Mutant Mudds Collection (Nintendo Switch) Review

Fans of retro platform exploits are going to absolutely adore both of the Mutant Mudds entries, and rightly so. Renegade Kid, from which Atooi was borne, crafted a difficult experience for fans of classics from the NES era, refined it to near perfection, and then went one step further and followed up the polished Mutant Mudds Deluxe with something for the more hardcore gamers out there that has squeezed every last drop out of the original. Lead character, Max, was transformed from potential star in a 3D platformer (as seen in early demos) to a sort of "12-bit" hero, in a game that played like 8-bit, but looked more 16-bit in appearance.

In Deluxe, he has to fight his way across complex levels that were specially layered to take advantage of the Nintendo 3DS technology, but thankfully still work almost as well on non-3D systems thanks to the clever fading used in the background and foreground, and certain key indicators to show when enemies are transitioning into your current plane, to avoid unfortunate deaths. The aim is still to blast away at enemies, whilst gathering 100 diamonds in each stage, with the accrual of gems helping unlock more levels, and even upgrades for accessing hidden areas. Nothing has changed on that front.

Mutant Mudds: Super Challenge takes the level-based format of its predecessor, but removes any introductory stages and goes straight for the jugular, throwing in more monsters and spikes around levels, flinging obstacles galore around that require absolute precision leaps, and even a heavy dose of memorising level layouts, to proceed successfully, with an added inclusion of boss battles and some ghost levels to bring more variety to the table.

Now, whether or not the added challenge is welcomed will come down to the individual. Nowadays, with trickier games having plenty of checkpoints, when moving from the original Mudds - which is highly enjoyable, even with Max's sometimes awkward jump, and shorter than desired hover feature - to the Super Challenge version - where those former 'quirks' become sources of sheer pain and annoyance in places - it will come as a real shock to the system, especially given the sparse use of checkpoints, leading to plenty of repeated expeditions through stages. Purists will rejoice, more casual platform fans need to approach with caution.

As for Mudd Blocks - seemingly the newcomer, but actually more of a Mudds re-skin of niche puzzler, Bomb Monkey from 3DS - it looks like a Puzzle League clone, but instead of matching three or more of a kind to clear blocks immediately, they must be connected horizontally, vertically, or in L shapes first, and then removed once a bomb becomes available as the next item drop. This removes the addictive, quick-fire nature of similar titles, instead making it more of a slow, methodical build up, carefully placing the correct blocks around and hoping a bomb appears before things pile up too much. There are several modes available to try and spice things up, with one where different numbers needing to be cleared in the correct order probably the most engaging, but ultimately Mudd Blocks is definitely the weakest part of the package.