Ludwig: Welcome again to the new and improved Review Mania, with Ludwig!
Toad: … And Toad.
Ludwig: Due to a very large rating drop and a long sabbatical, the show will now offer new features!
Toad: Both of us will now give our own impression of the game inside of each section, in effect offering you two Reviews in one!
Ludwig: Additionaly, there will be multiple final scores: the mathematical average of Toad’s scores, the mathematical average of my scores, and the recommended score, which reflects how we both felt about the game as a whole, disregarding the other scores.
Toad: Today we’ll
be reviewing perhaps the most hyped game of early 2006: New Super Mario
Bros! This game features classic Mario sidescroller action, but with an
element of 3D and new moves! Will this game “jump over the flagpole”, so
to speak? Or will it fall off the stairs? Let’s begin!
Gameplay
Ludwig: Overall, this game delivered what I was looking for. Nintendo managed to bring tons of enemies and gameplay elements back from the classics, then supercharged them with new enemies, variations on old ones, and tons of new platforms and objects. Yet, they were able to keep most of the courses in a familiar style, thus keeping confusion limited. However, my problem was that most of the levels were fairly easy. It is nowhere near as difficult as the classics like SMB3 or SMW. The difficulty doesn’t really get turned on until World 8. That said, Nintendo was able to keep me interested through the game because of the many secrets and the challenge of collecting Star Coins, which open up extra paths and buy cool things. Plus, you just can’t beat a good old-fashioned sidescroller. One last thing: power-ups. NSMB brings the Mushroom and Fire Flower back, but also adds the Mega Mushroom (smash through virtually everything in your way), the Mini Mushroom (sneak through tiny passages and pipes, plus floating jumps), and the Blue Koopa Shell (Get some steam, then tuck into the shell to destroy blocks and enemies, bouncing like a kicked Koopa, plus ducking gives you almost invincibility). Though they aren’t utilized as much as they could have been, they are cool, so nothing wrong.
Ludwig’s Score: 9.0
Toad: I thoroughly enjoyed the gameplay. Most of the levels weren’t too difficult for me, which kept me playing. However, the difficulty isn’t as spread out as it is lumped together in certain courses. Mst courses were fun, and few of them really drained my patience, borderline between frustrating and annoying. That’s only a few, though. Most of the time, I was loving every minute of it. Just seeing all of the familiar stuff mixed with great new challenges made me giddy. I found it pretty hard to put down until I had beaten the final boss. And, the power-ups are cool! The Mega Mushroom makes Mario about ¾ as tall as the top screen, and he destroys enemies, blocks, pipes, everything! The Mini Mushroom is the key to lots of secrets, but you have to ground pound to do the damage of a normal jump and one hit means back to the map screen. The Blue Koopa Shell is just plain cool, plus it gives you better swimming and the ability to hit stuff with the shell and hide in it by ducking. So, power-ups = pwnage! … Sorry.
Toad’s Score:
9.5
Controls
Ludwig: Two words. Simply amazing. How did Nintendo manage to fit all of the moves that they did into so few buttons? Not only that, but not all of them have to be used: The game lets you choose whether A and B are both jump and X and Y are both dash, or X and A are both jump and Y and B are both dash. Whatever feels comfortable. Thus, only two buttons, plus the control pad plus L and R are used. L and R don’t really do a move, either, but simply shift the screen right or left to let you see more. It’s not really important, but it’s nice to have that option.
Ludwig’s Score: 10.0
Toad: Ditto. Controls = Awesomeness. My only problem is that sometimes it can be annoying trying to figure out which move is needed for a certain area, but only sometimes, and that’s not a big problem.
Toad’s Score: 9.75
Mario’s controls are as follows:
Left/Right: Move
Left/Right +
dash button: Dash
Down: Duck
Jump Button:
Jump
Jump + Land +
Jump: Double Jump
Jump + Land +
Jump + Land + Jump: Triple Jump
Jump + Down:
Ground Pound
Down (on slope):
Slide
(while sliding
down a wall) Opposite direction of wall: Wall Jump
Dash + touch
shell/Release Dash button: Pick Up/Throw Shell
Left/Right (on
ledge): Sidle
Jump (on ledge):
Jump (smaller than normal)
Down (on ledge):
Hang
Left/Right (while
hanging): Hand-Over-Hand
Left/Right (while
on vine): Swing
Left/Right/Up/Down
(on fence): Move On Fence
Dash Button (on
fence): Hit Fence
Dash Button (on
fence over flip panel): Turn Flip Panel
Left/Right/Up/Down
(in direction of pipe): Enter Pipe
Up (in front
of door): Enter Door
Jump Button +Left/Right:
Swim
Jump (on a spinning
platform): Spin Jump
Down (while floating
back down after Spin Jump): Drill Stomp
Music
Ludwig: One of the most important aspects of a game is its music. It can make or break a great experience. That said, New Super Mario Bros is a mixed bag. Although some of the tunes are great (namely, most of the remixes), some of them are not as good (namely, most of the new music). I’m not saying that it is bad; it is pretty good. It’s just not as good as I was hoping. The soundtrack is nothing special, but it does its job, so I can’t knock it too much.
Ludwig’s Score: 8.0
Toad: The music was pretty good. I really liked the remixes, and the new music was kinda cool with the voice FX in the background of some of them. They just aren’t as good as I wanted. I mean, a great game needs to have great music, right? ‘Nuff said.
Toad’s Score:
8.5
Graphics
Ludwig: Although this game is a sidescroller, everything is rendered in 3D. It looks spiffy without being uncomfortable. Plus, the backgrounds, foregrounds, and world maps are a joy to look at. The game handles old-school with new-school style, and the result is brilliant.
Ludwig’s Score: 10.0
Toad: Like Ludwig said, all of the graphics are fun to look at, and spice up otherwise boring places. The effect when Mario enters a mid-level or end-of-level castle is pretty cool, too. It’s not as detailed as it could have been, but that’s okay.
Toad’s Score:
9.5
Replayability
Ludwig: Well, I can’t really say anything genuinely bad about this. One of the great things about this game is a carryover from SMW: multiple exits! The regular exit has a black flag, the secret exit has a red flag. Some of them are fairly obvious, such as a mini-pipe in the middle of nowhere which requires Mini Mario, but others are fiendishly hard (especially the ones that lead to Warp Cannons on the map, which let you skip worlds). At the time of this writing, I still haven’t found every secret exit yet. Then again, I’ve only had the game for about two weeks. Plus, three Star Coins are hidden in each level, which are used to buy alternate paths and, after beating the game, extra backgrounds for the touch screen. There are also the minigames, which aren’t really necessary, but aren’t a bad thing either. All in all, the game keeps things pretty interesting.
Ludwig’s Score: 8.75
Toad: I don’t have much to say other than what Ludwig did, but I liked the addition of the minigames. Some of them are from SM64DS and some are new, but most of them are pretty fun and sport multiplayer mode. So, the minigames were a good choice.
Toad’s Score:
9.0
Fun Factor!
Ludwig: This game would have been fun already, but the retro-ness of it just gives it an atmosphere of cool. Although the new bosses are fun (especially the boss of World 7), what really was cool was to fight Bowser just like in the original SMB, which happens two times (not counting the final battle). Everything meshed together and created a great experience.
Ludwig’s Score: 9.75
Toad: :) ‘Nuff said.
Toad’s Score:
10.0
Other
Ludwig: It’s great to have two optional worlds (4 and 7), which can be unlocked by beating the world bosses of worlds 2 and 5, respectively, as Mini Mario. They add extra challenge. Of course, one thing. WHERE ARE THE KOOPALINGS?!
Ludwig’s Score: 8.5
Toad: I like the extra worlds, too, plus I like being able to play as Luigi. You do this by holding L and R, then pressing A to start a new file. Presto! Luigi!
Toad’s Score:
8.75
Overall
Ludwig: This game is more than worth the money. I would pay the money to buy the game even if it wasn’t very good simply because it’s the first true Mario sidescroller since SMW2:YI. Fortunately, the game is worth the hype, and should be rated just below the all-time Mario classics.
Average of Ludwig’s Scores: 9.14
Toad: Total Awesomeness. Nintendo has managed to recreate the Mario magic that captivated the world in the 80’s and 90’s. Anyone who has the money and isn’t planning on using it for something really important should buy this. Right now. Before all the stores are sold out.
Average of Toad’s Scores: 9.29
RECOMMENDED SCORE:
9.5
Ludwig: And that concludes today’s episode of Review Mania! Hope you enjoyed it!
Toad: This game gets a green light for being above 8 in overall score. In other words, buy it.
Ludwig: Now I’m off to beat the game!
Toad: And I’m off to bed. Playing games all day is hard work.
Both: See you next time on Review Mania!
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