Mario Clash

The Clash House Tower has been invaded by bad guys! It's up to Mario to clear them all out by throwing Koopa shells to knock them off the narrow ledges connected by pipes in dangerous rooms.

Mario goes "virtually" 3D in this game based on the classic Mario Bros. game. Well this is the 3D Virtual Boy port.

When I played the game for the first time and entered the main menu, someone walking by said the background tune reminded her of New Orlean Jazz music. Well I'm no music expert, but the intro tunes and background sounds throughout the game make a very nice catchy addition to the standard bleeps and bloops in all the levels. They also warn you (while stressing you out at the same time) when the last minute ticks away! So watch your timer.

Take this not to mean, there's no sound effects in the 99 levels of gameplay, because there's tons of them, from the sound of tingling money (bouncing at you towards the screen, even) in the every few levels mini-game to the cool distorted music sound the ghosts named Big Boo in later levels make when they fade away.

Mario's controls are easy to master, just your basic running, jumping and throwing buttons, but with that said don't be put off by the ease of the game. Play longer than 15 minutes to know how hard and challenging this game really is, you'll struggle to throw Koopa shells into the spiked enemies in the backdrop while evading other enemies that come at you flying, jumping, running, or even throwing balls at you from a convenient distance. Besides the sheer speed of the last enemy remaining, the biggest danger is probably staring and concentrating to hit the enemies that can only be killed from their side on the back ledges.

With no friend being able to help you get rid of all the baddies and only one chance before losing a life, extra lives would sure come in handy, through a scoring system of reaching 50,000 points, 100,000 points ... Collecting all coins in the mini-game gives you an extra life as well.

In short it's a great game created from an old concept and put into a new 3D jacket. No gimmicks, all very nicely put together and inventive new levels that scream for quick thinking and creativity. If you like it you'll be glued to your Virtual Boy screen for days on end and will want to replay it long after that. Lovely little game this one.