Super Mario Bros. Crossover is just the kind of game I should love. Especially with the inclusion of Mega Man, it’s a concept I enjoy very much. Sadly though I couldn’t really play it for ages because it’s keyboard only input, and that’s worthless. But I found Darwiin Remote last week (no typo in that name) which lets me play SMB Crossover with my Wii Remote, without even desyncing it from my Wii. So finally, I got to play the game.
Sadly, I was disappointed.
I’d briefly toyed with the initial version of the game, which was an excellent proof of concept. The current version, 1.2.03, is so much more polished. The inclusion of special attacks, including Mega Man’s Rush Coil, has let the game be more true to each character’s physics. What the game isn’t yet true to though are the physics and rules of Super Mario Bros. and that is the game’s big problem.
Just play level 8-2 and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. Two key problems all show up right there in the same spot: Pit physics are broken, letting Spinys and shells jump right over pits. That problem is exacerbated by the other problem: Lakitu has been transformed into a killing machine. He fires his eggs far too often and has his movement altered to home in on you far too often. The result is a level that’s nearly unplayable. I have trouble getting through that level with Mario, something I’ve done many, many, many times on real SMB.
Other issues are livable: Bullet Bills fire too often, but the two bullet limit ends up mitigating that. One-way scrolling is off, such that you can’t get the 1-1 1Up and still go down the coin pipe, something I do all the time in the original game. I can live with those. But the pit issue and the Lakitu issue are game breakers.
I hope they gets fixed. I want to like SMB Crossover. But until it is fixed, I just can’t. The game is too frustrating.