Mushroom Heroes Review

There are those of us in the world who love the Super Mario Bros. games but perhaps have more of an affinity for the people of the Mushroom Kingdom rather than Mario, Peach, and Luigi. Any time I play Super Mario Bros. 2, I pick Toad, so when I heard I had a chance to play three different mushroom people in the style of those from the Mushroom Kingdom, I was interested. Even better, they were Mushroom Heroes.

From developer Serkan Bakar, this arcade style mobile game involves three different mushroom people with a very particular set of skills. There’s Dombi, in blue, who can push or pull objects. Jumpi, in red, who can jump very high. Dombi also has a shield he can employ when needed, and Yuppie, the third in green, has a bow and arrow. You can also stack the mushroom friends if needed to get to places and more skills are revealed as you go.

Mushroom Heroes is more than just an arcade title, as it's also a puzzle game in which you must use their skills to figure out how to get from one side of the room to the next. On the Google Play page, it’s a “puzzle” and “retro” platformer “inspired by SNES and 8-bit classics” which is very clear in the art style. Honestly, the art style is part of what really pulled me in. It’s kind of adorable. I kind of fell in love with the mushroom people, determined to do my best to take them safely from room to room. Must keep cute heroes safe!

The controls on the screen are very easy to follow, as it mostly follows the idea behind the original NES controllers, minus up and down. There’s A and B for the abilities that the mushrooms have, then forward and backward and a button to switch heroes. The buttons are just about the size of a fingertip, taking up the space needed without really getting in the way. In the options menu there is also a left hand or right hand option, something I found very interesting as a left handed person. This option switches the side of the arrows and the A B buttons.

The drawbacks are fairly typical of mobile games. It takes a little time to adjust to the controls as they’re always a little different in each mobile title, though at least these are semi-familiar. There are three lives per level in this game, and after you have used them up, you will have to wait through an ad to try again. The app is free on Android devices with ads and in-app purchases. Fortunately most of them seem to be on a five second delay, so it’s not the greatest hardship as it may be with some apps, but if you die a lot, it can get annoying of course.

All in all, dev Serkan Bakar has twelve mobile games under his belt at this point and I think it’s clear he’s getting quite a knack for it. Mushroom Heroes is fairly polished, especially for a mobile title. The controls are easy to get, the design is nice and the gameplay is fun. This is one that could be handed off to an older child, one who can read, and a game that adults could definitely have fun with too. Absolutely worth giving a try, even if you don’t like mobile titles. If you are a fan of the people of the Mushroom Kingdom and feel like they deserve their own heroes, give Mushroom Heroes a chance, available on Android devices.