When I first saw that this was picked up for #VideoGameClub and #VGCSept2024 I was super stoked. It’s been a long time since I played a game like this and it harkened back to my days as a kid blasting through Super Mario Bros 3. Looking at the game online it looked very much like someone mashed up Super Mario Bros 3 and Little Nemo in all the best ways and I came into it with high hopes.
The gameplay itself is really polished overall and it starts off really scratching that itch for Super Mario Bros 3 but then things start to fall off track a bit when you realize that it isn’t quite an homage, but more like a mod with some moments feeling like a direct reskin. Some points feel like the video game version of the can I copy your homework meme.
That’s not to say it’s fully a bad thing and it has some killer level design and concepts when you stand on the shoulders of titans. There’s just enough variance in the levels there to where it felt familiar but not repetitive. World 4-4 is a master class in fun level design with one half of the screen showing what the level would look like and the other half being invisible. It took me a bit to fully grok what was going on there but easily is my highlight of the game.
The underwater music of Kitsune Tails is oddly calm for levels filled with murderous danger noodles and I could easily see that sitting on a playlist for people who like to listen to video game music while working.
The game at times can be punishingly brutal with levels like 4-7 reminding me of the old piranha plant level from Super Mario Bros 3 and the entirety of world 5 with its sky levels and platforms on rails makes it frustrating in the moment but extremely rewarding when you complete them.
The love story, while always great to see diversity and representation in video games, is much too in your face for my liking and feels forced and childlike. I don’t necessarily love a lot of the young adult themes in other media and so this is probably personal preference more than anything but I definitely rolled my eyes more than once at the dialogue and skipped it much more than I expected.
Act 2 is nice to see things from the Kiri’s perspective and there were nice touches of when chests would be empty if you’d gotten them on the first go around. The twists in the story based on the players perspective was a cool way to build up emotions about the characters and then completely tear them down when you get the whole picture.
The variance in game play is also welcome as Kiri is a much more well rounded player character than Yuzu and presents a different strategy and approach to the levels.
At the end of the day, I finished the main game, but I stopped short of the special world as it felt like I was just trying to check the boxes by the time I beat the second act. I’d probably just recommend playing Super Mario Bros 3 unless you’re super into this particular mythology or teenager like approach to romance.