"Worth buying, worth playing, worth loving"

The first 2D Mario game in more than a decade, New Super Mario Bros. really is fun. Much of the original, well-known and -loved Super Mario Bros. material remains: flagpoles end stages, now with a somersault from Mario, while all the traditional enemies adorn and roam them with the countless weird and wonderful additions, all better-engineered, animated and drawn. The plot is as simple and meaningless as ever before, and the game spans 80 varied-in-length levels with hidden ones dotted about the map as if by…err…a thing dotting secret levels everywhere. Even two whole worlds are hidden from the normal path, but remain tantalisingly on the map screen.

This is all great, and will surely attract fans of the series – but what makes this game the masterpiece of a game that it is, is the overhaul the sound and graphics have undergone, along with the amount of extra content.

The main game mode may seem to end prematurely, but that is just the beginning of what New Super Mario Bros. has to offer (though it only ends so early on because you've (probably) been playing constantly for hours on end at a time). There are also 240 hidden ‘star-coins' to collect, 3 per stage, which range from being ridiculously easily on show to being deviously placed under or above a thick brick wall which, it seems, has neither beginning nor end…(you can almost visualise the designers laughing with evilness and devilishness…BWAHAHAHAHA!)

But that's just one mode of three: a variety of mini-games, some taken straight from Super Mario 64 DS (after having been given an even further graphical enhancement, of course), and many that are all-new concepts, as well as their being 2-, 3- or even 4-player for the most part, coupled with a strictly 2-player ‘Mario vs. Luigi' mode, which pits you against friend or foe to collect stars – are surely yet more reasons to not rest until you own this game. (Sorry for the long, near-nonsensical, 82-word sentence.) With all of this to experience, 2-player matches and mini-games alike being eternally entertaining, I doubt that it is possible to get tired of this game without being distracted by something else.

And Mario has a couple of new moves to perform, from the N64's Super Mario 64. Just thought I'd point that out.

The aim of the main game, of course, is to reach the goal flag of each level and, ultimately, progress to and defeat the final boss. Enemies meander around the stages, hoping to catch you, Mario, off-guard, and along the way, items can change Mario's power to deal with them and take damage. Level layouts conceal multiple secret entrances to secret rooms and are interesting and original, with strange, multi-functional, ingenious obstacles to be found everywhere.

In spite of levels being well-created, a majority of them are too easy. You'll begin a new stage half-way through the game and begin to thoroughly enjoy it, ducking and dodging, jumping and sliding, amazed at what you can do, expecting to fail anytime soon due to the reckless way Mario is madly hopping – when suddenly you see the flag ahead. Already? Where was the challenging part? This aside, later levels pose much more of a problem to rush through on the first go, but you get the idea. More enemies would solve this, perhaps, or better-placed enemies – or, better still, lava everywhere with small, wobbly platforms crowded with spiky Goombas the only way across. Perhaps.

The control system is basic and it works – run with the D-Pad, use one button to jump, another to run or throw fireballs, press down in mid-air to perform a ground-pound – and that's it. The stylus is all that is used to control the mini-games, which function perfectly and feature an unprecedented level of inventiveness (well, nearly). They are boredom-curing and fun, which is all that needs to be said. What's more, a variety of mini-games can be played by two to four players with a single game. They range from absolutely, randomly crazy or serene, peaceful and slow to simple, fast-paced, intense stylus-scribbling or complex puzzles, where brain power may actually be needed. They are all, like the game's levels, individual and different, with life and life and energy.

Whatever else New Super Mario Bros. has to offer, there is nothing else as truly enjoyable as the ‘Mario vs. Luigi' mode. With a friend, these can last for no time at all or hours, and they never lose that initial sparkle of sheer excitement. They play in the same way as the main game, only there are two plumbers, who can interact with each other as Mario would with enemies, collecting stars and avoiding death. Five differently themed stages that vary greatly in length and loop eternally are the best possible location for these battles; the only way that I can think to improve the mode would be to add more stages…and more, and more, and MORE! (sorry)

I mentioned sound and graphics… The game's colours are bright and vibrant but they still manage not to clash or seem the least bit over-the-top. They complement each other perfectly, forming Mario's characteristically colourful universe with a newfound addition of style to it.

They make the foregrounds perfect. These are not intricately, overly detailed, which is a good thing – detail is generally not the Mario ‘style' (who, incidentally, looks every bit like he should, with the tiny moustache visible at almost all his sizes). Stage-select screens, though, which are just as beautiful as those in-level ones, do have detailed, colourful backgrounds – but the way they are created, with style and finesse, simply works well. These, although generally not playing a large part in the gameplay and most likely not even paid attention, contribute vastly to the very real atmosphere and mood that is behind this game – at least, real for a fantasy land of dancing Goombas and floating coins.

Backgrounds move more slowly during stages than foregrounds – this is just one of the many superfluous touches that make the experience of playing better and more real than others in the series before it. Another such example is the way Goombas, Koopas, Mushrooms and practically everything else do a small jump every now and then in time to the beats of the music. Complete madness.

Bosses make end-of-world fortresses something to look forward to. They are inventive, brilliantly created and all very, very different. They look like what might be expected – large, mean and oddly-shaped – and sound unique and threatening, roaring, screeching or greeting Mario to their lair OF DOOM. Unfortunately, some are not as difficult as they could be, while others last for less of a time than would be sufficient to really enjoy the dodging and jumping that constitutes winning. And I don't understand why they leave behind a key, or even why Mario would need a key for anything…oh well.

The sounds really are great. Boing! goes Mario when he bounces. Ding! go the coins he collects. D-d-d-d-d! go his tiny feet. 'Ere I go! he says, again and again and again, countless times…what more could you want? All of the sounds are clear, play at the right times and give the game a greater level of immersion. Music does this just as well, there being enough tunes for them to never get boring, while they all fit in with the theme perfectly and are appropriately matched at the times of boss battles. The music speeding up near the end of the time limit creates a feel of desperation, which is exactly what it is supposed to achieve.

The sound and backgrounds make up an atmosphere and feeling behind the gameplay that gives each individual level a character. Every stage has a theme that makes it unique and individual, but this gives it more of a mood and ambience, a separate, indescribable quality that is its character, its personality. Relaxed, peaceful settings contrast with distinctively sinister stages, altogether setting up an imaginative, carefully planned universe, if not a little strange.

The story makes little sense – even to the end, there isn't much to it. But this makes it easy to understand. With the variety of themed stages, straightforward level-by-level progression and boss fortresses acting as the barriers between worlds, New Super Mario Bros. doesn't need a complex or rich plot.

Because the thing with New Super Mario Bros. is that it is simply fun to run, jump and even die as Mario in this game. It manages to fashion enjoyment out of nothing as soon as you pick up the DS, and won't stop doing that until it is turned off.

The truth is that a lot of effort has been put into the making of this game. You can tell that its designers have worked and thought long and hard – and managed to include random enemies and obstacles that make no sense – which is what gives it the ‘essence' of Mario…I think…

Score
-93%-

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/28/06, Updated 08/01/07