Mutant Mudds Super Challenge is a platformer that serves as somewhat of a sequel to the original Mutant Mudds which launched in 2012. The game starts with protagonist Max receiving some sort of information that Mudds (the game’s enemies) are still spawning from a meteor. Max locates the meteor and plans to destroy it once and for all. Armed with a water gun and jetpack, Max must face over 40 brutal levels of platforming challenges.
While the game is targeted towards experienced players who finished the original, Super Challenge very much caters to anyone looking to test their platforming skills.
While I was able to experience the game on both the Wii-U and 3DS, I can say that the latter is the best version to play. Mutant Mudds Super Challenge has some of the best 3D visuals that I have ever seen on the system. This is mostly due to the platforming mechanic in the game. Instead of your standard platforming where you move from left to right, you will be moving constantly between the foreground and the background. This back and forth jumping looks great in 3D and gives a great feeling of depth that is absent when playing on the Wii-U. However, you won’t need to ponder which version to buy for too long because Renegade Kid has instilled a cross-buy feature with the release of the game. Buying Super Challenge for either the Wii-U or 3DS will give you a code to download for the other platform. Talk about generous!
Mutant Mudds Super Challenge has some of the best 3d visuals that I have ever seen on the system.
Joining the great visuals is a stellar retro soundtrack. Reminiscent of the 8-bit and 16-bit era, the game’s tunes will envelop you in nostalgia while you play the game. Plus, you can unlock hidden pieces of the soundtrack in every level which you can later listen to in-game. Also hidden are 20 secret characters in every level. I can say that they are hidden very well, it wasn’t until World 2 that I found my first one (by accident I should add). But, if you find one, then you probably found them all. Unlocking all characters is part of the challenge, but it is highly rewarding. Also, you might find a few familiar faces.
There are five worlds in Super Challenge, each with levels pertaining to a certain theme. However, the third level of every world is a “ghost” level where you can do no damage to the ghostly Mudds. This forces you to be perfect with your timing so that you may dodge the Mudds without taking any damage.
In every level there is a secret V-Land or G-Land. These rooms are basically a level within a level. The great thing about them is that they are a throwback to the Gameboy and Virtual Boy. V-Land makes the whole level red while G-Land makes the whole level green, causing the levels to look like they were made for their respective systems. I found this to be a nice nod to the past, but other than that they increased the replay value of the game tremendously. These rooms served as an entire level, completing them just as you would the normal level. There is a grand token waiting for you at the end and there were still 100 smaller tokens to collect throughout the level. I often found myself going back to a level two to three times just so that I could 100% complete it.
Surprising me the most was that it did not become tedious. Going back and often reaching a check-point I had already gone through felt natural the second time, and the challenge was always welcome. The difficulty did make it frustrating at points, but it always felt like a fair challenge.
What makes the difficulty appreciated and welcome is that it does not derive from trickery. The game is fair and never tries to deceive you just to increase your death counter. Every death that I accumulated with my time with the game was due to some miscalculation I made when jumping or trying to defeat a boss. As I died repeatedly, I saw myself learning from my mistates. What used to be a mistimed jump now became a perfect leap of redemption. There are times when you just want to scream at the game for placing some murderous Mudd in your path (talking to you pig-looking bomb dropper), but nothing ever felt impossible. The phrase “practice makes perfect” applies so well to this game.
What used to be a mistimed jump became a perfect leap of redemption.
The only qualms I have with Mutant Mudds Super Challenge is the power-up system and the mostly absent plot. Instead of being able to purchase power-ups or even weapons, you are only able to carry one out of three at a time. It would have been nice to see a little variation, but the three that are available do serve their purpose.
Mutant Mudds is a series that doesn’t need much of a narrative in order to be a good game, but it would have been nice to see the story advance a bit when you completed each world or defeated each boss. Still, the absent plot does not take away from the great platforming, so it isn’t much of problem. With or without a story, the core platforming will have you playing for hours.
Mutant Mudds Super Challenge is exactly what it is called, a challenge. If you have trouble with platformers to begin with, then I would suggest that you start with the first game in the series. However, if a challenge is the source of your adrenaline, then certainly pick up this title. The generous cross-buy promotion will net you both the Wii-U and 3DS version of the game so that you can play at home or on the go. My suggestion would be to spend more time on the 3DS version, the 3D is just amazing.