New Super Mario Brothers
Verdict: Magical Mushroom Mayhem.
Platform: Nintendo DS.
Rating: 4/5
Videogames have an occasional knack of mirroring my life - when I moved house Animal Crossing: Wild World invited me to move to a virtual town. The other week, just as I was about to embark on a holiday, Mario arrived offering me a trip to the Mushroom Kingdom. Taking a holiday from my daily visit to Animal Crossing was of course entirely fitting.
New Super Mario Brothers certainly proves to be a wonderful holiday location (as long as you don’t mind the aggressive locals) as it offers up a vibrant slice of retro gaming in the first 2D sequel to the classic platforming series since Super Mario World. And that’s a long time to wait.
Rather than a continuation from SMW it feels more like a true sequel to the original Super Mario Brothers game (hence its odd choice of title), stripping down the buttons to just jump and run whilst replacing the pixels with new 3D generated visuals. The addition of moves such as wall jumping, the bottom bash and triple jump give away its contemporary timeline post Mario 64 and remarkably they feel like they’ve always been there.
As expected, new power-ups litter the game like the giant Mario making Mega Mushroom and speedy Blue Shell alongside classics like the Fire Flower. Whilst Mega Mario’s rampage is fun it’s a fleeting blast and shallow at best while most levels don’t lend themselves to the high speed antics of the Blue Shell (it’s Mario, not Sonic). Micro Mario however is a great addition to the roster as his diminutive size allows for the access to tiny holes and introduces low gravity for floaty jumping. Lewis Carroll would be proud.
Arguably easy It won’t take many people long to reach the end of the game utilising the warp pipes and short cuts and with an abundance of extra lives and power ups it’s almost like being given infinite continues but for anyone like me that finds it impossible to remove their finger from the run button (and fall to many an untimely death) that’s a bonus. For the curious completists out there though there’s plenty of hidden areas, secrets and super coins to collect that will have you replaying for ages. Some excellent multiplayer also serves to extend its lifetime.
Replete with Nintendo’s trademark attention to detail and nostalgia inducing sounds it’s a successful continuation of one of the greatest gaming franchises in history.
What more could you want? A stick of rock?