Mario Clash can be considered the lost Mario game. Released at the height of the Virtual Boy’s popularity (more like lack thereof) Mario Clash was the one semi-traditional franchise release (Mario and pals were too busy playing tennis) for the doomed system. Unfortunately it was more of a re-envisioned version of the original arcade game Mario Bros. That’s not such a bad thing in my opinion. When I began collecting for the Virtual Boy Mario Clash was a no brainer. After completing this red and black platforming adventure I was left wondering why Nintendo didn’t instead focus their resources into a traditional franchise installment. Don’t get me wrong; Mario Clash is fun, but a side scrolling platform game would have been much more enjoyable.
The story here is a little difficult to decipher. Because my copy of the game didn’t come with an instruction booklet I had to look it up. Apparently a group of baddies have taken over a place called ‘Clash Tower’ and it’s up to the red clothed plumber to take care of them. This game is a sequel of sorts to the original arcade title Mario Bros. It’s no longer a side scrolling adventure. Mario’s back to work as a plumber dealing with monsters coming out of pipes. You move on when they’re gone. The stages here are quite a bit different from one another with different pipes leading to other areas. Basic gameplay is largely the same. You play from a side view and guide Mario left and right. The only ability at his disposal here the trademark jump. Well, I guess he can also throw shells.
A neat new addition to the classic Mario Bros. formula is the use of 3D space. Taking advantage of the stereoscopic display of the Virtual Boy itself you have both a background and foreground, and both of these are in play. You travel back and forth to them via the pipes on the edges of the screen. It’s actually pretty neat, and an admirable way to take advantage of the hardware. This feature is the biggest change from the original Mario Bros. and one that makes Mario Clash really stand out in the Virtual Boy library.
Koopa troopas return, and you can throw their shells after jumping on their heads. You will need to do so to destroy most of the enemies here. There are no upper platforms. These shells are it as far as Mario’s offensive capabilities go. The mechanics behind throwing the shells has changed a bit. They only travel a short distance before coming to a stop. It takes a bit of getting used to and will require you to judge your throws. Admittedly it would be too easy if they rolled endlessly. Still, it’s surprising just how short they travel. What’s cool is the fact that you can throw them into the foreground and background. Even with these changes to the formula there just isn’t a whole lot to Mario Clash. You can see most of what the game has to offer in just the first few stages.
Mario Clash is fun in small doses, but it’s too repetitive to complete in one sitting. That’s not even taking the eye strain from the system itself into account. There’s 99 different stages to conquer. That’s without a save or even password feature. This is one of the cases where I simply cannot imagine completing the game in one sitting. The levels just feel too similar to one another and the action quickly becomes repetitious. There’s only so much you can do with a single screen platform title like this, but why bother if you can’t keep things fresh from start to finish? Mario Clash just left me hungry for a traditional Mario experience. Yes, even a black and red one.
That’s not to say it’s all bad because overall I do think this is an intelligent update to what is no doubt a classic game, but there were some painful omissions made. First of all this title would have benefited a great deal by adding in some two player co-op. I know that isn’t exactly possible given that the link cable was never released for the Virtual Boy, but Nintendo should have made it a point to release it by the time this came out. This could have made Mario Clash a classic that would still be remembered today.
Unfortunately the game isn’t even all that pretty. Nintendo could have chosen literally any past character sprite for Mario and it would have been okay. Instead they drew a new one and he just doesn’t look right here. It’s almost like one of those designs for Mario you’d find in a cheap educational spinoff. In addition certain enemies lack details we’ve come to expect from them. Koopa Troopa shells are now a solid color and no longer feature any texture. The biggest crime however is the fact that every character features so few frames of animation. In this regard Mario Clash resembles a NES game. The Virtual Boy us supposed to be 32-bit, and so why didn’t the developers take advantage of it?
On the plus side the 3D effect is decent. The best part is that it actually affects gameplay. Overall it’s just not a very pretty game though. You also have to contend with the black and red display, and as anyone that has played the system knows that will burn right into your retinas. The soundtrack is okay, but it’s largely forgettable. Nintendo made a lot of slow tempo music for this title. It just doesn’t seem a good fit for a Mario title. Classic remixes would have fared significantly better, and even the sound effects are all new. This is one case where I wish they borrowed assets from their other games instead of trying to be original.
Mario Clash is as close as the Virtual Boy came to getting a traditional game in the franchise (Wario Land, while excellent, simply doesn’t count). It’s clear that Nintendo took the easy path here and simply released something with a short development cycle requiring minimal effort to try and bolster sales. I still enjoy Mario Clash, but it hardly takes the place of a real Mario title. It’s one of the inexpensive Virtual Boy games to collect, and it is worth a play. Just don’t expect the usual Nintendo quality and polish this time around.
