Preliminary: This seems super underrated. It's not just "mario but a baby"--there are a lot of unique mechanics. Sure, the concept is utterly absurd lol. But I like that you can hit the enemies and they inflate and you can ride them upwards for a while. You can instead hit them like a balloon at other enemies etc. I'm sure there will be more I discover as I go. I'm just playing it blind and am kinda hoping it stays a pick-up-and-play, intuitive action game. I doubt it, since NES always expanded things beyond simple action. But I kinda miss the pick-up-and-play vibe of the early 80s arcade games etc.

Day 1

Lol yessss the Bell power-up having me stop crawling, standing up, and running real fast! This is super cute and intuitive so far. It has a cute cake theme to the first world (you can jump on top of those cakes) and everything has been intuitive so far. At first I thought you get damaged by falling from high heights but fortunately, since I hate that in platformers, it just stuns you. I think this would be a fun game to speedrun!

Of course, typical me, I'm associating the frequent pig enemies with Tomba :-p The pig boss with the open mouth reminds me of the frequent boss/miniboss in Doki Doki Panic/Super Mario 2. And the way you wave your wand reminds me of Swag Man for the PS1, you waved some sort of wand to attack enemies :-p Welp, I finished the first level and the controls feel very natural and responsive, the mechanics remind me of a lot of arcade games of this time and am happy to see contemporary arcade mechanics creeping into the NES, the Look and colors and Sound fit the cute vibe, and it's sticking to pick-up-and-play. Nice!

Not in love with the controls of World 1-2 but the music reminds me of Crash Bandicoot :-p But ok yea 2-2 (seems the 2nd level of every world has a unique mechanic... this one sadly a water level lol, but it controls better than Mario imo!) legit ripped off the water theme music from Mario right? I love the occasional chaos when you accidentally get a ballooned enemy bouncing all over the place :-p Sometimes works in your favor, which again reminds me of early-80s arcade game mechanics.

It's got everything I need: simple fun pick-up-and-play platformer, a way to fight back, learnable mechanics, and mid-jump controls that would put the first Castlevania and whatnot to shame :-p

Lot it's me in ice sculpture form! I was going to boss tonight, and I'm fighting a cold so I wanted to rest a lot, but I can't put this down! I had a similar urge with the first Mario Bros so maybe that's why everyone associates the 2 :-p Lolll the sliding Walrus for the boss of the ice world. Tho I gott say, wow, a water level I didn't mind and now an ice world I found fun?! What is this game?! The penultimate of mid/late-80s NES platformers?!

The computer chip world is a neat idea but uff 4-2 gets me dizzy (it's the comptuer chip world... but upside down) . I can only imagine that drunk

Ah! And now this world with the conveyor belts reminds me of the Pajama Sam Sock Works game! So much Feels so far in this game and I think I'm about to beat it in one night despite my better judgment lol

And I love the colors of this water level

Welp woopsie. I assume this is the final boss! I can't believe I did this to myself when I feel myself getting sick loll but I couldn't put it down. Kept being new themes and new enemies and new mechanics in every level. Kept the game fresh till the very end (well the bosses were a tadbit repetitive but always in new settings and new twists). This is a creepy final boss for a baby-themed game lol

Cute ending screens/credits, and good cute jingle to end it. Great game! Check it out!!

Look: 9/10 Such a variety of settings and the cutesiness matched (tho the computer chip world was a bit out of place lol). It often brought 90s DOS platformers to mind, as well as arcade games.

Sound: 8/10 I wasn't moved by any of it, but it fit the theme, never annoyed me, and was nice throughout.

Play: 9.5/10 I was instantly hooked and didn't put it down till I finished it lol. Well, you know what Imma boos this to a 9.5 because this is the first action game I have ever played that I genuinely enjoyed the water levels.

Feel: 9/10 Cute, unique, great Look Sound and Play, hooked me in. Gameplay that I love. Pick up and play, which I haven't seen a single one, I swear, since like 1985. Nice.

Attachment: 9/10 Yep, I will be showing my husband and definitely returning to this. Like Mario Bros 1, it can just be picked up and replayed and makes you wanna try speedrunning and exploring it. In some ways I am grateful there aren't warps and super secrets etc, but in others I'm glad it allowed me not to have to doublecheck maps and use a guide--instead I just simply played... and how wonderful is that?!

Overall: 8.9/10

Completion: Main Story Playtime: ~1h 45m