Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi takes everything from its Wii big brother (Mushroom Men: Spore Wars) and crams it all onto one tiny DS cart, with mixed results. While the basic game mechanics are intact, and the distinctive Mushroom Men aesthetic shines through, this platformer lacks the forgiving nature and full audiovisual pizzazz of its console sibling. As such, something is lost in translation.

If you’ve not played the other title in the franchise, you may be a bit confused by the out-there premise. Using all the tropes (and fonts!) of 1950s and 1960s science fiction, Mushroom Men ekes out a unique tale of a world (actually, our world) in which tiny mushrooms and other life have gained sentience and powers by means of a runaway green meteor. Got it?

Rise of the Fungi is actually a prequel to Spore Wars, as it takes place years before the Bolete tribe was torn apart and all the various species of sentient mushrooms are warring with one another for dominance. While the story is interesting – and certainly satisfying (to a degree) for players who have played the Wii title, it’s really just an excuse to set up the incredibly funky game world.

You pick a class – either a slow, powerful heavy, a balanced “spore power” wielding sage, or an agile, fleet footed scout, and you begin your adventure. The gameplay structure is remarkably similar to the Wii version – with the major difference being that this outing is set in a 2D world. Otherwise, you’re exploring giant-sized versions of the real world (the idea being that you’re a tiny little dude in a big, bad world) battling bugs and whacked out animals with weapons that you build from scavenged items.

You also have an arsenal of spore powers at your disposal, much like Pax’ powers in Spore Wars. In a sort of RPG-lite fashion, you’ll literally level up by finding mutagen containers and pick up these little beauties in the process. All in all, you’ll earn aim, cloud, explosion, grenade, prison, shield, speed, swarm and whirlwind powers (a couple are class-specific), and all are useful and satisfying to unleash.

For most of your combat you’ll use the attack buttons, but using your grappling hook and spore powers requires the use of the touch controls. Instead of waving away with a Wii-mote, you draw symbols and drag objects around on the DS screen. You’ll also use the touch screen to manage inventory items, level up, play quick puzzle-based mini games, and save your progress, making the experience much more tactile than your average platformer.

The controls mostly work well – you’ll often choose weapons on the fly and switch screens in order to have full control of your inventory – but there are a few flaws. The L and R triggers are the jumping buttons, as opposed to the A and B buttons, which can be a little annoying for platform vets used to the more traditional scheme. Much more aggravating is the need to use the stylus at odd times, when other buttons need to be pressed. Several times, I needed to look up (by holding the D pad up and pressing B) then awkwardly drag the stylus from the grappling icon to some other object. I’m not sure what 3-limbed creature tested the game, but that move is incredibly awkward even for nimble-handed gamers.

There are a few other hit-or-miss moments that could’ve easily been avoided with a bit more play testing. The damned grappling tool misses obvious objects as often as it connects, and it often snaps (often for no reason) right as you figure out what you needed to do. And the cheap death quotient is far too high for this type of game – falling from any height will kill your ‘shroom immediately, and combat can be very prickly as well. This all adds up to give the game an artificially high difficulty level, which will almost certainly frustrate younger gamers (and very possibly some older ones).

This isn’t Mega Man 9, where the game is tough as nails, but the mechanics are pitch-perfect. In this title, sloppy hit detection, hard-to-see platforms, and imprecise jumping physics spell death way too often. It’s frustrating and pretty surprising, especially considering how friendly Spore Wars was.