New Super Mario Bros.

Mario's come a long way since the old 8 bit days. Ever since he bashed his first enemy (who may not really be imposing enough to be classed as true enemies) he has cross many lands and beaten up many creatures in the name of saving his princess. He's also branched out in many ways, from kart racing to golf to RPGing to puzzling. From the 2D realm to the 3D one. Now on the DS Mario's coming home, returning to the side-scrolling platforming roots that made Mario what he is today. With a promise of old school platforming with new gameplay mechanics, Nintendo hope to deliver to us a clever combination of the new and the old.

Almost as a sign of the design approach is the graphical display, which uses a mix of 3D and 2D to present a rather bright colourful display. Essentially all the character models and foreground objects, such as powerup items or blocks, are in 3D. You won't get the full 3D effect due to everything being locked to a 2D plane, but the way characters and...

THE GOOD:

Lots of levels [around/or almost at 100]

Nice Music

A good selection of mini games

Classic Mario Revamped in a world of colours

Multi player Mode

THE BAD:

Short Lifespan

Most of the mini games have been copied straight from Super Mario 64

Really not much to unlock

SUMMARY:
Finally, another 2D Mario Game after a long, long wait. And it's suited to the Nintendo DS nicely...

The game play is fantastic. It feels so smooth controlling Mario. Nothing feels better than guiding him through the air, bouncing on Koopa's heads to flatten them, or stomping on turtles to send their shells colliding across the through knocking out any other enemies that so choose to get in the way. Throughout the levels Mario will be able to find different types of mushrooms and power ups. These items will give Mario different powers and play a large part in playing through the game. A...

THE GOOD:
+ A Classic Mario platformer
+ Great Length/80+ levels
+ Catchy music/Great visuals
+ Tons of secrets to explore
+ Multi-Player requires only one game cartridge!
+ Lots of Mini-games

THE BAD:
- On the easy side for most Mario veterans
- Most of the mini-games are recycled from Super Mario 64 DS

SUMMARY:
The first Mario side-scroller in over a decade! This game plays like the originals, but Mario's new moves and new power-ups make the experience feel brand new. This game is tons of fun for old-school fans, and people new to gaming as well.

Gameplay: The gameplay is smooth. The game controls just like the original Mario Bros. with a dash and jump button, but for this outing Mario has learned a few new moves. Mario could now ground pound, which is useful against enemies and switches, and Mario could now wall jump to reach higher platforms. The game features eight different worlds, each with...

THE GOOD:
+ 2D Mario gameplay brought back to life.

+ Excellent mixing of various mechanics from several Mario titles.

+ Colorful visuals and vibrant music.

THE BAD:
- The game should be called "Old Mario Stuff".

SUMMARY:
Adorn your chef hat and open your game developer's cookbook to page 1985, because today we're going to be adding a bit of the new to a lot of the old and the result will be called New Super Mario Brothers.

Two dashes of classic 2D Mario platforming, one dash of revamped gameplay mechanics, a few sprinkles of 3D visuals on a 2D plane, and just a drop of dual screen functionality.

Now we can all see what happens when you combine the original Super Mario Bros. with SMB3, Super Mario World, and Mario 64. The results are probably what you'd expect.

Let's get right to the point. If you've ever played a 2D Mario game before, you'll probably notice that this endeavor...

THE GOOD:
Classic Mario gameplay
Great graphics
Enjoyable music
A lot of levels
Different exists to some levels
Mini-games....

THE BAD:
...But most of them are the same from Super Mario 64 DS
Yoshi is not a playable character

SUMMARY:
First of all I can't believe some people gave this game a low because it's lacks originality. Well of course it's going to lack that because it's meant be like the Mario. And besides with all the fun this offers, who cares anyway?

This is the game that fans of Super Mario World and earlier Mario games have been waiting for a very very long time! This is even better than Super Mario World and the best Mario game yet and the best DS game yet.

Gameplay: It's the classic Mario gameplay of Super Mario Brothers mixed with 3D and wall jumping of Super Mario 64. In this game you get the old power-ups along with some new ones like a Shrinking and using a blue Koopa...

THE GOOD:
-Plays just like the NES originals
-Uses the NES and SNES sound effects
-A lot of enemy returns
-Great mix of stuff from all games

THE BAD:
-Short
-Somewhat easy if you're a Mario veteran
-There's only a few power-ups... And the shell power-up is somewhat lame.

SUMMARY:
New Super Mario Bros. is an awesome game. If you're familiar with the original Super Mario Bros. games, you'll feel right at home. The game uses 3D models on 2D backgrounds, but it looks great. The level design is superb, and there's overworld maps a lot like in Super Mario Bros. 3, with Mushroom houses and moving Hammer Bros. Wonderful.

The game also uses a very old-school approach. When Mario jumps, it makes the classic "sproo!" sound effect. There's also the good old sound when you collect coins, and stomp on enemies, and when you grab a power up, when you shoot fireballs, when you hit a Koopa shell... It's all there! The game...