Mario isn't just a plumber, he is a man of many talents, including home wrecking. The literal kind, not the 'steal your girlfriend' kind that remains a Bowser exclusive gig. During his brief demolition stint at Wrecking Crew not only did he use his magic hammer to bring the house down, he also met a new nemesis: Foreman Spike.
If you live outside of Japan you might believe that Mario's time with his magic hammer was a one off affair, but the series actually gained a proper 16-bit sequel in 1998. At first sold at Nintendo's kiosks where you could use a blank, re-writable Super Famicom cartridge to take the games home, Wrecking Crew '98 eventually had a full standalone proper cartridge release when everyone already had their minds set on the Nintendo 64. As such, it really never had any chance to be released outside of Japan; the sun had already set a couple of years before on the mighty Super Nintendo.
Wrecking Crew '98 is actually a 2-in-1 affair: It includes the original 100 level demolition puzzle adventure of the original Famicom Wrecking Crew along with the brand new 16-bit sequel. More than just an upgraded remake the game feels more like Puzzle Bobble with a platforming twist. The Story mode sees Mario reacquainted with his trusty Magic Hammer and take on Bowser's minions (and even Foreman Spike!), unlocking them as playable characters in the game's Versus mode. It is a solid and polished affair as one might expect from Nintendo handling SNES hardware at such a late date, and presentation was right up there with the finest efforts: cut-scenes with text heavy narratives played out before and after each round, something that was lost to Westerners... until now.
ShadowOne333 and his team have made an impressive collective effort to translate every single bit of Japanese text in the game, releasing a patch that will make the game far more appetizing to English fluent audiences. You can sample the changes in the following gameplay video.
Like previous fan translation patches, if you own the original Super Famicom cartridge you can readily use the patch with your RetroN 5 or Retro Freak clone consoles and experience one of the very last untranslated Super Mario games still left in relative obscurity.
Bring the hammer down in the comments section below if you completed all 100 levels of the original Wrecking Crew.
[source romhacking.net]
Comments 23
Mario and his "magic hammer".
Princess Peach: "Oh my!"
Man, too bad we didn't get this on Wii U VC like we have several other games that were Japan-only.
Mario was a Destroyer back on the past.
Getting Donkey 94 vibes everywhere (title screen animation is done the same) with gameplay a cross between DK 94 and Wario's Woods, by way of Yoshi's Island style cutscenes - want to the play this bad!
Would love to play this on Switch. Seems like a perfect fit.
SNES really has the best games...
@justin233 I say they take it one step further and make Wrecking Crew '18. Throw in some local, online multiplayer and it would be a great little eShop exclusive between big Ninty releases.
Not even remotely grounds to destroy someone’s building
Foreman Spike for Smash 2018.
@techdude Agreed! So many timeless classics.
@SmaMan That'd be awesome too! I'm surprised there haven't been more smaller Nintendo releases on the eShop yet.
Game looks fun... seems like it would have sold well in the US during the Tetris craze... hopefully it shows up in Switch VC... if that ever exists.
Can we get some more info on the kiosks where you could download games on to re-writable cartridges?
It's not a secret base if everyone knows
Did that building of Bowser's get inspired by the one in the Super Mario Bros. movie
As for the WC'98, I see it's not exactly like the original like mentioned it's more like a puzzler. It also doesn't look like it was developed in-house Nintendo either-- I get this weird Mario is Missing/Mario's Time Machine/etc. one-off vibe too. Maybe it was for the best it didn't come over. I'll take the original any day, but that's me.
@holygeez03
The machines were called 'Nintendo Power' stations (Obviously not the magazine) and I believe they were for both SNES games as well as GameBoy. They remind me of the old Pokémon Snap sticker stations. Haha
I used to make up my own story when iv played it
@holygeez03 Have a look!
Yes, I did beat the original on Nes. Fun game. Not bragging, since I'm definitely not the only person to beat it.
Yeah, Mario just had no reason to demolish Bowser's buildings like that. Maybe replant the flowers, so they get sun?
This looks like it would be fun. Edit: Those sounds are like from Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.
Edit #2: @MeloMan: I kinda got that, too, from the graphics of the Koopa Troopa; his in-game portrait.
I played the OG Wrecking Crew on the NES a ton when I was a kid. It was one of the only games I really understood what to do, being as young as I was. Bubble Bobble and Rampage also come to mind from being played at the same time. Ah memories.
Looks nice; I’ll take the SNES version of Wario’s Woods over it any day though.
The art is so charming, though I can't help but feel this measures up to one of the minigames from Kirby Super Star in terms of the overall package.
Final Boss: Fix It Felix?
I've known about this one for so long and never could play it. I really should patch this as I have a super everdrive.
@SmaMan & @justin233 Or time for a SNES Remix.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE I'm sure her "Talking Umbrella" is up for the task!
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