New Super Mario Bros. (DS) Review

It is the game we have all been dreaming of for more than a decade. Not since Yoshi Island have Nintendo fans had a true 2-D Mario platformer fix and some were dreading that the day would never come. The GameBoy Advance brought hope but it was not to be in the face of ports and nothing truly unique. The time of waiting however has come to an end and in such a way that the wait will seem more than worth it. Tomorrow you will be rushing into your local Gaming Store to scoop up a brand new shiny copy of New Super Mario Brothers on the Nintendo DS. Today let me tell you why this game will take you to a fantastic journey through the Mushroom Kingdom where Princess get kidnapped on a regular basis and fat Italian plumbers shoot fireballs from there white mitten gloves.

New Super Mario Brothers is the first true 2-D Mario platformer since the days of Super Mario World and Yoshi Island. Though it doesnt bring anything unique or innovative to the most famous gaming genre of all time it does bring together all the fantastic pieces that have made Mario a household name. The concept is simple enough. The Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom is kidnapped at the start of the game by Bowser Jr, a much unloved recent addition to the Mario universe. It is your task as Mario (Or Luigi) to travel through a series of short levels through a collection of 8 worlds to reach the Princess and save her from the oversized turtle, Bowser. The levels are on 2-D platforms, you can go up, down, left and right but never around objects in a 3rd dimensional manner. Thats not the purpose of such a game.

The levels comprise of enemies and objects that are there to hinder your path. The most common of enemies starts from the lazy Goombas that are just more of a nuisance than anything else to the flying Koopas which can take a betting. Then we step up a notch to a trail of fire that devilishly jumps in front of your path or to giant blocks of stone that came crashing to the ground, crushing anything beneath. The objects range from spinning fireballs to rising lava, up to your basic draw bridges to some tricky blocks that unless you keep up with will send you to your fiery doom. Each level is unique and sports some kind of set design for the specific world. An example of such is World 1 that supports a visual style we are all familiar with from earlier Mario titles, Mushroom Plains. This means that the majority of levels in this world will support bright green backgrounds, easy to navigate territory and a lot of Goombas. World 2 however supports a Desert visual style so here you can watch out for sinking sand, mini cyclones and sand as far as the eye can see. Each world is unique to the next and though most of the visual styles are pretty stock standard when it comes to a Mario game Nintendo has gone out there to give as something a little different that doesnt make the game look like a graphical upgrade of Super Mario Bros.

Like all Mario games before you have the ability through levels to collect power-ups and with the innovative Nintendo DS touch screen you now have the power to store and use an power-ups whenever you desire as well as track level progression. The power-ups include the standard Mushroom that will make you a formidable opponent against larger enemies. Next and most common is the Fire Plant that gives you the power to throw blazing fireballs into incoming enemies, spicing things up a little. Now we get into the interesting new additions that Nintendo are famous for adding into these games. The first and my personal favourite is the Mini Mushroom power-up. A small blue mushroom that shrinks you to about one eight your size and gives you an almighty jumping boost so you can almost reach the clouds. Players must be careful with this form of Mario however as a single touch for an enemy will send you back to the map screen, regardless of the form you where in before scooping up this one. Secondly is the Shell power-up. This has a few features that make it worth checking out at least once during your time playing this game. Get a boost of speed and Mario will crawl under the shell and become an unstoppable killing machine. Imagine the Red Shells bouncing back and fourth after getting caught in between two blocks. Duck and hide, making yourself untouchable to enemies unless they happen to have some fire handy. Go underwater and Mario will paddle that extra bit faster, making those sometimes-difficult sea levels that little bit easier. Finally we come to the Mega Mushroom power-up. Progression wise this power-up is pretty useless. After morphing into a giant sized Mario you are capable of destroying everything and anything in your path. The only bad bit about this is you may destroy you only way of exiting the level so great care must be taken upon use of this final upgrade.

As well as your 10 to 12 levels per world there are several Mushroom Houses situated around the 8 worlds for your use. Well almost, as with all things there are catches involved. To reach these Mushroom Houses you will require special coins that are littered throughout each and every level in the game. Three in each level to be exact and some are harder to find as others. Think of them as replay value. Once a minimum of 5 have been collected you can open the path to the Mushroom House and enter for a prize that awaits on the other side. The Red Mushroom House will reward you with an item block that stores all of the power-ups. Whichever one you get will be stored into your item slot on the touch screen. The Green Mushroom House is one of my favourites simply because of the welcoming amount of 1-UP lives you can get from here. Upon entering the House you will be greeted by a series of item blocks, all but one which store 1-UP mushrooms and the last one housing a very bad Bowser icon that will end your turn with whatever you had gotten thus far. After being randomly placed into the item blocks you simply have to jump and grab the highest amount of lives you can achieve. Then theres the Mega Mushroom House where you are able to obtain the Mega Mario power-up mushroom quite simply. Though nothing to exciting for a 2-D Platformer the Mushroom Houses definitely do add to the already successful formula.

The game doesnt just end in the Single Player adventure though. Not only do we have a full single player experience but Nintendo have also packed in some of the Mini Games from Super Mario 64 DS. The good news is you can now play a select few of these with a friend and some of these Multiplayer mini games are brand new so definitely become a reason to check this mode out. The bad news is the majority of single and Multiplayer mini games are in there core the exact same as those seen in Super Mario 64 DS. It almost seems at times as if Nintendo just tacked these together at the last minute thinking they would give the game greater replay value. Personally Ive played these mini games to death already and cannot care less about going back but newcomers to the Mario series will find these a fun distraction away from the main quest. Back when this game was first announced we were teased with the possibility of a Mario and Luigi co-op mode where you could play through the quest levels with a friend. Sadly before the end this idea was thrown out the window like a hovering chocolate in a long forgotten classic. Instead we got a 2 Player, Star Collecting Vs mode where you and your friend are pitted against one another in a small arena to collect the most amount of stars. This mode, though simplistic in writing is a lot of fun and well worth a look. Pound on your friends head and watch one of there stars leap away from them, giving you the chance to scoop up the spoils. Your friend can still come back and take it right from you though. That or they could grab the Fire Plant and shoot fireballs at your fleeing behind. This mode can get very chaotic and is a nice little addition to an already fulfilling package.

Im a Nintendo gamer at heart and have never been one fussed with the visual style or uber graphics in games that most gamers think make a game nowadays. This would be fortunate for me because Nintendo have also taken this route as of late, believing that the core essence of a video game is how it is played and look just how it looks. With that being said however the graphics in this game are spot on for a Nintendo DS title. The backgrounds are in classic 2-D as are most of the surrounding environments. Mario and his enemies are full 3-D sprites as is the World Map that is actually quite stunning to look at at times. The blend of two brings together the nostalgia of old and greatness of new into a game that is not only visually appealing and visually satisfying. Definitely bets Tetris DS is the graphics department. The music is exactly what youd expect from a Mario title. Cheerful, bright and very catchy. Mario has his old-fashioned grunts and exclamations as well as one or two new words that we will probably be hearing re-used in the not too distant future in a not too distant sequel.

New Super Mario Bros. Is the most fulfilling game I have played all year. It is fun, fresh and fantastic. The initial length of the game if you go from start to finish without worrying about the coins or secret exits etc can be a little worrying as youll probably only have clocked around 4 to 6 hours by the time you come to your final meeting with Bowser. However going back and losing yourself in the ultimate experience of New Super Mario Bros. will make every penny spent on this game well worth it. Now if youll excuse me I have some Goombas to squash and frustratingly hard coins to collect. Well, at least there not as bad as those dreaded blue coins from Sunshine.