Beat on slow motion mode. This game played a lot like the Super Mario series but with more emphasis on shooting. Every stage had water that went up and down displayed in grey scale, which was an interesting effect. My biggest issue was the sheer amount of stuff happening on screen. All kinds of stuff to pick up, enemies, projectiles, platforms, spikes. It was difficult to process like visual diarrhea. By the time I beat the game I figured out what some of the pickups did. Most were just score and I think I noticed healing occur from score. I don't think there was a specific health item. Ducks worked like Contra or shoot em ups cycling the type of weapon. The starter shot did straight ahead plus up and down diagonal, so it was good for hitting off angles but did the least damage. The spiral and wave shots were similar to each other, shooting straight with a limited vertical pattern. The arrow was a simple horizontal shot that seemed to do the most damage. Last the black balls fired in a downward arc, which was probably the best overall weapon especially for bosses. There were 3 forms that granted special abilities and were lost upon touching an enemy, just like Mario. Statue form increased damage done by jumping on enemies, and gave immunity to enemy shots and spikes. It was great for defeating enemies and getting through spike rich environments but didn't help with platforming. Only 1 boss was fought in this form, ridiculous Antarctica with penguins, seals and Eskimos. The fish form allowed excellent control under water while still being human on land. As long as there was some grey water on screen the fish prevented falling off screen and made most platforming trivial. I liked how most stages had low and high routes which were better suited to certain forms. Fish was meant for low. 2 bosses were fought as the fish, which played out like a shoot em up. The last form was flight, but you could only stay airborne for a few seconds before needing to land. Overall the best form because it allowed skipping of enemies, hazards, obstacles and platforming. Most bosses were fought while flying but it was way more difficult than as the fish. Touch the boss once or go too low on the screen and dead. I didn't find out until the final boss that I could hold down the button to fly, but you still could not shoot and fly at the same time. The sun boss was the most difficult because it actively tried to touch you for insta kill, while the final boss left just enough room to avoid that. These flying boss fights were the least fun aspect of the game. Each world had 3 stages with the 3rd leading to a boss. Each 1 and 2 stage ended in the exact same mini boss that was simple to kill. They didn't even try to mix it up. Also there were bonus stages but after doing a few I skipped them because they made you restart the stage.

This game felt like it copied the homework of Super Mario Bros 3 without understanding the assignment. Sure most of the pieces were there, even with some slight innovation, but I would have had more fun playing any of the Super Mario games again.

6.3/10