Wrecking Crew '98

WRECKING CREW '98

Today, let's focus on Wrecking Crew '98, a sequel to the original game, set in the Mushroom Kingdom this time rather than . . . Brooklyn, or the New Donk City equivalent of Brooklyn, or wherever all that pre-Super Mario Bros. stuff is supposed to be set, with Bowser contracting Foreman Spike and his crew to build a giant high rise building to block all sunlight from reaching the Mushroom Kingdom's plant life. The game is similar to the original but with a greater emphasis on two-player gameplay and it has a bit of a tetris feel to it, with multicolored panels that you can switch around and line up to destroy. You can still use the hammer but taking out the panels by lining them up causes problems for your opponent. Pink panels will cause an enemy to spawn on their side, blue will add panels to their side, yellow will create metal plates on their side that can't be destroyed, and green will cover all their panels in brick that they have to break first.

We have several playable characters, both from the core Mario series, Wrecking Crew itself, and, um, well, you'll see. Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser, and Koopa Troopa all appear from the Mario side, and Foreman Spike, Eggplant Man, and Gotchawrench appear from the Wrecking Crew side. As for the other, well, there's four weird characters that seem to just be stereotype Japanese culture items for some reason (sorta like seeing a bald eagle, a cowboy, a fat tourist, and a cheeseburger in a random American game). These include a living onigiri, a creepy little ghost girl, a drunk old man, and a clay dogu figurine. I don't know, man. All of these basically play the same, so probably best not to worry about it.

As for the stage, well, it's basically just a series of buildings. It's a puzzle game, so the layout being generally the same is pretty standard. As for our enemies, they're all pretty much original, but are basically just living construction equipment. These include: Forkun, a living forklift; Blonya, a little character carrying around a cinderblock; Buruccho, a living bulldozer; Burnya, another little guy carrying a blow torch; Dumpty, a dump truck; and Jenya, a little dude with a jetpack. I also want to bring up Kanbank, a giant wall with Bowser printed on it that immediately ends the opponent's game by crushing all of their blocks. I bring it up purely because my final smash sensor went "Ding, Ding, Ding!"

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Mario: hammer, bombs, drop drum, golden hammer, pink (enemy), blue (block), yellow (metal plate), green (brick), Kanbank

Luigi: same

Princess Peach

Bowser

Foreman Spike: push, best option for a gimmick character, see all above

Koopa Troopa

Eggplant Man: run around

Gotchawrench: run around

Onigiri

Onnanoko

Oyazi

Dogu

Stages:

Wrecking Crew

High Rise Building

Items:

Hammers

Bombs

Drums

Blocks

Thanks for reading! Next up, we'll cover Mario Paint!