Absolutely adored this game as a child and I do so even more now as an adult, I can’t tell you HOW MANY TIMES my sibling would delete my COMPLETED save file, and so I’d have to beat it ALL OVER AGAIN.

I also spent a lot of time in the minigames & ‘VS’ sections because of the whole dual cartridge thing.

Very very very fun game, such a fuckin shame Nintendo decided to ruin the franchise with oversaturated sequels.

The main game is pretty decent. There's more of a willingness to try out weirder ideas compared to later NSMB games. Stuff like the blue shell, secret worlds locked behind boss challenges, and level design concepts like ground deformation and swinging ? blocks and giant wiggler rides. Like Wonder, this game has a refreshing quality to it after playing NSMB Wii/2/U and 3D Land. Most of the levels are very easy though, and the core level design outside of the aforementioned gimmicks isn't as strong as 3 or World. The eight world themes here were bland even before they were reused three times. But, nonetheless, a pretty great set of levels.

The star of the show however is the multiplayer stuff, which is the best of all the main Mario games. The Mario vs. Luigi mode is excellent, with 4 really great maps to choose. Not a fan of the castle one, though, there's a lot of waiting around. You can customize this mode a bit too by setting lives or different win conditions. The minigames make a return from SM64DS. There aren't as many as before, but there are several new ones and this time they can be played with up to 4 players. The new games like Bob-omb Reverse, Danger Bob-omb Danger, and Bob-omb Trampoline are highlights.

So, overall, a pretty great 2D Mario. Get some friends together and try out the multiplayer modes.

This was one of the first games I ever owned as a kid and I never really got that far into it. I would always get stressed out about dying and I found it just way too difficult (i did play the hound out of the minigames though). Now im older and revisiting a bunch of older mario titles and it was time for me to give this game another shot.

This was the game that brought Mario back into the limelight. His first big 2d adventure in a long time and it was aptly coined "New" Super Mario Bros. For the time it was a whole new look for mario and did crazy numbers on the DS, becoming one of the best selling titles on the system. Today a lot of people, myself included, have soured on the "New" smb style after Nintendo milked it to death during the 2010's. As a result I think a lot of people forgot that when it was fresh, it was actually really solid.

Going in without any preconceived notions about the game or style, this game absolutley rocks. It has so many creative ideas start to finish. interesting worlds, fun powerups (though i wish they were more prominent :/) and great music make this the perfect title to get Mario back up and running. The short levels are suited so well to the DS yet it somehow manages to keep everything that made the home console Mario games so appealing. My only real issue with the GB Mario titles was they were supremely easy and could be finished pretty quick. NSMB fixes this and offers a similer level of challenge as youd find in SMB3 or SMW. This is a full 2D Mario adventure on the go and even today I found that incredibly appealing.

This game does everything right so I can kinda see why Nintnedo was trying to replicate it for a decade straight. Its a shame that the game that (re)started it all for Mario is stuck on the DS but I seriously cannot reccomend it enough. Fantastic Mario title and a fantastic game.