Welcome to the third installment in the A Koopa’s Revenge 3 Idea Blog. The series where I describe ideas I have that could potentially be a part of the upcoming A Koopa’s Revenge 3. Last time we discussed how characters are affected differently by the same powerups. This week it’s somewhat related, the Lakitu Shop.
Coins aren’t just for extra lives (and flower faces) anymore. You can spend your collected coins at the friendly roving Lakitu Shop.
Lakitu wants to help. He’s not much of a fighter, but he can carry a lot of items. He’ll ferry his shop to where ever you may be, but getting these items isn’t free, he needs to feed his family.
Before we get to the shop, I need to explain items. A Koopa’s Revenge 3 will use an inventory of powerups like in Super Mario Bros. 3, accessible from the map screen. In addition to this inventory, there is also a reserve box like in Super Mario World. You can collect items out in the world, take them out of your reserve box and store them for later use. Items for your inventory can also be found other ways, probably on the map. Items can be swapped between the map inventory and you reserve box so you can use powerups like starmen anywhere in a level, not just at the start.
Lakitu won’t buy any used powerups (gross) but any fresh powerups in your inventory that you don’t need can be sold. Finally, a use for all those plain mushrooms. But Lakitus are attuned to the market, the more of something you sell, the less it’s worth. Don’t flood the market or the price of mushrooms will crash. Conversely, if you keep buying fire flowers, expect the price to go up.
From the start of the game Lakitu’s selection will be limited to the basics, but once you find rarer and more interesting powerups Lakitu will know where to get them and keep them in stock. The more locations you find an item the game’s world, the less it will cost in the shop. Supply and demand, that’s Lakitu’s motto.
In addition to powerups available elsewhere, Lakitu shop carries some exclusive content. Escape vines are an item you can use in a level to leave without losing your progress (coins, powerups, and other valuables). Without an escape vine quitting before getting to the end of a level resets all your progress in that level. He also sells expansions for your personal inventory, so you can carry hold on to even more items.
A small side note. The face on Lakitu’s cloud will be randomly selected from a pool of available faces each time you visit the shop. Increasing your score will increase the size of the pool. Even more reason to grab coins and extra lives you don’t need.
That’s all there is to say about the Lakitu Shop for now. I’m more confident I’m actually going to use this idea, so I went with a more in universe tone. Stay tuned for more AKR3 Idea Blogs.