Reviewed by Michelle Brenner
Ah, the nostalgia of Mario! Just thinking of that dark-haired plumber and his unique world of friends and foes brings me back to my lazy days of youth. Days when pixelated Koopas were good graphics and getting to the top of a flag pole at the end of a level meant the difference between playing for fun and playing for keeps… It was just these kinds of “throwbacks” to the good ol’ days of gaming that makes the New Super Mario Bros. hard to put down.
New Super Mario Bros. is set up like the classic 2-D side scroller, complete with brick smashing and pipe-warping madness. To start, you are once again given the task of rescuing Princess Peach from the evil Bowser – you’d think this girl would have gotten some self-defense classes after 20 years of kidnappings! She is taken into 8 worlds, each composed of numerous levels. The themes are reminiscent of past Mario games, with sandy deserts, lush tropics, creepy forests, slippery ice and massive castles. In between each level are numerous secret levels and unlockable secret huts. There are even worlds that cannot be reached without finding secret entrances to unlock them.
What makes this game fun is how everything seems familiar, but with a new twist. For instance, there are new and old power ups: mushrooms, flowers and stars now share the spotlight with mega mushrooms, mini mushrooms and koopa shells. The mega mushroom makes you, well, MEGA. Mario blows up to gigantic proportions just like Alice in Wonderland and engulfs the entire screen. Many levels appeal to this large Mario as you can just trample through the world until he shrinks again. Other levels are not conducive to the mega size, as the level itself impedes Mega Mario from progressing. Mini Mario works in the same Alice in Wonderland way as Mario shrinks to pea size and is able to reach tiny little secret entrances. The new Koopa shell allows Mario to duck into a shell and attack or hide while inside.
Nintendo made good use of the DS connectivity, as the game offers a multiplayer option. Two players can connect their DS’s to play brother versus brother, to see who can collect the most stars in a given level. Now, what would Mario be without stars? However, it is a little more than just simple collection as power ups pop out and hurting your brother can help you. This can turn into an all out brawl!
There is also a large number of mini-games that were ported in from Super Mario 64 DS, some of which are multiplayer. Some of my favorites were a find the Mario game (a bit like Waldo), snowball fight, flick the Koopa shells into flying baskets, and even a game where you blow into the DS.
There are 22 mini-games divided into five categories: Action, Puzzle Table and Variety. You can play card memory, poker, snowball rolling, whack-a-mole and many others. All of these games make excellent use of the unique qualities of the DS and capture the player inside all of us who wants to beat high scores.
In most game discussions I like to discuss the pros and cons, but this little game does not offer a lot to complain about. For the sake of being critical, I will say that the final level is WAY confusing and immensely frustrating. As you play the castle, screens repeat over and over until you figure out the correct way to run through the level and make the correctly pitched beeping sound. The frustration level here is incredible, but it really is a unique twist on the classic Mario and solving the puzzle makes you feel pretty smart!
The New Super Mario is a new twist on an old classic. From pipe-warping to mushroom power-ups, this game is hours and hours of old-school fun for the whole family.