Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a puzzle-platform game that is based off of The Adventures of Captain Toad stages from Super Mario 3D World, maintaining the same basic gameplay from them. Treasure Tracker is a full game and features collectibles, more detailed levels, and boss encounters.
General Gameplay
Players control Toad, who cannot jump and walks very slowly due to the heavy backpack. Players can make Toad run, but its effect is fairly marginal. He can defeat some enemies by landing on them by using the terrain to his advantage. Toad can also obtain a pickaxe, which gives him the ability to defeat enemies and clear obstacle blocks.
When Captain Toad takes damage, he becomes small. He can take two hits of damage before dying and can collect mushrooms to restore health and return to normal size. The goal of each stage is to safely navigate through the level to reach the gold star.
The levels are contained areas which can be rotated and viewed from different angles with the analogue stick controlling the camera. This allows for players to get different vantage points in the levels to figure out how to solve a puzzle or collect a particular item. The levels in this game do not feature a time limit.
Toad can pick plants from the ground, which can contain coins, turnips, and sometimes diamonds. Coins can be earned one at a time or in groups of ten that the player must pull up in a time limit. Turnips can be thrown at enemies to defeat them. Each stage will have three diamonds to collect, as well as a stamp.
There are also mine cart levels, in which Toad rides along a track and the Wii U Gamepad screen switches to a first-person viewpoint. Here, the player can hurl turnips at enemies by using the gyroscopic controls to aim. The Gamepad's touch screen can also be used in the game to manipulate certain platforms and walls, as well as stun enemies.
The game also features boss characters at the end of a series of stages. Boss levels are also a kind of puzzle, as Toad must safely maneuver through the environment and figure out its weakness to defeat it.
Amiibo
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker will also support Nintendo's amiibo line of figurines.
