Marble It Up! is a spiritual successor to Marble Blast Ultra, which was released way back in 2006 and has been unavailable since 2011. Ultra is the absolute definition of a cult classic – if you know it, you most likely love it, but being withdrawn from sale means it’s now lost to the sands of time and only a select few who still retain a copy on their hard drives get to experience its majesty these days. Announced completely out of the blue a little over a month ago, Marble It Up! is now available on the Nintendo Switch eShop, but currently only for those with a US-registered account. A wider release on PC and consoles is in the works, but further details are yet to be confirmed.
MIU! retains the gameplay mechanics that endeared Ultra to so many people back in the day. Like a 3D version of retro classic Marble Madness crossed with Super Monkey Ball, players control a marble that must be rolled around a course to the finishing line as quickly as possible. Faster times earn better medals, which in turn eventually unlock new marbles to play with.
The current version of the game features 40 levels, of which the first 30 most likely won’t give anyone too much trouble. Mechanics, obstacles and powerups are introduced at a leisurely pace, giving plenty of time to get used to how things work before the difficulty ramps up during the final 10 levels. Moving platforms, gravity, ice, pinball-style bumpers, speed boosts and more conspire against your best efforts to win the elusive gold medals on these final stages. And if you somehow manage to get all the golds, there’s always platinum times to aim for… Leaderboards are included so you can race against other players’ times, but these are limited to players on your own console and the top 5 global scores, making it impossible to see how you measure up against anyone on your friends list. Hopefully this can be addressed in any forthcoming updates.
Marble It Up! might be a little light on content at the moment, but the promise of free level packs, multiplayer modes, a level editor (on PC only), and additional user-created levels to follow in the near future makes the overall package a rather enticing prospect. Right now though, we’re left wanting more, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
MARBLE IT UP! / DEVELOPER: MARBLE IT UP / PUBLISHER: MARBLE IT UP / PLATFORM: NINTENDO SWITCH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
