New Super Mario Bros. Review

Another change comes in the form of new moves for Mario. He can now wall jump and butt stomp a la Super Mario 64. The wall jump is a very practical addition and makes for some interesting puzzles later on in the game. It also serves as a last-second maneuver to save yourself from falling in a bottomless pit. However, the butt stomp is kind of a cheap move. Before, you had to be creative with your turtle shells to break open certain bricks. Here, normal-sized Mario can break them with his butt. This trick isn’t always useful, though. If an item was in the brick you just stomped, it wall fall out the bottom and sometimes land in a pit. This also applies to hidden vines, so you do have to be a little careful how you use Mario’s new skills.

However, New Super Mario Bros. allows a lot of carelessness. Every level has a halfway checkpoint, and extra lives are quite plentiful. Overall, the game is actually kind of easy, even though I lost a lot of 1-ups on the way. But you should take into consideration that I’m saying this as someone who has beaten Super Mario World 15+ times. It’s also important to remember that Mario games have always been light and easy. Yeah, Super Mario World’s bonus stages were a pain in the neck, and Super Mario Bros. 2 had some killer boss battles. But that was ten years ago! Mario veterans have since grown used to these challenges. There’s not much more you can do before you start excluding those who haven’t grown up on Mario. This game was meant to be simple and easy to pick up (as all Mario games are), but there’s just enough challenge present for those who want it (in the shape of speed runs, high scores, etc.).

Yet in the end, this game’s difficulty isn’t as important as its fun factor. Mario games are always brilliantly designed in such a way that you can play them 100 times and never get tired of it. Now, some may complain that New Super Mario Bros. is too short, but I remember having to beat Mario 1, 2, and 3 in one sitting because of the inability to save. New Super Mario Bros. will actually only take two or three days to reach the end, but there are still a lot of secrets to uncover. Each level contains three hidden coins, and these coins can be used to open up mushroom houses or alternate paths on the world maps.

On top of the adventure, New Super Mario Bros. also features an amusing multiplayer mode. Versus mode pits two players against each other in a race to find the most stars. Head stomping and hilarity ensue. It’s actually one of the better multiplayer implementations in a Mario game. It’s not nearly as frantic as the battle mode in Super Mario All-Stars, but you should get a kick out of it anyway. There are also a handful of mini-games for 4-player download play. Regrettably, these mini-games are just recycled from Super Mario 64 DS. They were interesting a year ago but feel pretty lame included here, even with the addition of three more players.

Final Comments

As a huge fan and guru of old-school 2D platforming, I don’t think Nintendo could have released a new Super Mario which would have precisely met my expectations. I mean, it’s Mario! This guy is the epitome of classic gaming. But let’s face the truth: that old-school magic will never come back. It’s nothing new to us now. I’m glad Nintendo went ahead and tried it anyway, though. New Super Mario Bros. probably won’t go down in history as anything more than a two-month bestseller for the Nintendo DS, but it’s a fun and nostalgic experience that any handheld owner needs to have. In fact, I actually like this game more than I like Super Mario Bros. 1 and 2. And any game that can be better than those two is… well… pretty darn good.