Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Been there, done that"

Check out my video review of this game at:
www.youtube.com/TheGameDirect

Nintendo is out with another instalment in the mario franchise, New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS. This game is based on its Nintendo DS and Wii counterpart, New Super Mario Bros., where you control Mario through 6 side-scrolling worlds and a few extra worlds that are unlocked using star coins. As usual Mario is out to save Princess Peach who has been kidnapped by none other than the clumsy yet persistant villian, Bowser. The first major difference you will notice with this game compared to other mario games is the emphasis on coin collecting. This is because the whole game is revolved around collecting coins. The more coins you collect the higher your score, which you can show off to your buddies.

The game looks clear and crisp, with the return of classic enemies and environments, and some additions of new platforms such as see-saw platforms, shrinking platforms, rotating platforms and dropping platforms. The game does not implement any touch screen game play, rather, the touch screen simply shows your stats and your distance from the finish line in the level. Since this is a 2D side-scrolling platforming game, you won't get much of a 3D experience here except for background and foreground indentations.

As mentioned before, coin collecting is the main objective in this game, hence, a lot of the obstacles and puzzles are placed where many coins are located. A player can simply breeze through most levels simply by skipping locations with huge coin prizes, but what is the fun in that? Eventually, at the end of each world you will be pitted against a boss who is mostly a push-over compared to most bosses in past mario games. There are a number of hidden places where large coin prizes are located throughout the game, such as green pipes, red pipes, and golden pipes. There are also blocked paths that can be cleared by hitting POW blocks and Power blocks. Now this would not be a complete mario game without talking about mario's power-ups.

Most of the past power-ups makes its return, including the super mushroom, the fire flower, and the tanooki leaf. All of the power-ups gives mario the same ability as always, the super mushroom makes mario grow larger, the fire flower lets mario shoot fireballs, and the tanooki leaf lets mario float in air and fly after entering running speed. There are a few special power ups which are the golden flower, the golden block, and the invincibility star. The golden flower will turn mario all gold and allow him to shoot balls of gold and whatever it hits, even bricks, will turn into a flood of coins. As for the golden block, it will put a golden helmet on mario's head and it will give him one coin every second until mario reaches the end of the level, provided that he does not receive any damage. The invincibility star gives mario a brief 7-10 seconds of invincibility. My most hated power-up is also back, the super tanooki suit. This suit appears as an option if the player dies 5 or more times. It will give them the power of invincibility and a normal tanooki suit. Mario has pretty much the same moveset, plus he gets his butt stomp and wall jump.

For those who loved the co-op mode in New Super mario bros. Wii, need not worry, this game offers 2 player local co-op. It is unfortunate that it cannot be played online, but at least local co-op can add decent replay value. This game desperately needs this co-op mode because the single player mode only clocks in at around 5 hours. In this co-op mode you can team up with your friend and traverse any level together. However, both players must share the same screen. Therefore, player one must always be aware of what player two is doing or else player two may fall off the screen. The game will put player two inside a bubble and teleport him to where player one is if player two falls too far behind.

Overall, if you love the classic side-scrolling platforming style and gameplay that Mario offers then this game is for you. Even though there may be a slight sense of repetition, New Super Mario Bros. 2 still offers some new aspects to the table with a brand new objective, to collect as much coins as you can!