But there are also level-specific challenges. These vary from simply finding a golden mushroom, to grabbing a set amount of coins. Along the way you’ll also collect up to three hidden gems (and of course, you can grab coins for extra lives), but there’s also a secondary objective on every level. Instead, the completionist appears to be at the forefront of the developer’s minds.Įach single level has the same guidelines laid out in order to finish it: find your way to the end of the level and grab the star. Only the final few levels required me to go back and grab a few, though – and I’d say about three levels posed a real difficulty. As you progress there will be levels gated-off that require you to unlock them after collecting a set amount of gems. That said, it’s not a difficult campaign, either. You’ll comfortably barrel through the core levels in under six hours, going back in to complete additional objectives and gather the gems you missed the first time around in order to unlock further bonus levels. In fact, it’s not that long a game, really. How Nintendo manage to make the same cut-scene make me smile three times, well, only they know. Although they repeat, and follow the rule of three, each time you face any of the bosses, it’s highly entertaining. In fact, several of the boss levels are (design wise) some of the best on offer. Thankfully, the fabled Nintendo level design is in action again, and while Treasure Track has a very slow start, there are enough clever moments spaced out through the three books that make up the story to maintain forward momentum, and thoroughly compel you to complete the game. Cherries to double, triple, or quadruple up Toad for certain levels and required puzzle solving, are one notable inclusion. Book two switches the tale on its head, with Toad being the captive, and the third book is a more expansive set of levels, where the difficulty raises and you share equal time playing as either character.Īs it borrows so heavily from the game it was born from, power-ups from said forefather also appear.

Analogous to Mario’s non-stop tale of woe, Captain Toad and Toadette are adventuring to find stars, whereupon Toadette is captured by a humongous bird that nabs the star, and her with it. Structurally, it’s slightly odd, as there are three books you play through, made up of individual levels and short playable vignettes that progress the story. Annoyingly, there’s no option to turn off the gyro controls, which causes minor frustration at times. You’ll have to use the motion controls built into the Wii U’s GamePad (or just the right analog stick, as I did) to move the camera around at length, revealing hidden gems secreted about the fifty-plus levels. Essentially, Treasure Tracker is a puzzle-platformer that uses Captain Toad and Toadette as the playable characters, but employs camera controls to hide the solutions. Now, that’s not to say that if you didn’t enjoy it in Mario World, suddenly you’ll fall head over heels in love.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is exactly what you’d imagine: the wonderful Toad mini-games that were far too few in Mario World, with a few tweaks and changes – in fact, just enough to make a game of its own. Super Mario 3D World was a majestic game, and one that boasted some incredibly high quality level design that, when combined with the HD-visuals we’ve now become accustomed to, was my personal game of year.

Captain toad treasure tracker bosses