Reviewed on:
Nintendo DSThe Good:
Graphics, sound effects, music, game play, nostalgia…the list goes on. Virtually everything we see, hear, and experience is top notch.The Bad:
There aren't more games like it.The Verdict:
One of the best sidescrollers ever made, and a top contender for handheld game of the year.
REVIEW:
If you call yourself a fan of classic games and you're reading this, there's a problem. It means you aren't playing the retro-styled New Super Mario Bros.
As far as sidescrollers go, it's the jackpot. It's the best game that the Super Mario Bros. franchise has ever produced — the very pinnacle of all things that involve running to the right.
Everything old school gamers love about early Mario games is here. Mushrooms that make Mario grow and flowers that give him the ability to spit fireballs. Smashable bricks that contain hidden coins, vines to secret areas, and 1-up mushrooms. Pipes that provide passage to concealed rooms filled with treasure. And, of course, flags at the end of each level that reward players for leaping and landing as high as they can on the pole.
Now it might sound like New Super Mario Bros. is just a rehash of games we played 20 years ago, but it's not. Like the title says, it's new.
The graphics may immediately bring to mind the original Super Mario games, and certainly the music, composed of recognizable bleeps and chimes, is very familiar, but now everything is just a bit better — more pleasing to the ears and eyes. Character models have moved from the second to the third dimension, water now ripples when Mario splashes into it, the music is more intricate, and the sound effects are delivered in much higher fidelity.
And the improvements aren't just skin deep. While at first glance the simple style of play may seem no more complicated than what we experienced in the game's early predecessors — Nintendo has brought back the old two-button control scheme; one to jump, another to run fast and spit fireballs — New Super Mario Bros. delivers a multifaceted playing experience with wonderfully subtle complexities.
For starters, there is a greater variety of power-ups to be exploited, such as a mega mushroom that increases Mario's size tenfold, giving him the power to plough through almost anything onscreen. We can also use mini mushrooms to shrink to minuscule size, blue shells to slide along the ground, and clouds to float high in the sky.
Then there are the new moves, such as the butt stomp and the wall jump. Though these tactics have been pilfered from more recent Mario games, they still manage to provide a refreshing twist to the old Super Mario sidescrolling formula and must often be employed in innovative ways to access secret areas.
But it's New Super Mario Bros.' level design that makes it truly stand apart from its precursors. To be sure, some worlds feel so familiar that they could almost be mistaken as deleted levels from earlier games. But others are completely original and require a hefty bit of abstract thinking to successfully navigate — especially if you want to find all of the hidden goodies they contain. One of my favourite levels sees Mario leaping from one swaying, heaving mushroom to another — a great test of hand/eye co-ordination. Another involves a slithering string of blocks that snakes its way higher and higher as the player tries to keep Mario from falling off.
Impressively, Nintendo managed to make virtually all of the levels significantly different from one another. Boredom due to repetition is never a factor.
The main story, consisting of eight worlds, each of which is comprised of several primary quest levels as well as unlockable bonus levels, won't take that long to complete. A player could probably zip through the whole game in a day or so if they didn't pause to hunt for hidden areas, skipped over entire worlds when given the opportunity, and didn't bother with any of the extra levels.
But I doubt many players will choose the shortest route through the game. Like its predecessors, I suspect New Super Mario Bros. will keep many players occupied for months or years to come. Even once you've unlocked all the levels and found all the treasure and secrets, the act of simply playing the game — performing perfectly timed jumps, ducking and sliding under low bricks, riding a cloud as far you can — is so satisfying that many gamers will have a hard time shelving it for good.
To quote Saint Anselm, New Super Mario Bros. is "that than which nothing greater can be conceived." Well, maybe it's not quite that perfect, but I really can't think of a substantial way in which it could be improved upon. It may well be the finest sidescroller ever made, and it's certainly a top contender for best handheld game of the year.
