Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara

As a spin-off of a highly underrated game, Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara is a lovely 3D platformer that's full of charm and heart.

Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara is an opportunity to revisit the world of Summer in Mara, now as a 3D platform game with a very Nintendo flavour, not very innovative, but fun and with a control system, previously seen in Mail Mole, designed with speedruns in mind. You'll enjoy it more if you played Summer in Mara.

Overall, I think that Koa and the Five Pirates is a great reworking of the Summer in Mara world and characters. Being a 3D character platformer just makes the gameplay feel fast-paced and welcoming. Like I stated, for younger players this is a great introduction to these types of games if you’re looking for something that might be even more accessible than Mario. For platforming veterans there’s some decent challenge in getting gold medals in every stage, but other than that it might feel a bit too simple. The game might be unpolished in a few places, but there was very little that hampers the gameplay experience. Leaving the door open for future Mara adventures, I think that these characters really lend themselves to different genres and experiences. Even if I didn’t pick up on many of the callbacks to Summer in Mara, I could tell that the developers really like these characters and this world they’ve created. Perhaps it’s time to explore the RTS or RPG genre in Mara?

Fun, engaging and accessible, Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara can be equally enjoyed both in short bouts on the Nintendo Switch screen and in longer sessions on a television screen, as the experience easily suits both ways thanks to its captivating world and well implemented mechanics. The difficulty curve can seem unbalanced at times, but the game is very accessible to newcomers and a welcome addition to the Nintendo Switch catalogue.

Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara isn’t exactly a bold reinvention of the 3D platformer, but it repeatedly proves that it’s got it where it counts. Smooth controls, decent level variety, and lots of collectibles all make this one a fairly easy recommendation, even if it is a little simplistic looking. If you're after 7-10 hours of solid, colourful 3D platforming, we’d suggest giving this one a shot.

If you’re not looking for something new in the field of 3D platformers and you just want to scratch that itch with a genre we don't see often anymore, Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara might be a perfect new release for you. On the other hand, if you want something unique, polished and unforgettable... You might be in the wrong place.