My friends, it is March! What’s the saying? In like a lion, out like a lamb? As a kid growing up in Buffalo I always thought that was a bunch of hooey. We didn’t get any lambs until at least April, sometimes May! We’re changing all of that this year, though. March is for moles. In like a mole, out like a mole. Be a mole all month long with Josh Nickerson’s choicest of choices, Mole Mania! Here’s what our guy had to say:
“A late-era Game Boy release (1996, two years before the juggernaut known
as Pokemon would hit North America and revive the stagnant handheld
market), Mole Mania is a fun action puzzler that asks the question “What
if Lolo could dig?” It plays very similarly to HAL’s Adventure of Lolo
series, with the player taking the role of Muddy, a mole on a quest to
rescue his family from an evil farmer, having to rely on his wits to
avoid enemies and solve puzzles.
How does Muddy solve these puzzles? By digging, of course! As long as
he’s standing on soft earth, Muddy can dig underground. The screen swaps
to an underground view, which more often than not has its own layout and
hazards. The key to solving each screen is to figure out how best to
maneuver using both the above-ground and underground areas. There are
also gadgets such as weights and huge iron balls to toss at enemies as
well. The game presents it all with a cute visual style and a peppy
soundtrack.
Famously one of Shigeru Miyamoto’s least-known creations (famously
un-famous, you could say), one has to wonder if he thought of the idea
while tending the same garden he would dream up with Pikmin a few years
later. It’s too bad it never turned into a series, a DS entry would have
been a no brainer, with Muddy zipping between the two screens… sadly
that never came to be.
A side note: I had no idea how expensive the game had gotten over the
years! Fortunately, it’s available in the 3DS eShop for a mere three
bucks. You won’t get the sweet Super Game Boy enhancements, but you can
use the suspend/resume feature for the game’s trickier bits. No matter
which way you play it, you’ll have a good time!”
———-
I once had two copies of Mole Mania, but I gave one to a person who ended up being a jerk. Even worse, I thought I had given them the one with the dead battery (they said they were happy to replace it), but it turned out I gave them the good copy! This gives me the swift kick in the cheeks I need to fix my copy and finally finish the dang game!
–IF
Yokoi Kids 