"Who keeps selling the Koopas life insurance?"

Super Mario Bros. may be the most important video game series to ever grace gaming consoles. It revived an industry with the original Super Mario Bros. Many felt it mastered the technique of the platformer with Super Mario Bros. 3. Then they did what many thought to be impossible and improved on the formula with a Super Mario World, adding Yoshi, the living power-up. As if selling tens of millions of games and being admired throughout the gaming world (both by the people who play the games and by those who create and market them) wasn't enough, Super Mario 64 went out and set the gold standard of what it meant for a game to be fully functional in three dimensions. With all that, there is one area where the Super Mario Bros. series has never seen to shine its brightest: On the handheld.

Well look no further for a bright light, because here is a golden star that illuminates not only the DS, but all of handheld gaming.

The premise of the game is unchanged from previous Mario titles; while you are walking along with Princess Peach a disturbance catches Mario's attention in the distance. While he is off checking to see what is the problem Bowser Jr. sneaks up behind Peach and kidnaps her. Mario gives chase, and so the adventure begins. Sound cliché? If you are playing a Mario platformer for its story, get out of gaming now.

New Super Mario Bros. delivers on a number of promises throughout the game, none more spectacular than gameplay. Although it has been many years since we have had a traditional Mario sidescroller, back in the day it could always be assumed where Mario was, excellent gameplay was sure to follow. There were some concerns going into playing this for many, as it was unclear how the added effect of having the world partially three dimensional would effect the gameplay, if at all. Well, the gameplay has certainly not stayed the same. It has done itself one better, by improving itself with the aid of that third dimension. Controls are more responsive than ever before; a light button tap will cause a subtle action to occur, and the range of subtleness in jumping, wall hopping, and other actions (such as the distance of your jump depending on how far you've been dashing) is noticeable. Many handheld titles are marred by the lack of pinpoint control that many console games offer, so it is a pleasure to play a handheld game that obviously did not believe that handheld games were supposed to be secondary to their console counterparts.

While controls are central to a game's success, everybody wants to see some awesome platforming. New Super Mario Bros. gives it. At times the game can be simple if you are a veteran of the platforming genre. However there are many moments which will have you holding your breath, trying desperately to make it out without another life lost, although the number of lives you have is quite generous. With several obstacles in your way there will be moments where when you reach the flag pole you will be wiping your brow from the workout your platforming skill just got. From running away from Broozers (A new enemy which can knock several blocks out of their way with a single punch and impressive dash speed) to hopping from small ledge to small ledge as the forced scrolling, a technique in which you do not control how the screen scrolls, so you have to be both patient at times and hasty at others, tries to push you off the ledge to your death, this game runs the gamut in terms of variety of fun and difficult challenges impeding your path to the end of a level.

The other Super Mario games have a heavy focus on acquiring items to make your path easier or more customized for you; NSMB is no different. Unsurprisingly both the Super Mushroom(Which turns Mario into Super Mario, a taller version of regular Mario who can now break blocks) as well as the Fire Flower(Which changes Mario's suit to white and allows him to shoot fireballs, disposing of most enemies) have returned for yet another appearance. The most notable addition to the fold is the Mega Mushroom; this giant fungus allows you to increase in size to the full height of the screen, tearing through anything that dares get in his path while the power lasts. In addition to the invincibility and screen wrecking powers gained by the mushroom, the damage you inflict to your environment is doubly encouraged; If you manage to destroy enough, you will get up to 5 1ups, indicated by the “damage meter” atop the screen during your rampage. However many levels purposely impede the progress of the Mega Mushroom so Mario can't just run through the game like a maniac. Along side the Mega Mushroom is the Mini Mushroom, which like the name indicates is a small mushroom which turns Mario into a miniature form of him. This allows Mario to not only fit through tiny spaces and through smaller pipes but to also have greater hang time on all of his jumps. While having its disadvantages, trying to beat certain end world bosses as this tiny form could prove advantageous.

The last of the power-ups was surprisingly useful. Throughout the game, players are given a chance to randomly win power ups through Item Houses (which can be accessed by large gold coins; 3 of each exist in every level). There are four items available through this method, 3 of which (Mega Mushroom, Fire Flower, Super Mushroom) were mentioned above. The fourth is the Blue Shell, which is both a defensive and offensive item. By merely pressing down on the d-pad you tuck yourself inside of your shell and can survive many of the enemy's attacks. The far more useful feature, however, is the ability to “Shell Dash”. When having the shell equipped if you get up to full dash speed the shell will begin to spin knocking out anything an empty shell would, including blocks and other enemies. Although none of the power ups appear as often as the classic Fire Flower, they add a nice variety to the game and each has its own mechanisms which shows that a good deal of thought was provided for each and every one.

Graphically the game is super polished and shows no flaws. Everything from the blocks to the Mega Mushroom Mario looks fantastic. NSMB does not offer anything fancy or mind blowing and it doesn't need to. The design of everything is well managed and the inspiration from the older games is evident. That said the game is far more vivid and impressive than anything you could find on the DS to this day.

Sound wise everything checks in OK. Nothing too abnormal for a Mario title, but it all plays great and sometimes a tune will get stuck into your head. The Effects are well done and a crisp. Nothing noteworthy aside from a few well done remixes of old classics.


It had been fourteen years since the release of a true Mario platforming game on a Nintendo handheld. That was Super Mario Land 2, for the Gameboy. Since that time Mario has had many misadventures. He left Side scrolling behind for the fleshed out world of 3D. He starred in 5 role-playing games and has sold tens of millions more games. Many believe that Sidescrolling is archaic, a well deserved dead genre only merited because the technology couldn't be put to better use. Well, playing is believing and it is hard to not believe in Sidescrolling after this excellent title.

When you open the screen after you left the game in stand-by mode Mario's voice pops up saying “It'sa me Mario”.

Truly words were never spoken. This is Mario.


8.9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/04/07

Game Release: New Super Mario Bros. (US, 05/15/06)