New Super Mario Bros (NDS) > Reviews > New Mario Bros - Superb or Silly?

Author's product rating:   

Playability & Enjoyment	Excellent - very playable game
Addictiveness	Compulsive
Graphics	Good
Difficulty & Complexity	Average - suitable for most
Value for money	Excellent value

Advantages:	Same fun addictive gameplay with a cool modern twist .
Disadvantages:	May seem too repetitive for some players .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Mario - An awesome blast from the past revisited?

If you've played the original Mario series and enjoyed it, you'll love this game. If not, you may still love this game!

Finally after years of 3D spin-off games Mario is back to his 'Golden Days', his 'Linear Life', where he travels from one side of the screen to the other with help of the players gaming skills.

This is not a clone of the old games with new levels though - the superior 3D graphics and animations that have been added really give the game an edge - I was sceptical about these at first and worried they would ruin the game but they fit in perfectly.

For beginners completing the levels and worlds one by one is easy enough, but half the fun for more experienced players is unlocking bonus levels (& worlds!) by finding secret exits and collecting special coins - there is plenty of these and they add hours of more gameplay and fun.

You can expect a variety of levels such as desserts, ghost-houses, towers and castles like the old games in a range of (8) different worlds.

The old powerups are here: the mushroom, the fireflower and the invincibility star but they are not alone. The mini mushroom makes Mario shrink - a cool addition useful in many places. The blue shell puts Mario inside a koopa's shell that can zoom across the floor of the course, knocking out enemies on his way. But my personal favourite has to be the giant mushroom which makes Mario take up height of almost the entire top screen -he can then run around the map destroying everything in his path - pipes, enemies, and blocks on every level have been designed for destruction by your super Mario - a bar at the top of the screen measures your destruction and awards extra lives when the effect wears off depending on the damage caused.

The touch screen is put to fairly good use too. It shows on a scale how far you are through the level and allows you to call on one extra powerup you have collected and not used, simply by touching it. It also shows the number of lives you have and special coins collected.

A quick note: I was disappointed that I did not find Mario's prehistoric companion, Yoshi, in the main game. Maybe I just haven't found him yet, but I haven't found anyone who has!

*Added 9/7/06: A negative technical point; I have been getting very annoyed by the inability to save the game after completing levels/collecting special coins - you must either complete a new castle or open a secret 'Toad House' in order to save. Nintendo recommend closing the DS (sleep mode) when not playing but I feel this is a waste of electricity. I would have welcomed to opportunity to save wherever I am in the game.

The game also comes with a multi-player mode that can be played with players with/without the cartridge. One player is Mario and the other is Luigi - they race across a one of many linear courses collecting the most stars possible (like the 3D multiplayer game on Super Mario 64 DS).

Mini-games also feature, many of these are copied from Super Mario 64 DS but on New Super Mario Bros. these can be played as a tournament, again using one cartridge for all players.

Overall the main game is addictive and fun, in my opinion money well spent. If you liked the old Mario games or 2D platformers in general you'll love this. If you're not so sure, give this game a try and see what they have to offer - you just never know what fun you might have.

By James Evans