we were fed slop for 17 years until nintendo finally released themselves from their NSMB shackles and delivered us the current 2d platformer of the decade so far
this game fixes just about every issue i had with the NSMB series including the very outdated legacy mechanics like a timer and arbitrary score count as well as smoothing out animations to make the series feel as fluid as ever. you never feel pressed for time while exploring a level to find that one flower coin you lost, and rarely are you ever locked out of finding a missing flower coin due to how open the levels are with their progression.
finding all of the flower coins, wonder seeds, secret exits, hidden levels, and even reaching the top of the flagpole on every level never felt tedious, which is equally surprising and impressive given how they managed to combine and balance the frustrating challenge of collecting all the star coins in the NSMB series with the equally INSANE completion requirement of reaching the top of the flagpole with all 5 playable characters in SMB3DW.
my only complaint is the game rarely, if ever, encourages you to vary in your badge usage. while i think having certain collectibles or level objectives locked behind certain badges would have made the game more tedious, i played through the entire beginning of the game using the parachute cap badge, then switching to the double jump spin badge for the rest of the game upon unlocking it.
nintendo has yet again crafted another perfect "first video game" for a new generation of fans and i'm sure this game is gonna be praised and remembered fondly for years to come.
this game fixes just about every issue i had with the NSMB series including the very outdated legacy mechanics like a timer and arbitrary score count as well as smoothing out animations to make the series feel as fluid as ever. you never feel pressed for time while exploring a level to find that one flower coin you lost, and rarely are you ever locked out of finding a missing flower coin due to how open the levels are with their progression.
finding all of the flower coins, wonder seeds, secret exits, hidden levels, and even reaching the top of the flagpole on every level never felt tedious, which is equally surprising and impressive given how they managed to combine and balance the frustrating challenge of collecting all the star coins in the NSMB series with the equally INSANE completion requirement of reaching the top of the flagpole with all 5 playable characters in SMB3DW.
my only complaint is the game rarely, if ever, encourages you to vary in your badge usage. while i think having certain collectibles or level objectives locked behind certain badges would have made the game more tedious, i played through the entire beginning of the game using the parachute cap badge, then switching to the double jump spin badge for the rest of the game upon unlocking it.
nintendo has yet again crafted another perfect "first video game" for a new generation of fans and i'm sure this game is gonna be praised and remembered fondly for years to come.