It's Mario time again, and it's a race for gold. There's a missing princess and a nasty family of oversized turtles behind her disappearance, but that plot is secondary to the famous plumber's quest to amass his own fortune. After almost 30 years of losing and finding his lady, perhaps the old fellow is weighing up the benefits of a retirement fund?
Maybe it's because we're living in a time of penny-pinching that chasing endless trails of gold seems like such fun. Bash the bricks, out comes the gold. Wear a golden brick helmet, dash about like a madman, and out comes more gold. Leap through a portal and watch as all Mario's enemies turn into gold and, once defeated, drop even more gold.
The aim is to collect one million gold coins, and it's something of a refreshment to have a platformer that's as much about the point-scoring as it is about the secret paths and hidden worlds. Remember when this was always the way? The marriage deliberately brings to mind the original Super Mario Bros, and Super Mario 3 - arguably the two greatest side-scrolling platformers ever.
From each of these games come two classic Mario superpowers: the fire flower and the raccoon suit, allowing our hero to throw fiery death or to ascend into the heavens and access secret areas.
In addition, there are power-ups granting Mario immense - or minuscule - size, and the invincibility leaf granted to players who can't keep away from the cold, icy embrace of death.
