Mario Clash

Mario Clash is a game released for the Virtual Boy in 1995. It is also the first 3D stereoscopic Mario game. The game is a return to the style of the original Mario Bros., but is single-player only.

Story
Story from the instruction booklet "The Clash House Tower has been invaded by bad guys! It's up to Mario to clear them out, throwing Koopa shells to knock them away. Take care as you battle in dangerous rooms of narrow ledges connected by pipes."

Gameplay
Each level consists of two layers, a foreground and a background, that are connected by Warp Pipes. When Mario enters the stage through the rope, he can decide which layer to start in. Each layer may have two floors or floating platforms between the two floors. Later levels will have slippery frozen platforms.

To beat each level, Mario must knock targeted enemies off the stage before the Time Limit. Stomping on Koopas will provide Mario with his only weapon, their Turtle Shells. There are always two Koopas; if one gets knocked off, another one takes its place. Enemies and thrown shells can travel through the pipes. Many enemies need to be hit from the side to stun them, thus Mario must throw shells from the background to the foreground and vice-versa in order to hit them but the shell will be lost if he misses. It is also possible to ricochet off of multiple enemies this way. Stunned targets can be dispatched by kicking them or throwing a shell at them again. However, all stunned enemies can recover, including the Koopa he is holding. Also, the last target of each level will move faster. Stunning a target is worth 100 points while dispatching one is worth 500. Defeating multiple enemies with a single throw will give bonus points.

The game allows the player to select any of the first 40 levels to start. After clearing all 99 levels, the game loops back to Level 1 but all the enemies move faster. There is no true ending but reaching the maximum number of points (999,999) will award the player with a cutscene. Between some levels is the Bonus Chance where Mario can collect coins for extra points or get an extra life. The other method of getting extra lives is to accrue enough points. When this is achieved, a 1UP sign will fly across the screen. If Mario hits it with a shell, he will get a second extra life. This sign won't show up if the threshold is crossed during Bonus Chance. It is also impossible to hit if it appears after Mario defeats the last target. There is no save function and high scores are not recorded.

Enemies

 * Koopa - behaves like a green Koopa Troopa, it is the only enemy that can be stomped on. Its shell is Mario's only weapon. Stomping on one awards only 10 points and there are no points for defeating one. If one is defeated, another will spawn to take its place so there are always two of them.

Target enemies: Other enemies:
 * Spike - debuts in Level 1, it looks like a Spike Top and can be defeated with a single shell collision from any angle.
 * Thorny - debuts in Level 3, it looks similar to Spike but with three spikes. It can only be stunned by hitting its side.
 * Para-Goomba - debuts in Level 6, it is a hopping enemy. Like Thorny, it can only be stunned by hitting its side.
 * Lobb - debuts in Level 9, it is a machine that throws iron balls at Mario. These balls can stop a thrown shell. It can only be stunned by hitting its side.
 * Sidestepper - debuts in Level 11, Mario must hit its front or back in the same layer to turn it sideways then hit its front or back again from another layer to stun it.
 * Snake - debuts in Level 13, this enemy can spit out an egg that will hatch another Snake. It can only be stunned by hitting its side. Its eggs can be hit from any angle or destroyed by simply touching it.
 * Big Boo - debuts in Level 15, it flies in a wavy pattern. It can only be stunned by hitting its side when it is not transparent.
 * Pokey - debuts in Level 17, it has two lower sections that can be removed by being hit from any angle but they can regenerate. The head can only be stunned by hitting its side. If the last target is a Pokey head, it will move very quickly.
 * Fire - it appears after enough time has passed and behaves like the green fireballs from Mario Bros., but with a simpler wavy pattern which lets Mario dodge through careful positioning. It can be defeated with a shell thrown at any angle for 50 points.
 * Ice - debuts in Level 12, it only appears in icy stages and it behaves the same as the icicles in Mario Bros., but Mario can't stop it from spawning as a droplet because the upper platforms are too high. It can be defeated with a shell thrown at any angle for 50 points.

Items

 * Mushroom - after defeating 30 target enemies, a mushroom will exit from a pipe. Collecting this will initiate Fever Time, which makes Mario's throw strong enough to defeat all enemies on contact and points are doubled. Losing a shell or losing a life will end Fever Time.
 * Coin - in Bonus Chance, collecting them is worth 300 points each and there's an extra life awarded for collecting all of them.

Cameos
Cameos from other Super Mario series characters appear in a Nintendo border after every 100,000 points scored. In the Bonus Chance, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, Yoshi, and Toads appear in the bleachers.

Pre-release and unused content
Mario Clash was originally a mini-game which was seen in VB Mario Land, an unreleased Virtual Boy game which was shown at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, 1995. The game Mario Bros. VB itself was a earlier version of Mario Clash. It was shown as a demo game at the Shoshinkai expo in Japan, which took place on November 15th and 16th, 1994.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo in May 1995 revealed that the Mario Bros. minigame (which was previously known to be included in the VB Mario Land demo), was now being developed as a stand-alone game titled Mario Clash, which was planned to be released as a launch title for the Virtual Boy. For unknown reasons, there were no further reports of VB Mario Land being developed.

Reception
The game received mixed reviews. named this video game "The second worst Mario video game of all time", while other reviews were more positive. gave it an A and called it a "must have for Virtual Boy owners".

References in later games

 * WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!: A microgame based off Mario Clash appears in 9-Volt's set of microgames.
 * WarioWare Gold: The same microgame reappears in 5-Volt's set of microgames.