Today, Nintendo releases a trio of Mario spin-off games on their Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy app. Let’s have a look at them!
Here’s what I thought of each of these games:
Game Boy App
| Game | Genre | # of Players | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. Mario | Match-4 Falling Block Puzzle | 1-2 Competitive (Local Wireless / Online) | C |
tl;drDr. Mario is a decent Puzzle game, but this release of the game has multiple problems – the lack of color in a game about color-matching was an unfortunate but understandable cutback for the original Game Boy, but not for an emulated version that could have included Game Boy Color/Super Game Boy color options. However, the major issue here is that Nintendo Switch Online subscribers already have access to the vastly-superior Nintendo Entertainment System version of the game, which not only has full color but also same-screen local multiplayer support. So why would anyone bother playing this inferior version? | |||
| Mario Golf (Game Boy Color) | Sports (Golf) | 1-2 Competitive (Local Wireless / Online) | B |
tl;drIt looks simple by today’s standards, but great gameplay plus solid RPG mechanics make this a winner. | |||
| Mario Tennis (Game Boy Color) | Sports (Tennis) | 1-2 Competitive (Local Wireless / Online) | C |
tl;drThis is a very simple, bland version of the sport. Nowhere near what we’ve come to expect from the Mario Tennis series. | |||
I previously reviewed the two Mario sports games last year on the Wii U Virtual Console, and apart from this release allowing players to participate in the games’ multiplayer mode, not much has changed, which is to say I still think that the Game Boy Color version of Mario Tennis is a bit overly-simple by modern standards, but Mario Golf remains an absolute treasure to this day, despite its outdated graphics.
That just leaves Dr. Mario, and as I say above, it’s kinda’ pointless to play this version of the game when the superior Nintendo Entertainment System version is already on Nintendo Switch Online via the Nintendo Entertainment System app. What’s more, if you subscribe to the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, you have access to the Nintendo 64 sequel on the Nintendo 64 app, which may have its flaws, but it does add 4-player multiplayer. With all this Dr. Mario going around, why would anyone bother with this outdated black-and-white version, save for pure nostalgia reasons.
Still, at the end of the day, none of these games is outright bad, and Mario Golf is actually great, so I consider this release a winner – sure, it’s not as major a release for the Game Boy app as if we also got, say, Super Mario Land, Donkey Kong, and Wario Land 1 & 2 (all Mario franchise games that have yet to release to the Game Boy app), but it’s a decent release nonetheless.
tl;dr – The Game Boy app gets three Mario spin-off games this month. Dr. Mario is pointless when we already have the NES version of the game, and Mario Tennis is too simplistic, but Mario Golf is still to this day an absolute gem of a game and well worth playing.
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