New Super Mario Bros.

New Super Mario Bros. is a small series that would go on to get less and less innovative with each entry but they hit they managed to hit the nail on this head with 2006 reboot of Mario's classic platforming style, implementing his 3D move-set into a 2D environment and bringing in new features like the mini-games and the addicting and fun as all hell multiplayer mode. It's not graphically impressive and the main game may be a bit to oversimplified but New Super Mario Bros remains the best one in the series and is definitely one of Mario's top 10 games of all time!

I was so looking forward to this game, with the great reviews and cool-looking graphics and all. But I honestly can't see what all the fuss is about.

For a start, the game is just too damn short and too damn easy with nothing much to make you continue playing. I don't buy into all this 'unlockable' crap and the bonus stuff in New Super Mario Bros. isn't all that interesting anyway. I'm not going to waste my time doing over a level I have already completed just for the sake of unlocking a new background. Only a sad, pathetic loser would do something like that.

And the so-called 'ton' of mini-games is a bold-faced lie since most of them are the exact same ones featured on Super Mario 64 DS and only about 2 aren't. There's only about half the amount featured on SM64 DS too. So there's another wasted opportunity.

Maybe it's because I played this so soon after the GBA version of SMB3 or maybe it's because it's just so damn short and never really gets going, but I was just so let down by New Super Mario Bros. The giant Mario thing is cool but it lasts for 5 seconds. I do wish the flying ability from SMB3 was featured. Or that the game was simply worth the money.

Don't believe the hype. Only pick this game up cheap!

Graphics A Sound B+ Gameplay B+ Lasting Appeal D+

New Super Mario Bros is like the sequel that never came, until now, 16 years after the last one, Super Mario Bros 3. If you ever played those classic Mario games on NES, than you know what to expect. It's not that much different, the storyline is the same; you have to rescue Princesses Peach from Bowser. And it has some new items like the super-mushroom, which brings you to nearly the full size of the DS screen, and you can walk through almost everything. Also a blue mushroom (is not poison like in Super Mario 2) which make Mario to a Mini-Mario, which allows you to go places in the game you couldn't get to when you are normal-size. Another new item is a shell, a blue shell that you have on your back, I really didn't find that shell so much useful thou. Another new thing is that Mario can do is jump walls. But the flying power is gone, a small disappointment maybe, because I really loved Raccoon Mario. The biggest different from the classics is the graphics, is really amazing, really beautiful and perfect. They have also added Mario sound (not much), and the music is still pleasant. For experienced players could this game beaten easily and very fast, I believe it took me slightly less than five hours, and I wasn't trying to beast it fast. But the whole game wasn't completed, There are whole worlds that are skipped under "normal" playing through. Some levels have more than one exit and there are pipes and cannons to take you to various parts of the map and even other worlds. And you also got the 3 special coins that you can collect in each level, you actually need those coins to save. This is a great game and I will already call it a classic, all people who enjoy video-games will love this game. I actually bought a Nintendo DS lite because of this game and it's worth every penny. Let us just hope that Nintendo continues to keep these classics coming.

9,8/10.

New Super Mario Bros. is the newest Super Mario side-scroller in over a decade. It uses the same gameplay as the original Super Mario Bros., only now the game has enhanced 3-D graphics, new enemies, and new places. Classic elements like Goombas, Koopas, pipes, and mushrooms add to the fun. But new things help too: a giant mushroom the transforms you into a giant behemoth, ghosts that bust down brick walls, and a blue Koopa shell that lets you slide across the landscape.

Despite the presence of more popular genres like shooter and racing, New Super Mario Bros. is still able to prove one thing: the old formula does work.

New Super Mario Bros. is the first brand-new side-scrolling Mario game since 1992. Through that break from the casual "flinging fireballs at enemies" routine, Mario has been mostly seen in 3D platformers, RPGs, racing, sports, and Party games. It's truly a shame that no new Mario side-scroller has been released on the Game Boy Advance though, only old games (Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, etc.) have been re-released for the portable system. During that time period, Mario side-scrollers became a thing of the past, until recently, Nintendo decided to release another Mario platformer for the Nintendo DS, except it wasn't a 3D game like Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Sunshine or the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy for the upcoming Nintendo Wii, it was an all-new Mario side-scroller starring Mario and Luigi. It wasn't no big mission to retrieve stars or shine-sprites, it was just a normal quest to rescue the Princess from Bowser and Bowser Jr.

The closest we have got to a new Mario game like this was the recent DS game Super Princess Peach, which reversed the roles of the "Plumber saves Princess" formula, but it really didn't relive the classic days of Mario games. Only when New Super Mario Bros. was released when the Mario really returned, it was a normal side-scrolling adventure with no real storyline, but it instead featured 8 worlds with 80 total levels, packed with all the action that made Mario famous from the start. I got this game and it is anything but disappointing. It captures the essence of the old glory days NES games from the 80's and early 90's. But the game wouldn't be "New" without a few new additions, including Power-ups, moves, and enemies.

Nintendo has shoved the game with items such as the Mega Mushroom, which enlarges Mario to the size of the whole screen and can give him the ability to damage almost everything in sight, the Mini Mushroom turns Mario into Mini-Mario, who can fit through tight spaces that he normally couldn't, and for the first time, Mario can actually wear the Koopa shell and roll around on terrains and plow through enemies galore! The Classic Mushrooms and Fire Flowers make a return as well, that turn Mario into Super Mario and Fire Mario, who can fling fireballs at enemies (Sound familiar?). Mario's main move in the game like always is performing giant leaps and jumps, but his trip through 3D platforming has left a stain on him, and it can be seen in some of his new moves in this game, which includes the triple jump, the Ground Pound, and the wall jump, which all prove useful, because the wall jump can save you if you accidentally fall down a gap or can help you reach higher places, the triple Jump can help you jump higher than before, and the ground pound can help you stomp enemies, break blocks on the floor, and more. New enemies flourish through all of the game's 80 levels and each have unique abilities. Some of them include the casual group, including Goombas, Koopas, Thwomps, and Lakitus, but there are never-before-seen baddies that make their debut in this game, and they include Spookums, Balloon Boos, giant eels and such. Even with all of those new additions to the game, New Super Mario Bros. still manages to pull of the feel like you're playing on the Super NES.

Mario has a big history ahead of him, which includes games on Nintendo's next-gen console the Wii, but for now, all these ambitions can be put aside, and you can enjoy this game, which is one big trip down memory lane.