Review Information
Game Reviewed Super Mario: Blue Twilight DX, by BlazeHedgehog
Review Author CM30
Created Sep 6 2015, 11:26 AM

General Commentary and Game Overview
Ah Super Mario Blue Twilight DX. One of the early Mario fan games from the days when the site was in its infancy, the game actually got featured in a real life gaming magazine at one point, becoming one of the most well known games of its type of all time.

But all these years later, does it still stack up? Is Super Mario Blue Twilight DX really as good as it used to be?

Well to be honest, yes it does. There are fancier looking fan games. There are ones with arguably better level design and game engines. But even now, Super Mario Blue Twilight DX is a plain enjoyable game that offers a lot of fun for anyone wanting a classic Mario platforming experience.

So if you want to find out why Super Mario Blue Twilight DX is just as good after all these years, keep reading and find out!
 
Pros The controls are great, especially the wall jumping
The graphics and music are surprisingly pleasant (albeit aged)
Lots of nice ideas, including the holiday bonus levels
Fun and interesting boss battles
 
Cons Sometimes questionable level design choices
Some graphics need a bit more work (like the ground)
 
Impressions
Gameplay
9 / 10
Hey, it's a Mario fan game that actually seems to play rather well! The running and jumping movements work fine, the wall jumping is better than in most of games of its type (you just press a single button rather than having to specifically bounce 'away' from the wall) and for the most part, I never felt frustrated with the controls.

The level design here is quite well done as well. Is it perfect? No, it varies significantly between levels, with the sunken ship level being the worst and the clock tower being one of the best.

I also really liked the boss battles in the game. They looked great, involved somewhat original characters (like the pumpkin one), weren't too difficult and actually felt somewhat fair with the instant respawn after dying. Given that most Mario fan games and hacks make their bosses ridiculous in terms of difficulty, this was refreshing to see.

Add some other cool things like the Carrot powerup from Super Mario Land 2 and the double/triple jumps from Mario 64, and you've got a game which plays well and is of a (mostly) reasonable difficulty level.
 
Graphics
7 / 10
Well, they were decent enough, and some of the mixes did look quite nice. Such as the rainy graveyard with a realistic background behind the Mario esque trees, or the clock tower which merged Castlevania with traditional Mario stylings.

That said, it wasn't perfect. The ground often didn't really finish properly, with cut off edges that looked a bit unpolished at times. But it looked tolerable for the most part.
 
Sound
10 / 10
The music was great. Mostly consisting of songs from Donkey Kong Country, Castlevania and other such franchises instead of traditional Mario music, it aided the 'haunted' atmosphere really well and suited the levels in a way that your typical jolly Mario jingles would never have done.
 
Replay
10 / 10
There was a ton of replay value in this game. You had secret levels only accessible on certain times of year (a Christmas story at Christmas, the final level at Halloween, a joke level on April Fools Day). You had Luigi as an unlockable character, with his own endings. There was concept art, early level betas to test, all that cool stuff.

Fantastic, especially for a fan project.
 
Final Words
9 / 10
With well designed levels, decent aesthetics and a ton of replay value, Super Mario Blue Twilight DX is a classic Mario game that shouldn't be missed. Play it now.

Comments
No comments have been left.
Pages: | Last Unread