1985. The gaming world is changed forever when the Famicom is released in Japan and Shigeru Miyamoto reveals Super Mario Bros, proving the video game industry is far from dead. The game sells millions, and becomes a worldwide phenomenon. People are amazed at the secrets and magic the game held. It started a revolution, and more Mario adventures came, such as Mario Bros: Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and more.
Fast forward.
2006. Over 20 years later, Nintendo releases a brand new Mario sidescroller for the Nintendo DS. After over ten years since a brand new Mario 2D game, New Super Mario Bros. arrives.
Graphics: 10/10
Simply astonishing. Quite a lot of power for a portable. The game mixes 3D environments and characters well with 2D objects. The maps are also well decorated, and some characters, such as the eels, are quite the sight.
Play Control: 9/10
Mario is well-known for tight game control, and this game follows suit. The controls can be customized to your liking, and running, jumping, climbing, and swimming are as easy as ever. New moves have been added like the ground pound, wall jump, and triple jump, but they can be mastered very easily. There is a bit of a problem however as the game is a bit like Super Mario 64, where Mario doesn't stop moving quite as quickly as he does in Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World. He slides a bit longer, which can get annoying on short platforms. You'll eventually learn how to get used to it, though. The Touch Screen is limited, but useful. It can take a stored item out to use (like SMW), allows you to travel across worlds on the map, shows you a linear map of progress on your level, and can be used in many fun mini-games.
Game Design: 10/10
Great. Simply
wonderful. The game can be described best as a mix of Super Mario
Bros, Super Mario
Bros. 3, and Super Mario World, with a dab of Yoshi's Island and Super
Mario 64. There are eight worlds, and you travel through levels on a map.
There are even secret levels like in Super Mario World. Worlds 4 and 7
are also secret, so getting to them will be quite interesting. There are
Toad Houses littered around the maps, which can give you power-ups and
lives. Speaking of power-ups, here is a list of all of them in this game-
Super Mushroom:
Turns Little Mario to Super Mario.
Fire Flower:
Turns Super Mario into Fire Mario. Can shoot fireballs at enemies.
Starman: Allows
temporary invincibility. The flip jump from Super Mario Bros. 3 has been
retained, and new to this version of the Starman is a speed boost
Mega Mushroom:
The first new power-up. Grabbing one turns you large for a short time,
allowing you to cause havoc for points and 1-Ups. This item is quite rare,
but is a blast to use.
Mini Mushroom:
The second new power-up. Turns Mario into Mini Mario. Mini Mario can run
faster, jump higher, fit through small pipes and holes, and can run on
water. Mini Mario is very important, as without it many secrets can not
be discovered.
Blue Shell: Third
new power-up, and my personal favorite. With it, if you run fast enough,
Mario retreats into his shell and moves at a fast speed, crushing enemies
or obstacles in his way. It can be hard to control at first, but is very
fun once you get the hang of it. Ducking in the shell can protect you from
fire attacks akin to the Hammer Suit from SMB3. It also lets you swim faster
in water.
Let's talk about levels. There are 80 levels total in this game, which is more than Super Mario World but less than Super Mario Bros. 3. Each level has three hidden Coin Stars in it- these can open pathways to either shortcuts, secret levels, or Toad Houses. Many are easy to find, while others you have to search for. As in SMB, normal levels end with a flag. There is also a secret flag in some levels that can take you to secret pathways. These can be very hard to find. The enemies are a-plenty in this game, and you'll feel nostalgic fighting against long-forgotten enemies like the live bricks from SMB3, the entire Hammer Bros. family from SMB3, Latikus with clouds you can ride from SMW, and more. The maps have two major landmarks- Towers and Castles. Towers are usually about halfway through, and Castles are at the end. They both have boss battles at the end. Some worlds even have two Towers.
There are some secret little nooks and crannies here to be found, such as Warp Cannons, which act like Warp Zones. They can launch you several worlds ahead- great for speed-running. There are also many bonus rooms that are very fun to find.
GHOST HOUSES! Almost forgot about those. Ghost houses are back, and are tricky as ever. The map on the touch screen is useless here, leaving you to find the secrets without help.
Length/Challenge: 8/10
This may be the game's biggest drawback (which is still not a lot). The normal game, without secrets, can be completed fairly easily in about 4-6 hours. It may be because people have become very skilled at Mario games, so this game will not seem too different. The bosses are not very difficult, especially with a Fire Flower. The game doesn't have anything like the Special World from SMW, and the secret levels aren't much harder then normal levels. But, there is far more to do then just get to the end and whoop Bowser. Worlds 4 and 7 are to be unlocked, and collecting all the Star Coins and finding every secret exit can be quite the challenge, especially later on. I'm not even halfway through the secrets, and I've been playing it almost non-stop since last Tuesday. Of course, there are touch screen mini=games a la Super Mario 64 DS and multiplayer modes as well. Even if you unlock every level and get every Star Coin, what's stopping you from playing it again? I have beat Mario games countless times, and they never grow old. I'm sure this one won't either.
Sound: 8/10
The music is by a different composer this time, so it might seem a little different. It's not quite as up to par with some other Mario games, but it’s great nonetheless. A cool little feature is how enemies sometimes change their motion pattern to match the music. But there are a few notable tracks; the Castle theme and the theme for the later levels of World 8 kick serious butt.
Overall Score: 46/50, 92%
Final Verdict: Buy, Rent, Ignore? BUY BUY BUY!!!
The challenge level may be a bit low, but finding all the secrets is bound to take you a while. No Nintendo fan is to go without this game. It hasn't beaten Super Mario Bros. 3 as my favorite Mario platform game, but it is tied with Super Mario World for second place. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to play New Super Mario Bros.
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