Mini Mario & Friends Amiibo Challenge

Genre: Puzzle-Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Mini Mario & Friends Amiibo Challenge is a Puzzle-Platformer in Nintendo’s Mario Vs. Donkey Kong series, and it is technically free-to-play… but also not. In order to play this game, players need to have an Amiibo. Any Amiibo will open access to the game’s 12 main levels. However, players who use one of the select supported Amiibo figures (namely, characters from the Mario and Donkey Kong franchises) can play an additional four levels specific to that character. This means that there are actually a total of 52 playable levels in this game… but only if you have the ten specific Amiibo figurines this game supports. And if you don’t have any Amiibo figures at all, this game is literally unplayable.

Even if you happen to have all ten supported Amiibo figures (Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Toad, Bowser, Bowser Jr., Rosalina, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong), the full 52 levels will be over pretty quickly, making this game more than anything just a taste of what you’d find in a more fully-fledged release in the series like Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars. However, even a taste of something really good is still pretty good.

And make no mistake, the core formula here is really good – players use the touchscreen to place and remove objects to help along the automated Lemmings-like robot version of Mario (or whichever character you use), and the puzzle design here is quite inventive and fun. The visuals are polished and appealing (though nothing impressive), and the game’s takes on Nintendo’s classic themes and tinny-voiced versions of the Mario characters are charming as ever.

So, if you don’t have any Amiibo, should you go out and buy a bunch of them to play this game? Heck no. And even if you did, you would find yourself running through the entire thing within the span of a few hours. On the other hand, if you have a Wii U or 3DS, and also have at least one or two Amiibo figurines, there’s little reason not to download this game and give it a try – it costs you nothing to do so, and it is fun while it lasts.

tl;dr – Mini Mario & Friends Amiibo Challenge is technically a free-to-play Puzzle-Platformer, but it is absolutely unplayable unless you have an Amiibo figurine, and preferably the specific supported figurines to unlock additional content. If you do, you’ll find this game to be an excellent (but short) take on the genre that makes good use of the touchscreen, and while it’s not something worth paying to play, Amiibo owners might as well get it as it costs them nothing extra.

Grade: C+

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