Fat Ninja

Classic platforming fun in a tiny package 

You have to wonder what gaming would be without Mario? I can only imagine it’d be akin to poetry without Walt Whitman. While not completely integral to the continued existence of their respective mediums, their absence would certainly have wide-reaching impacts. Lucky for me, we live in a world of highly addictive platform gaming and humanist free verse poetry. Suffice to say, the world of console gaming would be a vastly different landscape sans a certain mustachioed Italian plumber. But Mario is eternal, and as long as Nintendo’s in the industry, you can bet your sweet Aspercreme that you will find him partaking in an almost limitless array of activities, be it driving go-karts, playing tennis, or taking on Bowser in Super Mario Smash Battle Croquet 5. As much as I begrudge Nintendo’s savage milking of the proverbial cash cow, I can’t hide that ecstatic excitement that accompanied playing New Super Mario Brothers (NSMB) on my Nintendo DS.

Since appearing in 1981’s arcade hit Donkey Kong, Mario has played a huge role in defining (and, in subsequent titles, redefining) the platformer genre. The evolution of Mario platformers has been substantial, but when you strip away improved graphics and 3rd dimensions, the initial formula has remained largely untouched. The latest incarnation of the Super Mario Brothers series on the Nintendo DS continues this legacy.

Certainly the best looking of the handheld Mario platformers, NSMB features crisp visuals. The art direction of the game offers everything one would expect from Mario’s world of polka-dotted toadstools and flying turtles, so it feels familiar. However, it’s all brought to life in such vibrant and vivid terms, that it still manages to feel new.

You’d think Bowser would’ve stopped building castles on top of lava flows by now

Much as the visuals are a comfortable mix of the familiar and the new, NSMB plays out just like its classic predecessors. You’ll still need to rely on deft reflexes and well-timed leaps to navigate the eight worlds that comprise NSMB’s story mode. Early levels offer limited challenges, however the difficulty curve ramps up fairly quickly.

Power-ups are, unfortunately, rather limited, consisting of the Fire Flower, the Blue Shell, the Mini Mushroom, and last, the Mega Mushroom. The Fire Flower is the same as it’s ever been, allowing Mario to hurl fireballs ahead of himself. The other  power-ups in NSMB are entirely new to the franchise. The Mini Mushroom adds a whole new dynamic to the game, reducing Mario to a mere speck. You’ll need the Mini Mushroom to access certain portions of some maps to get at Star Coins and such. The rest of the time it makes progressing through some areas a great deal more challenging on account of the fact that it makes Mario incredibly vulnerable to his foes.

Regretfully, the other two power-ups don’t make that huge of an impact on how the game is played. The Mega Mushroom is really, in my opinion, a novelty item; and while I love the notion of a gargantuan Mario stomping his way through a Mario World obliterating everything in his path, the 10-seconds that its active combined with the fact that the super-mega-battle-mecha-Mario gets dead-ended because he can’t actually smash everything on some levels just renders the Mega Mushroom power-up, well, powerless.

Still, the Blue Shell power up is far more ineffective than the Mega Mushroom. Encasing Mario in a blue turtle shell, the Blue Shell power-up doesn’t really give Mario any abilities he didn’t already have, beyond the fact that by pushing down, you can have Mario duck into the shell and be relatively safe from harm. Unfortunately, the fact that you’re often moving through levels rapidly, you’ll rarely find occassion to use it. So, not only is the Blue Shell power-up largely useless, it doesn’t even have the “cool” factor that the Mega Mushroom does.

Mega Mushroom’s gone to Mario’s head

Despite these few shortcomings, NSMB remains a noteworthy addition to the Mario Brothers franchise. Thanks to other new elements, including expanding/contracting platforms and spring-loaded ones that drop from beneath Mario or catapult him upward, NSMB offers a fresh new perspective of the great gameplay that Nintendo has always delivered with their Mario Brothers series.

FINAL THOUGHTS
It’s no secret that Nintendo flagrantly pimps out their licensed characters on a regular basis. Yet, as much I want to criticize them for this fact, I can’t. I’ve often said that I wish Nintendo had grown up with me, but the truth is I’m glad that they’ve done their part to keep my childhood thriving. NSMB has all of the classical elements of the Mario side-scrollers that have gone before it. But, the one thing it does best is offer an idyllic respite from all of the first-person shooters in my life; reminding me of a time when gaming was innocent and playful.

Overall Rating: Must Have

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