This is my review, tips , and comments on the game Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
This review is for anyone playing the game, but especially completionists
GAME HISTORY
The game Toad Treasure Tracker relesed in 2014 for the Wii, is a prequel to super mario 3d world, it is a puzzle action based game.
In 3d world, there were levels every now and then where you got a chance to play as Captain Toad, whom simply appeared throughout the game in levels, sometimes giving you a star for saving him from something.
In these levels, controlling toad, you would find yourself in minature enviorments, you need to roate the camera to veiw the different parts of the course , and the end goal is to get all the green stars in the level , (around 6 I think).
And when the developers of 3d world saw the fans adoring this, they began joking of a game soley based on this style. skip to 2014, it finally gets relesed.
My Rating and Reveiw of game quality
Pros of the game:
- excellent graphics (9.5/10
The game has a satisfying, "fun" and cartoonish HD Look though might be missing a touch of cell shading, this beauty is very evident in this image :
- decent 2 player support ( 7/10 )
Playing with another person can be quite fun, you have 2 different modes to choose from, partner adventure which is unlocked after beating the game, and assist mode, which is available from the start, partner adventure allows you to play with another person, with one person being toad and another toadette, so you can both navigate a level, assist allows one person as captain toad, and another to use a separate joy con and use motion controls to shoot turnips like canon killing enemies and collecting items.
- camera is easy to get used to (in my opinion)
People online have been saying the camera is frustrating, but here on the switch, you can easily multitask, its very easy to move and tilt the right stick at the same time, if you are having trouble panning, moving, and running, try this: rest your left thumb unto the left joy cons stick to move, and rest the ball of your right thumb unto the right stick to look around, and the end of your right thumb to dash, It won't be for everyone, but I think it works the best!
- satisfying gameplay
The game can be rewarding for its difficulty , completing a difficullt stage and watch the stamp get placed on the page of the level is very amusing, I will always aprecicate when you get bragging rights for doing something hard in a game!
- if you like the game, there are near 100 levels with the dlc included to be busy on
Cons:
- Feeling of Rushed stages later on
The stages in episode 3, witch is still a story episode feels rushed for the 28 episodes there are, so almost double the norm of 18! I found this episodes stages feeling so "Extra" and placeholder like*
Completionists Expirience
This was my first game where I really 100% a title, usually I give up an hour or so but this time not, and man, did it fricken feel good, let me just say, completion is not for everyone, although, its a brutal, time-consuming expirence, and opens the door right in your face to the dark side of kids games that you thought were easy.
So how did it go for me?
Did I use a guide? Yes I used polygons.com for the powerstars, and hidden toads and some tips for bonus challenges
Did I ever use amibos for invinsibility or assist mode? No, I didn't even really know about ambios and what they did for the game, nor had acess to one
Completionist Proof
> What am I doing for Completion? / What is True 100%
True 100% completion for this game would be within following criteria:
*From Most difficult
- beat ever bonus challenge
- beat every time challenge
- beat all levels
- collect every powerstar
- find all pixel toads
A completionist touch would be getting a best coin run mark on all coins galore
its extremly easy lol dont overthink it!
In total
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64 pixel toads
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97 bonus challenges
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97 stages along with the dlc
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95 time trials (help)
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252 gems/ crowns / powermoons of some sort
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5 complete episodes 1,2,3, bonus, and special
- so in total this means there are 605 mini tasks to do
Bonus Challenges
Ok, so lets start with bonus challenges, seen as they were hardest.
Bonus challenges are unlocked/visible after beating a level, they are exactly what you think they are, little challenges once beating a level, these can range from "collect 45 coins" , to " slip past all the shy guys" or find the hidden gold mushrooms, this might sound easy, but these were deviously place on stages with an enviorment and / or structure to make this hard, take for example, stage 10 of ep. 1 : king of pyropuff peak, in the stage, a big steaming lava monster slowly makes lava rise unto the surface meaning you must tread extremly careful, and guess what the challenge is, collect 45 coins, one missed coin in the lava, restart, dont know where the missed 5 coins are, welp, problebly already disentagrated in the lava.. RESTART, all i got to say for these are, "thought a level was already hard" heres some more difficulty" , what I liked about these is that the bonus challenges added alot of diffuculty to the game and most important, they each fitted the unique design of each level, on stage 16 of ep.1, there are glowing blocks you can shift to make a path to progress through the level with your gamepad spread throghout the stage, the bonus challenge for that is cleared the course in 4 touches, witch I though was extremly fun! Completing these earns you 3 toad stamps on each epsiode book The hardest include:
Episode 1-14 Pop-Up Prairie Town: You need to collect 150 coins, which is a lot more than the coins available in the level. You need to use the turnips and the pickaxe wisely to get more coins from the enemies and blocks.
Episode 2-9 Draggadon’s Revenge: You need to defeat all the enemies, which includes the giant dragon Draggadon. You need to lure him to the lava geysers and hit him with turnips, while also avoiding his fireballs and tail.
Episode 3-13 Secret of the Golden Realm: You need to collect 280 coins, which is very hard because the level is full of traps and enemies. You need to be very careful and quick to get all the coins from the hidden areas and the Golden Mushrooms.
Episode 3-Bonus Mummy-Me Maze Forever: You need to collect 5000 coins, which is extremely difficult because the level is endless and gets harder as you go deeper. You need to avoid the Mummy-Me that chases you and collect as many coins and power-ups as you can.
Timed challenges
Actually incredibly close to the bonus challenges in difficulty, these are ONLY unlocked once the whole episode is cleared *every level, on each stage you will find an overly faint number at the bottom of the stage page indicateing the number of seconds you have to beat this level to complete the challenge time, your fastest time will be displayed after level beat, and will even have a star next to it , when challenge time is acheived! These time trials will have you beating levels in ways you didnt know were possible, there is a stage you must beat in 3 seconds!!!
TIP for these time trials, there are some videos online of speedruns and record times on youtube, go watch them to help with these when you're having trouble, there a HUGE help! Still let me say, get used to the following button pattern, -, down,A, lol that restarts the level Beating these Earns a feather on episode's 1 book only The Hardest time challenges you may find yourself doing are:
Episode 1-18 Wingo’s Watchtower: You need to avoid Wingo’s attacks and climb the tower quickly, while also collecting coins and turnips. The challenge time is 2:00, which is very tight
Episode 2-17 Spinwheel Sky Fort: You need to spin the cogs and time your movements carefully to avoid the Bullet Bills and Banzai Bills. The challenge time is 1:30, which requires precise execution
Episode 3-10 Multi-Vator Mayhem: You need to use the elevators and switches to navigate the level, while also dodging enemies and obstacles. The challenge time is 1:00, which is very challenging
Powerstars
You collect 3 of them in each stage, I dont have much to say about them lol, I rate them 6/10 difficulty, ***collecting all episodes powerstars earns you 3 stars ***
Pixel toads
These little guys:
They will be avaible to find once beating a level, they hid somewhere around the level and are super fun to find, there usually the easiest thing you will be doing, TIP : turn your volume up becuase they make a sound when near, you'll know when you hear it!
Mummy me- maze forever is the last stage of the base game, and is the most popular, diffucult and rewerarding stage of the game.
Important disclaimer, if you feel as if it is not cheating, try to get another person to throw turnips at enimeies in assist mode while you navigate the level
Okay, beating the level normally is what I did, and it took around 3 hours on friday and my whole saturday where i finally beat it :( This stage is less diffucult then champions road
What does the stage look like:
To get started, the stage makes you go through 50 rooms of mazes, in witch get harder as you progress, every maze features, loads of coins, a warp box in which is the player's goal and takes you to the next room, enemies are problebly the main concern, and a mummy that chases toad and follows toad with every movement he makes, the mummy constantly will be going to your position so you will get damaged if you ever stop moving!
Know your mazes
Room 1-4 are always just pirhanna plants
Rooms 6-9: Piranha Sprouts
Rooms 11-14: Goombas/Goomba Towers
Rooms 16-19: Boos
Rooms 21-24: Fire Piranha Plants; more common Super Mushrooms***
Rooms 26-29: Blue Shy Guys
Rooms 31-34: Bullet Bills
Rooms 36-39: Piranha Sprouts
Rooms 41-44: Bullet Bills and Goombas/Goomba Towers; more common Super Pickaxes
Rooms 46-49: Boos and Fire Piranha Plants
You might catch that rooms 5, 10 , 15, 20 , 25, 30 , 35, 40 , 45 , and 50 are missing heres why:
Every 5 levels excluding 10, and 20, are what I call CHAOS rooms, instead of normal enemies, chargin chucks will apear along with magikoopas
10,20 are break levels that look like this
At the center of the room, there is a super pixax, that you can pluck all of the pluck spots very quickly, each ones of these break rooms features a single mushroom and a gold mushrooms ( 50 coins) .
TIPS
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Use the gamepad to stun enemies, this is one of your best bets to surviving this gruling course, and stops enimies in your tracks!
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on break levels, take a 10-20 or even 30min break to catch a breath and just breath for whats to come
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speaking of break levels, you can manually pluck all turnips, then grab the pickax , and go into the next level to practicly give you a free pass and skip the room next!
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never collect mushrooms for the extra ten coins when big, you'll kick yourself hard when you find your self small later through the maze
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hug walls as much as possible to not hit anything allong with stunning enimies
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try to collect coins for the bonus challenge on purpose only until level 20
Overall just be enthusiastic, follow these tips and practice and you should get it right, after all, the reward at the end, is a shining golden crown you get to wear on every level from there on!
Final room (50)
And thats it, you have reached almost the end of my review, I hoped you found it usefull
Stats and info
Favourite stage: minecart cascade crusade
From the bonus mario oddesy stages
Favorite soundtrack: Title theme *super nostalgic for me
Story Rating: 1/10
Very bland and forgetable
level design rating 8/10 super creative
difficulty: 7/10
Reward: 8/10 not sure what the coins for even for , why were we collecting them lol
Completionist rating (was it fun to complete) 6.5/10
Its not worth it to complete the game, in my opinion just finishing it is better
