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| What's New, pussycat? Woah, woah-woah... |
“Welcome to the New Mushroom Kingdom!”
The Facts
Release Date: May 15, 2006 (USA) May 25, 2006 (Japan)
Original Platform: Nintendo DS
Director: Shigeyuki Asuke, Masahiro Imaizumi, Taku Matoba
Producer: Takashi Tezuka, Hiroyuki Kimura
Also Playable On: Virtual Console (Wii U)
What's the Deal
Mario and Princess Peach are taking a walk when a thundercloud attacks Peach's Castle. Mario goes to investigate, only for Bowser Jr. to capture the unprotected Princess Peach and run off, causing Mario to give chase.
Background/Development
Bear with me. This one's got a few layers. In 1999, Super Mario Bros. Deluxe was released for Game Boy Color, containing a remake of Super Mario Bros., as well as the first eight worlds of The Lost Levels.
Two years later, Super Mario Advance is released, containing a remake of Super Mario Bros. 2 and the arcade Mario Bros. There was some unused audio found for Advance that referred to the game as both “Super Mario Bros. Deluxe 2” and “Super Mario Bros. 2 Deluxe”.
Super Mario Advance was successful, leading to enhanced remakes of the other 2D console Super Mario games: Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, and Super Mario Bros. 3, which were adapted as Super Mario Advance 2, 3, and 4 respectively.
For the upcoming Nintendo DS, Hiroyuki Kimura decided that, since the Advance series had caught up with all the “main” 2D Super Marios, that the next Super Mario Advance would have to be a brand-new game.
At E3 2004, three Mario games were shown: Mario Kart DS, Super Mario 64x4 (later released as Super Mario 64 DS), and NEW Super Mario Bros.
The video of NEW Super Mario Bros. at that show had the game in a very early state. Graphics, animations, and physics are all very rough, with temp sound effects taken from Super Mario 64. Unlike in the final game, Mario seems to have his entire SM64 moveset, including side somersaults, punches, kicks, and backflips. It also featured Bowser as a regular enemy that could be defeated by being stomped on.
To stay true to the spirit of the classic games, the developers initially decided not to go with any voice acting. They quickly reconsidered, and brought in Charles Martinet to provide new lines for Mario and Luigi. The rest of the voices were archive recordings from previous games.
The developers have expressed having more freedom since they were no longer bound by the restrictions of the grid-based game engines of the 80s and 90s, and utilizing camera zooms as well as giving Mario ropes and rock ledges to climb on.
Unused World Map textures indicate that, instead of having “forest” and “mountain” themes, Worlds 4 and 6 were originally planned to be themed around “ancient” (with an image of a volcano) and “machine” (with a metallic texture).
This is purely speculation on my part, but I'm thinking that maybe the “machine” world might've been a huge factory, like in Donkey Kong Country?
Pre-release screenshots show a three-item inventory on the Touch Screen instead of the final game's one, as well as a Blue ! Box from Super Mario 64.
Quite a few assets were recycled from Super Mario 64 DS, such as Bowser, Princess Peach, Whomps, Pokies, Scuttlebugs, Sushis, Wiggler, and the Mario Bros. themselves.
Closing the DS while playing the game plays Mario's “Bye-bye!” from the Japanese version of Super Mario 64, while opening it back up gives us (what else?) “It's-a me, Mario!”
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Drawn by Shigeru Miyamoto |
My History With It
I saw the E3 screenshots in '04, and got excited at the prospect of a new 2D Super Mario for the first time since (depending on how you count it) 1992, 1993, or 1995.
I feel like I might've forgotten about it afterwards, though. I don't seem to remember having much hype for the DS as a system. Though my little brother got one for Christmas 2005, I wasn't too eager to get one of my own (I already had Super Mario 64, after all).
Once the game released in spring '06, though, I was feeling very left out. The commercials looked great, and the reviews in magazines, on websites, and the TV show X-Play all praised it immensely.
For Christmas of '06, I asked for a Nintendo DS, but got a Wii instead (which was something I would've wanted eventually anyway, so I was happy with it). For my 17th birthday in 2007, though, my dad got me a Nintendo DS Lite, along with the games InuYasha: Secret of the Divine Jewel (which I traded in to GameStop shortly afterwards, despite a friend offering to pay me more for it), and Super Mario 64 DS.
Around this time, another friend loaned me some games for my new system: Sprung (a terrible adventure game trying to pose as a dating sim), Sonic Rush, and...New Super Mario Bros.
I managed to beat the game by the following afternoon, but spent the next several months going back to 100% it and collect the Star Coins and secret exits.
My best friend and I would often bring our DSs with us in our Junior Year of high school, and play the Mario vs Luigi competitive mode upon finishing our work in the class. I remember playing it a lot in Algebra II, because he and I were apparently the only students who actually did anything in the class.
At the end of the school year, when things were even more lax, we'd play Mortal Kombat Armageddon on PS2, but that's a story for another blog.
I remember that summer, sitting in the front yard of my grandmother's house a lot, mostly talking to my friends and neighbors. One evening, though, I remember sitting with my uncle, and he was watching me play the game. He seemed pretty interested in it, asking why it was such a big deal, and wondering why Bowser Jr. was so easy to defeat.
He wasn't particularly impressed with Sonic Rush, though.
My cousin's third birthday party in 2009 was themed around New Super Mario Bros., with the decorations featuring artwork and logos for that game. In fact, I might still have a little cardboard box party favor somewhere in my apartment.
After 100%ing the game, I didn't really have much interest in revisiting it for whatever reason (probably because of all the other New Super Mario Bros. games that had been released in the meantime), and didn't actually buy a copy for my own until about 2017 or so, when I was trying to complete my Super Mario collection.
In early 2020, while recording an episode of the Lupin the Third podcast I co-host, I found myself playing through the game whenever it wasn't my turn to speak. I made it to World 3.
What was I playing before this?
Mortal Kombat (2011), The Beatles: Rock Band, PAC-MAN Championship Edition 2, Pizza Tower, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Playthrough
Played On: Nintendo DS Lite (I started with my 3DS XL, but I didn't like the analog stick or the placement of the D-pad)
As per tradition, the first level of a 2D Super Mario game introduces the newest power-up. The star of World 1-1 is the Mega Mushroom.
It's a really cool concept, to have a kaiju Mario/Luigi stomping across the level, destroying everything in his path (including pipes, blocks, and even the Goal Pole), with a meter at the top of the screen indicating how much of the Mushroom Kingdom you've turned into a parking lot.
It's an awesome novelty, but it does have some side effects. Namely that by destroying blocks and Warp Pipes, you can easily prevent access to secret paths or bonus rooms. It's also not terribly exciting after the first few times, since most levels aren't designed around it, and it doesn't last all that long, either.
World 1-2 is the first underground level, and does some neat stuff with the setting, like hiding a Star Coin and secret exit in an area accessable only by running across the ceiling, like the Warp Zone in the original Super Mario Bros., as well as making all ? and Brick Blocks blue in color, which carries over into the other underground levels in the rest of the New Super Mario Bros. series. There's also some neat utilization of Mario's expanded moveset by hiding a bunch of optional coins in a room blocked by Brick Blocks that can only be broken by a Ground Pound.
1-3 is made up of Mushroom Platforms, with some bouncy ones, as well as platforms known as Spin Blocks, which send Mario high into the air upon jumping from them, and let him do a drill spin move by Ground Pounding.
The Spin Blocks are okay, but they don't really fit the aesthetic of any area they appear in.
World 1-Tower is a vertical level centered around jumping on platforms emerging from and retracting into the walls. Feels very Super Mario World.
There's a secret exit here that's found by walking through a gap on a wall, which takes you through an offscreen Warp Pipe. I missed it during this playthrough, and forgot it existed until researching the level just now.
The level then requires you to use the Blue Shell powerup to break through some Brick Blocks to get to the secret exit.
I don't like the Blue Shell. I never have. It's awkward to use and to control, but the game seems to think it's the best, since almost every Winged ? Block I hit during the game gave me one. I understand I'm probably in the minority here.
Maybe it's kinda holding the player's hand, but I like how all the doors have an image of the Control Pad with the top highlighted. I love a non-intrusive tutorial. Reminds me of the Hall of Hieroglyphics, the tutorial stage of Wario Land 4.
The Bowser Jr. battle here isn't much to talk about. He runs at Mario, so you stomp on him three times (or twice, if one of those stomps is a Ground Pound).
1-4 introduces us to the Mini Mushroom, which is the understated best new power-up. Mini Mario can jump higher and farther, run across the surface of water, and (most importantly) fit through narrow passageways and miniature Warp Pipes.
Unfortunately, Mario's weaker in this form. His Ground Pounds have the effect of a regular jump due to his size, and normal jumps have no offensive capabilities. He can't break Brick Blocks at all by hitting them from below or Ground Pounding. Taking damage as Mini Mario as well leads to a loss of life. It can be frustrating, but also fun, and it's very well-balanced.
World 1-Castle introduces tightropes above the normal lava pits. They work like your typical platforms, though Mario can get more air by jumping off them, and he'll fall off if standing on one for too long.
The boss of the first Castle is...Bowser himself! Once again, standing on a bridge, with the mechanism for collapsing said bridge positioned right behind him. It's another cute reference to the first Super Mario Bros...though hitting the switch to drop Bowser into the lava gives us a moment where we get to see Bowser flailing in the stuff, his flesh burning off. Gruesome.
Not that it bothers our player character any. Mario/Luigi will just strike a victory pose as a triumphant fanfare plays, then chase Bowser Jr. and Princess Peach to World 2.
Sheesh.
World 2 is desert-themed. Get used to these settings.
World 2-1 is a bunch of Pokies. Kinda neat that they use the Sunshine design, instead of the World/SM64 design.
There's a mini pipe that takes you to a coin room where there's a pixel art Mario from SMB1 in the background. Neat.
I don't like the how the orange platforms in 2-2 clash with the desert background, but they're supposed to be the same ones from the arcade Mario Bros., which is cool.
2-3 is set inside a sewer, which is an interesting change of pace, with some light puzzles involving going through one-way doors and changing the water level.
2-4 does interesting stuff with P-Switches that build hills or form valleys. Feels like something I'd see in Yoshi's Island.
This level features a Koopa Troopa walking down the end-of-level staircase, allowing me to do the infinite 1-up trick that, for some reason, I'm unable to do in the original Super Mario Bros. For the rest of the game, I never had less than 89 lives, oftentimes maxing it out to 99.
World 2-Tower has a bunch of Ferris Wheel-type rotating platforms, plus some automatically-turning platforms.
One of these has to be summoned by a P-Switch to collect a Star Coin, but I remember getting it as a teenager thanks to Wall Jumps and a lot of determination.
Most of 2-6 involves battling Piranha Plants that end up on the floating platform you're riding on...though to clear the Warp Pipe at the end, you have to use a pump device to fire the cork that's blocking access to it. It's weird, but cool in a very Super Mario way...and it doesn't appear anywhere else in the game.
Giant spiked rolling balls are all around World 2-Castle. What's neat about this one is that part of the level takes place outside, before heading back into the castle. The boss here is Mummipokey, which isn't too bad normally, but in order to gain passage to World 4, you have to defeat it as Mini Mario...which is more difficult because Ground Pounds are the only way to damage it.
I played this Castle twice on this playthrough, the second time as Mini Mario, so I'd be able to write about W4 (which I did not do on my first playthrough, having to skip Worlds 4 and 7).
Just like in ol' Super Mario Bros. 3, World 3 in NSMB is themed around the ocean/beach!
3-1 is a standard underwater level full of Cheep Chomps and Mega Cheep Cheeps.
This, however, led me down a rabbit hole of reading about how Mega Cheep Cheeps are now known as Big Cheep Cheeps. Fine. Makes sense.
But Cheep Chomps are supposed to be the same animal as Bubba from Super Mario 64, whom I always identified as a Boss Bass from SMB3.
It's not. In fact, Boss Bass (and Big Bertha) are now officially identified as Big Cheep Cheeps! Wild.
You're still Boss Bass to me, man.
World 3-Tower has a bunch of the chain-link fences and Climbing Koopas from Super Mario World. That's a reference I appreciated.
3-3 features a bunch of pipes producing currents that push Mario away. Got a bit annoying, especially with all the Bloopers floating about.
World 3-Ghost House is the first ghost house in this game, and introduces these little jack-'o-lantern guys called “Splunkins”. This is the only game they appear in.
World 3-Castle is full of rope-swinging, Whomps, and a large Cheep Cheep boss called “Cheepskipper”.
There's three bonus levels in this World: 3-A, 3-B, and 3-C.
3-A is a beach with Skeeters and large barrels floating on the surface. 3-B is made up of Warp Pipes and every variety of Piranha Plant.
World 4, here we go!
This world is a forest with several streams of poisonous water. In 4-1, you require the services of our pal Dorrie from SM64 to carry you across it.
4-3 is set under (not poisonous) water, and reintroduces us to Unagi, specifically a smaller version that mostly hides out in coves, as well as the Mega Unagi, which is large enough to fill the entire Y-axis of the screen and chase Mario.
This “advancing screen of death” trope shows up again in World 4, specifically in the Tower, where lava is constantly raising up from the bottom, and Mario has to quickly navigate up the chain-link fences.
The Ghost House has some cool gimmicks, like a platform that swings around a wall in 3D so Mario can get to the other side, as well as Balloon Boos: ghosts that inflate when Mario is looking at them, then deflate as they chase him.
4-5 is an underground level that requires the player to use Bob-Ombs to blow away unbreakable blocks, which got me thinking: I feel like Bob-Ombs are different in every Super Mario game they've appeared in so far. Maybe not so much between SMB3 and World, but there's always some different qualities about 'em. Like how they can destroy blocks in this one, when they couldn't in the previous 2D games.
(Also, I just spent the last twenty minutes looking for a piece of fanart from the year 2000 that I saw as a kid, since it featured a Bob-Omb with a character from a manga series I've never heard of, and at the time, I assumed the Bob-Omb was part of that series, for some reason)
World 4-Castle is fulla Thwomps and swinging platforms. The boss here is the first one we ever saw, back in '04: the Mega Goomba! You have to use elevated platforms to get high enough to Ground Pound it three times to defeat it...or you could do what I did and light it up with fireballs.
Onto World 5, the obligatory snow/ice world!
5-1 has snow versions of the Spike enemies. Instead of throwing a spiked ball at your Mario Bro., they instead roll snowballs, which increase in size as they progress.
There's also a neat gimmick where you can get trapped underneath snow falling off a branch. It's funny until it causes you to lose the Fire form you had.
Not that it happened to me, of course. It certainly didn't happen as I jumped towards the flagpole.
5-2 is an underground level featuring Spike Tops and Swoops, as well as an icy floor, but never mind that. Moneybags is back!
...and this game is the last time it ever appears, being replaced by a similar enemy known as a Coin Coffer, which we'll get to in a few games.
World 5-Tower is essentially a long elevator ride where the player has to dodge Dry Bones and rolling spiked balls of varying size.
5-3 starts off with large hills that the player can slide down, which is fun, but the main point of note is that this level features an enemy known as “Snailicorns”, who never appear in any other game.
World 5-Ghost House introduces a block-breaking boxing ghost enemy: Broozer. For some reason, whenever I think about new enemies introduced in this game, Broozer is always the one that comes to mind.
There's also a bit involving a platform that moves upwards, before shaking and falling back down, before shooting to the top. I don't know how intentional it is, but the implication I always got here is that the ghosts are screwing with Mario for fun.
World 5-Castle is mostly comprised of conveyor belts that Dry Bones and Piranha Plants are on, with the boss being none other than a returning character from Super Mario Sunshine: Petey Piranha!
Between Super Mario Sunshine, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, Mario Kart Double Dash!!, Mario Power Tennis, Mario Superstar Baseball, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, and this game...it really felt like they were trying to make Petey catch on, but alas, Sunshine and this are his only appearances in the main Super Mario series. I feel he wasn't particularly popular...but I like 'im.
He's got personality in his boss battle, too. He starts off sleeping until he's awakened by Bowser Jr., then spends the battle trying to stomp the player from the air, only to slip on the icy floor when he lands, giving the player the chance to attack.
Defeat him normally, and you get to move on to World 6. Do it as Mini Mario, and you can skip ahead to World 7.
I beat Petey both ways, but we're gonna head to World 6 first!
Supposedly, the theme for this World is “mountain”, but only four regular levels (and the two secret levels) use this theme. The rest borrow beach, jungle, tower, and underwater themes.
6-1 introduces the ability for Mario to walk across narrow ledges in the walls of the mountain, which reduces his jump height, which becomes a problem when the Bill Blaster Turrets that this level introduces keep firing at him.
6-2 is a beach with a constantly rising-and-lowering water level, several Spinies, and a lot of opportunities to grab coins. It's notable for being the longest Course in the game.
6-3 is a jungle level filled with Piranha Plant-infested pipes, an underground section with giant rolling logs floating in poison water, and a few automatically-rotating ? Blocks with spikes on one side, forcing the player to be careful when hitting it.
It also has the final Moneybags enemy in the entire Super Mario franchise.
6-4 is another proper mountain level, with several narrow ledges, and no enemies. Instead, there's a lot of Fire Bars to avoid.
The name's Luigi, but you can call me "Cliff Walker". The second Tower in World 6 is a vertical level, with the player having to travel upwards over a bunch of conveyor belts. I like levels with a theme of ascension. There's a few in this World (for obvious reasons).
So, as you can imagine, I really liked 6-6, since it's all about using Spin Blocks to travel up the mountain, and taking out Brick Blocks and avoiding Chain Chomps (making their only appearance in the game here).
On a whim, I switched over to Luigi here by holding L+R at the File Select screen. He plays the same as his big brother, but with different voice clips provided by Martinet. I like how, when being shot out of a Pipe Cannon, Mario lets out an excited “WHEE-HOOO!”, while Luigi instead has a nervous-sounding, trembling “Here we goo-o-o-o...!”
World 6-Castle has a bunch of automatically-sliding platforms, like in Super Mario World, but the interesting thing is the boss battle. It takes place outside, presumably on the roof of the castle, where your Mario Bro. has to fight a Monty Mole operating a tank that fires Bob-Ombs (and Bullet Bills when it's been hit).
We could move on to World 8 now...but nah. Let's instead go to World 7, which is the sky!
7-1 feels a lot like a SMB3 level, in how there's wooden platforms on tracks in the sky, and Fire Chomps harassing the player.
The World 7-Ghost House is a maze involving multiple doors, each one leading to a different room.
Some of the rooms have yellow gelatin that can be briefly suppressed with a Ground Pound, some are P-Switch puzzles involving turning coins into Brick Blocks, but my favorite is one where a bunch of disembodied white gloves are pointing to an invisible Winged ? Block flying around. An element that only shows up in this one room in this one game. Really cool.
7-2 has the player ascending into the sky riding a platform with arrows on it. The player can change the direction of the platform by stepping on the corresponding arrow. Nothing new, though it's interesting how going off-screen from one side leads to reappearing on the opposite, like in the arcade Mario Bros. game.
7-3 has our hero riding a giant Wiggler across a large area with no ground. That's kinda neat.
7-4 is a vertical take on 1-3.
7-5 gives us the first appearance of the Banzai Bill Cannons. In previous games, Banzai Bills were always fired from off-screen.
World 7-A is really cool. It takes place inside an underground pipe maze with several Piranha Plants, small Wigglers (known as Squigglers), platforms made up of colorful blocks no doubt trying to invoke imagery of the aforementioned Mario Bros. arcade game, and a background of pipes with large valves against brick walls.
Reminds me of the pipe maze levels of SMB3, with the colorful sewer aesthetic reminding me of the franchise's early days, particularly adaptations such as The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
I think around this time is where I started questioning what Mario says whenever completing a level. Ever since 2007, I'd heard it as “Thank you, so nice!” But halfway through, I began to wonder if it might actually be “Thank you so much!” My worldview has been shattered.
Didn't love Snake Blocks in Super Mario World, and my opinion on them is still the same here in World 7-Castle. Amps, Thwomps, Balls 'N Chains, spiked floors, and burners all over the place, until you get to the boss area, which is located outside, seemingly on a rooftop, where you get to fight Lakithunder, the enemy that attacked Princess Peach's Castle in the opening cutscene.
Lakithunder is pretty much what you'd expect. A Lakitu that throws Spinies, riding a dark cloud that strikes the floor with lightning.
Ready for the final World of the game? Let's-a go to World 8!
Worlds 8-1 and 8-4 have a “spooky, haunted forest” motif. The former's got Splunkins walking around, Boos in a non-Ghost House level, and a new, blackbird enemy known as a “Crowber”. The latter is a pretty standard overworld kinda level, with several spider-like Scuttlebugs dropping down and crawling all over.
8-2 is an underground lake with Skeeters on the surface of the water, and the ability to change the water level by hitting ? Switches.
World 8-Castle is a bunch of platforms moving on tracks above lava, but what really makes it cool is the boss.
Remember how Bowser's flesh burned away in lava back in the first castle? Well, he's not gonna let that stop him. His reanimated skeleton is the boss here, officially named “Dry Bowser”.
It's a really cool concept, and the boss fight is a bit different this time, since Fireballs won't affect him, and instead of just breathing fire, he can also throw bones at Mario. To defeat him, you still have to either jump over or run beneath him and hit the switch behind him, causing the bridge to collapse again.
While I like Dry Bowser in this game, him reappearing in the sports and racing spinoffs makes me very slightly uncomfortable. The implication that Bowser can switch between being alive and undead at will just cheapens it in my eyes.
So, we defeated Dry Bowser, and saved...uh...no one. Now the rest of World 8 opens up! While the first half was “spooky forest” themed, the second is themed around volcanoes and lava.
8-5 takes place inside a volcano, while 8-6 is about escaping it.
8-6 is a vertical level that's gradually filling up with lava, so Mario has to use Spin Blocks to hurry to the top of the volcano and launch himself out of it via a Pipe Cannon. It's a pretty cool concept for a level.
8-7 is an outdoor level with a wall containing some narrow ledges to shimmy across, but the main attraction is every type of Hammer Bro: Fire, Boomerang, and Sledge...but not the regular Hammer Bros, funnily enough.
8-8 is set during a volcanic eruption, with debris falling from the sky...debris that can destroy all types of blocks, and ignite new explosive enemies known as Kab-ombs. It's an interesting concept, though the falling debris is a tad frustrating.
World 8-Tower 2 is the final Tower level in the game, and another one centered around riding on the Snake Blocks. The Bowser Jr. battle is about the same as the others.
Okay, here we go! Time for the actual final showdown! World 8-Bowser's Castle!
The first two sections of this level have a fun gimmick: by hitting a ? Switch, the entire castle rotates upside-down, opening up new pathways in a maze of Thwomps and burners. Feels a lot like the World 8 Fortress in SMB3, which had a front and back side.
The last segment of the castle is a fun throwback to the original Super Mario Bros., where the castle will loop infinitely unless the player chooses the correct path.
We've reached the final boss battle, on another bridge with a switch behind it. Junior tosses his dad's skeleton into a boiling cauldron, restoring the Koopa King to his rightful glory (although a bit bigger than he was in World 1).
Now you gotta fight two generations of Koopa royalty at once.
Junior does what he has been: ducking into his shell if you try to jump on him, unless you throw the Koopa Shells he's tossing back at him, which stuns the kid long enough for you to jump on him.
However, now you've gotta deal with his dad breathing fireballs at you the whole time...unless you manage to defeat Junior...in which case Bowser becomes furious (it's actually rather sweet to see him so concerned about his son) and starts breathing huge arcs of fire at you.
I managed to run underneath Bowser as he jumped, and stomped on the switch, leading to the bridge falling, and Bowser going with it.
Princess Peach floats down from the platform she's on, and Mario removes his hat before bowing before her...and she kisses him on the cheek. It's adorable.
After that, we get interactive credits (tap the letters on the Touch Screen, and hear random sound clips) while a photo montage of every level I played runs on the top screen. After the credits, we see Bowser Jr. dragging his unconscious dad across the castle floor as the Touch Screen shows us the code for how to play as Luigi.
Items
Returning:
Super Mushroom
Fire Flower
Starman
Hidden Coin
1-Up Mushroom
New:
Mega Mushroom
Mini Mushroom
Blue Shell
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| This thing is very large. It takes up too mushroom. |
Milestones
First game in the New Super Mario Bros. sub-series:
Depending on who you ask, this is the first 2D Super Mario since 1992's SML2: 6 Golden Coins, Wario Land: SML3, or 1995's Yoshi's Island.
I count Yoshi's Island as part of the main series, so I go with the latter, but it is the first 2D Super Mario where Mario himself is directly playable since Land 2.
Debut of the NSMB theme and the “paah” sounds in the music, as well as this particular visual aesthetic, which looks fine for now...
First original 2D Super Mario game to have...
...voice acting
...Bowser Jr., Toadsworth, and Petey Piranha
...Mario with the ability to do Ground Pounds, Wall Jumps, and Triple Jumps
...Amps, Whomps, Cheep-Chomps, Unagi, Scuttlebugs
First Super Mario game since Super Mario World to have Luigi playable (that's a 15/16 year gap, depending on where you're from!).
First game since SMB2 where he's not relegated exclusively to being Player Two.
To date, the final appearance of Petey Piranha and Toadsworth in a mainline Super Mario game.
Debut of “Dry Bowser”.
Debut of Bill Blaster Turrets, Banzai Bill Blasters, Broozers, Crowbers, Super Dry Bones, and Big Thwomps.
Trivia
When going from 4-1 to the green Toad House, Mario walks backwards at first. I had to replay 4-1 three times to find the secret exit in order to confirm this.
The Snailicorn enemy has the same internal filename as the Bullies from Super Mario 64, as well as a similar attack pattern, indicating that they might've originally been intended to be Bullies, but who knows for sure?
Conclusion
This one's gonna be a little harder to review objectively, since I try to look at each game on its own and not take later entries into consideration. With this being the first entry of a sub-series I admittedly got tired of real quick...it's gonna a little difficult not comparing it to the rest of the “New Soup” games.
But I'll try my best.
Aesthetically, it looks nice. It's got a similar vibe to the classic games, but with a bit of modern polish. A lot of the character models are pulled from Super Mario 64 DS, but due to the smaller size, they often have a pixellated look to them. A lot of the enemies are pre-rendered 2D sprites (think the SNES Donkey Kong Country games), which look smoother, but are now a bit blurry and don't animate as well as the models. These are just small nitpicks.
The music is generally pretty nice, too. There's a recurring “Bah” voice sample in most music tracks (though it's officially named “Paah”), where enemies and certain objects will react to the sound (usually by hopping or twirling). It's a pretty cute little touch.
Few of the tracks stick out to me aside from the Overworld theme, and the surprisingly epic and moody Castle theme.
The general idea seems to be to combine elements from the first and third NES games, with some Super Mario World, and the acrobatics and the acrobatics and presentation of Super Mario 64 (specifically the Nintendo DS remake).
It totally works. It's nothing groundbreaking like the aforementioned games, and it doesn't reinvent the wheel...but it's a great return to form after over a decade of no 2D Super Mario games.
Most levels will throw a new element or two, be it an enemy or type of platforming challenge or an entire level gimmick, while still being nestled in enough familiar territory.
The game isn't particularly difficult, nor long (especially if you only play the six required Worlds). I saw the end credits within a day of playing it for the first time.
The power-ups are a mixed bag. The Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, and Starman are as dependable as always. The Blue Shell is something that I'm not a fan of. The Mini Mushroom is more utilitarian than fun, being mostly used to find poorly-hidden secret passageways...plus it causes Mario to lose a life when hit, and decreases his jumping attack power by half (though I will admit that the higher jumps and running on water is entertaining). The game's star power-up (not that one), the Mega Mushroom is very flashy and fun while it lasts, though most of the game is in areas too confined to really take advantage of going giant, not to mention the problem of potentially destroying Warp Pipes and platforming sections that you might've wanted to explore.
I'm sure some people wanted Yoshi or some type of flying power-up...but despite taking cues from SMB3 and World, neither are to be found. I'm okay with it, honestly. Fits the “back to basics” approach that it's trying.
Overall, it's a great combination of new ideas and good old-fashioned sidescrolling Super Mario. Again, the unique stuff is surrounded with the familiar, and it's done very well. For right now, without taking what follows into consideration...I recommend it. It's fun, and that's the most important thing.
“Who’s behind Princess Peach’s disappearance?
Who’s behind the attack on Peach’s Castle?
Are the two incidents related?
Didn’t Bowser Jr. once think Princess Peach might be his mother?”
- Instruction Manual
Next time: Mario's newest adventure is out of this world! It's a game with universal acclaim! These puns are so bad because I couldn't planet any better. That's right, we're shooting for the stars with Super Mario Galaxy!
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