Deckiller's Return is a short SMBX game made for the "No RM" event wherein participants were challenged to make a game in a month that wasn't developed in RPG Maker. Putting his past SMBX experience to good use, Decky cranked this thing out, and he did pretty a'ight! At a glance, this game isn't much to write home about. It uses mostly default graphics, only contains a handful of stages, and doesn't even vary the Mario formula by much. However, that's not to say it's bad, because what little is there has received the care and attention it deserves.

The plot: Bowser done nabbed 'at princess agin, dangit. Go save her, plumber man!

You play as Mario and explore some SMB3-style stages. The levels are short enough that they don't even need checkpoints, and only six stand between you and Bowser's Base (a castle by any other name). This game's saving grace comes in its attention to detail. Every level is constructed very deliberately. The game doesn't get super-challenging at any point, and you can blaze through the whole thing in less than an hour, but there's more to every stage than point A to point B. Each one has a star to collect, which is only revealed when you find 5 red coins. Some players are quick to criticize this sort of thing, but Deckiller handles it very tastefully.

Since the stages are short, dying and having to try again isn't a huge deal. Once you've figured out what you need to do, actually doing it isn't so hard (or doing it again). Even though dying and having to recollect coins is a pain, there are no situations where dying is unfair. You'll always at least see it coming and know what to do differently next time. Apart from being token collectibles, the red coins encourage you to explore each level thoroughly, and that is a satisfying thing to do. In spite of their shortness, Deckiller packed each stage with plenty to search for and figure out, making every level its own rewarding experience.

Therein lies the charm of this game, and if that doesn't do it for you...welp. This game is short and enjoyable whether you rip right through it or stop to smell the flowers. It's solid all around, but hardly overachieving, so I give it a...

4/5