Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (for Wii U)

Puzzles, Secrets, and Treasure, Oh MyThe object of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is simple: you guide the mushroom-headed Captain Toad or his companion Toadette through treasure-laden puzzle rooms seeking the golden star at the end of each stage. Because neither Toad nor Toadette can jump, players must make good use of pathways, ladders, and drops to make progress within each self-contained puzzle room.
Every stage has three hidden diamonds, in addition to the final star. Some of these gems are in plain sight, with hidden pathways obscuring the route to them. Others are hidden within enemies, or behind locked doors. Treasure-hungry adventurers will want to do their best to find all of the booty sneakily stashed within each stage.
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker's stages are wonderfully varied, so no two puzzles feel similar. One has Toad use pipes and switches to raise the water level on some sun-soaking Goombas. Another has Toad ride a mine cart; it plays like a first-person, turnip-flinging rail shooter. Yet another stage has Toad sneak around Shy Guys on a train in a snowy field. Despite the game's simplicity, Treasure Tracker remains fresh and interesting throughout, thanks to its creative level design and presentation.
While they may be vertical-leap challenged, Toad and Toadette get some assistance from super mushrooms, turnips, double cherries, and pickaxes. Though not all stages have them, they are invaluable for finding secrets, eliminating enemies, or simply making the stage easier.
In classic Super Mario fashion, taking a hit shrinks Toad to a more diminutive form. A second hit in this form will finish him and end the run. Super mushrooms restore Toad's size and allow players to make a third mistake. Turnips work in the same way that they did in Super Mario Bros. 2: They are plucked from the ground and flung at enemies to eliminate them. They can also be thrown at out-of-reach treasure, which counts as collecting said treasure.
The double cherry returns from Super Mario 3D World and serves the same function in that it creates a Toad clone. This lets you navigate complex stages and activate multiple switches at once. The pickaxe is unique to Treasure Tracker and works in the same fashion as the hammer in the classic Donkey Kong arcade game. When Toad or Toadette acquires a pickaxe, he or she becomes frenzied and swings the tool uncontrollably, to remixed hammer tune from Donkey Kong. The pickaxe lets you destroy enemies and crush brick walls to reveal secrets.
Beyond diamonds and stars, stages also have a stamp to collect, which is tied to a hidden bonus objective unique to each stage. The most common of these conditions is a Golden Mushroom, which is well-hidden within the level. Other conditions include finishing the stage without getting hit, eliminating all enemies, not being seen by enemies, and so on. The collectibles and objectives greatly extend the longevity of the game, because players will usually need to replay each stage to find all of its secrets. I have mixed feelings about this, however, as I'll explain below.

Control Oversights and TediumCaptain Toad does have a few niggling faults. None are particularly egregious, but they're worth a quick mention. The hidden objectives do extend the life of the game, but I dislike that the objectives are hidden in the first place. These bonus conditions only become clear after a player has cleared a stage once, which essentially forces you to replay a stage to complete it. I would much rather the bonus objective be clear going into the stage. You might still have to replay the stage to hit all the objectives, but at least you'd have a chance of clearing it the first time.
Treasure Tracker also has a few minor technical oversights that affect puzzle solving and exploring. Camera control is the most obvious of these. The GamePad gyroscope controls used to rotate and move the camera can be slow and imprecise. I prefer to use the control stick to move the camera, but the gyro-input is always active. The result? You can easily move the camera and obstruct your view by simply shifting in your seat.
Tutorials are annoying early on, because they are so prominent and intrusive. They can obscure the screen during play, and there is no option to turn these tutorial messages off. Fortunately, you get past them pretty quickly.
The zoom feature is another element that could use improvement. The default view of the stage has the camera scaled back too far. Zooming in, on the other hand, pans much too close to Toad/Toadette to get a useful view of their surroundings. A more gradual zoom would alleviate the issue.
An Excellent Puzzle-Heavy AdventureCaptain Toad: Treasure Tracker retains enough Super Mario 3D World aesthetics and assets to look and feel like a spin-off game, but it has enough of its own charm and puzzle-heavy twists to feel like a unique stand-alone game. The few control oversights are minimal, and don't detract much from the game as a whole. With dozens of puzzles to solve, wonderful visuals, catchy music, and simple controls, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a fantastic game that anyone can enjoy.