Kasey

User Score
9.4

Presentation - 10
Gameplay - 10
Value - 8.3

Ahhhhh......I love nostalgia.  I always will.  That's why this game has appealed to me so much.  It is the The first 2D Mario platformer we've seen in ages, and Mario's back, baby, and he's ready to do his job the same way it was done before--epic.

New Super Mario Bros. was released in July of 2006 for America, and has continued to sell so well--it's now topped 21 million.  But how?

It's just like I was saying before...nostalgia.  Everybody who ever played Super Mario Bros. loved it, and their sequels, too.  So, it was only logical for Nintendo to eventually release another sequel.  And so, New Super Mario Bros. was born!......ahem, sorry.  The game sold 1.5 million copies in its first week, and has just continued to walk out of various retail stores everywhere.  21.15 million times, to be exact, and I have reason to believe that it isn't done yet.  It is still among the top 20 games sold every week, this week ending up in 16th place, with about 77,000 copies sold.

So, with all that said, is New Super Mario Bros. really epic? Well, the answer is, yes.  And no.  The reason for this answer will come later.

So how is it epic? Well, in a sense, it's just like the old 2D Mario platformers your parents played on the NES, with updated 3D models and graphics, but still in a 2D side-scrolling perspective.  This will most likely keep all the new and old gamers happy.  The touch screen is actually rarely used in this game, only to warp to world's you've previously been to and to play the additional minigames that came packaged in with the game (not in the story mode, but in a seperate mode).  But, the controls otherwise work the same as they did in the classics; B button jumps, Y button dashes and shoots fireballs, pressing down on the control pad makes Mario crouch.  It's a very simple control scheme that has worked for years in a number of other side-scrolling adventures, and it continues to work well in this one.

As mentioned before, the graphics consist of 3D models and other graphics that are rendered in 2D perspective.  They are bright, lush, and colorful, and easy for your eyes to look at.  No clashing or flashing colors that may cause epilepsy. 

Another nice thing about this game is the length.  While it will probably only take you about 10 hours to complete it, completionists will want to go back and collect each of the three "Star Coins" in each level.  And, there are a lot of levels.  80, to be exact, each of them being unique to the last. 

As far as items go, there are the same items returning from the last ones: coins, mushrooms, fire flowers, and stars.  There are also some new ones that will interest even the most old-school gamers: the tiny mushroom, turning you into tiny Mario, who has a much lower gravitational pull, thus being able to somewhat "float" through the air when he jumps, and makes him be able to aqueeze into some tight spaces for secrets.  He is also very fragile, however, and will die with one touch.  He is also not capable of killing even the most basic of enemies; he must do a ground pound to defeat even a Goomba.  He also cannot pick up items like koopa shells.  There is also the blue shell, giving Mario a blue shell (duh).  This allows for better swimming capabilities and the ability to slide around uncontrollably on the ground, killing anything that comes into his way, but you have to be careful because, like koopas, he will ricochet off of blocks and pipes.  The last one I want to mention is the one that this game is the most famous for: the Mega Mushroom.  This large, fat mushroom will, when touched, turn Mario into a giant, and he will be able to crash through anything that comes into his way, even blocks, pipes, and large enemies.  It's really neat.......at first.

This is the part where I start talking about the one HUGE disadvantage in this game: difficulty.  Because of this mushroom, you can crash into anything, completely beating the level without a problem.  Mushroom houses that hold these items are very common, and it won't take you long to find the Mega Mushroom, thus making the game significantly easier.  Also, even without the Mega Mushroom, this game is not very difficult at all, when compared to the other ones that have been released in the past.  This is because the same elements have been used from the past, and it would be, essentially, just as difficult.  But because of the new ground pound features, as well as the wall-jumping feature, this game suddenly isn't really a challenge anymore.  That is the one huge complaint about this game, and I simply cannot let it be passed in the score.

Overall, however, I had an absolute blast playing through this game, and, despite the difficulty, there are a fair few challenges in it, and I would highly recommend this game to anyone.  Your DS simply isn't complete without it.