It seems strange to keep calling a game ?New? when it's the third ?New? game in a row with the fourth on the way, but New Super Mario Bros. 2? does just that. It's a ?New? sequel to a ?New? game that's a successor to the side-scrolling Mario games that helped define gaming for decades. And, sadly, this $39.99 (direct)?Nintendo 3DS? (and 3DS XL?) game isn't particularly ?new? in any way besides its name. It lives up to the high standards set by the rest of the Mario series, but it doesn't actually offer anything new that isn't a gimmick with little significance in the game. It's still a great play-through, but it's effectively the same game you played on the DS with New Super Mario Bros., the Wii with New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and presumably on the upcoming Wii U with New Super Mario Bros. U.
The Basics
The premise is standard Mario fare: Bowser and his kids kidnapped Princess Peach and you need to rescue her. This time the kids are mercifully the Koopalings, musically-named offspring from Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, and not the insufferable Bowser Jr. from Super Mario Sunshine. You have to run through eight worlds, two of which are optional and require tricks to access, before finally fighting Bowser.
This is the same Mario gameplay you've enjoyed in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, New Super Mario Bros., and if you're an old-school gamer Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros. 3. You play Mario as he runs across sprawling levels, jumping on enemies and picking up items like fire flowers and tanuki leaves. It's simple and works well, and the controls are responsive enough to never make you feel frustrated when you die.
The Coins
Besides the standard princess-rescuing mission, Mario has the vague mission to collect as many coins as possible. This becomes an important part of the level design and Mario's new powers, but it doesn't actually affect the game's story, progression, or mechanics. You still beat each level by jumping on a Mario flagpole or beating a boss, you still unlock different routes in each world by collecting special star coins in each level and using them at signposts. The only hint that anything has changed is that the game throws coins at you constantly. They appear out of nowhere, and new power-ups like the gold flower and gold block let you explode enemies and bricks into flowers and run around with a trail of gold coins behind you.
While coins are supposedly made more important in this game, they have less value than in any other Mario game. Their only in-game use is, like in other Mario games, to give you an extra life for every 100 coins (and lives haven't mattered in Mario games since the Nintendo Entertainment System). Besides that, you're collecting coins for the sake of collecting and they only serve as a vague score mechanic, similar to the conventional point-based scoring the game still does. Unlike the space theme and gravity mechanic of the Super Mario Galaxy games or even the water-spraying mechanic of Super Mario Sunshine, the coins in New Super Mario Bros. 2 feel like a gimmick for gimmick's sake, and were shoved into the game with no thought for how they integrate. Nintendo wasted an opportunity here to give coins actual value and put a twist on the decades-old concept. Instead of mushroom houses that give Mario items, mushroom stores could have sold Mario items. Special stores could have unlocked bonuses like concept art or older games. There could have even been an overarching goal to collect a lot of coins to get the best ending like in the Wario games. Instead, Nintendo just dumped tons of extra coins into a Mario game that's just like the last few Mario games.
The coins serve some use in multiplayer, but only as a scoring mechanic beyond the points of which the game also keeps track. You can play through Coin Rush courses, sets of three randomly chosen levels, and see how many coins you can get. You can then share your high score through SpotPass, and challenge other players nearby.
The 3D
Like the coins, the 3D integration is another underwhelming gimmick. Instead of taking advantage of working on multiple levels, the 3D just makes the background pull farther back and the information on the screen pop out slightly. It doesn't change the game or add any real depth in the slightest, and since the backgrounds themselves are completely flat they don't even help make the levels seem bigger. The Paper Mario games ironically used depth better than this, and hopefully Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the 3DS will make better use of the glasses-free 3DS of the handheld.
These missed opportunities don't mean New Super Mario Bros. 2 is bad, though. On the contrary, it's an excellent game on its own. It's just the same excellent game we've played twice before. The controls are responsive, the level designs are occasionally inspired (but not often), and depending on whether you go after the star coins in each level the game offers anywhere from a relatively breezy path to a surprisingly hard challenge. However, Mario set the standard for platforming games, and with few exceptions every new Mario game has had some change to make it seem fresh. The ones that haven't (Super Mario Galaxy 2 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii) offered such stellar level design that they made up for it. New Super Mario Bros. 2 puts grossly superficial changes on a well-known foundation and it makes the whole affair seem like a gaudy DLC pack rather than a sequel.?It plays great and it's an entertaining romp, but the ?New? before its name and the number after it just don't feel justified.
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