Review: New Super Mario Bros. 2 Illustrates Nintendo's Greatest Problem [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

Jon Brodkin writes "There’s a new Super Mario Bros. game out for the 3DS handheld console. It’s called New Super Mario Bros. 2 and features Mario, Princess Peach, Bowser, and the same fun gameplay you’ve come to expect from Nintendo’s most iconic game series. But this latest adventure stands out by not standing out at all." Read below for the rest of Jon's review.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

[Lady Jaye]

Bah, I'm still getting this (preordered from Best Buy because of a $10-off deal dating back to the E3; my copy should arrive tomorrow by the time I'm at work). Mario games are rarely truly bad (not counting CD-i atrocities), and easy, classic gameplay isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[Rickstilwell1]

All I can say is that more of the best is never a bad thing. More of the generic is what is bad.

[kainemaxwell]

Why completely ruin what works so well?

[treismac]

Regardless if it is a good Mario game or a bad one, I wish I had a 3ds for this game alone. Like pizza or sex, even lousy Mario is pretty good- excluding the CD-i games like Lady Jaye said, of course.

[kupomogli]

Regardless if it is a good Mario game or a bad one, I wish I had a 3ds for this game alone. Like pizza or sex, even lousy Mario is pretty good- excluding the CD-i games like Lady Jaye said, of course.

Opinion only, but Mario 64 wasn't good.

[j_factor]

All I can say is that more of the best is never a bad thing. More of the generic is what is bad.

NSMB DS felt pretty generic to me. One of the good things about the Mario series has been that each game has its own identity. NSMB doesn't; it feels like a stock Mario game.

[Rickstilwell1]

Since New Super Mario Bros. 2 is all about running through levels and trying to get as many coins as you can, I took 2 rolls of Sacagawea/Presidential/Susan B Anthony (they usually come mixed together from banks) dollar coins to Gamestop and used 44 of them to buy the game. At least I saved the cashier some trouble by saving my Eisenhower dollars for Target to buy some blank DVDs and a coffee.

[BetaWolf47]

NSMB DS felt pretty generic to me. One of the good things about the Mario series has been that each game has its own identity. NSMB doesn't; it feels like a stock Mario game.

This is probably the most accurate thing I've heard about the series. Every Mario game has tried something new, except the New Super Mario Bros. games, ironically. These will be the only Mario platformers I will not be adding to my Mario collection.

[Rickstilwell1]

This is probably the most accurate thing I've heard about the series. Every Mario game has tried something new, except the New Super Mario Bros. games, ironically. These will be the only Mario platformers I will not be adding to my Mario collection.

new to each:

New Super Mario Bros. - Mega Mario, Mini Mario, Shell Mario, Mummipokey, Cheepskipper, Monty Tank, Lakithunder, Dry Bowser.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Ice Mario, Penguin Mario, Propeller Mario, timeline coexistence between Bowser Jr. & the original Koopalings
New Super Mario Bros. 2 - Gold Mario
New Super Mario Bros. U - Flying Squirrel Mario, any possible new bosses haven't been revealed.

Also similarly the only major new things Super Mario 3D Land brought were Boomerang Mario and the boss Pom Pom.

The first two New Super Mario Bros. games had more new things in them than the most recent one and the upcoming one. And more new abilities than Super Mario 3D Land.

[jb143]

This is probably the most accurate thing I've heard about the series. Every Mario game has tried something new, except the New Super Mario Bros. games, ironically. These will be the only Mario platformers I will not be adding to my Mario collection.

A big one that Rickstilwell1 forgot to add to the list was the simultaneous multiplayer. Having 4 people playing a Mario game at the same exact time = 4 times as fun.

[Graham Mitchell]

My main gripe with nsmb2 is that it reuses all art and music assets from the first one and the wii game. It offers nothing new aesthetically, which is kind of a bummer.

That said, it is super super fun, and if you just play it for awhile, you see it actually brings some cool new ideas to the table (the cannon levels are particularly neat).

However, I did play nsmb u at e3, and that game ALSO reuses the engine and all art/music assets from nsmb wii. If you saw quick video clips of the 2 games running, you wouldn't be able to tell them apart. IMO, this is a serious lost opportunity for Nintendo. The zelda games get drastic audio/visual overhauls between games, and that's a big part of keeping the series fresh. I don't know why they're just reissuing What looks like a romhack of the first nsmb every few years. Its gonna wear thin pretty soon.

[Press_Start]

I feel like NSMB2 was explicitly made to pander shareholders. It screams rushed, half-baked idea as a Mario game whose sole collective purpose, both figuratively and literally, grab a LOT of coin, which would be perfect for a Warioland game. Heck, that was the whole point of the original Warioland. Why wasn't this a Warioland game? Oh right, the shareholders wanted another Mario game.

[Tupin]

I feel like NSMB2 was explicitly made to pander shareholders. It screams rushed, half-baked idea as a Mario game whose sole collective purpose, both figuratively and literally, grab a LOT of coin, which would be perfect for a Warioland game. Heck, that was the whole point of the original Warioland. Why wasn't this a Warioland game? Oh right, the shareholders wanted another Mario game.

If Nintendo listened to shareholders, they would have put their games on Android and iOS like shareholders are apparently screaming at them to do.

[Press_Start]

If Nintendo listened to shareholders, they would have put their games on Android and iOS like shareholders are apparently screaming at them to do.

Well, there's a difference between "listening" and "total surrender" and I don't think Iwata's done fighting just yet. But they do have to answer to shareholders and NSMB2 threw a bone to keep the pressure off them while getting Nintendo out of the "red"....or as the industry calls it, "ARMAGED-NINTENUCLEARAGNOROKILLAUNICRONGIGADEATHSTARPALOOZA-DON '12"

[kupomogli]

Nintendo should let Sony use Mario for Playstation All Stars. I'm pretty pissed with all the third party being nothing more than advertisement, but Mario being on the game wouldn't bother me at all. It'd be funny if they got permission.

[marlowe221]

If Nintendo listened to shareholders, they would have put their games on Android and iOS like shareholders are apparently screaming at them to do.

I would be happy to play Mario games on Android and IOS devices - but NOT with current touch controls!

[kupomogli]

The difference between a good 2D Mario and a bad 2D Mario comes down to the level design, the physics of the game, and enemy placement. It's a platformer, so when the platforming aspect of the game is sub par, then Mario or not, you've got a bad game. Other than remakes, there are very few good platformers that have came out this gen, or maybe they started good and just got boring shortly after, or difficulty turned from challenging yet fun to frusturatingly difficult in a short amount of time.

Prinny and Prinny 2 in my opinion are amazing games that I'd recommend to any old school platforming fan. Aside from Dracula X Chronicles, I think they're the best two platformers this gen. They've both got a high difficulty, but it's challenging without being too challenging(think of a platformer version of Demon's Souls difficulty,) which to me is perfect. For those that are glutton's for punishment, then there is a difficulty which you die in a single hit. One feature about Prinny is the games difficulty scales as you complete stages, so one person might complete this one stage earlier on, and another person might choose to complete a few other stages before that one, so each stage is the same, but because one person is further in the game, then the stage has more enemies.

[RCM]

I feel like NSMB2 was explicitly made to pander shareholders. It screams rushed, half-baked idea as a Mario game whose sole collective purpose, both figuratively and literally, grab a LOT of coin, which would be perfect for a Warioland game. Heck, that was the whole point of the original Warioland. Why wasn't this a Warioland game? Oh right, the shareholders wanted another Mario game.

Can't say I disagree with any of this.

[Sothy]

Eat it you gluttonous fools!