NEW Super Mario Bros. Review

13Jun06

One of my favorite games of all time to play is Super Mario World for the SNES. It was the last true 2D Mario platforming game around (unless you count Yoshi's Island, but, I don't, seeing as how Mario wasn't the star of the game), and it was really sad to see the 2D days of Mario go out with such a great title like that. So when I heard that Nintendo was making an all new, original Mario platforming title for the Nintendo DS, I was instantly excited, and from the second I heard about it, I wanted it.

So when I actually got my hands on it, I was impressed, for the most part, but, there were a couple things that were bothering me, mainly because of the DS hardware. The controls are what I'm talking about. Not having to control the character with an analog stick is nice. Very nice. And that's why I'm glad Nintendo opted not to control Mario with the touch screen. However…the D-Pad on the DS never felt that great, and the fact that you're constantly having to push it…it's not that intriguing. I hate to say that, too. Now, I'm not sure how its going to play on the all new, heavily improved DS Lite, and I can't wait to get my hands on the new system, but, on the original DS, it gets tiring after a while.

New to the game are several new powerups, like the huge mushroom that makes you 20x your size, the blue turtle shell, the micro mushroom, and returning favorites like the 1UP mushroom and the very popular fire flower. You can also store a powerup, like you can in Super Mario World, for later use. My favorite thing to do is to collect a huge mushroom, go to a boss battle, get really big, and instantly kill it. That's my technique for defeating the second boss, and I must say that it worked very well. I would like to go back and beat that boss as Mini Mario, so that I can unlock the mysterious fourth world. The powerups give Mario all sorts of different ways to beat the different levels.

The concept of this new title is very similar to Super Mario Bros. 3, with elements of just about every Mario platformer in existance, and more. Instead of collecting stars like you did in the 3D Mario games, you'll collect coins, and in each level, you'll have three really big coins that you can collect to unlock special "levels" where you can get new powerups and lots of extra lives. The top screen shows all of the action, complete with a timer and how many coins you have (and in that screen to your right, also how much power you've accumilated as Mega Mario). The bottom screen tells you what world you are in, how many lives you have, a track of the level and where you are compared to where the end of the level is, your full-game score, how many of the special coins you have collected in that particular level of the world, and the powerup that you currently are using. It's not very hard to use at all, and in fact, compared to many of the other uses of the DS's bottom screen, its very quite simple. If you want to use your powerup, just tap the icon on the screen, and it'll come falling from the sky, simple as pie. Each level also has a checkpoint, and if you look on the track on the bottom screen, it'll show you where that checkpoint was compared to where you are now and how much longer you have until you get to the end of the level.

The game also features an overworld, of course, where you'll jump to and from levels and worlds, and it reminds me very much of the Super Mario Bros. 3 days. Each world has its own Tower, which is normally around the half-way point of the world. It's here where you will encounter Baby Bowser and have to defeat him…in every world. You'll also have the castle, where you'll battle a boss and move on to the next world. Throughout each of the worlds, there are also small little bonus worlds, where you can work on your skills and collect all sorts of different items and things. There are a total of 8 worlds, two of which can only be reached by completing different goals. I'll tell you that in order to go to World 4, you'll have to defeat the second boss as Mini Mario. It's not quite that easy, but, it can be accomplished, and I actually can't wait to get my new DS so I can finish up the game and see how levels 4 and 7 are.

Classic platforming has never, ever felt as good as New Super Mario Bros. does. The graphics in this game are very simplistic. Being back in a 2D world is really quite exciting, and even though the characters are 3D sprites, it really beings a sigh of relief knowing that the world isn't completely finished with 2D games. I love this game. It turned out quite alright. It has its flaws, like most games, but, at the same time, it brought back a lot of memories of the good ol' days of platforming, and I would definitely recommend giving this game a shot.

             

Filed under: Nintendo DS   |  3 Comments