I remember a long time ago seeing this game on the gamelist of Castle Paradox and downloading it, basically because it had pretty good graphics.

Upon playing it right away, I saw my own character used in the title screen. I would normally have no problem with this so long as someone asked for permission, but I remember being a little bit upset 5 years ago when I first played this. However, bygones are bygones, and I'm revisting this game and giving it a fair chance now.


The game doesn't have an intro really. You start out as everyone's favorite plumber, Mario. You progress through the Koopa prison, unlocking doors, and freeing your friends from captivity. The two you acquire in the demo are Yoshi and Donkey Kong. The main plot that I've discovered is just trying to get out of this massive prison.

Gameplay is pretty unforgiving in a lot of ways, and having made games in a similar fashion, I understand. The premise for the gameplay is to sneak around the place and dodge typical Mario baddies. You'll see Koopas all over the place, pirahna plants, sewer monsters, and a ton of fireballs. Touching them will send you back to the beginning of whatever dungeon you're in. For the most part, sneaking around is fairly simple. There are a few thrilling parts that make you wonder if you'll make it, and then there are some parts that require sheer dumb luck to get by. The music of the game is taken from various Mario games.


The graphics are by far the best part of the game. All of the sprites are very well drawn, and the maptiles are great. It has a very simple design, using very bright colors. Stairs are something I've always had trouble drawing and the more I study these, the more I think I've just been overthinking them. The NPCs are clearly the best drawn things in the game. Piranha plants move in and out of their pipes. Koopas are drawn well. This game shows you, to make a great cartoon-ish looking game, you don't need to use a ton of shading, just keep the art simple and bright. A well-drawn sprite will look great, with or without shading.


When I originally played this game, I got to the cell where Mr.Triangle was, got kind of upset he was used without permission, and then quit the game to go harass the creator. Kind of a jerk move on my part since I didn't finish the demo just to mess with the guy. Mr.Triangle's role in the game was basically a cameo. He tells you he's stuck in the cell because the Koopas caught him, and he tells you where his key is located. Upon reaching the end of the demo, the characters talk about what they could name the password for the .rpg file in future updates. Donkey Kong gives away all the good passwords, Yoshi gets a little ghetto, and then the game is done. Martino actually credits everyone in the game he borrowed things from, which makes me feel like a major prick, because he did credit my character at the end pretty well.


Martino actually shows a fair amount of love for the OHR characters in this game. He has posters of Bob the Hamster on the wall and different beverages in the vending machine are references to other OHR characters. It would have been interesting to see who else he would have included had he stuck with the game. I mean, it would have been nice for him to invent new characters to make this game with, but for a short indie game, there's nothing wrong with what he's trying to do here with the Mario characters. He has a lot of original artwork, which is better than shamelessly ripping them from the other games.


This isn't the kind of game I recommend playing, since the thing to take away from here is for beginning pixel artists. Just casually look at the screenshots, and see how the simplicity of the game really works. Hopefully it inspires someone to go back and try new things with their techniques.