Super Mario Bros. 35, which I will just refer to as Mario 35 from now on, is a multiplayer game that comes with your Nintendo Online subscription. Its an online multiplayer Mario game, something I felt I always wanted.

n

Reviewed, on Nintendo Switch.

n

When Mario 35 was first announced, the trailer said it will only be available until March 2021. At the time of the announcement, that really bothered me. Now after playing it, it can go away tomorrow, and I will be ok with it. This has the look of the last Nintendo Online subscription game, Tetris 99, but this one failed to capture the same magic.

n

You are playing levels from the original Super Mario Bros game, and so are 34 other people, but you are not playing in the same levels. The object is to be the last Mario left alive. I love Battle Royale games, anyone who reads or listens to anything I have done knows that, but this is definitely an exception. I never felt like I was trying to win a battle royale, I just felt like I was trying to be the last person to not make a stupid mistake.

n

When the game starts, you have a timer that is ticking down, just like in the original game. Every enemy you kill, powerup you get, or extra life you find increases your time. Every enemy you kill will go to another player’s level, so as the player count gets smaller and smaller, you have more and more enemies on your screen, so time was never a problem. Most of my games ended when I made a stupid mistake and fell to my death.

nn

The game also lets you spend some coins to start the match with items like a mushroom or a fire flower but it really never felt necessary. It was pretty easy to get a mushroom immediately so it did not make any sense to spend coins at the start.

n

The other mechanic to do with coins is the ability to spend 20 coins during the match to get an item. This seemed like something that kept the matches going on much longer than they should have.

n,,,Verdictn

Mario 35 was a game that at the announcement I couldn’t wait for, and now that its here, I have no urge to continue playing it. It was an interesting idea that failed in its execution. It’s part of Nintendo Online, so if you are a subscriber, you can try this for no additional cost but I don’t feel this is worth getting a subscription for. The game runs well but I just can’t find a reason to run it.

nn

Final Score: 3/10

n

For more reviews, be sure to check out my thoughts on Might & Magic: Chess Royale, Vigor, My Friend Pedro and my new podcast: Game Bites, the latest entry in The Spinchoon Podcast Network (check out Flix & a Six here). As always, check us out on Twitter @TheSpinchoonand I’m @Big_Broons.