Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker Review: Moving to a Suitable Handheld

One always felt like a pocket game on Wii U, now it's portable.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker was one of my favorite Wii U games – and four years later, it was dusted off and re-equipped for a second coming on Switch and, belatedly, 3DS. Treasure Tracker was a very good game of Wii U because it could be played slowly, in my case for several months, erasing some levels from time to time and returning without problems after long interruptions. Too many games become unplayable after a short absence, but Captain Toad's simple, intelligent puzzles make him instinctive for pickup and play, no matter how long you have been away .

If you missed it, and wearing basic rather than true remaster (not to mention the rest) suggests that Nintendo thinks there are a lot of you out there, Captain Toad is an exercise to double on one, strong gameplay element. Mario's mushroom ally finally has its own adventure, and despite serious limitations that are not suitable for a poster protagonist, simplicity brings shiny design and clever little puzzles to life. .

Your job is simple: as a Captain Toad, explore a level by collecting three, often hidden, gems and as many coins as possible, before recovering the star obvious enough to close the course. The crucial limitation I've talked about is Toad's inability to jump, forcing the intelligent use of the environment to cross, dodge or defeat enemies, and explore every nook and cranny to catch each collectible object.

The approximately 75 levels, which integrate intelligently into a single screen and are explored as much by moving the camera with the right stick as the toad moving with the left feel fresh and seldom repetitive. The controls are intentionally slow to match Toad's quiet cadence, but still meet a little too cumbersome and the camera is too restrictive considering that its manual movement is a key component; a couple of small complaints that remain unchanged as evidence of how essentially it is the game Wii U on Switch without much consideration of improvements.

For the finalists, there is a single goal at each level, such as defeating all enemies or avoiding using the obvious bridge, and an invitation to revisit and find a hidden pixelated toad channeling Wally (from [19659008WhereisWally)[19659009] I am not normally one of them, but the flipbook level selector forces me to tick all the boxes before moving on to the next step.

It's a very simple concept that appeared as a mini-game in Super Mario 3D World and really surprised me when it turned into a game complete and autonomous. The small levels make it a fantastic pocket game, whether for traveling or as a secondary screen game on the couch that only requires partial attention, and new mechanisms are constantly fed drop enough to make you think. It would really be a great mobile game – but for now, we have a Switch port.

The occasional touch controls make the stylus jump to the direct touch, which is obviously more convenient, and are replaced by the ZR button and a pointer in TV mode. There are four new levels, all based on Super Mario Odyssey and a fairly useless two-player mode that divides the Joy-Con into two and gives the younger sibling the nominal task of delivering extra turnips. to the player. One, who has all the pleasure; not something you would give to a real friend.

That's all. This is not a remaster, it's a straight port that looks more or less to the naked eye on Switch or Wii U, with the benefit of an HD screen and of adequate portability to play off TV, as it should be. Captain Toad still felt like a pocket game and for some reason he only came out on 3DS, and that's why he's worthy of Switch's second life: he never felt good on Wii U, being attached to a TV that you probably would not use to play it.

However, as Donkey Kong Tropical Country Freeze Nintendo has excluded returning players with a high price. Captain Toad would have a budget title at (AUD) $ 60, but in reality the same game on Wii U is currently $ 36 at EB Games (and half that price on sale). Unless you have eidetic memory, it is worth replaying as a proper portable game, but it is hard to justify paying a second time to basically buy four DLC levels and change the device.

A range of about $ 30 would have made buying much more attractive, and I can not help but think that Nintendo is unaware of the size of this market for these lesser known ports of the Wii U if it targets them – generally speaking, the owners of Wii U are loyal fans of Nintendo who would be willing to double-dip, but only if the price is correct. The 3DS version, which comes four years later, is also a strange decision. In this era of remasters, Nintendo opted for a straight port and a 240p demaster, and raised the price on both.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a smart puzzle game that finally found a more appropriate home on Switch because it still felt like a wearable game that played better on the Wii U Gamepad. It's a collection of small levels that require you to check all the boxes, and an ideal game to play in short bursts. Although the Switch port does not improve much apart from the platform change, and that it is too expensive to warrant a repeat purchase, it is definitely worthy of a reissue for those who have missed the last generation.

The Good Always felt like a pocket game – now it's on a good pocket computer Clever puzzles Easy to pick up and play Worth replay	The Bad Too expensive for the owners of Wii U double dip The two player mode is a waste of time The camera controls are still too restrictive [19659020] The 3DS version is 4 years too late

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker has been reviewed using a promotional code on Switch, as provided by Nintendo. Click here to read more about Stevivor's rating scale.