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Full Let’s Play
Mario and the Frozen Forge is a medium-length 64-style episode where Mario must collect stars in exploration-based stages to recover a stolen forge. It takes a lot of inspiration from Mario 64 and employs several extra movement abilities and power-ups.
Let’s Talk About Assets!
I’m not sure where they all originate from, but Mario is SMW-style with new frames for his new abilities. Some enemies are restyled while others retain their familiar look. The episode doesn’t really have a unifying visual theme, but it fits together just fine and nothing is clashing.
The music is from a variety of sources, but some tracks have been converted to another sound font, meant to give a 64/SNES vibe. It succeeds at that to varying degrees. While I didn’t recognize all of them, there were plenty I did, and it was interesting to hear some familiar tunes with a retro feel.
Let’s Talk About Writing!
The story is very simple. Mario has found himself stranded at an ancient castle with a magical forge. The resident Toads can use the forge to help him return home, but they need to regain it since it was stolen, and they need star power to do that. If Mario collects enough stars, they can send him to where the forge was taken. The plot exists mainly as a reason for the adventure to happen, and it satisfies that need.
The dialogue has been spruced up a bit from what I played since the dev tuned in and fixed some typos I pointed out, but it is an area of weakness. There were a bunch of misspellings, randomly capitalized words, and some conjoined phrases such as ‘redcoins.’ It feels nitpicky since dialogue is a secondary concern, but there are a lot of Toads to talk to and it is noticeable.
On the plus side, the dialogue is at least functional and/or humorous. Some Toads exist to make a funny scenario while others provide hints about the castle. Either way, it’s worth reading what they have to say and they don’t go overboard with it, so that’s good.
Let’s Talk About Design!
This episode wears its inspiration on its sleeve, borrowing several of its gimmicks directly from Mario 64. These are put to good effect, so I won’t gripe about originality. The castle area serves as the hub, having four portraits you can enter to explore worlds for stars, which have 6 each. There are also secrets to find all over the place, leading to an extra star and some big switches that unlock special abilities in the stages. The secrets are clued well enough not to be too obscure, but also not so much to be obvious, so it's rewarding to find and engage with them.
Each world opens with a star screen, showing you the names of the stars and which ones you’ve found. Every star is available in the world from the start, so you don’t have to choose a specific one to seek. The name hints only do so much since you need to explore for them to make sense anyway, but you can use them to narrow your search as you find more of them. The way the stages are built, you’ll generally find a star if you explore any segment thoroughly enough, so it doesn’t feel like a waste to hunt around.
Some star names could be taken as a suggestion of how easiest to obtain them, but this game doesn’t go out of its way to stifle creativity. Multiple solutions exist in several cases, and while one may be simplest, it doesn’t mean you have to do it that way. For example, you could find the hidden rainbow shell in the seaside town to go surfing, or you could swim out to the distant island yourself. It’s slower and less exciting, but it works!
The new movement mechanics both enhance and detract from exploration, but I think it’s a net positive overall. While I didn’t find much use for the triple jump, the midair dash is super useful for correcting momentum and adjusting where you land. The ground pound was much less helpful, more often triggering at a bad time and nearly screwing me over. It works the same as Purple Yoshi’s, which means it’s like you’re always riding one. There are monsters you can only beat with a ground pound, so it has its place, but it would’ve been better if it used a different button to activate. Of the new moves, the wall kicks had me most divided. They’re great for moving around, but a hindrance when you only want to jump near a wall without starting to slide down it. You get used to all this with practice, but the quirks can certainly be annoying.
The new power-ups are the only ones to find as this game otherwise sticks with small Mario and the SMB2 health bar. Mushrooms are all you’ll get out of blocks, but that’s not so bad. The three items you unlock have their uses for specific stars, but can be generally helpful as well. There’s a propeller block Mario wears over his body that gives him three midair jumps with slow descent. You can also get the metal cap, which makes you invincible, but also a bit slower and heavier (and you can’t swim). Last is the hammer (not suit) that puts you in an endless swinging frenzy like the original DK, but you can still do all your usual moves while having it.
Let’s Wrap This Up…
I think this episode is pretty solid, and it could’ve afforded to be a bit longer. Another few worlds to expand on these mechanics could’ve worked just fine. It feels a bit like a proof of concept as it is. It would be better if a couple things were handled differently, but it’s plenty enjoyable regardless and definitely worth checking out.
3.5/5
Yes, Mario is in yet another castle.
