A classic Mario experience with some cool new rims
New Super Mario Brothers is both an ode to the classic days of gaming and a reminder of the changes that have refined the industry over the twenty years since the original. Gamers know Mario. He’s one of the most iconic figures in the annals of gaming history. A stalwart and standard for over twenty years, the red hatted plumber returns to his 2D roots on the DS, while at the same time offering some fresh moves that brings him up to the modern day. /
One part of Mario that hasn’t changed is the story. The game still involves the evil Bowser (and this time his son Jr.) stealing the innocent princess peach. It’s up to Mario to save the princess and bring peace to the Mushroom Kingdom. To do this he must jump his way through over seventy levels of platforming action, and fight a series of gigantic 3D bosses. Mario has all the classic moves at his disposal- that is, he can run and jump, in addition to enlarging himself into large Mario and even more so into the fireball spewing Super Mario. This time, though, Mario has some new moves and items at his disposal. He can turn into a blue shell wrecking ball, a miniature version of his already short statured self and an enormous Mario that can essentially destroy everything in his path. Nintendo hopes that these new items will freshen the now ancient formula, and although it works to a certain extent, nothing here is groundbreaking. /
The hook of New Super Mario Brothers seems to have been the gigantic Mario power-up. It's odd then that this Mario form is the least fun to play as. In his gigantic form, Mario can't use any of the new moves I describe below and for some reason he can't run or jump any faster than his smaller form. In fact, gigantic Mario feels unwieldy at best. He's hard to control, and just not that fun to play as. /
Luckily Mario's blue turtle shell form is a blast. When in this form Mario can essentially slide through levels, destroying blocks and obliterating any enemy in his path. In one level, Mario has to climb a staircase in a specific amount of time, or said staircase will disappear and Mario will slide back down. With the help of his blue turtle shell, though, Mario can literally slide up the ramps without the need of steps. Cool tricks like that, and the inherent fun of flying through levels at hyper speeds adds a lot to the game. Still, this isn't necessarily an improvement as much as another power up in the series illustrious history. Cool? Yes. Better than before? Not really. / That said, Mario’s new move set definitely is an improvement, very much so in fact. Mario has gained some of the moves associated with the fully 3D Mario 64. He can butt stomp and wall jump and he can do the special triple jump move, in which he jumps, lands, quickly jumps again for even more height, and then jumps yet a third time for maximum ups. The wall jump is especially helpful. Several times during the game, Mario mistakenly missed a jump. In earlier games this would have been a certain game-over, but in New Super Mario Brothers, a quick second tap of the B button can propel Mario back to safety. These moves can also help you in acquiring star coins which are a very valuable commodity in the game.
Star coins are used to unlock mushroom huts and bonus levels. There are three types of mushroom huts; there’s the one which gives you a random power up sans the gigantic Mario power-up; there’s the hut that gives you only a gigantic mushroom; and then there’s the one-up huts in which you play a mini-game to determine how many extra lives you win. Although these huts seem like a good idea, they tend to make the game too easy at times, especially because, after dying in a level, you can enter the hut, get a power-up and still start at the mid-level checkpoint.
Although most past Mario games didn’t let you save an item for future use, in New Super Mario Brothers you can hold on to one power-up, which is used by touching its icon on the touch screen. This is a great idea, except that it again makes the game far too easy, and it happens to be the only real use of the second screen in the game. The touch screen also features a basic line which tells you how far Mario is within the level, and a couple other stats. In addition, when going below ground the game will switch to the bottom screen and the saved power-up is rendered inactive. With all of the great uses of the touch screen we’ve seen over the past year, it’s unfortunate that one of Nintendo’s flagship games makes such poor use of it. /
New Super Mario Brothers has great, albeit short, levels. You will go through all of the standard Mario fare, including the obligatory cloud, ice and fire levels. Still, the actual levels are well designed and artistically sound. Although the game doesn’t really push the DS to its limits, the characters in the game are rendered in full 3D, and the bosses often take up most, is not all of one of the screens. /
Disheartening though, is the fact that these bosses take up only one screen and are mainly just enlarged versions of the normal enemies you fight. One great exception is a tank boss battle in which you have to defeat a mole firing bullet bills from a massive tank. Sadly, most bosses aren’t nearly as inspired. In addition, almost all bosses are easily beat and none require any real strategy. /
It is important to underline the fact that regardless of how easy it is, or how unrefreshing the new power-ups are, Mario is still a joy to play. Compared to many other games which have suffered control-wise in the move to DS, Mario feels better than ever. He responds quickly and accurately, and you'll always feel that, when plummeting to your death, the fault was your own lack of skill, not the games faulty controls. /
Mario sounds pretty standard. It features all of the basic beeps and bleeps of a Mario game. There is nothing truly standout here, but the game’s sound is functional. The DS’s powerful sound hardware isn’t put to use, but the characters are a little more talkative than in past games in the series. It seems time for Mario to move into the next generation of sound, a problem that has plagued Nintendo’s Wii launch games like Zelda. If other companies can include fully orchestrated music on a DS cartridge than Nintendo should also be capable of that feat. /
Mario doesn't make great use of the DS hardware and it isn’t revolutionary in any sense, but it still is some of the most fun you will have on Nintendo’s handheld. The question that you will have to ask yourself when deciding whether or not to buy this game is whether you are more interested in seeing the DS used to the best of its abilities, or if you would rather play a more standard platformer that controls almost perfectly. /
Once you’ve finished with the main game there are two more options to keep you occupied. First off there is a basic multiplayer mode in which you and another player race to collect a certain number of coins scattered throughout one of a handful of levels. This is a fun diversion, but it can’t be played online. It does only require a single cart though. Still you’ll find this mode running short on gas pretty soon.
There are also a spattering of mini-games available. Most can be played multiplayer with a single cart. Again, the lack of online leaderboards or online play limits the value of these games to how long you want to try and best your past scores. Also, there aren’t nearly as many games here as there were in Super Mario 64 DS, which is a shame. It’s still nice to see Nintendo offering more than the basic Mario and Luigi game that we had to suffer through for the entirety of the Game Boy Advance era.
Nintendo has gone to great lengths to build a solid and highly enjoyable Mario game. It’s not the ushering in of the next generation of platformers, but it is a highlight to just how fun the classic formula can still be twenty years after it was first created. Still, the game is much easier than in the past and the new moves, while a nice evolution make the game even easier. This may disappoint some hardcore fans, but for novice DS gamers, this is a great chance to experience a gaming legend for the first time.
One part of Mario that hasn’t changed is the story. The game still involves the evil Bowser (and this time his son Jr.) stealing the innocent princess peach. It’s up to Mario to save the princess and bring peace to the Mushroom Kingdom. To do this he must jump his way through over seventy levels of platforming action, and fight a series of gigantic 3D bosses. Mario has all the classic moves at his disposal- that is, he can run and jump, in addition to enlarging himself into large Mario and even more so into the fireball spewing Super Mario. This time, though, Mario has some new moves and items at his disposal. He can turn into a blue shell wrecking ball, a miniature version of his already short statured self and an enormous Mario that can essentially destroy everything in his path. Nintendo hopes that these new items will freshen the now ancient formula, and although it works to a certain extent, nothing here is groundbreaking. /
The hook of New Super Mario Brothers seems to have been the gigantic Mario power-up. It's odd then that this Mario form is the least fun to play as. In his gigantic form, Mario can't use any of the new moves I describe below and for some reason he can't run or jump any faster than his smaller form. In fact, gigantic Mario feels unwieldy at best. He's hard to control, and just not that fun to play as. /
Luckily Mario's blue turtle shell form is a blast. When in this form Mario can essentially slide through levels, destroying blocks and obliterating any enemy in his path. In one level, Mario has to climb a staircase in a specific amount of time, or said staircase will disappear and Mario will slide back down. With the help of his blue turtle shell, though, Mario can literally slide up the ramps without the need of steps. Cool tricks like that, and the inherent fun of flying through levels at hyper speeds adds a lot to the game. Still, this isn't necessarily an improvement as much as another power up in the series illustrious history. Cool? Yes. Better than before? Not really. / That said, Mario’s new move set definitely is an improvement, very much so in fact. Mario has gained some of the moves associated with the fully 3D Mario 64. He can butt stomp and wall jump and he can do the special triple jump move, in which he jumps, lands, quickly jumps again for even more height, and then jumps yet a third time for maximum ups. The wall jump is especially helpful. Several times during the game, Mario mistakenly missed a jump. In earlier games this would have been a certain game-over, but in New Super Mario Brothers, a quick second tap of the B button can propel Mario back to safety. These moves can also help you in acquiring star coins which are a very valuable commodity in the game.
Star coins are used to unlock mushroom huts and bonus levels. There are three types of mushroom huts; there’s the one which gives you a random power up sans the gigantic Mario power-up; there’s the hut that gives you only a gigantic mushroom; and then there’s the one-up huts in which you play a mini-game to determine how many extra lives you win. Although these huts seem like a good idea, they tend to make the game too easy at times, especially because, after dying in a level, you can enter the hut, get a power-up and still start at the mid-level checkpoint.
Although most past Mario games didn’t let you save an item for future use, in New Super Mario Brothers you can hold on to one power-up, which is used by touching its icon on the touch screen. This is a great idea, except that it again makes the game far too easy, and it happens to be the only real use of the second screen in the game. The touch screen also features a basic line which tells you how far Mario is within the level, and a couple other stats. In addition, when going below ground the game will switch to the bottom screen and the saved power-up is rendered inactive. With all of the great uses of the touch screen we’ve seen over the past year, it’s unfortunate that one of Nintendo’s flagship games makes such poor use of it. /
New Super Mario Brothers has great, albeit short, levels. You will go through all of the standard Mario fare, including the obligatory cloud, ice and fire levels. Still, the actual levels are well designed and artistically sound. Although the game doesn’t really push the DS to its limits, the characters in the game are rendered in full 3D, and the bosses often take up most, is not all of one of the screens. /
Disheartening though, is the fact that these bosses take up only one screen and are mainly just enlarged versions of the normal enemies you fight. One great exception is a tank boss battle in which you have to defeat a mole firing bullet bills from a massive tank. Sadly, most bosses aren’t nearly as inspired. In addition, almost all bosses are easily beat and none require any real strategy. /
It is important to underline the fact that regardless of how easy it is, or how unrefreshing the new power-ups are, Mario is still a joy to play. Compared to many other games which have suffered control-wise in the move to DS, Mario feels better than ever. He responds quickly and accurately, and you'll always feel that, when plummeting to your death, the fault was your own lack of skill, not the games faulty controls. /
Mario sounds pretty standard. It features all of the basic beeps and bleeps of a Mario game. There is nothing truly standout here, but the game’s sound is functional. The DS’s powerful sound hardware isn’t put to use, but the characters are a little more talkative than in past games in the series. It seems time for Mario to move into the next generation of sound, a problem that has plagued Nintendo’s Wii launch games like Zelda. If other companies can include fully orchestrated music on a DS cartridge than Nintendo should also be capable of that feat. /
Mario doesn't make great use of the DS hardware and it isn’t revolutionary in any sense, but it still is some of the most fun you will have on Nintendo’s handheld. The question that you will have to ask yourself when deciding whether or not to buy this game is whether you are more interested in seeing the DS used to the best of its abilities, or if you would rather play a more standard platformer that controls almost perfectly. /
Once you’ve finished with the main game there are two more options to keep you occupied. First off there is a basic multiplayer mode in which you and another player race to collect a certain number of coins scattered throughout one of a handful of levels. This is a fun diversion, but it can’t be played online. It does only require a single cart though. Still you’ll find this mode running short on gas pretty soon.
There are also a spattering of mini-games available. Most can be played multiplayer with a single cart. Again, the lack of online leaderboards or online play limits the value of these games to how long you want to try and best your past scores. Also, there aren’t nearly as many games here as there were in Super Mario 64 DS, which is a shame. It’s still nice to see Nintendo offering more than the basic Mario and Luigi game that we had to suffer through for the entirety of the Game Boy Advance era.
Nintendo has gone to great lengths to build a solid and highly enjoyable Mario game. It’s not the ushering in of the next generation of platformers, but it is a highlight to just how fun the classic formula can still be twenty years after it was first created. Still, the game is much easier than in the past and the new moves, while a nice evolution make the game even easier. This may disappoint some hardcore fans, but for novice DS gamers, this is a great chance to experience a gaming legend for the first time.
