Decent
Ok, I lied; M&W doesn’t star Mario. You play the role of a fairy that looks like a female counterpart of Link from the famous Zelda series. Basically all you do is create platforms and clear enemies for the character you chose while directing him/her until you reach Luigi (AKA the end of the level). If you’ve ever played Lemmings, it’s similar except in M&W you only control one character. Sounds simple, right?
It’s a lot harder than you think.
Wario is a heartless son of a bitch; he didn’t make any holes in the objects he put on the character’s heads. So what happens now? They'll keep on walking straight until they run into a pit of spikes or an enemy, which leads to their death. Not only will you have to make platforms appear, but you will also have to clear the path of any enemies and make sure that the clueless character is walking in the right direction. And you must reach Luigi before time runs out.
As I previously mentioned you have the choice of directing Peach, Mario, or Yoshi. The only difference between the characters is their speed; Peach takes her time, Mario moves at an average speed, and Yoshi moves fast. You might think this makes Peach the easiest character to use, Mario the moderate character, and Yoshi the character for advanced players. That is not true. Early on it Peach might be the easiest character to use, but once you get to some of the harder and longer levels it will be nearly impossible to finish a level with her before the time runs out. So you better know where you’re going, or else.
The fairy moves similar to the arrow on Windows, so controlling her with the SNES controller feels pretty awkward. Luckily M&W is compatible with the SNES mouse, which makes controlling her much easier. You can still use the controller (it works alright), but if you have the SNES mouse I suggest using that instead.
M&W has 80 levels, but they all lack variety. After the third (out of eight) stage, the game has shown you every challenge you will ever encounter, and nothing new will be introduced for the rest of the game. M&W is also extremely easy. Besides the lack of challenge after the third level, you are allowed to look at the map before every turn. So before you start each level, you can simply study the map to find your route and then simply follow it, creating little if any challenge at all. This prevents the game from being too hard, but at the same time makes it way too easy.
Luckily there are some gameplay elements that create a challenge. Hidden throughout each level are four stars; you can spend time to search for them, but you better hurry or time will run out. You can also collect coins from various coin blocks (100 gives you an extra life), but this is also risky. If you become too greedy and loose track of your wandering character he/she might wander a bit too far and loose a life.
The game’s 80 levels may seem like a lot, but the levels are very short. Most of the early levels can be beaten in under a minute, and some as short as ten seconds. Eventually the levels will become longer, but they will rarely, if ever exceed 3 minutes. Besides the main gameplay mode, there are no other additional modes and no multiplayer at all. Although it would be interesting to see how a multiplayer mode would work in M&W (since M&W doesn't seem suitable for mp), multiplayer features would’ve been a nice edition.
Mario and Wario is a decent game for the SNES. Although the concept is repetitive and the game is too easy, it is at times fun and addictive. I just wish there was more replay value, some unlockables, more gameplay modes, and multiplayer. Anyways if you are a fan of puzzle games you will most likely enjoy M&W, so if you can find it anywhere for a relatively low price, (good luck, it’s rare) pick it up.