‘New’ Super Mario Bros (NDS)

Courtesy of Gamespot

I know, I know…I’m extremely LTTP on this. Nevertheless, this classic game/series deserves a blog post.

I have to admit, I was overwhelmed with nostalgia the entire time I played this game. I kept thinking about my younger years when I first played Mario Bros. on the NES–I instantly fell in love with it. I stayed up playing all-night sometimes; there were even times when I had to leave the house for hours at a time and I would leave the game ‘paused’ so I wouldn’t lose my progress. In retrospect, I don’t really know why I did that; I’m not sure if it was because of the lack of save points? Was it the lack of a memory card? I don’t remember. Oh well. Regardless, I felt a familiar frustration with NSMB on DS. Because Nintendo omitted a tutorial in NSMB (which I’m pretty sure they do in most of the series), I had a hard time figuring out how to save my game! However, this was my one and only frustration with the game.

To highlight the great things about NSMB, it’s easy to say that Nintendo has once again made a memorable, enjoyable, and addicting installment into the Mario series. The classic Mario elements such as side-scrolling movement, one-hit kills, vivid colors, and memorable music all made NSMB just as enjoyable as Super Mario Bros 3, which NSMB resembles the most.

Courtesy of Joystiq

The storyline is typical: Bowser kidnaps the Princess, Mario has to save the Princess. You travel through the 8-world foundation that all Mario games are built upon (desert theme, water theme, etc). In each world there are a few, what I’m going to call, Mushroom Houses that you can unlock when you cash in the Star Coins you collect throughout each level. In these Mushroom Houses, Mario hits a giant block that either: awards him with a power-up for the next level, or a random number of 1ups based on luck.

As far as power-ups go, there’s the traditional Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, and Starman. However, NSMB introduces three new power-ups: the Blue Koopa Shell, which attaches a blue turtle shell to Mario’s back and allows him to use it as protection as he can hide in it or use it to attack enemies when he uses it while running; the Mega Mushroom, which turns Mario into a giant allowing him to run through anything (sometimes making boss fights extremely easy); the Mini Mushroom, which, well as you’ve probably guessed, turns Mario into a mini-Mario allowing him to enter small tubes leading to secrets or jump really far with somewhat of a floaty feel.

If you’ve been playing high-action, high-resolution, 3D shooters and RPGs and you’re a bit overwhelmed, possibly fiending for some nostalgic side-scrolling goodness, NSMB is definitely worth checking out.