Definitely could be better, but still relatively solid as it is.As far as Virtual Boy games goes, there really isn't a whole lot of competition in terms of "quality" titles. Mario Clash, by its very nature (definitive Mario title for the system), is poised to at least be in the upper half in terms of quality. The only question remains is how high can it go? (...that was unintentional.)
Like most Mario games, there isn't much in the way of story. Someone has captured Clash Tower (a very tall tower that reaches the clouds and possibly space), and Mario has to break in and rescue the tower back. As far as gameplay basics are concerned, some people have remarked it being a remake of the 1983 arcade classic Mario Bros., and to be fair, they're not that far off from the truth. Not only is the level progression very reminiscent of arcade games, but there's more than a handful of gameplay elements from said arcade title that it carries over into Mario Clash. It does have its differences, however, but well get to those in a moment. First off, the controls. You only use the left D-pad to move left and right in the game and up and down for menus, B to Jump in the actual game, and A to throw or perform various actions, assuming that Start isn't an option. The swapping of the B and A roles can throw people off, but it's shouldn't be too hard to adjust, though it's understandably frustrating to forget. However, the real problem is that the forgetfulness happens more often than it should, despite being used to it, as if you've played multiple Mario games, this detour is going to get annoying quick. (-.5 for its sheer frequency). However, I'm getting ahead of myself.
From the start menu, you can
select which level you'd like to start in, check your high score, or adjust the brightness of the game in five levels. Once you start actually playing the game, each level has two "planes", and you move back and forth via pipes. You get to choose which plane to start with every time you die. Levels slowly but surely get more complex, and that goes for both the level design and enemies. The objective of each level is to beat all the enemies that aren't koopas. I say that because you jump on the koopas and use their shells to defeat the other enemies, because trying to jump on them pretty much results in death. Koopas can appear on either plane, and more will appear as the game goes on. As an aside, maybe Bowser should start equipping his minions with anti-jumping protection if he wants an easier time capturing and keeping the princess.....
*ahem* Anyhow, as you clear the enemies, you obtain points, and the overall goal, aside from reaching the top, of course, is to obtain a high-score. At the end of each level, you earn two bonuses: Technical and Time. Time bonuses are, of course, indicative of how much time you have left in each level, though the formula for obtaining such bonus isn't always obvious, as in some levels, you don't receive a time bonus despite sufficient leftovers. My guess is that there's a certain point where the bonus just stops, but I could be off. By the way, you have a time limit in each level, so keep that in mind. Technical bonuses are earned by defeating multiple enemies at once. This is easier said than done, especially with how most enemies are defeated. See, most enemies require multiple hits to beat, and the only way to do that is by knocking them from the other plane. This does require a bit of keenness when it comes to figuring out perspective, since it's not straight, likely trying to take advantage of the Virtual Boy's capabilities. Unfortunately, despite creating some depth as far as visuals goes, it makes trying to beat the enemies more complicated than it should. You can eventually figure it out, but you won't always figure it out correctly. (-.5 for needless complication in defeating enemies.)
One way around this is the mushroom you may have noticed. It has a counter that goes down with every enemy you defeat, and enemies involved in a combo are counted as multiple enemies. When it reaches zero, you initiate a mode where you can clear enemies regardless of any defense they may have. Pretty useful, I must say.
Also, every now and again, you enter a bonus stage likely inspired by the same bonus game found in Mario Bros. You try to collect as much coins and you can, and whatever coins you collect are multiplied by 300 and that adds to your overall score. Coins appear at different levels of height, and it can get quite confusing to figure out whether you should jump or not. I haven't been able to collect every single coin in a level, but I'd assume, again, that doing so nets you an extra life. Speaking about lives, you obtain an extra life for every 20000 points.
However, that leads me to what might be it's biggest flaw. Due to the length of the game, and the relatively low amount of lives, it's quite a challenge to beat the all the levels in one sitting, since you can't even save the game. Sure, you could pick the level, but there are 99 levels in the game, and you can only pick the first 40. Not only that, there are no continues, so once you get a Game Over, you have to start all over again. More baffling, though, is that it doesn't even save your scores. Okay, not saving the game I can kinda get, but not saving your score?! (-.5 for lack of saving scores.) I guess "difficulty" or "challenge" isn't the right word, so really, it tests your endurance. It's a harken back to the old days of arcade. However, it doesn't have much in the way of "modern" (at the time) conveniences to ease the pain, so once you're out, you're out. (-1 for lack of of modern usability.) Thankfully, there are a couple tips that I can give:
1 - You may have noticed, should you play the game, that if you throw a koopa shell across the room, and successfully hit its target, it bounces back to your side. If you stood still or otherwise are in its sight when it bounces back, you'll retrieve the shell back as opposed to it just dropping into oblivion.
2 - Try to obtain as much technical bonuses as you can, as not only they'll give you bonuses to add to your score (and henceforth increase your lives), but they'll also contribute greatly to your mushroom count, ensuring that you'll obtain it faster.
Graphics are appealing to look at, despite not being top of the line. You can certainly figure out which is which, though. One problem with the perspective, though, is that you may be confused as to which platforms belong to which plane, but thankfully, it's one of the easier aspects to figure out and get used to, and it's otherwise interesting to look at. The same thing could be said about audio. There's a few tracks that play and switch up every few levels, and the individual sounds aren't bleeding to the ears. That's really the best thing that could be said about the visuals and audio; they don't get in the way. In terms of length, again, it's 99 levels, and there's no saving system, so it could take a while to beat it. There's not much to go back for other than getting a high score, except it doesn't even save the scores if you turn it off.
Overall, it's by no means a bad game. It certainly could be better, especially when trying to use its mechanics, but it's otherwise a relatively (Key word: relatively) solid title for a not-so-solid platform. Here's a couple points to improve to game:
1 - Improve usability. While it's not too hard to access, trying to get used to it is a fairly big issue. Swapping the controls back to their original form is a start, but more importantly, allowing for an easier time when it comes to figuring out perspective would really help. Maybe have a line that appears in the first couple levels, but then gradually dissolves to just a couple dots, and then just disappear assuming that the player is good enough by then. Of course, this won't fix the problem entirely, and having a line creates new problems for the more hardcore of players, but with the way this solution is describe, it should find a happy medium.
2 - Add in a saving system. The first thing you should save is the high-scores, since those are an integral part of the game. Next, allow the player to save their game in the middle of the game and be able to come back to it should outside disturbances interfere. Adding in continues and the extent should you add them is entirely up to you, though.
Graphics
8 Sound
8 Addictive
3 Depth
5 Difficulty
7
User Notice 
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