New Super Mario Bros.

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 their own theme, and each world has a mid-point tower, and a castle at the end. Old powers-ups such as the invincibility star, fire flower, and mushroom are all back, as well as new power-ups such as the Mini-Mushroom which shrinks Mario into pixel size, a Mega Mushroom which makes Mario grow as big as the screen, and a blue shell which turns Mario into a blue koopa.

Graphics: The graphics in this game are truly unique. The backgrounds are 2D, but the character models are in 3D. So that means 3D Mario will be stomping on 3D goombas, all in a 2D side-scrolling fashion. Unique isn't it? Everything in this game is clear, vivid, and just candy to the eyes. Mario's animations are smooth, and everything just looks so great.

Sound: The music in this game is so catchy and upbeat, that even enemies dance to it. Yes that's right, occasionally you will see a Koopa twitch to the beat. Cool isn't it? This game has a great soundtrack with some old remixed songs to go along with the new songs. You will be happy to hear the familiar "underground" theme when you enter a cave and the original Mario theme when you enter a Toad House. The flow of the music really immerses you into the game.

Conclusion: The great thing about New Super Mario Bros. is that it takes everything that was so spectacular about the original series and takes it to the next level. The new moves and power-ups are a great addition to an already wonderful game, and the secret exits in each level rise the replay value through the roof. If you own a Nintendo DS, then you should own this game, end of story.