I've reviewed a game by the name of Super Mario Bros. 3 Special. Why is this important information? Well, this is by the same developer, and it's very similar. Wait, did I say very similar? I meant to say that it's the EXACT SAME GAME with different graphics and palettes. There's a few minor changes, but they'll be detailed later on. If you want to read my review of Super Mario Bros. 3 Special, there'll be a link at the end of the review.
This game greets you with a bunch of still images of Pokemon before giving you a title screen, oddly enough. I still don't know why having a bunch of random still pictures flash by you is necessary, but it's only the tip of the iceberg. When you start playing the game, you'll notice that the world map's been removed, and the game just gives the levels to you in a linear order. In other words, the game actually lost some of the depth that was in SMB3 Special. Now that's a huge failure.
Graphically, it's very similar. A lot of the graphics and palettes have been changed, but most of the new graphics aren't anything to write home about. At least they actually made the sky blue this time! The power-ups haven't been changed, although their appearance has. And since they couldn't think of anything else to do with Pikachu's sprite, he turns green when he grabs a power-up. Ingenuity!
For some unfathomable reason, the developers decided to start the game off with level 4, which is the second hardest level to be found in the game. I do have to give them credit on one thing, though: they fixed the bug at the end of level 4 that rendered it impossible to finish. So now it's just a really tedious jumping challenge instead of a broken, inescapable level.
Other than that, the levels are pretty much the same. They did fix a bug with one enemy type, so they actually appear properly in this game, but the levels are otherwise unchanged. I still have to question why this was even made. After fighting your way through five extremely ugly levels with horrible controls, the game ends on a single screen. What, did they just run out of time to develop an ending or something?
I still can't figure out why this exists in the first place. Why would you just reskin the same game and try to sell it again? I know they're Chinese pirates, but do they really think this kind of thing is super effective?
In conclusion, this is a completely pointless creation. Aside from a couple of minor changes, it's exactly the same game as SMB3 Special. Considering that SMB3 Special is one of the worst things I've ever tried to play in my life, why would you make another version of it? Were they that attached to the horrible abomination that they created? Whatever the reason may be, don't waste your time with this one, not even out of curiosity.
Final Rating - 0.1 green Pikachus out of 10
Link to SMB3 Special:
SMB3 Special Review