New Super Mario Bros. 2 Review

New Super Mario Bros. 2

Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Nintendo Platform: 3DS Release: 2012 Genre: 2D Platformer Rating: 9.2 \ 10.0: Excellent

Above is a scene from World 4
 

I'm proud to be writing this review. Why? Because I'm one of the first people in North America, possibly, to own New Super Mario Bros. 2. I got it on it's release date (without preordering it!)-- August 19th, 2012, minutes after my local Target store opened, and I'm enjoying it very much. So far, it's not nearly as good as the original game nor New Super Mario Bros. Wii. But of course, like every Mario platformer, it's still outstanding. Your goal, as usual, is to rescue Princess Peach. This time, the capture occurs while Mario and Luigi are fooling around with raccoon power. Then the Koopalings, whom Bowser Jr. is no longer among, are the capturers, just as in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Your goal is not only to rescue Peach, but to acquire a lot of coins. 1 million coins to be exact. Does that sound too hard? Well, Mario's got a few tricks up his sleeves (and not Luigi, because this game, sadly, eliminates the Luigi cheat from the original NSMB. By the way, you can pull this off by holding L and R when you select a file.) that'll help you on your quest to absolute affluence. Among them is the Gold Flower, a rare power-up that allow Mario to hurl golden fireballs that turn blocks into coins and allows you to get more coins out of defeating enemies with fireballs. There are also gold rings that temporarily turn enemies gold, causing them to drop piles of coins when defeated. Kicked Koopa shells trail coins along their path! Coins erupt like a fountain from the pipes of defeated Piranha Plants! Bullet Bills and leaping Cheep Cheeps trail coins as they streak through the sky! You get the picture. There are gold blocks that appear when ten coins are emptied from a block. When you hit one from below or ground-pound one, Mario wears it on head, and until he gets hit or loses it gradually, he'll generate a coin with every step he takes. The faster you move, the more coins you earn. There are blocks that rapidly scroll numbers, and the number showing when the block is hit causes that amount of coins to pop out. And finally, there are special black pipes. When a fireball is thrown at one end, a coin comes out the other. Hidden rooms usually contain very clever coin collecting sequences, such as kicking a shell to make it ricochet of the walls and into POW blocks, exploding blocks full of coins.  New Super Mario Bros. 2 also reintroduces the Super Leaf, a beloved power-up from Super Mario Bros. 3. But if you think I forgot that there were Super Leaves in Super Mario 3D Land, you're wrong. The Super Leaves in 3D Land transform Mario into Tanooki Mario, while in  NSMB2 and SMB3 they transform him into Raccoon Mario, who has the ability to fly after a long dash. It bears similarities to SM3DL, though. There's also the new White Leaf, an ever-lasting invincibility granting Super Leaf that appears only after you die five times in a row on the same stage. This replaces the P-Wing from SM3DL that would take you to the end of the stage when you die 10 times. Now to get to the extras.  Additionally, in a nostalgic reference to Super Mario World, the Reznors return as mini-boss. These are triceratops-like creatures that appear here for the first time in over 20 years! NSMB2, unfortunately, lacks minigames, unlike the original (and not to mention Super Mario 64 DS). It  also lacks the Mario vs. Luigi mode from the original game. To make up for this, the game introduces Coin Rush, in which you must play three randomly selected stages with a short time limit and collect as many coins as you can. If you really enjoy Coin Rush, you can purchase the many DLC stage packs available on the Nintendo eShop. As a bonus, coins you collect in Coin Rush go into your overall total from the main game. Best of all, a second player can join you via local wireless, but sadly not third and fourth players. (If only all platformers could have New Super Mario Bros. Wii's style of four-player co-op...) There's one more great new addition: You know those secret cannon stages in which you climb into a cannon and blast to a distant world? Well, now, the cannon doesn't blast you directly to that advanced world. Instead, when you enter the cannon, a countdown starts, and when it hits "Go", you'll be blasted forward and start dashing without stopping through a silhouetted obstacle course while the catchy Toad House Mario theme remix from the original NSMB plays. You must time each jump perfectly if you want to survive and advance to the secret world. But one of the negative parts is the fact that the game wasn't built for the system like Super Mario 3D Land before it-- there's no real reason to crank up the 3D. Even so, the 3D adds some smoothness and depth to the background, which makes it less noticeable that the visuals aren't particularly impressive from close up. Although New Super Mario Bros. 2 isn't nearly as good as the original game to me, it's one of the best titles available on the 3DS and for sure the system's greatest 2D platformer. I still highly recommend it to any fan of Mario, platformers, or anyone who loves gold.  With all that fun coin-collecting, you'll become as greedy as Wario!

Ups
SO MANY COIN$!!!
The real Super Leaf is back!
Awesome new power up-- the Gold Flower
New Coin Rush mode
Download Play 2-player co-op

Downs
No VS. Mode or Minigames
Not built for 3DS
Visuals are unimpressive close up

ESRB: E Content: Comic Mischief Price: $29.99 (Retail / Download)

Scribblenauts Review

Scribblenauts

Publisher: Warner Bros. Developer: 5th Cell Platform: DS Players: 1 Release: 2009 Genre: Puzzle / Sandbox Rating: 7.8 \ 10.0: Satisfactory

Above is the concept of the game's object creation system

I overestimated Scribblenauts-- highly. That's not to say it's terrible or anything-- but I might not have bought it if it wasn't for the fact that Super Scribblenauts, one of the most infuriatingly difficult-yet-greatest games I've ever played, wouldn't exist without this game. But I should've realized that Scribblenauts would be so inferior to its sequel. It doesn't give you control options like Super Scribblenauts-- the frustrating touchscreen controls are mandatory. You must purchase new worlds with Ollars, the game's currency. There are pressuring object-creation pars in levels. And worst of all-- you can't use adjectives! But it isn't all bad-- the game is quite good, in fact. I saw a bright side to the game when I realized that there were a few superiorities. The object-creating concept seemed as fresh as ever, and there are several infectiously catchy tunes that weren't featured in Super Scribblenauts. Although the stage creator from the sequel isn't present, I find that I sometimes want to use the game's level layouts for creating custom levels, and you're welcome to do that through Level Editor, a mode that allows you to create a level using the template of a pre-existing level that you've cleared. Although it's not perfect, I recommend Scribblenauts to anyone with exceptional mental abilities who enjoys and enjoys the clever concept.

Ups
Fresh premise
Catchy music
Level Editor

Downs
Touchscreen-only controls
Object-creation pars

ESRB: E 10+ Content: Cartoon Violence and Comic Mischief Price: $19.99 (Retail)