Super Mario Bros: Koopa Chaos
| Super Mario Bros: Koopa Chaos | |
|---|---|
| |
| Developer(s) | Hello |
| Announce Date | Unknown |
| Release Date | June 2, 2007 |
| Genre | Platform |
| Players | 1 |
| Input | Standard keyboard |
| Medium | Game Maker 6 |
| Platform | Windows |
| Status | Finished |
Super Mario Bros: Koopa Chaos was one of the numerous standard 2-D platform games Hello made in 2007. Hello uses his Hello Engine 2, which was still in its infancy and was at the time laden with various glitches. The game includes a few special power-ups, including the Bunny Hood and Hammer Suit, and a number of unique enemies, including the key guardian Phanto. There's no pause feature or spin jump like in later Hello Engine 3 games. Unlike the majority of Hello games, this one mostly uses SMB 3 tiles instead of Black Squirrel's.
Contents
Story
The story plays little role in this game. Peach has again been kidnapped and taken to Bowser's Castle, and Mario's mission is to rescue the princess. At the end, however, there is no ending and Mario returns to the map screen with a save prompt. This was a common complaint for older Hello games.
Levels
SMB: Koopa Chaos has an overworld map and includes 24 levels divided into four worlds - a grassy/hilly area, a world of waterfalls and deserts, a frozen world, and the lava-filled realm where Bowser resides. This world sequence has been used repeatedly by Hello, although in this game, the second world has more waterfalls than sand, and the final world consists of lava and mountains instead of airships and other military equipment.
Music
Hello is more creative than usual with Koopa Chaos. The title song comes from Mario Party 7, and several songs are MP3s from the then-new Super Paper Mario. An unusual remix of the SMB 3 Dark Land map music also appears.
Reception
The two reviews listed for this game both give the game a 5 out of possible 10 stars. Some reviewers enjoyed this game; they liked the original engine and the echoes of Mario classics like SMB 3 and SMB 2. However, many people found problems with this game, frequently describing it as "frustrating." The game runs at 30 frames per second, making play rather jerky, and the executable file weighs in at a hefty 10 MB. As for gameplay, the airships annoy many players because you can't jump while ducking and the solids are pretty iffy; plus, even after the carnage, there's a difficult (but original) boss ahead that requires players to pelt recolored Sledge Bros. with Bob-Ombs. World 3-4 is especially irritating, because keeping up with the moving platform usually requires you to get hit by one or more Bubble Goombas, and if you fall behind the lift, you are forced to lose a life intentionally and start the level over. Also bad is that Bowser is probably the easiest boss in the game. Even the first level proves annoying to many because of its difficulty and glitchiness. King Piranha Plant's review reflects the viewpoint of many people who played this game: "Frustrating levels and annoying gameplay will get boring after a short time, and I encourage Hello to improve the game ASAP. You probably won't have much fun, but the engine's effects, elements, and features make for a short moment of interest and appreciation."
