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Pardon the dust! This page includes some jargon that hasn't been added to the site's glossary yet. I'll be around to fix this later, but sorry for the inconvenience in the meantime. |
Review: MarisaLand Legacy
At a Glance
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How to Save and Pause:The main menu allows you to start a new game from any level you've already reached. That's about as close to a save feature as you're going to get in this game, however. To pause this game, press ESC during gameplay. Time needed per session:Plan on playing for at least fifteen minutes, as it may take that long to clear some of the harder levels or find the hidden stars.
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Does this game pose issues for Christian players?
 | No - this is a great game for Christians This fan game completely ignores the fact that Marisa is a witch, making this a simple and cute platformer with no notable issues. |
Screenshots
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/marisaland_legacy_0.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/marisaland_legacy_1.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/marisaland_legacy_2.jpg)
Game Overview
Marisaland Legacy is an example of a "doujin" game - a game that was made by Japanese hobbyists for the fun of it rather than commercial profit. These are often similar to fan games, and usually use someone else's intellectual property. Case in point: this game is a Super Mario clone that uses characters from the Touhou franchise rather than new, unique characters or an original game idea. But since it exists because someone thought it would be fun to make, this is largely beside the point.
In order to allow the gameplay to take center stage, everything else was kept fairly simple. The plot, what little of it there is, begins when Marisa encounters a weird mushroom. After coming into contact with it, she's shrunk down until her lower body is the same size as her head. Wanting to get back to normal as quickly as possible, she then sets off on a journey to collect eight golden mushrooms that will provide an antidote.
As for the gameplay, platformer fans will already know what to expect. Marisa grows taller when she collects certain mushrooms, and when she's tall enough, she's able to throw fireballs or may even be invincible for a brief period. However, if she touches an enemy or a hazard, she'll immediately shrink back down again. If she was already small when she was hurt, the player loses a life and must start the stage over. Or, if the player has no more lives remaining, their game is over.
Along the way, players need to search each level for hidden areas, stars (which take the place of coins in this game) and each level's set of blue stars. Since finding all five blue stars in a level or 100 regular stars in total awards an extra life, you'll want to gather as many as possible. Lastly, the final area of each world is a castle level containing a large boss that guards the world's golden mushroom. The bosses tend to be a bit underwhelming, but then again, so was Bowser in his initial appearance.
Overall, this is a cute and colorful game that clearly had a lot of love put into it. It's definitely worth a look if you enjoy simple platformers, but unfortunately, it's also unusually expensive. Thus, you might want to wait for a sale to roll around before picking this up.
In order to allow the gameplay to take center stage, everything else was kept fairly simple. The plot, what little of it there is, begins when Marisa encounters a weird mushroom. After coming into contact with it, she's shrunk down until her lower body is the same size as her head. Wanting to get back to normal as quickly as possible, she then sets off on a journey to collect eight golden mushrooms that will provide an antidote.
As for the gameplay, platformer fans will already know what to expect. Marisa grows taller when she collects certain mushrooms, and when she's tall enough, she's able to throw fireballs or may even be invincible for a brief period. However, if she touches an enemy or a hazard, she'll immediately shrink back down again. If she was already small when she was hurt, the player loses a life and must start the stage over. Or, if the player has no more lives remaining, their game is over.
Along the way, players need to search each level for hidden areas, stars (which take the place of coins in this game) and each level's set of blue stars. Since finding all five blue stars in a level or 100 regular stars in total awards an extra life, you'll want to gather as many as possible. Lastly, the final area of each world is a castle level containing a large boss that guards the world's golden mushroom. The bosses tend to be a bit underwhelming, but then again, so was Bowser in his initial appearance.
Overall, this is a cute and colorful game that clearly had a lot of love put into it. It's definitely worth a look if you enjoy simple platformers, but unfortunately, it's also unusually expensive. Thus, you might want to wait for a sale to roll around before picking this up.
Points of Interest
64 total levels
Just like the game it's based on, Marisaland Legacy features eight worlds with four stages each, or a total of thirty two levels. But that's not quite all of them - completing the game unlocks a new, harder version of the game with another thirty two levels for you to conquer!
Local multiplayer
It's possible to play this game with a friend, provided you can both be at the same computer. The way you enable this feature is a bit awkward though: at the main menu, move the cursor around using the input method (keyboard or joystick) that you want to use for player 1, and then press a button or key on the opposite input method. If done correctly, a red colored Marisa will drop from the sky and you're ready to begin the multiplayer version of the game.
Steam community features
While there aren't any Steam trading cards available for this game, players can earn twenty different achievements as they run, jump, and stomp their way to victory. Many of these achievements require players to go out of their way, so if you want them all, it'll take some doing and maybe even a guide or walkthrough to find everything.
Concerns and Issues
Mild violence
There really isn't anything too serious depicted in this game, though what's here should still count as a form of violence. Basically, you'll defeat most of the enemies by jumping on them, hitting them with a rolling fuzzball, or striking the block they are standing on from below. When defeated, they'll just fall off the level. This is about as violent as things get here.
Marisa is technically a witch
In the Touhou universe, there are many magic users, and Marisa happens to be one of them. In particular, she's a little witch. Her background is barely referenced in this game, so it's more of a technicality than anything.