Review courtesy of toadster101.
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"'Disappointment' would imply I had high expectations in the first place"
Introduction: Eight years ago, Nintendo announced a game at E3 2004 called
New Super Mario bros.,
which was set to revitalize the side-scrolling series of Mario games
that had died off prior to the launch of the Nintendo 64. Fans were
ecstatic; there had not been a traditional Mario platformer since the
launch of
Super Mario World in 1991. The game was released two
years later to universal critical acclaim, and quickly became one of the
best selling games of all-time. Rightfully so,
New Super Mario bros.
captured the hearts of Mario fans worldwide, whetting their appetites
for what was next to come. The game maintained a perfect balance between
nostalgia and innovation, introducing several new enemies, power-ups,
and even songs. It was only natural for Nintendo to announce a sequel,
which was released for Wii in 2009.
New Super Mario bros. Wii
took everything about its predecessor and made it better, and offered a
sublime multiplayer mode that had never been seen before in a Mario
game. The 3DS handheld was released in early 2011, and sold rather
modestly until the holiday season. Satoru Iwata, CEO of Nintendo, later
announced that they were working on a new side-scrolling Mario title for
the struggling device. It was later revealed to be a direct sequel to
the DS title, disregarding the existence of
New Super Mario bros. Wii, which was a rather silly decision on their behalf.
Gameplay for
New Super Mario bros. 2
was first shown to the public at E3 2012, and the reaction, needless to
say, probably was not what Nintendo had hoped for. Not only did it look
identical to the other New Super Mario bros. games, but both the music
and environments were recycled from previous entries in the series. Two
months later and the game is finally here, and for the first time in our
lives, Nintendo has released a new Mario platformer that does not quite
live up to the franchise pedigree. I would argue that this is the most
derivative game Nintendo has ever produced.
Gameplay: It has been over 25 years since the launch of
Super Mario bros.,
and the Mario series has not changed at all. There have been a few
tweaks and refinements here and here, but the core gameplay is the same;
jump, run, and wall-kick your way to the goal, grabbing coins and
defeating enemies along your way. You know what they say, “If it ain't
broke, don't fix it”, but unfortunately for the New Super Mario bros.
franchise, a few of its elements have always been broken. Although the
game is a side-scroller, Mario feels sluggish and awkward to control at
times, especially after landing jumps. It is as if they took the
Super Mario 64 engine and just flipped it 90 degrees. Neither
Super Mario bros. 3 nor
Super Mario World had this issue, so what is stopping them from returning to sprite based gameplay? As proven by
Wario Land: Shake It and
Rayman Origins, there is still demand for traditional 2D side-scrollers in our current marketplace.
In attempt to spice the formula up, Nintendo has designed their
game around the concept of coin collecting. Rather than rush to the
flagpole at the end of every level, players are encouraged to explore
the landscape and collect as many coins as possible. To accommodate this
new gameplay feature, Nintendo has added a few mechanics to make coin
collecting even easier than it used to be. Coins will fly out from the
background whenever Mario passes by invisible checkpoints, and
tremor-causing POW blocks are more common than ever before. In addition
to these, there are Gold Rings, which turn enemies into coin-spewing
machines, and of course the Gold Flower, which transforms Mario into a
metallic version of King Midas. Not literally, of course! But you now
have the ability to throw golden fireballs, which convert bricks into
coins, and present you an abnormal cash reward every time you defeat an
enemy. Admittedly, controlling Mario in this metallic state tends to be
quite thrilling, but there is only one problem: it serves no purpose,
and neither do coins. That is right, Nintendo designed their game around
the concept of coin collecting, and yet coins have no ulterior
function. The only difference between their counterparts in
Super Mario bros. is that they appear more frequently.
It makes no sense.
I would argue that this is the stupidest game design decision they have
made in decades. It is clearly a shameless gimmick used to disguise the
fact that nothing about this game is actually new. They urge all
players to collect one million coins, but why bother if the reward is
worthless? I will not spoil what it is, but trust me when I say that it
is not worth your time. I finished the main quest with only 50,000
coins, but Nintendo has included a Coin Rush mode – which I will discuss
later – that makes grinding more tolerable. Could they not come up with
something substantial for the goal they have been hyping up? Almost
every North American advertisement for
New Super Mario bros. 2 has rhetorically asked the public: “Can you collect one million coins?”. Hell yeah I can, but I certainly do not want to.
Coin Rush offers a unique twist on the Mario formula in that you
must play through three levels chosen at random and collect as many
coins as possible. The gimmick is that you must 'rush' through each
stage to accommodate for the decrease in time, and reaching the top of
the flagpole at the end of the level will double your coin count. You
can then share your best score with strangers via StreetPass, and… that
is it. Wait, what? No online leaderboards? No SpotPass functionality?
Nintendo needs to get past its archaic online infrastructure and embrace
the future. Why do they want me to waste my time playing Coin Rush if
there is no reward? It gets even better from there. Nintendo has
actually limited the maximum amount of coins you can collect; a measly
30,000 coins in total, which I have reached several times. Why would I
continue playing Coin Rush if there is no higher score to strive
towards? They have turned a potentially addictive, arcade-like
experience into a lame ‘by the numbers' sequel by making Coin Rush as
barebones as possible.
Returning power-ups include the
Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, Mini Mushroom, Mega Mushroom, and for the
first time in over 20 years, the Super Leaf. Unfortunately, its
inclusion serves only to remind us that Nintendo was once a creative
company not afraid to take risks. Very few levels take advantage of
Raccoon Mario's ability to fly, and the whole power-up just feels like
it was shoehorned in at the last minute for nostalgic purposes. The new
Cannon Stages are good fun, but there's only one problem: they last
roughly 15 seconds each. They barely even qualify as new content,
because you could complete every single level before I finish typing
this paragraph. Well… let me be honest here, that is not their only
problem. Because the gimmick is that you cannot stop running, Raccoon
Mario completely breaks these stages. Who needs good reflexes when you
can fly over every obstacle?
For the first time ever, there
is cooperative play in a handheld Mario game. Unfortunately for
Nintendo, they have recently admitted that multiplayer was a last minute
addition, and it shows. No online play in 2012 is unacceptable, and
their decision to take advantage of only one screen is… curious. What I
mean by that is this: although both players are using separate handheld
devices, the action is still confined to a single screen, much like in
New Super Mario bros. Wii.
Another thing that bothers me is how two copies of the game are
required for multiplayer, even though only one player's progression
through the game is saved. Despite the fact that its predecessor had
both a competitive versus mode and a bunch of multiplayer mini-games,
they are nowhere to be seen in
New Super Mario bros. 2. News flash: Your ‘less is more' approach is not working, Nintendo.
Star Coins are shiny gold pendants that are triple the size of
regular coins. There are three in each stage, and their purpose is to
unlock hidden levels and Mushroom Houses throughout your journey. I had
no objections to their inclusion in the previous New Super Mario bros.
titles, but the problem with Star Coins is that some of them are placed
in the most
ridiculous spots possible. Although I did find every
Star Coin by myself, some took much longer to spot than they otherwise
should have. Secret exits share a similar issue, although some of these
are executed very well. Others involve having Mario jump in random spots
to find hidden vines, or my personal favorite, the Star Coins that only
appear when you meet certain conditions in a level (passing through an
invisible checkpoint, standing on a ledge, etc.). My concern is that
there are only a few of these near the end of your adventure, and the
game makes no effort to introduce the player to this trick early on. A
game should never radically change its mechanics; there should be
continuity from start to finish.
Good news: There is still
some fun to be had here, albeit it does not last very long. Some levels
are fantastic, particularly near the end of the game, while others are
ROM hack quality. Mediocre level design does not cut it when you have
masterpieces like
Super Mario World under your belt. Very few
levels are passable on their own merits; you must play Coin Rush to
fully experience what they have to offer. But what is the point when
coins serve no purpose, nor can you compete online for high scores? I am
now convinced that
New Super Mario bros. 2 was designed by monkeys.
Presentation: New Super Mario bros. 2
looks decent at best, and after having played through every level in
full, I am – unhappy – to announce that the Mario series is in dire need
of a new art style. You could argue that, yes, precision based
platformers do not need to look complicated, but there is no excuse for
such a bland, uninspired, and overused art style to be used for three
(four if you count the recently announced
New Super Mario bros. U)
games in a row. Does it work? Perhaps, but what also works is taking a
hint from their own playbook and making an effort to innovate. The
cel-shaded look of
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker certainly
did not alienate casual gamers. My biggest gripe with the art style is
that Nintendo has recycled the environments from the previous New Super
Mario bros. titles, so everything looks way too familiar. How many times
must we begin our journey in the generic grasslands? In some ways,
New Super Mario bros. 2 actually looks
worse
than its predecessor; the level backgrounds look like low resolution
JPG images. One of the backgrounds is simply an indigo gradient that is
not even shaded properly.
The 3D effect in
New Super Mario bros. 2
is quite possibly the worst use of 3D I have witnessed thus far. Every
time you crank up the 3D slider, which represents the aperture of a
camera, the background becomes blurrier to imitate depth of field in
photography. This was done to trick the player into believing that the
background is further away than it actually is, but it looks like
complete ass. None of the foreground objects have any depth at all, they
just lazily added a filter to smokescreen the low resolution of the
backgrounds. The game clearly does not take advantage of the 3DS
hardware at all, much unlike
Super Mario 3D Land. What happened to the company that developed
Virtual Boy Wario Land and
Mario Clash? I find it odd that one of the 3DS's biggest games of 2012 completely neglects the console's namesake feature.
Music has always been an important part of Mario games, and while
New Super Mario bros. 2 does not sound abysmal, every single track in the game has been stolen from
New Super Mario bros. Wii (including the final boss battle music), with one or two exceptions. Could you imagine how angry fans would be if
Super Mario World duplicated the
Super Mario bros. 3 soundtrack? I am actually shocked that Nintendo would ever stoop this low, but what can I say, times have changed. If
Super Mario Galaxy can have an orchestrated soundtrack, so can the New Super Mario bros. titles.
Nooks and Crannies:
Some people argue that the storyline for Mario games is irrelevant,
but diehard fans of the series like me beg to differ. There came a time
when Nintendo made an effort to keep the narrative fresh, yet
simplistic. This time around, Mario and Luigi decide to go on a “coin
hunt” for no reason at all, and Princess Peach is kidnapped by the
Koopalings upon their return. Is this really the best they could do? Why
are there suddenly so many coins in the Mushroom Kingdom? I have read
fanfictions on Deviantart that are of a better quality. I am surprised
Wario does not appear in a game that fancies itself as being “coin
crazed”, but I guess that is because he cannot be imported from
something else.
The term
New Super Mario bros. has
become ironic in that nothing here is new at all, aside from a few
texture-swapped enemies, such as the new Bone Piranha Plants and Bone
Goombas. Boohemoth, a giant, creepy-looking poltergeist, is nothing more
than yet another auto-scrolling stage that we have encountered
previously in the Super Mario bros. franchise. The gimmick is that the
player must get from point ‘A' to point ‘B' without stopping, for if
they do, Boohemoth will catch them. This has been done dozens of times
in its own series,
so you would think the masters of platformers themselves could come up
with something better. Deja vu does not even begin to describe how I
felt during my experience with
New (I use that word reluctantly)
Super Mario bros. 2.
The traditional Goombas, Koopa Troopas, and Piranha Plants are shoved
down our throats in every single level, and then they remedy this
problem by inserting zombified versions into castles. Are you kidding
me?
Super Mario bros. 3 introduced more fortress-dwelling baddies
than all three New Super Mario bros. titles combined. These include
Boo, Dry Bones, Thwomp, Hot Foot, Roto-Disc, Stretch, and the Gray
Bowser Statues, most of which are now franchise staples. It amazes me
how a company responsible for
Super Mario Galaxy, a game bursting with creativity, can somehow produce some of the stalest 2D platformers ever released.
For those of you who grew up with
Super Mario World,
I am sure you will love Reznor's cameo, as did I. The fire-breathing
triceratops trio is finally back, and this time, better th… no, I cannot
say it. Reznor is an absolute joke in this game. The pair of Reznors in
the World 1 fortress do
absolutely nothing, and the dinosaurs
you encounter later on in the game are not much better. Quite frankly, I
am confused as to why Reznor appears in this game at all.
Super Mario World
took place on Dinosaur Island, so his inclusion made sense. Much like
the Super Leaf, I feel as if Nintendo just added Reznor at the last
minute to pander to gamers like myself who grew up in the SNES era. You
would think Bowser would toughen up after being defeated so many times,
but the final boss battle is atrocious, and arguably the worst in the
entire series. It is one of the most underwhelming segments of any Mario
game in recent memory. Do not even get me started on the Koopalings,
whose boss fights are recycled from
New Super Mario bros. Wii.
Is there any particular reason why every Paratroopa in the game is
green-shelled? In every Mario platformer prior to the release of
New Super Mario bros. 2,
green-shelled Paratroopas either jump in one direction, or fly in one
direction, while the red-shelled Paratroopas fly back and forth
horizontally or vertically. Were they too lazy to adjust a simple color?
I later found two lone red-shelled Paratroopas in a hidden level, and
all they did was bounce in one direction, displaying the traditional
mannerisms of green-shelled Paratroopas. It is as if they went out of
their way to retcon established Mario canon.
New Super Mario bros. 2
is way too easy, even for novice gamers. Although coins are more common
than ever before, Nintendo has made no attempt to alter the rather
redundant lives system; much like in the previous Super Mario bros.
titles, you are given a 1-up Mushroom every time you obtain 100 coins.
You will be showered with hundreds upon hundreds of coins in some
levels, and yet you are still given extra lives to complement your coin
output. Why even have lives at all? But let me be clear; the amount of
lives you have by the end of the game does not dictate how challenging
it actually is. The level design and Super Guide are to blame for this.
Much like in
New Super Mario bros. Wii,
Super Mario Galaxy 2, and
Super Mario 3D Land,
Nintendo has given beginners an opportunity to take advantage of a
Super Guide, and 'cheat' their way to the goal. You must die five times
in a row to activate the Invincibility Leaf, but I cannot imagine
anybody over the age of eight needing to use this feature. It is
basically impossible to die if you know what you are doing. I died a
grand total of eleven times after having achieved a perfect save game,
and a few of those deaths were no fault of my own; I suicided for Star
Coins.
Conclusion: Once you complete
the game, which certainly will not take very long, there is little
incentive to come back. Coin Rush mode is gimped beyond repair, and
finding Star Coins, although necessary for 100% completion, should not
take long at all, especially with the internet by your side. According
to Nintendo, downloadable content will be available for purchase in the
near future from the eShop. This content will be exclusive levels for
use in Coin Rush, although no other details were given.
Up until recently, each Mario side-scroller always had something new to offer.
Super Mario bros. redefined the platformer genre with its superb play control and timeless storyline.
Super Mario bros. 2 (USA) offered four playable characters, new enemies, new music, and looked much different than its predecessor.
Super Mario bros. 3
went above and beyond our expectations, introducing new power-ups, new
enemies, new music, new worlds to explore, a world map, Mushroom Houses,
mini-games, multiple boss battles, and the ability to stockpile items
outside of gameplay.
Super Mario World did not innovative as much as
Super Mario bros. 3
did, but it certainly introduced many distinct features, such as the
seamless world map, ghost houses, Yoshi, potentially endless flight,
hidden exits, and one of the most epic boss battles in video game
history. Even the two Game Boy games,
Super Mario Land and its sequel,
Super Mario Land 2: The 6 Golden Coins
had unique qualities, most notably the introduction of Princess Daisy
and Wario, that helped distinguish each game from previous titles in the
Mario series.
New Super Mario bros. introduced Star Coins, new power-ups, new enemies, new music, and new world themes. Although a sequel to
New Super Mario bros.,
New Super Mario bros. Wii
did introduce new power-ups, and a fantastic multiplayer mode that
Nintendo has decided to bring back for the upcoming Wii U title,
New Super Mario bros. U.
New Super Mario bros. 2,
on the other hand, introduces absolutely nothing new at all,
contradicting its own name. ‘New' implies that there is new content, and
the ‘2' suggests that the plot is an extension of its predecessor's,
which it is not. What if Nintendo were to announce
New Super Mario bros. 3, a game that places on emphasis on the collection of mushrooms? Would their sudden abundance count as new content? You decide.
My score represents the amount of effort (or lack thereof) Nintendo
spent on this. It feels like they actually went out of their way to
make the game worse than it should have been. A game called
New Super Mario bros. 2
that lacks any substantial new content is not only unforgivable, but
insulting to me as a lifelong Nintendo fan. The gameplay is sound, that
is for sure, but there is absolutely no reason to purchase this title
unless you somehow have not played another Mario game, which I am sure
you have. My recommendation is that you either buy
New Super Mario bros. Wii, or waits for its direct sequel,
New Super Mario bros. U, which looks promising.
New Super Mario bros. 2
was clearly designed as a last-minute cash grab to strengthen 3DS
hardware sales, which it probably will. If you are in dire need of a
handheld Mario experience, buy
Super Mario 3D Land instead. You have been warned.
Pros:+ Side-scrolling Mario titles are still entertaining
Cons:- Recycled enemies
- Recycled boss fights
- Recycled graphics
- Recycled music
- The lack of originality is startling
- Level design is a mixed bag
- Underwhelming final boss
- Idiotic plot, even for a Mario game
- Coins serve no purpose
- Coin Rush is wasted potential
- No online play of any kind
- Worst use of 3D yet
Review: New Super Mario Bros. 2
