So I just picked up New Super Mario Bros. 2...

[Lance.Uppercut]

It's the nerfiest Mario game I've seen to date. The whole gimmick is to collect as many coins as possible; there are coins everywhere in the game. They're spewing from pipes, falling from the sky, floating in the water, and there are trails of coins directing you to the end of the levels (well, now they're called courses). I thought that the amenities like the "coin fire flower", which helps Mario turn every block around him into gold, and the "coin block hat", which keeps spewing out coins whenever Mario's running full-tilt, would only appear in the Coin Rush mode. I was wrong; they appear in the single-player game too and, from what I've played so far, they appear in spades. You'll easily rack up more than a hundred coins a level, upwards of 200 if you're trying hard. I've played about seven levels and have about 35 lives and several thousand coins.

The way the game "applauds" you when you collect 8 red coins or get to the flag pole, the way the game keeps throwing coins at you - it's a game not out to challenge you, rather just to make you feel good about yourself. Preliminarily speaking, this game is very hard to recommend.

What do you think?

[Shaunbadia]

Never played the "New Super Mario Bros." but from what you've described I won't be playing them anytime soon.

[Jims]

I don't own a 3DS and this kind of game doesn't really make me want to buy one. Although I'm not really a fan of the New Super Mario Bros. series in general. They've always felt like cheap budget titles that simply pay the bills for Nintendo.

What you're describing sounds in line with most of the reviews of the game. Jeremy Parish at 1up.com basically said that the game is almost a self-parody of a Mario game. The gimmick of just collecting bajillions of coins seems kind of tiresome and lazy. "Let's do the same old boring level designs we've been doing for 20+ years... BUT WITH MORE COINS!"

[The Spruce Moose]

as a Nintendo fanboy and Mario fan, it pains me to agree that this and Nintendo in general seem to be getting less and less impressive recently

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

The whole coin aspect really doesn't appeal to me at all. I did like New SMB for Wii, and that was it. Just do something else now, 'Tendo.

[CousinMerl]

I have been thinking of getting a 3DS, but this is not a game I'd rush out to buy.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

What is 3DS' gimmick really anyways?

[hammster]

The New Super Mario Bros games are not vintage Nintendo. But they sell a tonne and if they allow Nintendo the financial means to continue to make the exemplary 3D Mario games, I have no problem with their existence.

Edit: also my twitter friend wrote this and nailed it: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...lem-like-mario

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

I might get it eventually but I've also not been a huge fan of the New Super Mario titles. I still have to get 3d land for goodness' sake and I'm sure that's a very strong game. I have been playing the Wii one with my sister lately and that's fun. Although admittedly she's pretty terrible at it(already used 11 continues) but that's part of the fun I suppose.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Just play the original, guys.

[hammster]

World is the best 2D Mario game. Maybe the best game.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

I first played World as Super Mario Advanced 2 (I think that was the port) for the GBA and loved it. Must've played through it in its entirety at least a dozen times. I had no clue it was a port until several years later.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

I love that port. Got me through many boring car rides over the years.

[hammster]

I played it on my Dad's SNES originally but I first completed it with the GBA port. So good.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

See the thing is I can vividly recall playing Mario All Stars before even owning a GBA, and World is on that too isn't it? Yet I swear I don't remember playing it specifically before the GBA port. I probably did earlier, but if so I no longer remember it. But yeah such a fine port...

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

The version of All Stars I had didn't include World.

[kupomog]

They had a version that did have World in it. But the original release did not which is the one i had. It was one of my most played Snes games. The bundle with World came out like a year after and Japan didn't get that one.

I dont have a 3DS yet but most 3D Mario platformers have let me down in some kind of way. NSMB was ok but I dislike the physics. Mario's slipperiness was easier to account for in the sprite based games.

Plus the music and worlds dont really stand out to me anymore. Very vanilla. But Wii has co-op so that is at least one thing to keep me playing that version.

Much like Metroid I wish they would go back to actual drawn sprites for just one game at least. 3D backgrounds are a given and I'm sure they could do some amazing combinations.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Ah see I recently played a version of All Stars that had World as part of it so I assumed they all must have. There's a strong possibility the one I had as a kid was the one without World on it then. So I very probably DID first play it as the port then.

As an aside I think some SNES came with World packaged in but mine didn't, it had Donkey Kong Country which is still awesome!!!

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Honestly not a huge fan of All Stars. The re-tooled 16-bit graphics are a little unappealing to me.

[comeau]

Just play the original, guys.

I know this may be controversial, but SMB bores me to tears. It took me a while to realize it, and I do hold a lot of respect for what the game did, but I don't like to play it anymore. It's a classic, but it's a classic in the same way Pac-Man and Space Invaders are classics; they had an immense influence on video games, but they are ultimately boring.

I agree that World is great, but I think SMB 3 slightly edges it out as the best Mario game.

And while I don't much care for NSMB, I do quite like NSMBWii. 3D Land was awesome but a little too easy(especially in the first half to 3/4's of the game) and I do want to check out this new NSMB game.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Agree to disagree I suppose.

[hammster]

I agree that World is great, but I think SMB 3 slightly edges it out as the best Mario game.

Not one of these people.

[Jims]

I know this may be controversial, but SMB bores me to tears. It took me a while to realize it, and I do hold a lot of respect for what the game did, but I don't like to play it anymore. It's a classic, but it's a classic in the same way Pac-Man and Space Invaders are classics; they had an immense influence on video games, but they are ultimately boring.

The original is still kind of fun. It's got these jump physics that are so specific to the original Super Mario Bros. The jump physics are similar across all the game, but there's something to that looseness in the original that's hard to describe. It's definitely a game that has aged over time, though.

I still haven't played a recent 2-D Mario game better than Super Mario World. Except for Yoshi's Island, but that doesn't really count. The 3-D ones have impressed me more lately.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Honesty? I've played World so much now that...I gotta say, I'm gettin' bored by it.

[D4C]

Blab blab flash emulation sucks.

Blab blab I like 3 and world.

Blab blab I hate 3d Mario.


Sorry for posting under her name.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Actually my favorite in the series would probably either be 2 or 3.

[comeau]

Yeah, SMB2 is an awesome game, and is amongst my favorites in the Mario series.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

2 is massively underrated. Glad to see someone else that likes it.

[lolcats]

I've been catching up on all of the Mario games, I'm on Super Mario World 2.

So far, Super Mario Bros. 2 has been the best.

[comeau]

Yoshi's Island(SMW 2) is a great game too, but it's really difficult to 100% the game.