So we got another Mario World rom hack by Gamma V, though these days it appears he goes by Gamma Prime.

This one is Mario & Luigi: Kola Kingdom Quest, and no- it's not a Mario & Luigi RPG game, it's a classic Mario 2D platformer and has 74 brilliant levels and that signature aesthetic polish that Gamma V rom hacks are known for.

This is another one of those Mario rom hacks that isn't trying to annihilate you with difficulty, but isn't exactly super easy either.

But is there more to Kola Kingdom Quest than meets the eye? Let's investigate.

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So Kola Kingdom Quest was originally released in 2015, and it had a hardware fix update in 2017. Nothing since because, well, it doesn't need anything.

According to Gamma, it's a spiritual remake of an older hack of his called Super Mario Bros. 5 Reborn.

I haven't played it, but honestly Reborn as a subtitle sounds way more epic than “Kola Kingdom Quest” but what do I know?

Though the songs and graphics are mostly the same, much otherwise, including the levels and over-worlds have been redone.

And despite being a hack from the 2010s, this one feels super clean, even compared to more contemporary rom hacks.

The user interface that slides in an out, leaving the screen's frame to be taken up completely by the level is just too gorgeous.

We've seen this UI and these sprites before, but this time, it's a real show stopper of ROM hack, not so much based off the Mario Land Gameboy games this time.

The world themes, while not doing anything crazy new for a Mario 2D platformer, still all have some nice flourishes to them, like these Tiki heads you'll find early on in world 1, and the mechanical chaos you'll find in the final world.

The music comes from all kinds of places, like 2-1, Dino Rhino Dunes, which clearly has music that comes from Live A Live.

Overall, the music just feels super clean and fun, with great arrangements of music in the Mario World sound font.

The game has these little bonus rooms that you often find via warp pipe, and some of them, like this one from 2-3 seem kinda... weird. Like... is this a prison? Well, anyway.

Also, is that Mario RPG music? Fight Against Monsters? Very nice.

Speaking of enemies, there's all the classics and some Mario Land enemies returning to the mix.
There's some Mario 64 enemies that show up in the Pipe City world, which is a neat touch.

Bomb Brother make and appearance and they are not easily dealt with.

The boss fights are all pretty challenging, with many not just being killed with the classic 3 hit rule.

Some of these bosses really proved to be hard to overcome, but nothing was impossible without some trial and error.

It's the Koopalings, so familiar territory for fans of World and Mario 3, but this time, with new twists on the actual mechanics of the fights.

Funnily, the Ice world Koopaling boss is actually just Mouser from Mario 2, except levelled out a touch differently.

I simply cannot escape Mario 2.

And Boom Boom as well. Can't forget Boom Boom.

The overall challenge doesn't spike too hard, but it's definitely there in the later levels. It's not gonna be a cake-walk.

That is kind of par for the course when it comes to 2D Mario rom hacks; the assumption is that if you're playing these games, you can probably stand a bit more challenge than the average person who played New Super Mario Bros. Wii one time at their friends house and has never since even touched a 2D platformer.

That being said, it's pretty similar to a vanilla 2D Mario game, and that's a good thing. It's like, exactly what you want out of a 2D Mario rom hack. More quality Mario that feels on par with official source materiel.