"I should learn to rent games first..."

I've always been a huge Mario fan. I bought my DS Lite a month ago (didn't get the original), and have pretty much fallen in love with it, despite not having too much time to play having to go to university. I spent my days as a tyke playing the old school Mario games on the NES and then the SNES. When I heard there was a 'New' Mario Bros, I was quite excited. I mean... "Mega Mushroom", "Tiny Mushroom" and "Blue Koopa Shell" sounded like pretty promising add-ons to the game.

As per usual, Peach, the helpless princess of Mushroom Kingdom gets kidnapped... again... by Bowser Jr. So Mario traverses through all those levels, through rain and shine stomping on baddies to save the damsel in distress. They really might consider a slightly fresher storyline (and a few extra bodyguards besides a plumber to protect her from the obsessive Koopas), but I suppose I never had any issues though with such a simple storyline. Simple and easy to understand is a good idea.

You'll be mainly watching your upper screen. That's where all the action is. Your lower screen is where you see the 'map' (no, it's not a map... it's just a progress bar telling you how far into that particular level you are), your item in reserve (which you store simply by picking up, and if you already have an equal or greater power up... access it using the stylus), your number of lives, Star Coin count, and your ever so classic, redundant, irrelevant score measured in points. Although, I contradict myself… these two screens will switch around if you enter an underground area via pipe to give that nice feeling of ‘being' underground. I wouldn't advise you use your stylus on your upper screen though.

These Star Coins I mentioned is a little distraction you may choose to undertake. In each level there are three to collect. Sometimes they're difficult to find, but mostly they're dead easy. Terribly easy. Same thing goes for the secret passages and exits in the game. They are far from a ‘challenge only for hardcore gamers' (quoting another review). A curious mind, suspicion and basic logic should lead you to them. There were only a couple that I had trouble with. Once you collect enough Star Coins, you'll be able to spend them on opening roads to new stages, warps or Mushroom Houses. (Remember Mushroom Houses, like in Super Mario 3? They give you items or lives.)

Those Red Coins you'd love to hate make a comeback here. Poorly I might add. While in Yoshi's Island and Mario 64, they give you good incentives to pick them up, in New Super Mario Bros, your only reward for retrieving these is a life or an item. Once you jump through a Red Ring, eight of them will appear and it's your task to snatch them in a limited time before they disappear. For that Flower or Life that you just -so- desperately need.

Controls are as per usual. Move through the level with your directional pad, jump with either A or B and run with X or Y. (They couldn't find any other use for these buttons I suppose?) If you've played Mario games before on NES, SNES, Gameboy or whatever, the feel of control is quite identical. Additionally you have the ground pound, double/triple jump and the wall jump, the last of which is the only one I found really interesting or useful. They rest seem quite redundant to me. Use the stylus and tap your reserve item to access it. Or if you're too lazy to hold it in your hand the whole time, or to pick it up, just poke the screen using a finger and leave a greasy print on it.

There are eight worlds in the game, each with their own flavour. You've got your generic plains and fields world, your ice world, desert world, volcanic world... you've seen it all before. In each world there is a tower where you duel with Bowser Jr, and a castle where you must beat a big boss to gain access to the next world. Even though there are eight, as I said, you don't need to beat them all to finish the game. There are different paths you can take depending on how you beat each of the bosses. So in total, you could get to World 8 having only beaten five previous others (assuming you took no warps).

To comment on the graphics of the game, I have to say they look quite nice. You have your 3D rendered character sprites with a simple background. The music for the score isn't anything spectacular... kind of just remixes of the old and traditional Mario songs. I even think some of them are borderline annoying. Nothing nearly as catchy as the originals. The sound effects are things you'd hear from past Mario games. Same ol' coin ‘ching' sound as you pick them up, same jumping noise and same block breaking noise.

To be brutally honest, I thought very little of the stages themselves. It is similar to Super Mario World on SNES; you may revisit your completed stages for the fun of it, or pick up a useful item. But the difference ends at the creativity of the levels. Many of the stages in New Super Mario Bros were really the same old thing over and over. They offer very little challenge, and are a simple left-to-right scrolling most of the time. You sometimes get your upward scrolling stages, but a change in direction is nothing to be so hyped up about anyway…

But those new power-ups add some extra flavour to the game, right? I mean, aside from the Mushroom, Flower and Star? Eh... I can't say I think so myself. While new powers do seem interesting, really... they're not. Your Mega Mushroom is really just a Starman that makes you giant and grants you the ability to knock over stuff, giving you the opportunity to get extra lives through your little 'destruction meter' up top. Limited time and everything. The Tiny Mushroom is a pain to use. Vital to enter hidden areas or reach Star Coins because of the heightened ability to jump (I don't see how… I reckon you should be less able to jump), but makes you weak and vulnerable to everything. In fact you'll have to do a ground pound just to beat those measly Goombas. Your Blue Koopa Shell gives you protection if you hold the down button, but run while wearing it and you'll easily find yourself losing control and spinning around like crazy. I still think this one is the most fun out of the newcomer power-ups though.

Oh yes, did I forget to mention you can't save your game at will until you've beaten the game once? Before then, you're only permitted to do so after beating a Tower, Castle, accessed an alternative path or used a Mushroom House.

Overall, beating every level... getting ever Star Coin... and finding all hidden areas took me... two days. I honestly can't say I'm too happy with that. It was an 'okay' game. I definitely wouldn't call this game 'brilliant' (quoting another reviewer again). Ah, well. I guess my expectations of this game were too high. When I saw the video review, it reminded me too much of Super Mario World on SNES, it being one of my most enjoyed games and such.

The mini games I suppose compensate for the main game. Their novelty last longer. There's a lot of use with the stylus here, and some of them are pretty fun. One of the games requires you to blow into the microphone, which I find pretty cute, especially when trying to fight the urge to laugh, looking so silly in front of everyone. Basically all your mini games fit into four categories: Action, Puzzle, Table (card games like memory and poker) and Variety (I suppose… your miscellaneous section). A total of 18 mini games.

If there's one redeeming quality... I like how you hear Mario's voice when hibernating or returning to the game. He says "Bye bye!" and "Its-a-me! Mario!"

In the end... they call it 'New' Super Mario Bros, but I don't find too much that's new or appealing to warrant dishing out a new title. Nice graphics and decent sound, but what is that worth when gameplay isn't top notch? Even after finishing everything possible it didn't give me many hours of enjoyment. Even for a big Mario fan like myself. In the end I'd really have to say that it was a pretty mediocre game. It was okay, but not great. Next time I have to rent games to try them out first.

As a summary, the things I liked were...
+ There were nice graphics
+ Gaming was simple and straightforward

Things I didn't care much for were...
- It was way too short
- It was way too easy

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/24/06, Updated 03/05/07