A lost book of prophecies (the Dark Prognosticus) is in the hands of the nasty Count Bleck – he has to follow its instructions to fulfill the creation of a Dimensional Void (which involves the ever-endangered princess Peach). And of course Mario is the prophesied hero destined to save the day!

What makes this game different is its flat 2-dimensional (paper) look, like the PlayStation game Parappa The Rapper, or South Park. The inter-dimensional Flipside finds itself in neither one nor the other dimension, and here Mario learns some skills, the most important being switching between 2D and 3D. This turns the view to the side, allowing you to move around the flat obstructing structures, also revealing hidden items and passageways (incl. the essential hearts Mario needs to collect over several chapters to save all the worlds from being destroyed by Bleck's void).

I had a 9 year old check this out as well and the extremely long intro and loads of required reading leading up the classic Mario Bros. action takes far too long and could easily lose those with short attention spans - although, it may be good to stimulate some lazy readers!

3 / B
- Paul Blom