Super Mario XP is another retro-based mash-up -- this time remixing NES Mario and Castlevania -- akin to the Megaman Vs. games. Well, sort of. Actually, the game is a Super Mario "clone" that smartly attempts to be more than just a retread of Miyamoto's Eighties excursions. This is accomplished by implementing various aspects of the original Castlevania into the mix.
The game plays like any 'ole Mario game -- press shift to jump and ctrl to toss fireballs -- with a few deviations. The background elements and the soundtrack are ripped straight out of 'Vania, as are the health and weapon systems. Mario is perpetually full-sized and no longer halves his height when struck; mushrooms now recover bars of health. In addition to the fire flower, Mario can now pick up hammers and some vaguely familiar crosses, which can also be used as a "crash" attack (see Dracula X) with the z button. Finally, if you hold the up arrow you can obtain a higher jump, ala the American Super Mario Bros 2.
All of these additions, along with the omission of running, make the controls recognizable yet slightly odd. These changes are welcome, as they help augment what some people would affectionately dub as old school difficulty. Others might just call it fucking hard.
The level design is brilliant, but in the spirit of Castlevania it's pretty difficult; like the Japanese SMB 2 it throws multiple challenges at you simultaneously. Once you do get the pattern recognition down, however, it's a blast. I played through one segment in a free fall pitted against a Lakitu, dodging numerous spineys tossed at me. I grabbed a cross, tossed it, decimated him, and immediately jumped onto a ledge -- a half second and a couple pixels away from a game over. Another high note (and Castlevania trope) are the bosses; I won't spoil them but they're a lot more fun than running under Bowser and jumping on a hammer. While there is the odd collision bug and the difficulty may turn some people off, Super Mario XP is a fine addition to the fledgling Remix genre.
N.B.: For full-screen mode, edit the file "config.ini" and change the line "fullsc=0" to "fullsc=1".
Freeze problem.
I got some serious lags at the begining of level two, when I get to the giant bullets, but apparently it just occurs after a certain period of time.
So the game is unplayable. Too bad, it looked good.
I actually experienced the
I actually experienced the same thing on my XP computer at work, but I attributed that to it being a shitty computer (there even was occasional slowdown for Spelunky on it as well.) On my parent's Vista computer it works fine, so I'm not sure what exactly the problem is.
Well.
My PC runs with XP, but is certainly not shitty, because I love him.
but seriously, no, it's not due to technical limitations, the computer's quite good. But well, it doesn't really matter, I haven't lost a lot.