Do you remember the first time you played Super Mario Bros? I can picture it now. My brother and I each got a NES for Christmas. It is good to be back, 20 years later, to the original. That's the thing that sticks out the most in New Super Mario Bros., it truly feels like the original.
And what a present this game is, adding single-cart download mini-games, and a versus mode to a very classically trained Mario romp through the Mushroom Kingdom. It has been far too long since we have seen Nintendo's main man staring in his own platformer, and even longer since Mario was in a side-scroller. You would have to go back all the way to the SNES and Super Mario World, in fact, to find the last one.
Everything in New Super Mario Bros. is rooted in the original 1985 classic, but subtly updated with some surprising effects and a hybrid 2D/3D engine that shines on the DS. You see this first in the title screen, which seconds as the only story in the game. But we all know the story by now, right?
Mario and Peach are taking a walk when Mario spots the palace getting hit by lightning. When he runs to help, Bowser Jr. snags Peach, and thus you once again must save her. Bowser Jr. has taken the princess to the nearest tower, which becomes your new objective.
New Super Mario Bros. is setup in the very traditional eight worlds akin to Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, including an overworld map, towers, ghost houses, Toad houses, and of course castles to finish a world.
There are even nods such as jumping on the flagpole to end a stage, Bowser at the end of the first castle, and the same puzzle/maze like ending to Bowser's castle in World 8. You can even achieve fireworks, again, just like in Super Mario Bros. — but I'm not going to tell you how. The nostalgia is so thick you could cut it with a knife. And this is a very good thing.
Although the Dual Screens are not utilized for anything but space, the layout works great. It means the information is on the bottom screen, keeping the top screen free from clutter. Information such as progress, score, Star Coins, and reserve item box are all displayed on the bottom screen.
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
Buying a DS crossed my mind briefly. Is it worth the price of admission?
2 - Ken Edwards
Hey Suss, it sure is. But wait until after the US release of the DS Lite. It will be the same price, and is a much better console. The DS Lite launches June 11 with a much brighter screen, sleeker design, and a smaller form factor.
There are a number of "must have" games for the DS already. New Super Mario Bros. is surely high on the list, but so is Super Princess Peach, True Swing Golf, Sonic Rush, Mario Kart DS, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Nintendogs, Kirby Canvas Curse, Meteos, Feel the Magic, The Rub Rabbits, Metroid Prime: Hunters, Tetris DS, Animal Crossing Wild World.
At least those are the top reasons to own the system off the top of my head. The DS games from E3 are also rather impressive, including Starfox DS and Yoshi's Island 2, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Diddy Kong Racing DS, Final Fantasy III DS, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles DS, and a lot more I can't think of right now.
So yea, you should get a DS, but get a DS Lite.
3 - Matthew T. Sussman
Well. Might have to put that on the spoil-myself wish list.
Thanks
4 - cool dude
I dont think you can make up a pretty much a whole new game when the original is the best. What I am saying is that the original is to good to make a new one
5 - super mario gamer
The new super mario not that impresive, for starters their isn't even one yoshi, except in the original their is the green,red,blue,and other yoshi's. The next problem is the thing that every body LOVED in super mario is the cape that was one of the best things about super mario ,and you took it away.So the next time you make a super mario please let it have the yoshi's and the cape. P.S I do like the idea of mega and tiny mushrooms.
6 - Matt Paprocki
Man, I'd love to be in the alternate universe you live in. I mean, your original Mario had Yoshi's and a cape? Wow!
All we got in this dimension were mushrooms and fire flowers.
Lucky.
7 - Dynamo of Eternia
super mario gamer,
I don't know how familiar you are with Mario's history, but the game that you are refering to, Super Mario World, was actually the 4th in the primary 'Super Mario' series, released in 1991, six years after the first 'Super Mario' title was introduced.
The Cape and Yoshi were not in any game prior to Mario World. And since that time, the only other game that the cape has appeared in was in the Gameboy Advance re-release of "Super Mario Bros. 3" which donned the new additonal title of "Super Mario Advance 4" (Nintendo really loves making the numbering and order of their games difficult to follow, and changing it upon releases doesn't help). And, in that game, the cape was only accessable through use of the E-Reader and a special card that went with it (this required access to two GameBoy Advance Systems, or one GameBoy Advance and the GBA Player for Gamecube, and a connetion wire). And since the whole E-Reader thing failed to take off, I think the majority of those who even played the GBA version of that game probably never even accessed that cape (its not hard to see why the E-Reader failed, it just was too complicated for its own good. But speaking as an owner of one, and as someone who has all of the SMB3 E-Reader cards, it is a lot of fun to use).
As for Yoshi, after Super Mario World, he had a small cameo in Super Mario 64 for the N64. He did not become available to ride in a mainstream Mario title again until Mario Sunshine. He is, of course, a playable character on the DS version of Mario 64, but that's not quite the same thing as he is not used as something that Mario can ride on to get around.
I'm not saying that I would have objected to including Yoshi in New Super Mario Bros., but I'm not going to kick and scream over his absense, since he wasn't in the original NES games. The cape was kind of cool, but I'm a much bigger fan of the SMB3 Racoon Tail as a means of flying. It's just so random and arbitrary that it's fun.
As for things that I would have liked to have seen in New Super Mario Bros., I wish the Koopa Kids from Mario 3 and Mario World had been in it. Instead of just having Bowser's son from Mario Sunshine over and over, they could have a different Koopa kid in each of the mini-Castles (they still could have inlcuded the new kid from Sunshine in it, but in addition to the previous 7).
I also wish Mario had more power ups and an inventory system like he did in Mario 3. I'm not saying that they would have to be all of the exact same powers from 3, but I liked how Mario had all of the different suits that he could wear to get different powers.
As cool as the new mushrooms to make him really huge and really small are, they just don't quite cut it on the same level. And the Turtle Shell that he wears in this one is more of a pain in the ass than anything else (sometimes I'll just want to run and stop, but then he goes into the shell and starts bouncing all over the place when I don't want him to).
All in all though, I do love New Super Mario Bros.
I hope that they do another one soon, and I would like to see the things that I mentioned earlier in it. Yoshi would be cool to have, as well, but he's lower on the todem pole for me.
What I'd really like to see, but won't likely happen, is to have a new game with many of the enemies from Super Mario Bros. 2 in it, including Wort as the boss (or at least as one of the bosses). I know that the American SMB2 was actually a separate non-Mario game in Japan originally (with their Mario 2 being more similar to the original with some newer difficult features, and was eventually released on the SNES Super Mario All-Stars multi-game pak under the title of "The Lost Levels" in America), but it would be sweet to have those characters return. It would be even cooler if they mixed them in with the typcial Mario villains. I'd love to see Bowser and Wort Team up. But, this is all wishful thinking on my part.
Anyway, sorry for the tangent there, but I just was giving a little Mario history along with my opinions on things.
8 - chris snyder
I love mario bros 64 Ds. I would like to get some cheats. I looked around and the only 1's I can find are bad! Does any 1 know where I can find some?
9 - Kev
This game is the best cause you get a lot of levels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10 - Chantel
have to go bye