New Super Mario Bros. 2 3DS Review

Is this game a money making success? Or is it the worst Mario game to date?

Announced back in a Nintendo Direct well over a year ago, New Super Mario Bros 2 was confirmed as the 3DS’ 2D platforming game for the no. 1 plumber from the Mushroom Kingdom. After much hype over the game (like the Facebook Coin Rush), does it live up to the expectations of fans or is it a very boring game overall? Find out in this review!
 

Golden artwork eh?

The opening cutscene starts off with Mario and Luigi departing from Peach’s castle using Raccoon suits (probably going for a morning flying exercise). The two are interrupted when the Koopalings crash down on them, forcing them to lose their Raccoon suits and then revealing they have kidnapped Peach! What a surprise. Who saw that twist coming?

Okay Bowser, what do you want this time?

Anyway, the main game takes place over 6 worlds:
World 1 features the same theme as always with the grassy plain land,
World 2 features the desert world,
World 3 is a combination of forest and beach,
World 4 is the snow overworld,
world 5 combines the sky and mountain,
World 6 being the final lava world.

Now for those who haven’t played it, you may be wondering “why have they done that? Don’t they do it over 8 worlds with 1 special world?” Typically yes, but for this game there is a weird twist. They have gone for 3 special worlds as a bonus:
World 7 is world mushroom – the easiest of the three,
World 8 is the flower world – the intermediate stages,
World 9 is the Star world so it’s expected that it would be the hardest.

Personally, I find this world system in the game a tad bit annoying. Cramming world themes together doesn’t quite work. World 5 is pretty annoying as you only get one mountain level in the whole of the world.

In terms of power ups, nothing has changed (well there is one). The basic mushrooms, star, fire flower combo remain the same. The mini mushroom makes a return as do the mega mushroom (although the mega mushrooms do not appear in Toad houses). Of course you know the Raccoon suit returns in all its glory from Super Mario Bros 3. That’s not all the power ups they’ve got for they have included a P-Wing from Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario 3D Land but with a change – it makes you invincible and allows you to charge up for flight much quicker than that of a basic Raccoon suit. Finally we have the Gold Fire Flower, which when you shoot a fireball at any target – turns them into money. Nice i$n’t it?

Did I forget to mention the Coin Block head that you can get? Whenever Mario wears it, a trail of coins follow and increase your coin total. You can either run around carrying it on your head for 100 coins or let it spit out coins on the ground for 50 coins. I like it.

I think Mario sees too much Gold.

The game play is the same to the original New Super Mario Bros game – run jump etc. The level designs are generally short but they are a real blast to play though. Not so much difficult but very fun and have real replay value in my opinion. Once you start, you probably won’t stop.

The objective of the game is simple. Save Peach (as always). Well actually there is one other objective – collect one million coins to get a reward. It’s not the best reward but it will do. Now you’re wondering “how on earth am I meant to get 1 million coins!?” Well that’s pretty simple due to a new mechanic introduced to the game:

GOLD RINGS! Once you pass through Gold Rings, all enemies turn gold. Throw a Koopa shell and you get a trail of coins. Squash a few Goombas with these and you will get a lot of coins. The 1^st Goomba is worth 5 coins and you slowly build up in 5 coin intervals if you only jump on the waddling enemies as opposed to the ground.

The effects of the Gold Ring - They are awesome.

There are 3 modes to play this game in:
->Story Mode,
->Co-Op Mode,
->Coin Rush Mode.

Co-Op Mode requires two players both having their own version of New Super Mario Bros 2 (digital or packaged). Whoever plays as Mario keeps the save data and can choose one of their files to be played on. So if they progress through the game, that’s where they’ll play from. However if the player chooses to play as Luigi, the only thing that is saved is their points and coins – they do not save any story data as it is not their data that they play on.

The bubble system returns from New Super Mario Bros. Wii, saving you the hassle of having to die (unless both of you bubble then…). The life system has changed only for Co-Op, making it that both players share the same lives. But it is really easy not to die – as you only lose a life if both of you die. If one player dies, no life is taken off. Simple isn’t it? Finally, every coin you collect is double, so you get double the amount of coins at the end (get your golden fire flowers ready).

See? The Bros do like tag teaming.

Coin Rush is the final mode, and as you expect it involves coins. Here the player must collect as many coins as possible across 3 random levels. The maximum you can collect is 30,000 coins. Die once and its game over for you. There are 3 packs you can choose from:
Mushroom Pack – It chooses levels from World 1, 2 and Mushroom.
Flower Pack – Chooses from World 3, 4 and Flower.
Star Pack – Chooses from World 5, 6 and Star.

Some mechanics have changed in this mode. For example:
Getting the flagpole gives you different amounts of coins, and if you’re lucky, getting the top gives you a x2 score – doubling you total score.

Prepare to get annoyed by the time.

Golden mushrooms replace the regular 1-up mushrooms, allowing you to get even more coins.

Nintendo at the end of 2012 released 10 DLC packs, each varying difficulty. The hardest packs were the Impossible Pack (which the target total was 100 coins) and the Nerve-Wrack Pack which was rated 5 stars in difficulty. These were a fun set of packs and had me going for quite some time.

Before I forget, the graphics are good for a 3DS game, you can really enjoy the game (though the 3D effect is a bit rubbish but meh (Basically, when you push the 3D slider up, the background blurs out, kind of defeating the object - Ed)). And the music is decent. We have pretty much a complete rehash of the Wii OST, but it is still immersive and catchy.

All in all, a great 2D platformer which is actually my personal favourite game out of Mario ever. I would actually give it a 10 but I know it’s not perfect, so I will give it 9.3/10. A good game in my opinion so pick it up now as it has been out for almost a year so you should be able to find some good bargains. 

9 . 3                                   Reviewed by Christopher Nguyen
OUT  OF  TEN                                                                                                                                  Edited By James Green