Pros: Fun game, classic Mario look and sound, Modern Mario game play
Cons: A little short
The bottom line: Another classic Mario title that provides fun game play for Mario fans and non-fans alike.
I was fortunate enough to have been born in 1985; the year that Super Mario Brothers was released, along with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Mario games were always my favorite from as far back as I can remember, especially the old school games. Long after the Nintendo and Super Nintendo systems became obsolete, I still had them hooked up and occasionally picked up the old Mario titles.

When New Super Mario Bros. was announced for the Nintendo DS, it was a necessary addition to my game collection. Though the name isn’t terribly creative, it sure is accurate. Nintendo took a classic series, brought back all that was classic about it, added some new twists, and made another classic.

Playing The Game
A two-dimensional side scrolling game, New Super Mario Bros. is set up very much like Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES. There are 8 worlds to navigate, each even resembling the worlds from this old classic. The second world is the sand world. The fifth world is the ice world. Each level plays similar to the levels in the old games, except they are a bit longer with more things to do. In addition to getting through the level in the allotted time and reaching the flag at the top of the pole next to the little castles (something straight out of the NES’ Super Mario Bros.), Mario must collect 3 large coins in each level that allow him to unlock secret areas and special perks.

Game play in this game isn’t extremely diverse, but it certainly is classic Mario. You will navigate many platforms, swim through water levels, throw shells, break bricks, and more of what we all love from classic Mario games. Collecting the coins adds some extra puzzle-solving elements, as often times you can see the coins but have to figure out the tricky secret ways of getting to them. Even though some elements are repeated throughout the game, I never found myself to be bored. It is perhaps the diversity of the environments and the enemies. This game revisits all of our favorite levels, such as the lava-full fortresses, the ice covered grounds, underground pipes, the plain old outdoors (with the addition of rotating platforms) and more. The haunted houses appear in this game, just as they did in Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo. I was also happy to see many of the same enemies from other games. Something about stepping on turtle shells and stomping Koopa kids makes me happy.

While there were plenty of classic items in this game (the mushroom, the fire flower, the star), new items were added to give Mario new abilities and add new ways of navigating levels. A tiny mushroom shrinks Mario, allowing him to climb into special pipes and jump higher than ever. A gigantic mushroom blows him up to full screen size, allowing him to destroy bricks, pipes, and everything else in his path. These new items are often used to help solve puzzles and reach hard-to-obtain coins. It was a nice dose of new material that still fit in with the game. It didn’t seem out of place at all and I can definitely see it continuing to be integrated into the Mario series.

New Super Mario Bros. was a lot of fun for me to play. It was a care free dose of old school Mario, that held my interest. The levels do get more difficult as you progress through the worlds, especially coin collecting, but I never found them to be impossible. This game didn’t have that frustrating effect that a lot of games give me these days (except for the water levels, but that is a given when Mario is swimming painfully slow away from the pursuing squids). Once in a while, it is nice to encounter a game that isn’t so busy trying to take itself seriously. I prefer fun game play over epic story lines. I’d rather relax and chase the princess through 16 castles than sit through 20 minute cut scenes.

Control-wise, the buttons are used very similarly to those of the old NES and Super Nintendo controllers. Run and jump is the main idea here. Those who have played old Mario games will have no problem with this. New players will have a miniscule, if not non-existent, learning curve. The touch feature isn’t used much except to take your secondary item out of storage if an enemy shrinks you. The minimal use of the touch screen isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it really don’t have much of a place in this game. The game makes use of both screen, with the actual game play taking place primarily in the top screen. The other screen shows you how far you are into the level, if you have another item stored, how many big coins you’ve collected, how many lives you have, etc. The screens are reversed occasionally. The bottom screen is used for game play when Mario is underground in a tunnel or other area.

Graphics
The graphics to this game, as with many Nintendo DS games, are reminiscent of those on the Super Nintendo. Both combine vibrant colors and rounded edges, giving a cartoon-ish and charming look to their games. The graphics in this game are a bit better than the old Super Nintendo Mario games. It is two-dimensional graphics at its finest, with nice backgrounds giving the game depth. Everything is more detailed than on the older games. Mario has been given an upgrade, as have the enemies and the levels. The animations also look realistic. The flying Koopas look less rigid when their wings flap. The octopi look more graceful in the water. Everything seems to flow better.

Audio
New Super Mario Bros. sounds like the old games re-mastered. You’ll hear some of the classic music and sounds. Fans of the series will recognize the original theme, along with some tunes from various levels throughout the series. The sounds are also the same when you pick up a coin, gain a life, die, and perform many other actions. I like that they kept these elements as it helped give the game a more intense feeling of “Mario.” Some new music was added, which were very much in the same vain as music in other Mario games. It was also very appropriate and well executed. Voice-acting was added, with Mario spewing a few catch phrases. Completing a level will often result in, “That’s a nice-a.”

Recommendation
I paid $34.99 for this game at Best Buy and it was well worth it. This game was a lot of fun to play, bringing back the classic look, feel, and sounds of Mario with new levels. It was just as much fun for me as the older games. My only complaint would be that it was not longer. Eight worlds don’t seem like many when you’re really enjoying a game. Mario fans must own this title and non-fans can still be ensured a fun time.