Mario is back in 2D and the result is great.
Story is very classical and simple in New Super Mario Bros. One beautiful day Bowser Jr. appears and kidnaps princess Peach, so it’s once again up to Mario to save her. But as always Mario games are not about the story: they are about jumping.
Graphics are probably the best in the DS and the use of colors makes this game incredibly beautiful to look at. Worthy of a special mention are the underwater stages and that great graphical effect when Mario hits on the surface of water splashing it. Different characters and enemies look great and in my opinion Bowser Jr. is the cutest baddy in any game for a long time.
Sound on the other hand is mostly classical, which is nothing new, but luckily there are some added effects in different enemies. It seems that Nintendo wanted the sound to bring back good old memories from previous Mario games and in this respect New Super Mario Bros. succeeds.
Gameplay is very quick to get into since you only have two buttons to master and the controls are responsive. In this respect New Super Mario Bros. is just what you would expect, because it combines many elements from previous Mario games and does it all really well. There are also some new additions, like the mini and mega mushrooms, but I still prefer more of those classical fire flowers and stars.
New Super Mario Bros. also includes nearly 20 different minigames and the use of stylus in the game is mostly done in these minigames. This feature brings the game more playing time since in long flights or between bus stops you can constantly switch between minigames and the main quest, if you get bored on the other.
There is also wireless or online play to fight against you’re friend and it’s a cool feature, but it’s not the thing that brings you down to play New Super Mario Bros.
You can rush you’re way through this game in less than 10 hours, but if you sit back and enjoy the different minigames while digging a little deeper in the main story mode you’ll find that it takes somewhere between 10-25 hours to finish this Mario’s latest. Game is also pretty easy, but still it’s better this way than to have a frustrating time trying to jump over a cliff or something like that.
New Super Mario Bros. is a quality game and no DS owner shouldn’t be without it.