New Super Mario Bros. is better than what many had told me prior, but it's definitely one of the weaker 2D entries.
I'm more fascinated with the culmination of ideas brought forward here after nearly a decade without a 2D Mario game, because it seems to pull from a variety of the previous titles, including the 3D ones. I was quite surprised to see ground-pounding and wall-jumping in a platformer like this, and they both work well enough to craft a new set of physics that helps differentiate it from the others. The new abilities including the Mega Mushroom are awesome and refreshing, as well as the return of the non-linear world map from both Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, which makes two whole worlds optional entirely. Some levels, although not all that memorable, do a good job at throwing in little gimmicks here and there that alter the levels entirely.
Fun revitalization! Just not as groundbreaking, especially on a handheld that specialized in 2D platformers.
I'm more fascinated with the culmination of ideas brought forward here after nearly a decade without a 2D Mario game, because it seems to pull from a variety of the previous titles, including the 3D ones. I was quite surprised to see ground-pounding and wall-jumping in a platformer like this, and they both work well enough to craft a new set of physics that helps differentiate it from the others. The new abilities including the Mega Mushroom are awesome and refreshing, as well as the return of the non-linear world map from both Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, which makes two whole worlds optional entirely. Some levels, although not all that memorable, do a good job at throwing in little gimmicks here and there that alter the levels entirely.
Fun revitalization! Just not as groundbreaking, especially on a handheld that specialized in 2D platformers.