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Review: New Super Mario Bros. 2 Illustrates Nintendo's Greatest Problem
Jon Brodkin writes "There’s a new Super Mario Bros. game out for the 3DS handheld console. It’s called New Super Mario Bros. 2 and features Mario, Princess Peach, Bowser, and the same fun gameplay you’ve come to expect from Nintendo’s most iconic game series. But this latest adventure stands out by not standing out at all." Read below for the rest of Jon's review.
To be fair, no one buys a new Mario game looking for a completely new experience. Lovers of “Super Mario Bros. 3” will smile when they stumble upon a very familiar raccoon tail, for example, and use it to take flight into the blue sky of the Mushroom Kingdom. It’s grin-inducing gameplay and familiarity. But nearly every Mario game offers at least one new attribute that distinguishes it from its predecessors—that is, except for this one.
Unlike last year’s “Super Mario 3D Land,” this latest Mario is a 2D side-scroller with gameplay almost identical to the “New Super Mario Bros.” released on Nintendo DS in 2006. The game’s main course is ridiculously easy even by Mario standards, although there’s some challenge presented by the final level and a few of the extra unlockable courses.
While I enjoyed the game (which I’ll now start referring to as “NSMB2”), I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had played it before. Entire courses seemed identical to ones from the “New Super Mario Bros. Wii” game released in 2009, particularly in the lava-filled final world and a middle world filled with purple water, spiderwebs, and giant caterpillars.
Most Mario games have a few levels that are positively exhilarating. “Super Mario Galaxy” was filled with them, including an epic final battle vs. Bowser spanning three planets. “New Super Mario Bros. Wii” has what might be my all-time favorite Mario level, a secret course involving a gigantic skeletal roller-coaster that you ride and cling to until the bitter end—all while hopping and avoiding a treacherous lava pit and the enemies emerging from it. By contrast, there really wasn’t a single level in “NSMB2” that felt exciting; again, the game stands out not for what it offers but for what it doesn’t.
Like previous games in the New Super Mario Bros. series, each course has three star coins tucked away in hidden, hard-to-access areas. It’s the primary trick Nintendo uses to make these games replayable—if you don’t find all the star coins, keep going back and exploring until you do. The star coins can be used to unlock special levels and mushroom houses containing items to help Mario on his way.
Separately from the hidden star coins, there are plain-old-regular Super Mario coins everywhere throughout each level. As you clear levels and build up coins, you unlock a bonus game, “Coin Rush,” in which you replay courses in order to collect more coins. Collect a million coins and the title screen will feature a gold Mario statue. I’m up to 17,000 coins, but I’ve already accomplished my goal of unlocking and completing each level, so I won’t be going much further.
It becomes clear while playing “NSMB2” that Nintendo needs to stop making new Mario games every year. Last year there was “Super Mario 3D Land,” today there’s “New Super Mario Bros. 2,” and coming soon is “New Super Mario Bros. U.” I love Mario, but there are only so many times you can trot out the same game and call it a sequel before the well of innovative gameplay is sucked dry.
After playing through the Italian plumber’s latest, I argue that the only way to save Super Mario Bros. is to give the series a time-out. If Nintendo needs cash in 2012 and 2013, issue a remake of every 8- and 16-bit Mario game for the iPhone, iPad, and Android. Or (since Nintendo hates releasing software for hardware it didn’t build) just release them again with better graphics for the 3DS and upcoming Wii U. No one will hold it against the company.
After doing that, Nintendo should wait. While Mario development will never completely cease, it should be put on the back burner in favor of developing new intellectual property. Keep the Mario wheels moving slowly behind the scenes until you hit upon the right idea, the one that takes the series to the next level like “Super Mario World” and “Super Mario 64” did in the 1990s, or “Super Mario Galaxy” in 2007.
Nintendo can take a page from its own Legend of Zelda series, which maintains its excellence with clever dungeon and over-world design, strong storytelling, and gameplay tweaked to fit the unique strengths of both handheld and traditional consoles. Crucially, years go by between major Zelda releases—that’s how long it takes to get everything right.
I will gladly wait until 2015 for the next Mario game if it’s anywhere near as satisfying as Zelda’s “Twilight Princess” or “Skyward Sword.” Fans waited five years between Zelda releases for the Wii and were rewarded. The same could be true of Mario.
The State of Mario Today: Haven’t I Already Played This Game?
Most gamers assume that each new Mario game will just offer more of the same. But that’s not entirely true. I’ve been playing Mario my whole life, and to my mind nearly every one stands out from the rest for one reason or another.
“Super Mario Bros. 3” and “Super Mario World” built upon the classic original with more intricate level designs, power-up items, and the ride-able dinosaur, Yoshi. “Super Mario 64” brought Nintendo into the 3D age and influenced an entire generation of games. “Super Mario Galaxy” introduced gravity as both villain and friend. And last year’s “Super Mario 3D Land” condensed the best bits of side-scrolling and 3D Mario action into one rollicking, lengthy video game.
With this latest Mario, only one thing distinguishes it from previous editions: coins. Lots and lots of coins. Yes, every Mario game has coins, but this one has lots of them, and you get the aforementioned special rewards for collecting them. If you played “New Super Mario Bros.” for the Nintendo DS, just about everything in this sequel will be familiar: it’s all nearly identical, just not quite as memorable.
Nintendo has fallen behind Sony and Microsoft in courting serious gamers. The fact that its biggest hits are new versions of classic games wouldn’t be concerning if Nintendo could also produce some great new series and attract third-party developers before the latter’s newest games hit the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC (or iOS and Android).
And while Nintendo still leads the handheld gaming market, it had to drastically cut the price of the 3DS. This holiday season, Nintendo will release a home console that finally puts it on graphical parity with the half-decade-old PS3 and Xbox 360. The list of launch games for the Wii U is notable for including third-party titles that hit rival consoles a year ago, such as “Batman: Arkham City.”
The thing Nintendo is really trying to build excitement around is “Nintendo Land,” a game that will supposedly explain the appeal of the Wii U in the same way Wii Sports sold players on the motion control capabilities of the original Wii. It’s hard to see how this strategy will succeed on a massive scale. “Nintendo Land” is basically just a series of mini-games based on Nintendo’s most successful franchises, as the company desperately clings to its past to remain relevant. It’s like saying, “hey, remember when these games really mattered?”
The Future of Mario
Ultimately, “NSMB2” is an enjoyable experience that leaves me discouraged about the future of the Mario series. While the Legend of Zelda has remained fresh, Nintendo is relying on gimmicks to make each new Mario game seem slightly different than the last. But with level design virtually identical from one game to the next, releasing three Mario games in just over a year will only make matters worse.
I don’t think Mario has run its course for all time. As I mentioned before, I just think the course has been run for 2012 and probably 2013. (Instead of playing the essentially same game with a “2” or a “U” appended to the title, I may as well replay the games that made me love Mario in the first place.) That’s why, instead of releasing one new Mario game every year (or worse, several), Nintendo should dramatically slow down and focus on one or two new Marios for each console generation.
Unlike last year’s “Super Mario 3D Land,” this latest Mario is a 2D side-scroller with gameplay almost identical to the “New Super Mario Bros.” released on Nintendo DS in 2006. The game’s main course is ridiculously easy even by Mario standards, although there’s some challenge presented by the final level and a few of the extra unlockable courses.
While I enjoyed the game (which I’ll now start referring to as “NSMB2”), I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had played it before. Entire courses seemed identical to ones from the “New Super Mario Bros. Wii” game released in 2009, particularly in the lava-filled final world and a middle world filled with purple water, spiderwebs, and giant caterpillars.
Most Mario games have a few levels that are positively exhilarating. “Super Mario Galaxy” was filled with them, including an epic final battle vs. Bowser spanning three planets. “New Super Mario Bros. Wii” has what might be my all-time favorite Mario level, a secret course involving a gigantic skeletal roller-coaster that you ride and cling to until the bitter end—all while hopping and avoiding a treacherous lava pit and the enemies emerging from it. By contrast, there really wasn’t a single level in “NSMB2” that felt exciting; again, the game stands out not for what it offers but for what it doesn’t.
Like previous games in the New Super Mario Bros. series, each course has three star coins tucked away in hidden, hard-to-access areas. It’s the primary trick Nintendo uses to make these games replayable—if you don’t find all the star coins, keep going back and exploring until you do. The star coins can be used to unlock special levels and mushroom houses containing items to help Mario on his way.
Separately from the hidden star coins, there are plain-old-regular Super Mario coins everywhere throughout each level. As you clear levels and build up coins, you unlock a bonus game, “Coin Rush,” in which you replay courses in order to collect more coins. Collect a million coins and the title screen will feature a gold Mario statue. I’m up to 17,000 coins, but I’ve already accomplished my goal of unlocking and completing each level, so I won’t be going much further.
It becomes clear while playing “NSMB2” that Nintendo needs to stop making new Mario games every year. Last year there was “Super Mario 3D Land,” today there’s “New Super Mario Bros. 2,” and coming soon is “New Super Mario Bros. U.” I love Mario, but there are only so many times you can trot out the same game and call it a sequel before the well of innovative gameplay is sucked dry.
After playing through the Italian plumber’s latest, I argue that the only way to save Super Mario Bros. is to give the series a time-out. If Nintendo needs cash in 2012 and 2013, issue a remake of every 8- and 16-bit Mario game for the iPhone, iPad, and Android. Or (since Nintendo hates releasing software for hardware it didn’t build) just release them again with better graphics for the 3DS and upcoming Wii U. No one will hold it against the company.
After doing that, Nintendo should wait. While Mario development will never completely cease, it should be put on the back burner in favor of developing new intellectual property. Keep the Mario wheels moving slowly behind the scenes until you hit upon the right idea, the one that takes the series to the next level like “Super Mario World” and “Super Mario 64” did in the 1990s, or “Super Mario Galaxy” in 2007.
Nintendo can take a page from its own Legend of Zelda series, which maintains its excellence with clever dungeon and over-world design, strong storytelling, and gameplay tweaked to fit the unique strengths of both handheld and traditional consoles. Crucially, years go by between major Zelda releases—that’s how long it takes to get everything right.
I will gladly wait until 2015 for the next Mario game if it’s anywhere near as satisfying as Zelda’s “Twilight Princess” or “Skyward Sword.” Fans waited five years between Zelda releases for the Wii and were rewarded. The same could be true of Mario.
The State of Mario Today: Haven’t I Already Played This Game?
Most gamers assume that each new Mario game will just offer more of the same. But that’s not entirely true. I’ve been playing Mario my whole life, and to my mind nearly every one stands out from the rest for one reason or another.
“Super Mario Bros. 3” and “Super Mario World” built upon the classic original with more intricate level designs, power-up items, and the ride-able dinosaur, Yoshi. “Super Mario 64” brought Nintendo into the 3D age and influenced an entire generation of games. “Super Mario Galaxy” introduced gravity as both villain and friend. And last year’s “Super Mario 3D Land” condensed the best bits of side-scrolling and 3D Mario action into one rollicking, lengthy video game.
With this latest Mario, only one thing distinguishes it from previous editions: coins. Lots and lots of coins. Yes, every Mario game has coins, but this one has lots of them, and you get the aforementioned special rewards for collecting them. If you played “New Super Mario Bros.” for the Nintendo DS, just about everything in this sequel will be familiar: it’s all nearly identical, just not quite as memorable.
Nintendo has fallen behind Sony and Microsoft in courting serious gamers. The fact that its biggest hits are new versions of classic games wouldn’t be concerning if Nintendo could also produce some great new series and attract third-party developers before the latter’s newest games hit the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC (or iOS and Android).
And while Nintendo still leads the handheld gaming market, it had to drastically cut the price of the 3DS. This holiday season, Nintendo will release a home console that finally puts it on graphical parity with the half-decade-old PS3 and Xbox 360. The list of launch games for the Wii U is notable for including third-party titles that hit rival consoles a year ago, such as “Batman: Arkham City.”
The thing Nintendo is really trying to build excitement around is “Nintendo Land,” a game that will supposedly explain the appeal of the Wii U in the same way Wii Sports sold players on the motion control capabilities of the original Wii. It’s hard to see how this strategy will succeed on a massive scale. “Nintendo Land” is basically just a series of mini-games based on Nintendo’s most successful franchises, as the company desperately clings to its past to remain relevant. It’s like saying, “hey, remember when these games really mattered?”
The Future of Mario
Ultimately, “NSMB2” is an enjoyable experience that leaves me discouraged about the future of the Mario series. While the Legend of Zelda has remained fresh, Nintendo is relying on gimmicks to make each new Mario game seem slightly different than the last. But with level design virtually identical from one game to the next, releasing three Mario games in just over a year will only make matters worse.
I don’t think Mario has run its course for all time. As I mentioned before, I just think the course has been run for 2012 and probably 2013. (Instead of playing the essentially same game with a “2” or a “U” appended to the title, I may as well replay the games that made me love Mario in the first place.) That’s why, instead of releasing one new Mario game every year (or worse, several), Nintendo should dramatically slow down and focus on one or two new Marios for each console generation.
I can't believe I read that entire review.
TL/DR: It's mario brothers. It is almost exactly like every other mario bros you've played. If you like this, then get it.
Newer New Novel Super Mega Mario Bros. Remastered Extended Uncut 3, Classic Edition.
This sure doesn't look like Super Mario Bros 2!
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Haven't I already read this review?
Why use 10 words when 10,000 will do.
Well duh. This is a new series of games. They are not meant to be remakes of the originals.
90% of it is just some random dork from the internet armchair quarterbacking Nintendo's release strategy. I'm sure they are furiously taking notes at Nintendo HQ.
The reviewer says "Nintendo should dramatically slow down and focus on one or two new Marios for each console generation," but that's what they are doing. DS: one game. Wii: three games (one 2D, two 3D). 3DS: two games (one 2D, one 3D). Wii U: one game (that we know of, undoubtedly there will be a 3D iteration). With the exception of Galaxy 2, they seem to be releasing one of each game per console. It's only a question of platform release timing that has so many coming out this close together.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
When I play a game I'm often simply looking to relax. To let my brain have some down time from more complex thinking. I don't expect solitaire, Risk, checkers, chess, othello, etc to be new and different. I want the same game with the same rules this century as last century as it was long before.
The game’s main course is ridiculously easy even by Mario standards, although there’s some challenge presented by the final level and a few of the extra unlockable courses.
Well, yeah.
I'm old enough to have played video games when the only thing you had was pong... and you were grateful for it. Kill screens were the "epic shit" of the day, and you had one, it was as revered as an Olympic Gold medal.
Video games used to be hard . They were a test of manliness and skill, not to mention perseverance.
Now it is all about psychology. Why make a video game when you can make an experience. You don't want to make it too hard, no no no. It has to be exquisitely designed to string you along till the next endorphin rush checkpoint where you have collected an achievement or unlocked something.
Clickety-clickety-clickety.
It reminds of that episode of Star Trek where the whole point of the game was to become progressively zombified. I had that same reaction with Farmville, and could swear it was some mind control experiment by the government being conducted on a massive scale. Clicking to feed chickens. Yes, that was ultimately how the government was going to control our minds.
Anyhoo, all you young games are pussies.
Ohh, and get off my lawn.
This is a classic dilemma of anyone who has enjoyed success: Do I try to replicate my past successes and risk becoming stale, or do I try to break my mold and risk losing what made me successful in the first place?
What I mean is, yes, to some extent, the formula is stale. Nintendo has a few different series that, to some extent, are each remaking the same game over and over again with a few new gimmicks and tweaks, and otherwise it's just new levels. But then, lots of people *love* those games. They've played through each of those games multiple times, and they're essentially willing to keep buying remakes, new levels, etc. If the graphics are improved and their are a few new features/gimmicks sprinkled in, that's just a bonus.
And you could argue that, in all of this, Nintendo is just lazily milking their fans for more money, but I don't think that theory holds up very well. These games are very well designed and well balanced. They don't feel like the product of lazy developers, they feel like the product of very competent developers who love these games themselves.
As a franchise that has grown and evolved over the last 30 years, has all the creative storylines and innovations come full tilt?
We expect certain control mechanics, and behaviors.
Its not like they could reboot the franchise or alter the behaviors. How could they make the game different and yet still keep it familiar without alienating their fan base?
Its not like they can take Mario and make a FPS, although that could be hilarious. Super Mario Bros meets GoldenEye.
Honestly, this is mostly what gamers want. We don't WANT super new and fantastic all the god damn time. We don't WANT insane new gfx. We want FUN.
If what you had before was fun, just polish the fucking thing, change up the storyline and PUBLISH IT AGAIN. New worlds, new IP, all that stuff is great, but honestly the game systems don't need to change that much.
I'd be playing Baldurs Gate 15 on the old fucking Infinity engine right now if they had made it.
Exactly my thoughts as well. I was one of those Wii owners who was NOT rewarded for a 5 year wait between Zelda games because I was so bored by the end of Twilight Princess from all the rehashed crap that I never even bothered to play Skyward Sword. Twilight Princess looked like a shameless rehash from the start, but glowing reviews assured me that it only seemed that way and was really quite excellent. It wasn't. When glowing reviews for Skyward Sword appeared to be (quite ironically) rehashing the exact same language from the LoZ:TP reviews, I chose to pass.
The problem with Zelda is that Nintendo is catering to the fanbois, the ones that dress up in costumes and buy cheap reproduction weapons from convention booths. It's almost like it's cult mentality over the characters of the franchise instead of the game experience proper. These are the folks that are more concerned with Link not looking like a cartoon than the game actually being fun. That crowd goes crazy for lots of hidden things and secrets but none of those things actually add to game play, they only add to trivia and esoterica. Ocarina of Time started this downward slide, IMO. While there are hidden things and secrets in Link to the Past, they all had a gameplay purpose. Mostly along the lines of "if you have the gear, and you can figure it out, you get this slight increase to your health bar." Zelda has turned into the paradigm, possibly even a parody, of gated gameplay. Tease the player with tons of gates (cracked walls, locked doors, characters that require a McGuffin to talk to you and give you something) and dispense the keys slowly, and use backtracking as a time sink to disguise the fact that the game proper is only about 5 hours long. That's what the megafans want, after all, to explore the fantasy world instead of actually playing a game.
In the interest of developing meaningful stories to drive the game, they've really taken over as the purpose of the game, which I think is unfortunate.
More Twoson than Cupertino
Simple friend, a combo of Tiger kits and Steam selling multiple copies dirt cheap. Hell during the last sale I got me AND both boys Saints row 3, all three copies were less than $50 together, and that's probably the most expensive MP game we've ever bought. Frankly it would have been cheaper but the boys wanted all the silly DLC, I only got the Genki Bowl and a couple of the weapon packs.
As you can see you can get a monster PC for $340, they also got a quad with 8Gb for $315 but since my oldest has been doing good in college my dad decided to treat him to a 6 core while I gave my quad to the youngest and built a 6 core for myself about 6 months ago. Just go to Geeks to get a cheap refurb gaming card for each unit (We went with the HD4850s and love 'em, but you can decide what works best for you and yours) and finally a family pack of Windows 7 for around $100 online and voila! Multiple gaming PCs on the cheap. If you don't mind dealing with rebates you can get black edition quad kits for $250 which will shave another $90 or so off the price, more than enough to cover 2 of the HD4850s or to get something a little faster.
In any case between the Steam midweek madness sales and the weekend sales and the big twice a year sales frankly you and your kids will be ass deep in killer games for frankly less than the cost of a single copy of most AAA titles. As a bonus with a nice cheap 20 inch monitor a piece the PC is also their school PC, their entertainment center, their jukebox, and with having fast multicore chips frankly they should be able to game on them for years and years with nothing more than swapping those $50 HD4850s for another $50 card a year and a half or so from now. As it is the boys blast through SR 3, L4D I & II, TF2, all our games run with plenty of bling and zero skipping or lag. And with Steam playing a game with them is as easy as popping up a chat window and saying "Hey are one of you up for some gaming?" and away we go.
You really should try it, its so much nicer. No more fighting over the TV, no more arguments over what anyone is gonna play, many of their friends are now on Steam too (after the boys bragged how cheap I could build computers it wasn't long before their friend's dads gave me a call) and its as hassle free as can be. Plus you just can't beat the selection, tons of free MMOs, plenty of cheap shooters and sandbox games, platformers, there are so many great cheap games on the PC that there is no way we can play 'em all and its really cheaper than the consoles in the long run. And don't worry if you've never built a PC before, these new designs are so simple they literally come with pictures.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.