MadCap's Game Reviews - "New Super Mario Bros."

Mario, Mario. The Italian plumber known throughout the world as the savior of the Mushroom Kingdom. Constant menace to Bowser, a man with a love of daring adventure, everyone knows who he is and what he's all about.  Nintendo certainly isn't afraid to put this guy on everything.  From go-carting, to music, to paint, and even full blown party games, Mario is everywhere and has done everything.  The guy's even been a doctor!

But, of course - and everyone knows it - Mario is most well-known for his platformers. And why not? The original Super Mario Bros. stands today as a standard by which all other platformers are judged even to this day, thirty years later. If not by that game, then by Super Mario 64...which is also in the series. So it's fair to say that the Mario series is the definitive platformer in gaming. If games don't outright copy it, they at least owe their existence to it. And many will complain that Nintendo is just wringing every last penny they can out of what is a fairly simple and braindead concept.

...say what you will, it friggin' sells!

So it is once again time for Mario to put on his bright red cap and go save Princess Toadstool (yes, I know they call her "Peach" now) once again, through eight worlds of deadly dangers to stop the most evil plot of Bowser and Bowser, Jr. In a surprising show of confidence, Bowser, Jr. takes the reins of most of the kidnapping and stalling Mario throughout the game. This is largely because you fight Bowser  in the first castle and then outright murder him by dropping him into liquid magma.  Yes, you did this at the end of every level in the original, but we never actually saw death.

Now you're thinking, this is a Nintendo game.  Surely death isn't a thing! Let me correct you not once but twice with A) the story of a child gone mad going out dealing drugs, burning down buildings, and engaging in piracy, and B) the fact that at the end of the final castle in World 8 that Bowser, Jr. brings up the bones of Bowser and throws them into a cauldron to resurrect his father from the dead for the final fight.  However, this does mean that the other boss levels can actually be unique to the various environments.  Yes, Mario defeats them by jumping on them, but that's how Mario always solves problems, so we really shouldn't be expecting anything else.

Not that those can't be awesome...

After all, the last time that they tried to do something unique with Mario, they gave him a glorified water gun.

Mario has the standard armament when dealing with Bowser's goons - the Red Mushroom that makes him grow to normal size, the Starman that gives him a brief bit of invincibility, and the Fire Flower that allows him to feed his urge to burn everything to the ground with fireballs. But this time around, Mario has even more at his disposal such as Blue Mushrooms that make him shrink down so he can jump insanely high and get into secret areas, though it comes at the expense of being a bit of a glass cannon due to his size.  Then there's the Super Mushrooms which make the Mario grow! For a limited time, he's invincible and can literally walk through anything, including the flagpole at the end of levels (which is hilarious). Last, but not least, is the Blue Koopa Shell.  Like his longtime enemies, Mario can hide in his shell for protection and aids in swimming.

So new window trimming, but basically nothing that you wouldn't expect from a Mario game. Go on the epic adventure, save the princess, save the world.  After all, Mario does have the most braindead simple plot in video gaming besides "hit this ball between these two sticks". As for this? It's a good game. I very much enjoyed it, and I did find the challenge appropriate as it got into the upper levels. So, for the 200th rendition of Super Mario Bros., very well done.

New Super Mario Bros. is now available from Nintendo for the Nintendo DS.

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