User Rating: 8.1 | Mole Mania GB
Poor Muddy Mole. Not only has the evil farmer Jinbe kidnapped his entire family and hidden one of them away in each of his eight worlds, but he's also forcing poor Muddy to fight to get them back. So begins Mole Mania, an original Nintendo game that seems to have completely passed under the radar of the general gaming public since it's release on the original Game Boy. Well, it is kind of a shame that a great game like this never managed to pick up as much attention as it could have, because it's quite the little gem. The object of this game is fairly simple: clear every single screen to reach and defeat the end boss. However, to do this Muddy must break down the barriers and pass by the obstacles that are blocking his way. Muddy will need to remove the wall that is blocking the exit to every screen by hitting it with a black ball. Doing so will permanently clear that stage and grant him access to the next. Of course, a great deal of the gameplay revolves around Muddy's status as a mole. In addition to moving around above ground, he can dig underground and make tunnels to pass under obstacles that he could not pass by above ground. And at the same time, he may have to walk above ground to pass by something that he would not be able to dig around. A great deal of the game's strategy revolves around this. For example, dropping most objects into a hole, such as a black ball, will either make them immoveable or return them to their starting points. And you cannot remove a hole once it has been dug, so dig with care. There are a multitude of objects and obstacles which stand in Muddy's way as he attempts to reach his family. Among them are the previously mentioned black balls, which can be pushed or thrown, but will disappear when they fall into a hole. Barrels, which can be moved like the black balls, but will fill up a hole permanently if they fall into it, also preventing Muddy from passing by the barrel if he tries to reach it while underground. Cabbages, which move like the black balls as well, but must be thrown into holes so as to collect the point bonus for doing so. Pipes, which redirect black balls and barrels that are thrown through them. Spikes, which cannot be passed by Muddy above ground, but can have items thrown over them. And enemies, who vary their movements from species to species, but generally follow a set pattern and can be destroyed with a thrown object. The difficulty level in this game is fairly consistent. It starts out with one fairly easy stage to ease in the beginning players, and then opens up six more stages to be played in whatever order the player wishes. The worlds get progressively more difficult if the player moves through them in numerical order, but doing so will ease the player into the game so well that by the time they reach the toughest stages, they will be more than ready for them. Presentation-wise, this game holds up at the level of most old Game Boy games. While everything is drawn fairly well, it still doesn't look that good, and some of the characters don't animate that well. It's also kind of sad that some of the characters are so small that they don't really show up very well sometimes. It's not that the game looks bad or anything, it's just that it doesn't look that good. Sound in the game is also kind of a mixed bag. The music is pretty good, but not that great. Also, the sound effects are alright, but sometimes they can get annoying, such as with the alarm that sounds constantly if you are down to just one health point, or with the sound that Muddy makes every time that he takes damage. The biggest issue that I have with this game is with it's control. Now, usually everything with it is fine, but on occasion if you attempt to grab an object and miss it, your character will become immobile for a split second. This event comes complete with a little animation that shows you just why you're not getting anywhere, which of course means that this entire thing was intentional on the developer's part. I wouldn't have much of a problem with this, except that it seems to happen way too easily. Just pressing the button at the wrong time can cause a mistake that can end up costing you quite a bit of damage. Also, it seems like sometimes it's too easy to get stuck on walls, as if turning at just the wrong time can slow you down when you're trying to change directions. This can be just as much of a problem as the immobility issue. So overall, and despite it's technical limitations and occasional control flaws, Mole Mania is still an excellent game by virtue of it's wonderful gameplay. It really is quite a unique little title, and if you can find a used copy of it, I encourage you to pick it up. It's definitely worth playing if you find it. 
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