What a weird little game... The game starts off with Peach visiting a shady little port town called RougePort and she comes across this person selling old items. The guy says he'll give her a fancy box for free if she can open the magic seal on it, and of course she does, at which point the screen fades out. Next the Mario brothers get a letter from peach saying that she found a map to a great treasure and requests Mario to help her find it, so Mario goes off to RougePort and that where the game actually starts.
No sooner does he get there than he's caught up in a fight with some pirate looking guys who also want to find the treasure. After the fight Mario teams up with a girl goomba named Goombella (which is kinda like naming a human girl Humanlla), who is also searching for the treasure, and they soon find out that Peach has been missing since she got to the island. Thinking that peach may have gone after the treasure alone Goombella brings Mario to her old professor who says they need to being the map to the 1000 year door below the town, which starts the action part of the game.
The fight mechanics are quite different than normal RPGs. You have the chance to make a first strike like in Persona 3 by hitting the opponent while still on the level map and that gives you an extra free hit when in the fight arena. The fights themselves are odd, having quick commands to boost or block attacks, crowd boots (from the people watching the fights) and other unique features.
So it's off into the sewers we go to find the Door, along the way Mario finds a box that says it has been cursed and waiting for a hero to open it, so Mario does. But it turns out that it's an evil spirit and curses Mario with the ability to turn into a paper airplane and fly across large gaps... rather useful curse if you ask me. :)
With this new ability Mario finds the Door and it's revealed that the first part to unlock it is located in a land to the east, which just so happens was where Peach was last seen heading.
After leaving the swerves I head to the first area leading east, which is guarded by a bouncer. Figuring that he doesn't look so tough I decide to fight him instead of playing him off. It turns out that he is quite tough and only by using every item and trick I had learned so far was I able to beat hi, just barely, and it would have sucked if I had lost since I had not saved since the start of the game...
It turns out that the fight was pointless since the area he protected is only useful later in the game (explaining why he was so hard) and I actually had to go back into the sewers to continue. -_-;
Furthermore, having not learned my lesson yet I enter the sewers without saving and wind up in a fight with a giant squid! Fortunately it's not as tough as the bouncer and I manage to kill it with only 3 HP left.
At this point I count my lucky stars and decide to rest at the inn and save the game before I get Mario and Goombella Killed and have to start all over.
Next week it's off to get the first star crystal!
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