HEAVY PIXELATION

Remember the days of throwing in quarter after quarter in the Super Mario Bros machine and trying to beat world 8-4? Or how many times did you die on Bowser’s Airships in Super Mario Bros. 3? While Mario games have a simple game mechanic, the difficulty of the game is the safe navigation through the Mushroom Kingdom while avoiding Koopa Troopers, Hammer Bros, bottomless pits, and of course, time itself.

Well, you won’t find any trace of difficulty in New Super Mario Bros. I sat down twice [one less then three] and beat the game. This ticks me off… wait; I’m getting ahead of myself…

First off, everything about the game is top notch; it feels like a new Super Mario game. The audio has been updated but sounds of old still echo out. The visuals have been upgraded but still remain intact with the Mario franchise and they look so nice and crisp on the DS. New hazards like giant eels, sand storms, moving/bending mushroom platforms are introduced through-out the game and give an old game mechanic a new feel, except they aren’t used that much, some are only used once.

Mario had some new moves like the wall jump and butt stomp, but not the arsenal you get in Mario 64. Of course, new Mario, new power-ups. Only these power-ups feel more like handicaps then helpers. And while you’re collecting avoiding these new power-ups, Fire Flowers are littered through-out the Mushroom Kingdom enabling you to beat any foe [Hammer Bros, Baby Bowser] with ease.
This brings me to my biggest complaint. The game is too easy. Come on! I can beat this game in under an hour if I wanted to and the fact my first time through the game, I never had to use a continue should alert you to something. In this game, they introduced Mushroom Houses that just give away power-ups and 1-ups. I’m not talking one or two 1-ups, but more like 8-12 on the average. And each level has a half way check point [like Super Mario World] and now you can carry an extra power-up in reserve. This plus the fact the levels never really get challenging makes the game way to easy for anyone. Ok, maybe Nintendo is making this game for a wide variety of gamers, but if that is the case, then give us an EASY and HARD option. I don’t see this as a hard programming issue, just take out the half way check points and every other Fire Flower. Add some extra random enemies and make the boss move faster and take more damage. Each 2D Mario game has gotten harder over time. Super Mario Bros. 3 totally eclipsed the original, and Super Mario World took it one step higher. New Super Mario Bros. is easily 3 steps back.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved every minute of this game at first. I felt like I was warped back in time and was playing in my parent’s family room again. But right when I sent Bowser to his fiery hell, my heart sunk with him.

• gameplay – 8/10
• graphics – 10/10
• fun factor – 9/10
• difficulty – 3/10

Official New Super Mario Bros page