At this
point in the careers of the probably unemployed plumbers Mario and Luigi Mario
(seriously, how can they keep a business going if they are constantly saving
the princess), you pretty much know what you are going to get. The princess is going to get captured, you
are going to jump, run and semi-fly through upwards of eight different worlds
with various themes (desert, water, snow) as well as fighting a Koopa kid at
the end of each of those worlds. The
game will climax with a big fight against Bowser himself and you will
undoubtedly rescue the princess again (until the next console release when you
will do it all over again (much like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day). The big
thing is trying to mix things up a little bit with each new release, coming up
with a new wrinkle to keep people interested and coming back for more. To be perfectly honest, I have a feeling that
gimmicks are no longer needed, especially given the fact that many of the other
games that do not feature a major Nintendo character for any of their systems,
handheld and console, are sub-par at best.
Each new Mario game is treated with the fanfare that it deserves, even
though they can get a little stale after awhile.
Correction, it’s not that they
necessarily feel stale, just that they feel like one large game, broken up into
multiple releases. The latest addition
to the Mario pantheon does not feel
like a natural sequel to the first Super
Mario Brothers game for the 3DS, just because of the differing format as
this one goes back to the traditional, side-scrolling 2D. 2D, 3D it doesn’t matter as the storyline is
the same; it is just the dimensions that are different this time around. In my opinion, the traditional,
side-scrolling adventures are more fun than the 3D format that is more
prevalent in most of the current Mario
titles (Mario 64, Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 et. al.). It is
not even the fact that the side-scrollers fall into line more with what we have
been conditioned to expect from Mario (for those of us old enough to remember his
adventures on the original NES and it’s subsequent systems). For me at least, it just comes down to the fact
that it is so much easier to jump from platform to platform when you are going from
left to right than it is from front to back on a slight angle. This may be just my personal preference though,
what do you think? 2D, 3D? It does seem like the Mario games tend to pack more in to the 3D adventures (Super Mario Galaxy was expansive, and that’s
not even counting the second one which was basically an extension of the
first), but the side scrolling Mario
games just bring a certain nostalgia and comfort to them that can’t be beat by
adding an extra dimension.
This game actually feels like the
next step after the New Super Mario
Brothers Wii game that came out a few years ago. The only change (aside from the different
system) is that this game has instituted a coin collecting mode. Not only are there more coins in each level,
but the total amount of coins are saved at the conclusion of the level. The coins do not carry over into subsequent
levels (* correction, they do carry over, I just checked last night to be sure. Also, in case you couldn't figure it out, Bowser is pretty damn hard in this one) but there is a tally so that you are now aware of your grand total. This increase in the number of coins is
definitely helpful in the amount of lives that can be quickly accumulated (I
was up past 120 last I checked) but there is no real tangible benefit to the
coin accumulation. Maybe it is used for
bragging rights in the online community, and I will admit that I am a few
levels from completing the game so there may be a payoff at the very end, but at
this point the inclusion of this additional feature doesn’t really distinguish
itself from the other Mario games at all.
The only feature that really stands out is the inclusion of the gold
fireflower. Instead of shooting
fireballs that simply kill the oncoming Goomba or Koopa Trooper, the gold
fireflower allows Mario to gather five coins for each successful hit on a
target as well as transforming regular bricks into gold coins with a
well-placed fireball. Sure, it’s not
revolutionary but it adds to the coin collecting motif and gives the player
something else to do. Plus, the power
doesn’t run out after a few seconds like you would expect it to. If you equip the gold fireflower it stays
with you until you are injured, just like any of the other powers Mario gets
from random vegetation along the way.
The three large coins in each level
are still included but are not as vital as they were in the past (for those of
you that are still stuck on Mario Galaxy,
the large coins are similar to the stars that you use to unlock new
worlds). The large coins (or the stars)
were used to actually further the story, basically necessitating that one
complete certain parts of the game and gain a certain amount of stars before
moving on, but that aspect has been removed in this game. Yes, as I said, the coins are still there,
but they are now used as keys to the various Toad Houses that pop up throughout
each map (and you do not keep accumulating them as you go, you have to actually
spend the coins to unlock the houses). While
these are helpful, they are not vitally important and therefore you could
breeze right through the game without even visiting them if you so
desired. Like many other Mario games though, exploration is
rewarded as there are levels in each world, and even whole worlds themselves,
that cannot be accessed without finding secret exits. I found one in the ghost house in the first
world completely by accident, and of course by trying to locate them, the
secret exits have eluded me ever since.
So even if the initial game is relatively short in length (especially
for people that are used to time-sinks such as Skyrim and Kingdoms of Amalur),
the replay value is relatively high. The
levels are not terribly long and puzzle-filled either so they do not get old
and tiresome after a few playthroughs.
This is by no means an easy game to
beat. Hell, I don’t think there has
really been an easy game in the Mario franchise (except maybe Mario 2 for the
NES, especially if you just pick the Princess and float through the
levels). That being said, the
aforementioned ability to accumulate lives lessens the fear of the dreaded “game
over” but does nothing to help you dodge the fireballs that pop out of the
river of lava, or swim any faster away from those damn fish (water levels in Mario games are the bane of my
existence). The graphics are great and
the gameplay is as solid as ever though, so if you are looking to continue on
the same Mario adventure that you
have probably been through for years and years, pick it up and give it a
whirl. While it doesn’t necessarily
bring anything new to the table, it is still fun nonetheless. Hell, it’s not like the 3DS is brimming with
quality titles right now anyway.
8/10 – You might as well pick it up, and for forty dollars
it’s not a bad value.
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