Super Mario Land 4: Gotta Catch 'Em All!

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**Super Mario Land 4: Gotta Catch ‘Em All!** is a game released for the Nintendo Blaze. Developed by Copy-Ability-Studios, it is the fourth installment in the *Super Mario Land* series, following 1994’s *Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3* for the Game Boy, and primarily serves as a crossover with the *Pokémon* franchise. The game also functions as a spiritual sequel to *Super Mario Bros. Wonder* for the Nintendo Switch.

The game has connectivity with games in the tenth generation of the Pokémon series. Any Pokémon that the player has caught in *Super Mario Land 4: Gotta Catch Em All!* can be transferred to Pokémon Olive and Peridot and Pokemon Obsidian and Lavender to be used in said games.

The game received a DLC expansion add-on, **Across the Hoopa-verse,** which contains characters and elements from the *Kirby* and *Sonic the Hedgehog* franchises.

## Plot

#### Main Story

In *Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3*, Wario had traveled to Kitchen Island to collect treasure and money, after failing to conquer Mario Land in *Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins*. In the process, he confronts the leader of the Brown Sugar Pirates, named Captain Syrup, who summons a genie to destroy him. After defeating the genie and claiming its lamp as his own, Captain Syrup uses a large bomb to destroy Syrup Castle in a last-ditch attempt to defeat Wario. Fortunately, Wario escapes with the genie lamp in his hand. Out of the remains of the castle, a giant golden statue of Princess Peach appears. Wario attempts to claim the statue for himself, but then his rival Mario swoops down in his helicopter to grab the statue and fly away with it.

However, Mario soon discovers that the golden Princess Peach statue is actually a creature called Ditto, which had transformed into a statue because he wanted to know what it felt like to be stolen treasure. Mario lands his helicopter and learns that Ditto is a Pokémon, a race of powerful creatures from an alternate dimension known as the Pokémon World. Ditto offers to take Mario on a tour of the Pokémon World, to which Mario, out of curiosity, accepts. Ditto transforms into a Hoopa, a Pokémon that can create portals to alternate worlds via hoops. Mario goes through one of these hoops to the Pokémon World, with Ditto following closely. Once arriving in the Pokémon World, Mario is told he is free to go anywhere he wants, as long as he looks out for wild Pokémon. Ditto gives Mario a handful of Poké Balls, which are used to capture Pokémon. Mario takes the Poké Balls with him and promises to be careful.

Meanwhile, back on Kitchen Island, Wario tells Captain Syrup’s genie to grant him his wish to have a castle. The genie tells Wario to give him all of the treasures and coins he had collected on his adventure in order for it to grant his wish. Once the genie has enough coins and treasures, it grants Wario’s wish by transporting him onto a sunny beach. Wario sees a sand castle, and is furious that the genie ripped him off. Wario is unaware, however, that he had been sent to the Pokémon World by the genie’s magic, as the sand castle reveals itself to be Palossand, a giant sand castle-like Pokémon. Wario flees from the imposing creature when he finds a Poké Ball in the sand. Wario throws the Poké Ball at the Palossand and captures it in the process. Wario finds more Poké Balls in the sand, and then gets the idea of rounding up different creatures to help him build his own castle.

Eventually, Mario and Ditto hear from a parrot-like Pokémon named Chatot that a “greedy glutton that reeks of garlic” is snatching Pokémon in Poke Balls and forcing them to build a castle. Mario knows that this is, without a doubt, the work of his rival Wario. Mario and Ditto decide to team up to put a stop to Wario’s scheme and free all of the Pokémon that he is enslaving.

#### Across the Hoopa-verse

Somewhere in the Pokémon World is a Pokémon named Hoopa, who can create portals to alternate realities with hoops. Hoopa finds the peaceful lifestyle of the Pokémon World to be boring and uses its hoops to open portals to alternate worlds to "spice things up". However, in the process, Hoopa creates a "cosmic shake-up" that is sending the alternate worlds on a collision course with the Pokemon World. Realizing his mistake, Hoopa enlists the help of Mario to restabilize the portals so the alternate worlds wouldn't crash into and destroy the Pokemon World.

Mario jumps into a portal leading to a world filled with green hills and loops. Almost immediately, he comes face-to-face with a speedy, blue hedgehog named Sonic. After hearing of Hoopa's mistake, Sonic agrees to help Mario out, as he knows "a genius two-tailed fox" that has an invention that could help save the day. This friend of Sonic's is revealed to be Tails, who has invented DiPus (or Dimensional Purifiers) that will help to save the multiverse. However, Sonic's nemesis Dr. Eggman kidnaps Tails in an effort to use the DiPus for his own selfish needs. Now, Mario and Sonic must team up to save Tails on top of saving the multiverse.

After Tails is saved, he gives Mario the DiPus needed to re-stabilize the portals to the alternate worlds. The first DiPu is used to restabilize the portal to Sonic's world, but the job is only half-done, as there are more portals to alternate worlds that need to be restabilized. Mario and Sonic jump into a portal leading to a "land of dreams" and meet up with a pink, spherical creature named Kirby. After hearing of Hoopa's mistake, Kirby agrees to help our heroes.

## Gameplay

### Basic Gameplay

*Super Mario Land 4: Gotta Catch ‘Em All!* is a 2D sidecroller platformer with 2.5D graphics that follows the same gameplay format as other 2D games in the *Super Mario* series. The player assumes the role of the titular Mario, or as other playable characters, with the objective of the game being to reach the end of the stage. Many obstacles appear in a stage to hinder the player's progress, such as enemies and bottomless pits, and the player must overcome these obstacles if they want to clear the stage. At the end of the stage is a bell that players must ring in order to end the level. After ringing the bell, a door opens to allow the playable characters to exit the level. In addition to the “get to the goal” objective, players can also collect coins and find secret exits to bonus levels.

Players can perform a variety of abilities, such as a wall jump or a spin jump. Playable characters also have a P Meter, returning from *Super Mario Bros. 3* and *New Super Mario Bros. 2*, which fills up after the player has run for a specific time without stopping. After the P Meter is full, players will enter their "top speed" state, allowing them to run across short gaps and to run up walls and along ceilings with the help of Triangle Blocks. Players can obtain new abilities by collecting Power-Ups, with the Power-Up’s ability mapped to the A button. Like in all *Super Mario* games, Power-Ups can be ejected out of a ? Block, either by spin-jumping it from above or by hitting it from below.

*Super Mario Land 4: Gotta Catch Em All!* is broken up into several worlds, known as Lands. Each Land in the game consists of eight levels. The first seven levels range from “classic” levels from past games (notably Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3’s e-Reader levels) and new, original levels created specifically for this game. The eighth and final level is a boss level with one of Wario’s captured Pokemon serving as the boss. Defeating the boss ends the level and rewards the player with one of four keys to Wario’s castle, Wario Land. Similarly to *Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins*, the first four Lands are available by default and can be explored freely in any order, whereas the fifth land, Wario Land, can only be accessed if the player defeats one of Wario's Pokemon in the boss level at the end of the first four Lands.

As stated above, this game serves as a spiritual sequel to *Super Mario Bros. Wonder*, as the physics, graphics and art direction are the same as said game. A few of *Super Mario Bros. Wonder*’s features, such as Mario’s animations (most notably his running animation, including when running up walls and along ceilings) and the Drill Mushroom, make their return. Unlike *Super Mario Bros. Wonder*, there is no multi-player mode, meaning that Super Mario Land 4: Gotta Catch 'Em All! is strictly a single-player experience.

### New Features

*Super Mario Land 4: Gotta Catch ‘Em All!* features many returning features from past *Super Mario* games in addition to brand-new features made exclusively for this game. One prominent new feature is capturing and using Pokémon, which is a move exclusive to Mario. Playable characters can defeat Pokémon, which appear as enemies, either by jumping on them or by throwing a projectile at them. However, when playing as Mario, players can also capture Pokémon by using Poke Balls. Pressing the X button, which is used for character-specific abilities) allows the player to throw a Poké Ball at a Pokémon. Doing so will result in the Pokémon being captured. After its capture, the Pokémon can be used to activate Poké Powers which alter the level in some way, similarly in concept to *Super Mario Bros Wonder*'s Wonder Effects. Players can carry up to four Pokémon at a time, which are displayed at the top right of the screen, and the D pad is used to select the desired Pokémon. Poké Powers can be activated at any time during a level, and by any playable character, as long as players have captured at least one Pokémon at their disposal. Keep in mind, however, that players cannot capture Wario's Pokemon or any creatures that exist outside of the Pokemon universe, and Poké Powers cannot be used during battles.

In-between levels, players can visit the Pokémon Center, run by a cheerful Wigglytuff and a not-so-cheerful Gengar. Wigglytuff is in charge of the Shop, in which players can use coins collected in a level to purchase items such as Poké Balls and Power-Ups to use in levels. The Shop also has Melody Berries, which can be taken to the Melody Tree after being purchased and given to Meloetta, who becomes a playable character. Gengar is in charge of the Storage & Transfer, in which players can store their captured Pokémon for later use, or transfer them to the player's copy of Pokémon Olive and Peridot or Pokémon Obsidian and Lavender to be used in said games.

In addition to Mario, players can choose to play the game as other playable characters. Each playable character has a special move that can be performed by pressing the X button. Mario has his aforementioned ability to capture Pokémon with Poké Balls, while Ditto can transform into a random Pokemon with a different ability that works identically to a Power-Up.

For the first time in a mainline Super Mario game, bosses have health bars, which are depleted the more damage it has received from the player. Just when the health gauge appears to be fully depleted, however, the boss will refill its health by consuming Wario's garlic and become more powerful, with the player having to plot more strategies to defeat it for good. After the player has defeated the final boss, there will be Shiny variants of the first four bosses, which are even more difficult to defeat than before.

*Super Mario Land 4: Gotta Catch 'Em All!* re-introduces Power-Up combination, which was a gameplay mechanic that was only featured in Virtual Boy Wario Land and no other game since then until now; when playing as Mario, collecting a certain Power-Up while already in a certain Power-Up form will create a new Power-Up form that uses attributes of both Power-Ups (for example, collecting a Fire Flower while in Drill Mario form will create Fire-Drill Mario). This gives Mario not only more hit points, but also more than one Power-Up ability.

Lastly, *Super Mario Land 4: Gotta Catch 'Em All!* features a Maker Mode, which is a level construction tool similar to *Super Mario Maker.* In Maker Mode, players can create their own levels by using the game's assets, and upload them to the sixth Land in the game, Maker Land, or to the Level Showcase Plaza for players using online connectivity to download other players' levels into their own copy of the game.

### Downloadable Content

*Super Mario Land 4: Gotta Catch 'Em All!* includes a DLC expansion, known as **Across the Hoopa-verse**, that can be downloaded from the eShop.

*Across the Hoopa-verse* adds a plethora of features and characters from different video game franchises. Two of the most notable ones are the *Sonic the Hedgehog* and *Kirby* franchises; Sonic and Kirby are featured as playable characters, and many elements from their respective franchises are included in the expansion, ranging from locations such as Green Greens and Emerald Hill Zone to Power-Ups such as the Wisps (from Sonic's world) and Copy Food (from Kirby's world).

## Controls

 Jump
 Dash
 Use Power-Up ability
 Throw Poke Balls
 Special Ability

## Assets

Levels are made up of different Assets, which consist of collectible items such as coins and Power-Ups, to objects such as blocks and pipes, to enemies that need to be defeated by the player.

All Assets listed below can be used in Maker Mode to create levels, though assets marked with a double asterisk (\*\*) are unlocked after downloading the **Across the Hoopa-verse** DLC expansion.

### Collectible Items

#### Power-Up Items

 Cape Feather
 Drill Mushroom
Turns Kirby into Drill Kirby.

### Objects

#### Platforms

* Ground
* Semisolid Platform

#### Blocks

* ? Block
* Brick Block
* Triangle Block

### Enemies

* Shroomish - Grass-type Pokemon that act identically to Goombas. \*Chewtle - Water-type Pokemon that act identically to Koopa Troopas. \*Drednaw - Water/Rock type Pokemon that act identically to Big Koopa Troopas.
* Breloom - Grass/Fighting type Pokemon that act identically to Rex. \*Gulpin - Poison-type Pokemon that act identically to Maw-Maws.
* Swalot - Poison-type Pokemon that act like Maw-Maws, but are much larger.
* Torkoal - Fire-type Pokemon that act identically to Hookbill the Koopa.

## Pokemon Powers

* Water (exclusive to Water-type Pokemon) - A Pokemon swoops in to flood the level with water, allowing the playable character to swim anywhere by pressing the B button repeatedly. If the level is already filled with water, the Pokemon will instead suck all the water out, leaving it completely dry, and as everyone knows, characters cannot swim if there is no water.

## Worlds

Worlds and levels marked with a double asterisk (\*\*) are exclusive to the "Across the Hoopa-verse" DLC expansion.

* Grookey Land - An autumn forest-themed area.
	+ Vegetable Volley
	+ Ground Work
* Camerupt Land - A lava-themed area.
	+ Lava Lagoon
* Emolga Land - A sky/water-themed area.
	+ Caped Escape
	+ Sea to Sky
* Avalugg Land - A snow-themed area.
* Wario Land
* Maker Land
	+ Custom Level 1
	+ Custom Level 2
	+ Custom Level 3
	+ Custom Level 4
	+ Custom Level 5
	+ Custom Level 6
	+ Custom Level 7
	+ Custom Level 8
	+ Custom Level 9
	+ Custom Level 10
	+ Custom Level 11
	+ Custom Level 12
	+ Custom Level 13
	+ Custom Level 14
* Kirby Land
* Sonic Land

### List of changes in returning levels

* In Sea to Sky, the P Switch is replaced with an On/Off Block. In addition, unlike the effects of the P Switch, the effects of the block are permanent.

## Trivia

* This is the first Super Mario game of several things:
	+ The first in the Super Mario Land sub-series to be released on a home console.
	+ The first to be a crossover with other video game franchises.
* The world map for the Pokemon World is in the shape of a Poke Ball.
* The first letter in the names of the first four Lands in the base game spells out an abbreviation for the Pokemon series' slogan: Gotta Catch 'Em All!.
	+ In addition, Wario Land’s level spell out “WARIOMAN”, which is a reference to one of Wario’s alter egos, Wario-Man.
* The idea of having returning levels and new levels in a world originates from Sonic Mania.
* Similarly to the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series, the Pokemon in the Pokemon World are capable of speaking in human languages.
* Ditto's Pokemon transformations plays similarly/identically to some of Mario's Power-Up forms from several Super Mario games:
	+ Piplup Ditto plays very similarly to Penguin Mario from New Super Mario Bros Wii, minus the ability to throw ice balls.
	+ Emolga Ditto plays identically to Flying Squirrel Mario from New Super Mario Bros U.
	+ Jigglypuff Ditto plays identically to Balloon Mario from Super Mario Maker 2.
	+ Scorbunny Mario plays identically to Bunny Mario from Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins.