Review - The New Super Mario Bros

If you're me, when someone refers to the good ol' days of video games, you think of something at least as old as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). If you're me specifically, you remember playing your Dad's Atari 2600...and you've likewise aged yourself well against all the younglings.

With that out of the way, let me say...remember the good ol' days of video games? The days of Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, ExciteBike, Blades of Steel, Castlevania and The Legend of Zelda? Remember when games were almost exclusively side-scrolling, 2-D platformers or racers? Remember when you were young?

Feel old yet? Well you can get a little of that nostalgic feeling back and you don't have to dust off your old 8-bit NES cartridges to do it. Enter The New Super Mario Bros. Mario and his best bud and brother Luigi...the Mario Brothers...star in a brand new adventure for a new generation...and for those of us looking to recapture a bit of our childhood.

Many would argue this is the first true sequel to the "Mario" series since Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) sixteen years ago. Sixteen years! Good lord, most of the people on MySpace are barely sixteen, if I'm a betting man. Kids these days! Not knowing their video game history.

Well step into a fine tradition, kids. TNSMB is a fantastic throwback to the long gone days of a side-scroling platformer/adventure game. Mario is back and in fine form. Best of all, he's brought Luigi with him. Anyone who knows me knows that I find Luigi Mario to be a far more interesting character than the unfortunately named Mario Mario. (Really...what were his Italian parents smoking?) But that's better left alone for now.

Right now you need to know about this game. All the action you (should) have known and loved for years is back. With a similar mapping style to Super Mario Bros. 3 (That's No. 4 for those of you keeping accurate count as the real #2 was not released in the U.S. until "The Lost Levels") or Super Mario World, our hero travels around the mushroom kingdom defending it from the minions of Bowser and trying to, once again, save the princess.

This time around, although the worlds themselves are 2D, Mario is in beautiful 3D creating a gorgeous hybrid. The levels have the same familiar look and style, but the colors are brighter and more vivid, the enemies are often more interesting and the power-ups are dramatically changed. Mario can still grab a red mushroom to turn into "Super Mario", a verson of himself that's twice as big and more powerful; he can still grab a fire flower and turn into "Fire Mario" and throw flaming, bouncing balls at his enemies (personal favorite) but he can now also turn into "Mega Mario" by grabing a gigantic orange mushroom that will make him grow as large as the screen allowing him to smash through anything standing in his way for a limited time.(Including pipes!) Or, if you like, you can grab the teeny blue mushroom and turn into "Mini Mario", who is the size of a large insect and can get int tight places, go down small pipes, run on the surface of the water, and generally get to places that our hero could otherwise never reach.

The challenge of the game is average. You'll find some levels that are particularly pesky, but nothing that's so frustrating that you won't want to use every last extra life you've got to try to beat it. The real challenge in this game are the Star Coins. There are three in every level and there are something like 80 levels total. That's a lot of star coins. But if you want to truly complete the game, you (pardon me) "gotta get 'em all!" Some of these coins are so well hidden that, I'll admit it, I used a strategy guide to help me find them and don' t know how anyone else could find them either. For example there is a coin at the bottom of a sand pit. But this sand pit looks like all the other sand pits which, guess what? Kill you. Why would you think to look there??

Anyway, the point is the game is addictive and absolutely fantastic. There are even a slew of mini-games that you can play either single-player or multi-player which aren't too bad. There's also a third mode, multi-player only. This can be very addictive (and frustrating if you loose a lot!) and you'll find yourself going round after round with your friends.

The game is great...I've no complaints...and I would recommend it to absolutely anyone of any age. I give it a 5/5. Well done, Mr. Miyamoto...well done.