Rank the New Super Mario Bros. games!

[BetaWolf]

I found the original New Super Mario Bros. to be disappointing. Massively so, that I have not bought a single one since. It seemed stripped down compared to the classics, with a fresh coat of paint being the only thing it had going for it. Even the old mechanics weren't used in too many original ways.

Are any of the new ones any more creative? I've seen Super Mario Maker use old mechanics in some pretty interesting ways in the prebuilt levels.

<EDIT> I completely forgot about this alt!

[Leo_A]

Creativity isn't the strong suit of the New Super Mario Bros. franchise. Heavy recycling has gone on since the first sequel appeared, which particularly is a problem for someone such as myself that wasn't crazy about the music or the plastic sheen that everything seemed to have in the original DS entry.

That said, they're still great platformers even if they play it far too safe and never approach the likes of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. I've 100%'ed the main mode in all of them except for the 1 million coin nonsense in NSMB2, including finishing the DLC levels for NSMB2 with all star coins. I'd rank them as follows...

1. New Super Mario Bros. U
2. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
3. New Super Luigi U
4. Newer Super Mario Bros. (A homebrew modification for NSMBWii, but a very well done one)
5. New Super Mario Bros. 2
6. New Super Mario Bros. DS

The DS original was just too conservative, but the series has been evolving for the better. And I much prefer the console entries and their more zoomed out perspective rather than the more cramped feeling that the handheld entries provide.

[Tanooki]

New Super Mario Bros U (is the only great one, modeled it after Super Mario World)
New Super Mario Bros 2

Tied for last below are these...
New Super Mario Bros Wii
New Super Mario Bros (DS)

I don't include that Super Luigi U thing, sure they did a disc version but it's just a DLC sadists rehash of New Super Mario Bros U. 100 on the clock, demands a high level of speed, precision and execution so if you're not a perfectionist or a speed runner, or you like to explore stages, you may very well end up hating it (I did.)



The DS game was too basic, but also I loathed the awful way they 'hid' 1/3 of the game from you requiring being micro mario to run in a little slot under the world boss to access an entire area. This I did NOT like. The game was short enough as it was, but to do that just sucked. The designs of the stages weren't too bad though, but once the luster of having a SMB game after like 15 years was over, I got bored of it, yet I did finish it and never went back.

I rate the Wii game just as low, that one bored the crap out of me so bad I quit after World 4 or midpoint 5 I forget. It didn't feel like a Mario game to me. It felt like some amateur cookie cutter platforming generic tile someone went LittleBigPlanet sticker style all over throwing Mario art/characters on it and just calling it a Mario game. I know that sounds weird, but it just wasn't fun and didn't feel like a Nintendo made Mario game and I just quit on it (repeatedly over a year going a little further each time.)

[The Adventurer]

To be complely honest I've only ever actually beaten the DS New Super Mario Bros, I don't really have an excuse why I haven't played New Mario Wii or New Mario 2. I thing just becaus I haven't found them for a good price, and like all first party Mario games you never find them for under 30.


Personally I really liked NSMB DS, I thought it was a fine return to form after years of 3D Mario games with hit points and timed power ups. I really should replay it to freshen my memories on its level design.


As it stands I like Super Mario 3D Land a lot more. That games in my Top 3 Mario Games Ever list.