WOW WOW

Wow does it again!
Did you ever have a teacher or professor who graded you down because even though you did a great job on your work, he felt you "weren't living up to your potential?" It was flattering, sure, because it meant he thought highly of you -- but it was also sort of infuriating, because his backhanded compliment was screwing up your GPA. Once you play New Super Mario Bros., though, you might have a better understanding of where he was coming from. As Mario's first old-fashioned 2D platformer in 14 years, NSMB is practically guaranteed to be a good time for newcomers and old-timers alike. But it's hard to shake the sensation that Mario could do better. NSMB is an unapologetic journey into gaming's past (and Mario's in particular) -- everything about it speaks of a game design sensibility that's become all but extinct. Case in point: NSMB never once holds players' hands; you're dropped into the action and left to fend for yourself without a word of explanation. No signs, no tutorials, not even big flashing buttons over important items. It's completely up to you to discover the full potential of the game's handful of new power-ups and countless hidden secrets. Mario vets will have a slight advantage here -- quite a few stages echo levels from games past and feature entirely new goodies in place of the old secrets. Pass up the end of the stage by running along the roof of the SMB World 1-2 reprise, for instance, and you'll find an alternate stage exit rather than a warp pipe to later worlds. Still, even those vets will find themselves stumped more often than not, as more than half the game is hidden away behind optional exits, special pipes and other new wrinkles (including two entire worlds). Careful attention to detail and occasional bursts of lateral thinking are crucial here. Hunting for extra lives is also a good idea, too, as NSMB is an unrelentingly tough game. It's easy enough to simply run through each level at breakneck speed and try to reach the end as quickly as possible, but that's really missing the point. Playing to unlock everything, to collect everything, to see everything NSMB has to offer is a tremendously challenging task, fraught with deaths at every turn. There's substance to this game -- its has collectibles, sure, but they're limited to three large coins that must be uncovered in each stage. Most of the secrets are actually worth seeking: new areas, secret paths, rare power-ups. It's almost like Donkey Kong Country never happened. Equally old-fashioned is the no-nonsense approach to story: what little is there is relayed entirely through five-second snippets of pantomime. The graphics, too, are very much in the vein of Mario's 8-bit adventures. They're built of polygons, sure, but the 3D engine mainly serves to allow for more fluid animation and scaling. In terms of aesthetics, NSMB is pure Super Mario Bros. 3 -- everything from the level designs to the characters look like they were taken straight from the NES. Even the worlds themselves are practically cribbed directly from SMB3.
Unfortunately, that fidelity is also where it disappoints. Being so closely patterned after one of the greatest games ever, everything about NSMB is incredibly fun. The controls are tight, the levels are exquisitely designed, enemies are carefully placed to provide maximum challenge without excessive cheapness. But there's a certain creative spark missing, a level of originality that the best Mario games offer freely.

A Classic Plumber Really Reborn

There are sometimes where you look at classic video games, and how much they've impacting the gaming industry. While there are great games out there that have been well-receieved like Halo, Doom, Madden '06, and others that've really shown a great depth of universal appeal. That has definitely also been the case with Mario. Since 1981, as Jumpman in Donkey Kong, Mario has been the most universal of all the video game characters and personas ever, and continues to develop with the times. That also has been shown with the Nintendo DS as well. The breakout success of Nintendo's latest handheld system has really been a great transition to how we play video games on hand with the stylus, and appeal of the dual screen action. Now, Mario is set to have that classic feeling all over again.

New Super Mario Brothers for the Nintendo DS brings a updated appeal to Mario, loosely based on the classic 2-D games he has been widely known for from Super Mario Brothers 1, 2, 3. and Super Mario World from the Super NES era. The object is just like the object from before, as you play Mario or Luigi, and try to go after Bowser and Bowser Jr. from stealing Princess Toadstool a.k.a. Peach. The game features over 80 different levels of exciting, and enjoyable gameplay. The game includes the classic moves from previous titles like the ground pounding (Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine), and the carrying turtle shells to defeat Koopa Troopas and Goombas (Super Mario Brothers), as well as new features like the mega mushroom which can turn Mario into a King Kong size, to really pound and knockout your competition. The graphics and the gameplay are just absolutely breathtaking and amazing, and really delivers what had been done from the early Mario titles before, while the sound is just purely classic. The control also is percise and in tune to each movement of Mario and company.

All in all, this is the second full length Mario adventure title to really deliver well for the Nintendo DS. Like what happened with Super Mario 64 DS did to showcase the brilliance of the DS, New Super Mario Brothers delivers the fun and appeal of a classic game, to a whole new generation of gamers. I definitely think this is one of the most definitive titles available for the Nintendo DS, and I really definitely think it should be a standard to your Nintendo DS library.

Graphics: A

Sound: A-

Control: A+

Fun & Enjoyment: A+

Overall: A 1/2+

Welcome back, Mario. We missed you.

Man, does it feel good to go back to Mario's roots. Don't get me wrong - Super Mario 64 was an important and integral step for Nintendo's plumber hero to take, what with the company essentially being the trailblazer in the world of 3D platforming. But in moving forward, rising expectations pretty much dictated that Nintendo shouldn't look back, so the classic sidescrolling formula was simply relegated to "classic" status, only returning in retro repeats of existing games on current systems and, occasionally, as spin-off franchises for other Nintendo characters. An official Super Mario game would have to be something special for it to exist on a current Nintendo system, which is why the release of New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS is so significant: it absolutely is something special. This game marks a brilliant return to Mario's side-scrolling environments, with a look, feel, and play that feels unbelievably classic, with new elements that do a fantastic job advancing the design.

The timeline's a little scattered, but while Super Mario Sunshine was the latest game in the Super Mario series on paper, New Super Mario Bros. marks the first time in 15 years that Nintendo's created a classically-designed Super Mario game - Super Mario World ended the plumber's starring role in the 2D platformer series. Yoshi may have picked up the gauntlet in a labeled sequel a couple years later, but outside of a few nods here and there in spinoffs like Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi, Mario hasn't starred in this Plumber Saves the Princess role in a side-scrolling platformer since the Super NES launch title.

With this new game, the more things change, the more they stay the same: the basis for New Super Mario Bros. is, surprise, to save the princess. In this design, Bowser Jr. has snagged Peach right out from Mario's nose, and taken her to the closest fortress possible. This game won't win any awards in storytelling because there is none - Mario will simply have to bounce from level to level getting to each challenge's castle while collecting coins and stomping Koopas, Goombas, and any other oddly-named inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom. Anyone who's played the original Super Mario Bros. - and at this point, if you haven't, stop reading and find the nearest NES for a refresher course - will recognize the early nods to the original game design, from hopping on the flagpole to finish a round to Bowser protecting the end of the first castle.

So New Super Mario Bros. is a game that's been a long time coming. It's clear that a Super Mario game is a really big deal for Nintendo, and a game bearing the Super Mario namesake needs to be significant. It took the company more than a decade to advance the Mario mechanics in the side-scrolling design, but how much further can the company go without straying from the existing run/jump/bounce formula and becoming something not-so-Mario?

Someone forgot to put the new in my NSMB.

What is painfully evident to anyone who has grown up playing over and over again all the previous Super Mario Bros. games is that the "new" in New Super Mario Bros. is not for us: the classic, well-played fan. For us, the "new" is to stand for "new adventure." This game was developed for a new generation of side-scrolling players, starting from the youngest players and going up from there.

The game starts out as most Mario titles in general do: the Princess has been kidnapped by some Koopa/Bowser-related baddie and now Mario must rescue her. Each world is made of a bunch of levels you can pick from the main map, ala Super Mario Bros. 3 and World, while aesthetically drawing from the game boards in Mario Party. Each world has a mid-boss and final boss, Bowser Jr. and Bowser, respectively. There are Toad Houses you can unlock for a 1UP or powerup boost. All pretty standard Mario fair, right? On the surface, yes.

Nothing is more surface level than the graphics, and they are the first thing that will grab you. The bright, 3D-rendered graphics used are flat-out awesome. 3D-rendering gives the game the feel that the certain parts of the level and the characters are almost sticking out of the screen, something the wonderful use of shading and perception can be thanked for. Everything is excellently animated, from Mario's arms flailing at different speeds depending on how fast he is running to wings flapping on a Koopa Troopa. There are even some nice particle effects, such as the burning ashes falling in World 8. It is really a game you have to see in action to truly appreciate.

To go along with the graphics, the sound effects and music enjoy the same excellent touch. The music mixes in new renditions of classic Super Mario Bros. themes along with some toe-tapping new ones. The sound effects follow the same formula, mixing in classic staples like bricking breaking and coins tinging along with some great new sounds like the death cry of the Piranha plants.

After the initial enjoyment of the presentation begins to wear off and the actual gameplay comes into your mind's view does the game begin to show its true nature of being a building block for the next, albeit younger, generation. None of the Super Mario Bros. titles has ever been a demanding game in the challenge department, but this game is obscenely easy. The game sets you up so that you would have to work extremely hard to receive a "Game Over" screen. Not only are 1ups plentiful, no thanks to the 1up Toad Houses, but mushrooms and fireflowers seem to come every few screens. It's the feel good game of the summer because there is no real way to lose!

Despite its complete lack of challenge (and disappointing new powerups), is a blast to play. The great presentation, tight controls and condensed, though at times uninspired and/or rehashed levels, make for a smooth pick-up line that is hard to ignore. But the biggest crime is that one weekend of play and most of the game is beat. There are very few extra or secret levels to unlock, and once those are finished, that's it for single player. Thankfully though, Nintendo tries to make up for this with 26 touch screen mini-games (some new, some from Super Mario 64 DS) and a fun Super Mario Bros. style multiplayer.

If you are new to 2D Mario adventures or are more of a casual gamer, then this game is a wonderful addition to your gaming library and you can bump my overall grade up a point. For the old guard, it's great but just not "new."

A GOOD GAME

This recent contribution to the Super Mario Bros. series is a great one.

Game play- 10: Perfect. Absolutely perfect with no flaws. You feel like you're playing the original Super Mario Bros. It's truly incredible. When you jump, kick, wall jump, and all the old-school stuff, it's like taking your NES anywhere you go. And now you can jump and hit the top of a flagpole!!!! You couldn't do that in the original. And now at the end of each world they have a boss for that world. In the original, they only had Bowser to fight. You do still face Bowser three times, (In World 1, then twice in World 8) but the six worlds have new bosses. Well, Petey Piranha comes back for another round in World 5, but it's still fun to kick his butt again. And when you go to World 1-1 for the first time in 21 years, and stomp on that first goomba, and hit that first question mark block, it feels great. There are also 80 levels (48 more than the original game) including Ghost Houses, Towers,(Places where you face Baby Bowser) and the Castles, the place the big bad guys like to chill. So, you can choose your personal level to play with, anytime, all the time. Show the favorite level to your friends, then show them this review if they're not convinced to buy this awesome, flawless game. If they don't have a DS, tell them to get one or if they don't like them tell them they don't have a life. Maybe that will convince them.

Graphics- 9: Great. It's awesome. The only problem with it is that there are a couple pixels that you actually notice, but you don't notice it unless you look really hard. The combination between 2-D and 3-D graphics works like a charm. It looks so good you will never want to stop playing it.
It's so cool. I just can't stop saying it. The landscaping is great, only a couple of level you think did not have a very good landscape, but I thought that about only, well, 2 times.

Sound- 9: Still great like the original game, but better. Awesome music, and new songs, too. Awesome!!! I can't stop saying that either because, well, it's just awesome!! How many other ways do I have to say it!!!! How many other ways do all those reviews have to say it? Don't you all just love the old music? Well, you'll love this music, too.

Tilt-10: Great view. Still a perfect view like the old original game. It is so great, aq flat, flawless landscape of awesomeness. There is really nothing much more I have to say about the tilt, other than, it's perfectly designed to be in the right place at the right time.

Value- 9: You can play the levels over and over again without getting tired of it. Especially World 1-1. And when you find out about the infinite 1-up trick, you won't stop trying to do it. I figured it out after about ten deaths, but when I did I laughed when Mario kept jumping and kicking that shell for about 2 minutes, then I finished the level. And World 1-2. Awesome. They make a new version of the underground sewer level that everybody loved so much. They even have a remix of the underground song. In the menu in the game, they have a remix of another song, too.

Overall-9: It's all good. The only bad thing is that the only way you can get the new power ups (My favorite, the Mega Mushroom, Koopa Shell, and Mini Mushroom) is if you get them in a shop. That's not always true, as you can find the mega mushroom and the mini mushroom in the game, but I have beaten everything in the game and you cannot get a koopa shell in the game. Buy this on ebay!!!!!