Mario - The Last Castle Review

Overview

Mario - The Last Castle presents a curious twist on the classic platforming formula by arming everyone's favorite plumber with firearm capabilities while retaining the nostalgic Super Mario World aesthetic. Early feedback reveals a divisive experience - while some appreciate the novelty of Mario's new combat options and faithful physics, others find the execution lacking in originality and polish. This castle-themed adventure delivers competent platforming fundamentals but struggles to justify its core gimmick beyond surface-level novelty.

The gun given to Mario adds an extra fun element to the game and I was in no way angry with JS Lemming's own enemy killing system, in fact I prefer the blood and guts to simply squashing the enemy.

C.C.

Armed and Questionable

The defining feature separating this entry from other Mario clones is the permanent firearm addition. Mario now dispatches turtles and other enemies with unlimited bullets rather than traditional jumps, resulting in more violent enemy deaths featuring blood and gore effects. While this provides momentary novelty, the mechanic ultimately feels underdeveloped - enemies don't exhibit new behaviors to counter ranged attacks, and the unlimited ammo removes any strategic consideration. The gun functions more as a visual reskin of fire flower mechanics than a meaningful gameplay evolution.

Mario's newfound voice proves equally puzzling. His sole vocalization manifests as a Homer Simpson-esque "D'oh!" when injured, a bizarre choice that clashes tonally with the otherwise traditional presentation. This single repeated soundbite quickly becomes grating rather than charming, highlighting how minimal effort was invested in expanding Mario's character beyond this jarring impersonation.

Nostalgic Foundations

Where the game finds stronger footing is in its faithful recreation of classic Mario physics and environments. The jumping mechanics receive particular praise for perfectly capturing Super Mario World's weight and momentum, allowing precise platforming that feels immediately familiar to series veterans. Visuals maintain the expected 16-bit sprite aesthetic with no significant upgrades or stylistic deviations, effectively evoking nostalgia though lacking any modern enhancements.

Level design follows traditional castle themes with appropriate lighting and environmental details, though the adventure suffers from noticeable brevity. New enemy behaviors like following Goombas provide welcome variety, suggesting potential that isn't fully explored across the compact campaign. While the core platforming delivers competent execution, it never surpasses or meaningfully iterates on its obvious inspirations.

Verdict

Gimmicky gunplay overshadows solid Mario fundamentals

STRENGTHS

60%

Physics Faithfulness85%

Gun Novelty70%

Visual Nostalgia65%

WEAKNESSES

40%

Lack of Originality75%

Voice Acting65%

Shallow Mechanics60%

Short Duration50%

Community Reviews

3 reviews

C.C.

Trusted

This Mario game strays slightly away from the rest as you begin in a castle but not just an old castle... the last castle! Armed with a gun Mario sets off through the dark castle of king bowser to well... kill him. Graphics: Good old Super Mario World sprites. The graphics are true to the previous Mario adventures in every way and with impressive detail, too. 7/10 Sound: Well, at first I was disapointed with the lack of background music but then as I progressed through the game I found out it was just to put even more enphasis on the hilarious sound FX. 7/10 Gameplay: Sheer amazement struck me when I played this game. The gravity is so faithful to Super Mario World it's almost scary. This game boasts by far the best jumping gravity I've played here on Acid. As if that wasn't enough, the gun given to Mario adds an extra fun element to the game and I was in no way angry with JS Lemming's own enemy killing system, infact I prefer the blood and guts to simply squashing the enemy. If that's not good enough for you, Mario fans will cry with joy as they see the new goomba enemy follow you around adding extra challange to the game. 9/10 This game is one of the greatest Mario clones I've played, infact, with a little more life-span it could be one of the greatest Mario games I've played! 9/10 Award: A mixture of excellent graphics, amusing sounds, and amazing gameplay mean that this game receives these rare personal awards from me: Game of the month .Aug 06.Silver Game Award .2006.

Gohst

This is, yes, you guessed it, another Mario clone. Don’t look at me, I have no idea what makes people want to make more and more of these games. This time around, Mario not only talks, but has his own gun. As you might assume, the graphics look like Mario graphics. That’s all there is too them, they’re not flasher; they’re not hipper or bolder. They’re pretty much identical. The game play is standard Mario fare, except this time around Mario has had the foresight to equip himself with a gun. He can shoot turtles and whatever else he pleases, as he does not have any limit on the number of bullets he brought with him. And yes, you did read correctly, in this version of Mario, your favourite plumber finds his voice. And what and interesting choice of words it is too, when Mario speaks. When he gets injured he, for some strange reason, decides to do his very own Homer Simpson impersonation. That’s all he says really. So all in all, this is probably about mid-range on the Mario game-o-meter and I don’t think it would be hard to find one better. Then again I don’t think it would be hard to find one worse. So try it if you must, Mario addict.

John Cena

Wow! And this time I mean it. I played it for only thirty minutes and I already got addicted. This is pretty fun, but if you're a die hard music fan, I suggest stay away from this game as far as possible. If you're sort of an adventurous gamer, I suggest you give it a chance and go for it, it's not a very big download. To conclude, I would suggest all gamers give it a try. Even if you don't like Mario and his "wooooppppesss", you might start to like it when you get the point of the game.

Mario - The Last Castle