waffle

I was starting to give up hope.

When New Super Mario Bros. was announced, I wrote it off as a needless retro-trip, some kind of next step in the Super Mario All-Stars-Super Mario Bros DX-Super Mario Advance-Super Mario 64 DS string of slightly improved re-releases. When I found out that it was going to have new levels, I lit up.

The last ‘real’ Super Mario Bros-ish release was the original Game Boy’s Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins in 1992. Since then, the two branches that had any hope spun off in different directions. Super Mario Land 3 featured Wario (you can, claim some, take fart humor and spinoffs too far) and Super Mario World 2 was subtitled Yoshi’s Island and featured Yoshi (one of the greatest platformers ever, but no Super Mario Bros. game, and a franchise that sadly mostly fizzled out or branched off into gimmicky crap). Year after year, I’ve awaited a new episode for the new machines but only got warmed-over ports. The closest anything got to innovation was Super Mario Advance 3 and 4 (Yoshi’s Island and Super Mario Bros. 3, respectively) with some extra levels.

I am very pleased to tell you that New Super Mario Bros. is the real thing. It is not a thing of concentrated nostalgia. It is really a brand new game, with some elements from the original Super Mario Bros. The level design is absolutely marvelous. The graphics, although evoking the feel of a lost Philips CD-i game, is a perfect mix of 2D and 3D. The controls are not quite up there with Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3 where if you misstep, it’s beyond all doubt that you screwed up and not the controls, but they are close enough that they are really good. The music is highly polarizing, although I find most themes well-made.

Above everything else, it’s got two great qualities: it is a 2D platformer based on yesterday’s best, but adding new elements that make sense, and it is incredibly fun to play. Many levels, not a few long levels.

Rating: Eight Arbitrary Waffle Rating Units out of a total of nine. It’s not perfect, and I’m not wild about the mini-game part shoe-horned in as some sort of DS follow-up to the Super Mario Advance series’ token Mario Bros. part. Other than that, it’s all sunshine.