be described as Firefox Mario during the final stretch. Once you finish, you're graded on your score, enemies you kill, and speech bubbles you collect (wait, what?).

Speech bubbles come in 5 sets throughout the level which don't really seem to do much. I assume this could've been used to unlock some extras if this was...more complete. It's a sad thing that this isn't complete, either, because there are a few bugs.

Most of them are minor collision errors: if you're in a tight hallway and jump, you'll freeze there for a short time and fall back down. The only major bug I found was getting stuck in a ? block, seemingly by chance. This led to 3 unfortunate short endings to my playthroughs to complete the game, most of which were very (and I mean very) close to the end. The game is for the most part solid but there are various quirks and bugs that hinder its full potential.
 
Graphics
9 / 10
The graphics are very clear and just plain good for a supposed 7 year old game. All the objects you can interact with (except for the ground) has a dark outline, and everything else has either a soft outline or none at all. There's not too much else to say about the graphics expect that they are pretty neat.
 
Sound
7 / 10
Most of the music fits well in this game, along with the sound effects. It's all stuff we've heard before from SMB3, SMW, and SM64, so there's not a lot interesting here.

I will mention, however, that the infamous sound glitch does occur on Windows 8 and other certain operating systems. Specifically, you cannot hear the music heard in the main level and the results screen (I'm assuming there is some here). I would normally dock points, but since this was an older game that hasn't been worked on for around 7 years, I won't let it affect my score here.
 
Replay
1 / 10
I suppose you could spend some time trying to figure out how to get the last speech bubble (though I can't imagine why), but there isn't anything left to do after you clear it once. The only thing I think it could be good for is to see what fan games from 7 years ago would look like today.
 
Final Words
6 / 10
It's enjoyable in certain respects, but the whole thing really is just an example to show why fan games today aren't fan games from seven years ago.

Comments
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Astrakitu
May 20 2015, 2:06 PM
"Firefox Mario?" Sounds like the internet browser, I might say!
 
User Icon
Cruise Elroy
May 20 2015, 9:06 PM
Quote (Jaden1291 on May 20 2015, 9:06 AM)
"Firefox Mario?" Sounds like the internet browser, I might say!

Thank the power bestowed in internet browsers for giving us this wonderful description of Mario.
 
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