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RETROspectives: Hotel Mario
Both the games we've looked at thus far in this unholy Mario trilogy had concepts that were by no means doomed from the start. Luigi and Yoshi having adventures in our world rescuing objects from the koopa troopas and Mario having adventures throughout human history have the potential to be timeless games. The poor execution and heavy focus on education is what doomed these titles but Hotel Mario is a unique case. It's by no means an educational title but the execution of this game is horrendous so why don't we peel back this game and see what made it a regrettable game in the franchise (well sort of).
Not to get too involved in this next part we'll gloss over most of the creation of a console created by Philips: the Philips CD-i (because we'll be going back to this at some point). Nintendo wanted to create a CD add-on to the SNES and partnered with both Sony and Philips separately and from this, most famously, came the PlayStation and, less famously, the CD-i. Unlike Sony, Philips had the liscense to create games based off Nintendo titles and from theis liscensing came Hotel Mario. This game was intended to be a sequel to Super Mario World (SNES) called Super Mario's Wacky Worlds. The game was not released and instead the world received Hotel Mario. Unlike Mario is Missing and Mario's Time Machine this game happens purely in the Mushroom Kingdom but it's not the Mushroom Kingdom like we know it (and not just because of the CD-i's infamous cutscenes).
Bowser is now ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom and has set up 7 hotels each of which is ran by a Koopaling and their henchmen. Bowser's also changed the name of the Mushroom Kingdom to "Klub Koopa Resort". Mario and Luigi return to the Mushroom Kingdom (or Klub Koopa Resort as it's now known) after being invited to Princess Peach's picnic. When they arrive they see a letter from Bowser telling them that Princess Peach is now a "permanent resident" of one of the hotels and it's up to Mario to rescue her. Mario must destroy all 7 hotels and return peace to the Mushroom Kingdom, as I stated above the previous two titles in this trilogy had potentials for being good games and this one is no different. It goes very much downhill when you look at the gameplay...
Just how does Mario destroy the hotels? In Super Mario World he blew up the Koopaling's castles with explosives! Surely the CD-i, a more advance console would at least have something similar, right? To clear each hotel Mario must shut all the doors in the hotel. Shutting all the doors destroys the hotels! Compared to Super Mario World that's quite anti-climatic and sudden (like the end of a level in Cheetahmen [we'll cover that unholy grail at some point too]). Shutting doors doesn't sound hard, right? Well as you close doors the Koopaling henchmen open other doors, Mario must take the lift to pass between the floors and shut the doors. Unlike Mario is Missing the enemies do hurt Mario and often there are multiple enemies on each floor. If you want to jump on a goomba you had better be careful as Mario's jump can lead his top half to the floor above and be vunerable to the enemies on the floor above. This game can be very difficult and to make matters worse it's on a time limit!
The past three games show how, in the wrong hands, Mario games can be regrettable. However promising the idea might be Mario games can be robbed of their timeless nature but these games to serve as a unique glimpse into the past of the character and Nintendo. But from these titles we can at least say this: let Nintendo make Mario games!
