Super Mario games are pretty high on my list of all-time favourites. A lot of them are incredibly innovative despite their similar nature, as Nintendo seems to be able to find the one small thing which can make an old concept look new again. Super Mario Galaxy had the planets and low gravity. New Super Mario Bros. Wii had a cooperative/friendship-destroying mode. Super Mario World had Yoshi. As for New Super Mario Bros. 2 for 3DS, which I just finished a few weeks ago, well... it's got a shitload of coins.
In fact, the game's cover asks "Can you collect a million coins?". While I would love to, I just don't think that the game has enough to offer for me to get to that point. Fundamentally, it is a great game. It's perfectly executed, and it's even exciting in some places. I would say it is challenging. However, after finishing every level in the game once, I am barely at 20 000 coins. Even if I play through the whole thing again to get every star coins hidden in faraway places, I really doubt I'll get past 50 000. On top of everything, I cheated and looked up online what happens if I get to the magic mark of one million coins. It gets me a new title screen. That's it. I'm happy that Nintendo is trying to give me objectives to do so that I'll keep playing their game once I'm finished with the main adventure, but I feel like they've done better in the past. For example, there were the Star World in the aforementioned Super Mario World, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii had a ninth world waiting at the end if you collected everything. New Super Mario Bros. 2 has a Star World too, but it is not really hidden. You don't need to go out of your way to find it.
I'll probably still keep playing because, as I said, it is still a great game, but it just feels... lazier? I don't think lazy is the right word, because Nintendo's games always feel like they're of a certain quality and made with pride, but I guess it feels too standard. It doesn't go above and beyond what you would expect of most video games, which is what most of the company's products usually feel like.
The gameplay is proof that there was still a lot of thoughts put into the design of this game. Most of it is still classic Mario (running and jumping), but a lot of the levels have a particular twist to them. The ghost houses are particularly well done this time around, with some puzzles that will make you feel pretty clever once you figure them out. The new items are also a lot of fun. The gold flower which shoots gigantic golden flames and turns everything into coins is pretty impressive. I still like the giant mushroom, though I think it's a bit underused. Same goes for the micro mushroom. This game has a lot of good ideas and fun distractions from the usual formula, but it doesn't do enough with them. The only new thing which gets proper time is the coin block mask, which basically make you poop coins as you go. It's a fun innovation in terms of making it more possible to collect a million coins, but on the other hand, it means you accumulate so many extra lives that you would have to be a special kind of bad at video games to ever see a game over screen. I consider myself a very average gamer, and I had over 200 lives by the time I was done.
It's not only the coins either. The game throws 1-up mushrooms at you by the dozen. It isn't rare to get 2 or more 1-up mushrooms per levels, and the green mushroom houses on the main maps can get you 5 or more extra lives a pop. As far as Mario games go, I would definitely put this one in the easy category.
While the game is definitely much simpler than, say, Super Mario Bros. 3, some of the levels are still challenging enough to get a few curses out of you. Levels in Mario games, particularly the 2D ones, have always been about finding the perfect rhythm to cruise through a course without ever letting go of the dash button. New Super Mario Bros. 2 is particularly good at making you feel like you have discovered the perfect timing for a level and then throwing an unexpected pit or enemy in your way to throw the whole thing off.
It is possible to complete the game and beat Bowser in a few hours, but there are enough star coins hidden to keep you going way past that time if you are a completionist. There's also a "Coin Rush" mode which challenges you to finish courses as fast as possible while also trying to snatch every last coin. There's some fun to be had in trying to beat your best score, but I would hardly call that feature a game seller.
Finally, I will have to say that the music, which is usually awesome in most Mario games, feels uninspired in derivative in this one. I appreciate the callbacks and the retro feel of some of the tracks, but the original work isn't as catchy as past efforts and won't really stick in your head as some classic Mario tunes tend to do.
New Super Mario Bros. 2 is an excellent game, there's no doubt about it. However, when compared to the other Mario title on the 3DS (Super Mario 3D Land), it feels shorter, less developed. It feels competent and fun, but not outstanding. With that said, if you like Mario games at all or appreciated well-crafted platformers, then by all mean, you're still going to love this game.
Final Rating: Somewhere between "Pretty Good" and "Not Bad At All".
The gameplay is proof that there was still a lot of thoughts put into the design of this game. Most of it is still classic Mario (running and jumping), but a lot of the levels have a particular twist to them. The ghost houses are particularly well done this time around, with some puzzles that will make you feel pretty clever once you figure them out. The new items are also a lot of fun. The gold flower which shoots gigantic golden flames and turns everything into coins is pretty impressive. I still like the giant mushroom, though I think it's a bit underused. Same goes for the micro mushroom. This game has a lot of good ideas and fun distractions from the usual formula, but it doesn't do enough with them. The only new thing which gets proper time is the coin block mask, which basically make you poop coins as you go. It's a fun innovation in terms of making it more possible to collect a million coins, but on the other hand, it means you accumulate so many extra lives that you would have to be a special kind of bad at video games to ever see a game over screen. I consider myself a very average gamer, and I had over 200 lives by the time I was done.
It's not only the coins either. The game throws 1-up mushrooms at you by the dozen. It isn't rare to get 2 or more 1-up mushrooms per levels, and the green mushroom houses on the main maps can get you 5 or more extra lives a pop. As far as Mario games go, I would definitely put this one in the easy category.
While the game is definitely much simpler than, say, Super Mario Bros. 3, some of the levels are still challenging enough to get a few curses out of you. Levels in Mario games, particularly the 2D ones, have always been about finding the perfect rhythm to cruise through a course without ever letting go of the dash button. New Super Mario Bros. 2 is particularly good at making you feel like you have discovered the perfect timing for a level and then throwing an unexpected pit or enemy in your way to throw the whole thing off.
It is possible to complete the game and beat Bowser in a few hours, but there are enough star coins hidden to keep you going way past that time if you are a completionist. There's also a "Coin Rush" mode which challenges you to finish courses as fast as possible while also trying to snatch every last coin. There's some fun to be had in trying to beat your best score, but I would hardly call that feature a game seller.
Finally, I will have to say that the music, which is usually awesome in most Mario games, feels uninspired in derivative in this one. I appreciate the callbacks and the retro feel of some of the tracks, but the original work isn't as catchy as past efforts and won't really stick in your head as some classic Mario tunes tend to do.
New Super Mario Bros. 2 is an excellent game, there's no doubt about it. However, when compared to the other Mario title on the 3DS (Super Mario 3D Land), it feels shorter, less developed. It feels competent and fun, but not outstanding. With that said, if you like Mario games at all or appreciated well-crafted platformers, then by all mean, you're still going to love this game.
Final Rating: Somewhere between "Pretty Good" and "Not Bad At All".
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