Check out the video review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhwuFguFcmA
The Mary Kate and Ashley empire from the 90's was a juggernaut. Clothes, books, music, and direct-to-video nonsense,it didn't matter, little kids of the day, ate the it up. And you know what? I liked the Olson twins. I don't mean I had a crush or fan. I liked full house, I liked Two of a Kind and the hot red head. And It Takes Two wasn't bad either. But for the most part they sucked. To put it into gaming terms, the Twins were the Wii and their products and media were games. And most of it was shovel-ware. So of course there were video games. I remember a year or so back I saw The New Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley of the Game Boy Color. I figured I'd try it out, maybe even review it, just for a laugh. What I found goes against the logic in my programming, but I'll say it. The game is good. Not in a so bad it's good way. It's more of a ?if this games was called something else and sold on the Google play store, it would be a top seller? sorta way.
It's based off the Olson's line of detective videos. I don't remember much other than the song, which has been stuck in my head since 3rd grade. Basically the girls, along with the hound dog, Clue, would solve dumb little mysteries for people with less acting experience then the eight year old stars. Kinda like the characters from Scooby Doo without the hot red head.
The game is a 2D platformer with a strong focus on puzzle solving. Literally. Each Mystery consist of 10 stages of which you must locate and collect a puzzle piece. The pieces are in cages that can be opened for a limited time by a giant grey switch. The three characters have their own uses and specialties: Mary Kate can jump the highest and who's head can be used as a trampoline for the others; Ashley is the only one that can flip the switches and pick up the dog, she is, however the only one that the others can't stand on; Clue, like Mary Kate, can be stood on to reach higher ground, but can swim, and used as a projectile when held by Ashley. And don't worry. If you forget which one does what, you just need to hit the start button for a reminder. An lastly the select button switches between the young ladies and the mutt.
There are secondary puzzle pieces that will give you hints for each stage when all are collected, not that they really help since the game isn't really that hard. Like any good platformer, there are 1-UPs, pits, and enemies to look out for. The 1-UPs are in almost every stage and after each mystery you have time stage were it's pretty easy to rack up some spares. High falls will usually kill you but if you're lucky and the fall isn't too high the character will only be stunned. Enemies will cause insta-death which is where Clue is needed. The only problem is that Ashley throws him in a weird arc so it's pretty easy to miss. After you complete each Mystery you get the girls explaining what they learned such as it was only a bee hive and a password for continuing later, since there is no save feature.
I know this all just sound ridiculously dumb, and it is. I really think this game was created with a different concept in mind but the Olson's were thrown in last minute. Just watching them literally stand on top of each other and throw the the dog across the screen makes me laugh. And I love that when you duck, their lower half just phases into the floor like kitty pride. Would is had really been that hard to animate crouching?
My only real complaint is the controls are a little stiff. That's it. Maybe a score system or time limit would have been cool. Perhaps a score could be generated by how fast you complete each stage and how many times you died or restated. Also a multiplayer mode through the Game Boy's link cables would be nice.
But like they said, you can't judge a book by it's cover, and the same can be said about video games. While the game isn't very hard, you will find a healthy, and most importantly, addictive challenge much like angry birds. I made it about 3 mysteries in, before moving on to more interesting games, but god help me, I enjoyed it. I mean it's no Portal 1. For a licensed Game Boy Color game, it's not bad. Maybe more like the Portal Flash game. I would have to recommend it to younger puzzle gamers or peophiles wanting to watch Ashley bounce on Mary-Kate's head. But seriously if this game had come out 10 years later on smartphones the developer would have the next Flappy Birds on their hands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhwuFguFcmA
The Mary Kate and Ashley empire from the 90's was a juggernaut. Clothes, books, music, and direct-to-video nonsense,it didn't matter, little kids of the day, ate the it up. And you know what? I liked the Olson twins. I don't mean I had a crush or fan. I liked full house, I liked Two of a Kind and the hot red head. And It Takes Two wasn't bad either. But for the most part they sucked. To put it into gaming terms, the Twins were the Wii and their products and media were games. And most of it was shovel-ware. So of course there were video games. I remember a year or so back I saw The New Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley of the Game Boy Color. I figured I'd try it out, maybe even review it, just for a laugh. What I found goes against the logic in my programming, but I'll say it. The game is good. Not in a so bad it's good way. It's more of a ?if this games was called something else and sold on the Google play store, it would be a top seller? sorta way.
It's based off the Olson's line of detective videos. I don't remember much other than the song, which has been stuck in my head since 3rd grade. Basically the girls, along with the hound dog, Clue, would solve dumb little mysteries for people with less acting experience then the eight year old stars. Kinda like the characters from Scooby Doo without the hot red head.
The game is a 2D platformer with a strong focus on puzzle solving. Literally. Each Mystery consist of 10 stages of which you must locate and collect a puzzle piece. The pieces are in cages that can be opened for a limited time by a giant grey switch. The three characters have their own uses and specialties: Mary Kate can jump the highest and who's head can be used as a trampoline for the others; Ashley is the only one that can flip the switches and pick up the dog, she is, however the only one that the others can't stand on; Clue, like Mary Kate, can be stood on to reach higher ground, but can swim, and used as a projectile when held by Ashley. And don't worry. If you forget which one does what, you just need to hit the start button for a reminder. An lastly the select button switches between the young ladies and the mutt.
There are secondary puzzle pieces that will give you hints for each stage when all are collected, not that they really help since the game isn't really that hard. Like any good platformer, there are 1-UPs, pits, and enemies to look out for. The 1-UPs are in almost every stage and after each mystery you have time stage were it's pretty easy to rack up some spares. High falls will usually kill you but if you're lucky and the fall isn't too high the character will only be stunned. Enemies will cause insta-death which is where Clue is needed. The only problem is that Ashley throws him in a weird arc so it's pretty easy to miss. After you complete each Mystery you get the girls explaining what they learned such as it was only a bee hive and a password for continuing later, since there is no save feature.
I know this all just sound ridiculously dumb, and it is. I really think this game was created with a different concept in mind but the Olson's were thrown in last minute. Just watching them literally stand on top of each other and throw the the dog across the screen makes me laugh. And I love that when you duck, their lower half just phases into the floor like kitty pride. Would is had really been that hard to animate crouching?
My only real complaint is the controls are a little stiff. That's it. Maybe a score system or time limit would have been cool. Perhaps a score could be generated by how fast you complete each stage and how many times you died or restated. Also a multiplayer mode through the Game Boy's link cables would be nice.
But like they said, you can't judge a book by it's cover, and the same can be said about video games. While the game isn't very hard, you will find a healthy, and most importantly, addictive challenge much like angry birds. I made it about 3 mysteries in, before moving on to more interesting games, but god help me, I enjoyed it. I mean it's no Portal 1. For a licensed Game Boy Color game, it's not bad. Maybe more like the Portal Flash game. I would have to recommend it to younger puzzle gamers or peophiles wanting to watch Ashley bounce on Mary-Kate's head. But seriously if this game had come out 10 years later on smartphones the developer would have the next Flappy Birds on their hands.