Mario Clash - Virtual Boy

When I was young and I began discovering arcade games like Donkey Kong and Q-Bert, it didn’t take me long to realize that I had entered a completely different style of gaming.  These were games that were deceptively simple; games that had extremely simple concepts, but required a lot of skill and patience to master.  Of all the arcade games that were released onto the Nintendo Entertainment system, I always feel like there is one game in particular that is commonly forgotten, and that game is Mario Bros.

Unlike other arcade games at the time, Mario Bros. allowed the player to build strategies and offensive/defensive maneuvers rather than recognize patterns in level progression and layout.  It also allowed for much more replay value because of this.  The game is incredibly well put together and allows for great diversity in gameplay, yet it is only in two dimensions.  By adding a third dimension to the mix, the gameplay could reach a whole new level.  With that said, this brings us to this week’s game to review, Mario Clash.

Mario Clash is simply a revamped version of Mario Bros. with an added dimension to the play field.  You play as Mario, and you need to scale the 99 levels of the Clash House Tower and clear it of the baddies that have taken over.  Just like in the original Mario Bros. in order to destroy your enemies, you need to hit them with shells.  Since there are now three dimensions on the playing field, the variety of ways to destroy the enemies has evolved.  Some enemies now need to be attacked from the side by throwing a shell at them from the foreground to the background or vice versa.

The game also extends its variety of gameplay by adding a whole load of new enemies.  Alongside Spikes are now Thornys, Big Boos and even Pokeys.  Each enemy has a different way it needs to be destroyed, whether it’s by attacking it from the side, head on, or a combination of the two.

Mario Clash really does a good job mixing the three dimensional capabilities of the Virtual Boy into the gameplay.  You need a certain amount of depth perception to aim towards the front or the back of the playing field.  This makes the game slightly more difficult to master.  The game is just as deceptively simple as its NES counterpart, even to avid Mario Bros. players because of these added third dimension skill factors.

Depth perception is also a key factor in the coin collecting bonus stages.  Coins will come hovering towards the foreground where you control Mario.  You need to collect the coins that come towards the screen, but this isn’t as easy as it sounds.  The coins are placed at varying heights when hovering towards you, which makes it increasingly difficult to perceive where the coins are located.

On top of the excellent gameplay Mario Clash presents, the game’s graphics are done very well.  You won’t be fighting to make out enemy faces or graphics in this game.  Also, when you lose all your lives, a giant three dimensional Mario head presents you with you final score.  This Mario head is a perfect example of the three dimensional capabilities of the system.

In conclusion, Mario Clash is a great continuation of the Mario Bros. arcade game and I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed that classic NES experience.  The game unfortunately lacks a two player mode, but since the Virtual Boy wasn’t around long enough for a link cable to be manufactured, a two player mode wouldn’t have been feasible anyway.  The other problem with the game is that it was only released on Virtual Boy and can’t be found on any other console, this makes it really hard to track down [This game definitely deserves a Virtual Console release].  However if you have a Virtual Boy and don’t own this game, I highly recommend picking it up.  Chances are you won’t be disappointed.