New Super Mario Bros.

Princess Peach needs rescuing once again (surprise!). This time around, it’s up to Bowser Junior to take up his father’s cause and traipse all around the Mushroom Kingdom with Peach in tow. As simple a premise as ever, it nonetheless serves as a perfect vehicle to take Mario on a fun adventure all over a variety of videogame-fantasy worlds. But is it worth you time and money? That requires a little explanation….

From the get-go, the game feels just right; Mario moves as you’d expect him to, with proper weight and inertia, as he scampers about his environment. Controlling Mario is responsive and precise with the controls quickly becoming second nature---which is a blessing as Mario is able to wall-jump, double- and triple-jump, and butt-stomp as well (all of these skills were previously seen in Super Mario 64 and are seamlessly implemented here in two dimensions). The classic power-ups of Fire Mario and Super Mario are back, along with a few new ones: Mega Mario (turning Mario into an environment destroying giant), Mini Mario (reducing Mario to pint sized proportions), and Shell Mario (placing a shell on Mario’s back much like a Koopa Troopa). Needless to say, there are plenty of abilities thrown into the mix here.

What is somewhat disappointing, however, is that for all of the available abilities, many of them seem under utilized or simply lacking creative implementation. It’s possible to complete entire levels without ever having to use a power-up---or, for that matter, the majority of supplied skills. Mind you, revealing all of the secrets and unlocking all of the hidden levels will require the occasional use of a power-up or skill, just not very often. Oddly, the game seems to throw endless Fire Mario power-ups your way giving the game an action-oriented feel, while the other power-ups are about as numerous as sightings of Bigfoot.

The DS touch screen is not put to very good use either. During gameplay, it acts merely as an inventory and progress screen. In addition, if you have collected an extra power up, it will be stored on the touch screen which, once touched, will be deployed into the actual level for Mario to collect. While this may be a neat implementation, it is little more than a gimmick. Aside from the main adventure, there is a large section devoted solely to touch screen mini-games (18 in all), all of which are mildly entertaining and offer a slight distraction---but nothing to keep you playing for very long. I would have loved to see some variation of these mini-games implemented into the actual gameplay of the main adventure.

Despite these shortcomings, NSMB often excels exactly where it should. The game is best when it employs unique and clever level design coupled with distinctive and intelligent enemies. While early on the level and enemy design is excessively simplistic, further into the adventure they offer up an impressive amount of variety. You may find yourself swimming frantically away from a giant Moray eel, climbing ever upward on a mountainous course, or dodging fireballs and lava in a boss level. Layered on top of this assortment of levels are plenty of secret areas, many of which that serve as alternate paths to hidden levels or to star coins that are used to purchase your way into bonus levels.

Finally, the game looks and sounds fantastic. The graphics are vibrant and meld 3D effects beautifully into a 2D environment. The sound is equally catchy and upbeat, capturing perfectly Mario’s trademark goofy charm.