This game is pretty lukewarm, it doesn't bring anything new to the Mario series and it came after NSMB 1 and NSMB Wii, on top of that it released just six months before NSMB U which seems to improve things a lot. The game really gets better later, but generally level design is just standard and plain most of the time, with some interesting stages in the latter half. Bosses aren't good in the majority of cases, bringing back the rhinos from Super Mario World for every fortress wasn't a good decision. Go play Super Mario 3D Land instead because this one is really amazing. I hope a new 2D or 3D Mario comes out soon. All those Mario movie trailers got me in the mood for the games.