Did a franchise started as a Mario rip-off surpass its “inspiration”? No. No, it did not.
Somewhere during the creation of a game, there seems to be a point where the design team must ask itself, “Should we make our game longer?” Sometimes this might result in the addition of compelling new content, but so often it results in revisiting the same places you’ve already been to collect more thingamabobs. This very decision is what ruins Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams. Your forward progress in what could be a wonderful game is stymied until you can perfect your collection of MacGuffins without dying in levels you’ve already completed. It’s a real shame too, because without this unnecessary padding I wouldn’t have noticed the game’s glitches or gotten as frustrated with its inconsistent responses. Most importantly, I wouldn’t have gotten so sick of playing it.
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It’s-a-me-a… Giana?
Rather than tell you some elaborate story of what The Great Giana Sisters is and how it came into existence (feel free to read up on that on Wikipedia), I’ll tell you all you need to know. The Great Giana Sisters is a Super Mario Bros. clone released originally in 1987. Since then, a new version of the game has been created for the Nintendo DS, which features new levels, items, and goals. While I can’t tell you much about what has been borrowed from the original release, as I’ve never played it, I can tell you that this latest release is enjoyable.