Bowser's Recruitment

Bowser's Recruitment
Developer(s)	Hello
Announce Date	Unknown
Release Date	October 13, 2008
Genre	Minigame/Platform
Players	1
Input	Standard keyboard
Medium	Game Maker
Platform	Windows
Status	Finished

Bowser's Recruitment is a game made by Hello for Minigame Competition #40. Players control Bowser as the king of the Koopas tries to recruit new Koopas, Goombas, Spinies, and Piranha Plants for his army. Bowser "recruits" new minions by touching them by the side, earning points. If he stomps them, however, he "kills" them and loses points. The game ends if Bowser stomps a Spiny or falls off the bottom of the screen. At the end of the game, "kills" are subtracted from "recruits" to tally the final score.

Story

One day, Bowser left his castle for a little while, and Mario came and killed all of Bowser's minions. Bowser wasn't happy about this, so he went out and began recruiting new troops for his army.

Reception

Bowser's Recruitment opened to mixed reviews. Many players liked the fact that the starring character was Bowser for a change. Some players didn't like the relatively short playing environment and the lack of a lives or health system. While the theme of this Minigame Competition was loneliness, several reviewers noted that Bowser doesn't seem to have much of a problem with getting new troops. The music is somber in places, however. In addition, it must be noted that Mario never truly "kills" enemies in the games, since defeated enemies always return when replaying the level, and defeated characters (including Bowser) often appear in multiple games.