New Super Mario Brothers 2
Feb. 9th, 2014 02:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroThe Koopalings are back! They’ve kidnapped Princess Toadstool! Save her, Mario!
…that’s pretty much all you need to know.
In a lot of ways, this is a “more of the same” mission-pack sequel (especially as a direct sequel to New SMB), but that’s okay. It’s a Mario game, the gold standard of platformers. There’s only so bad any Mario game is going to be.
Power-ups: Fire Flower, Leaf (Raccoon Tail), Star, Mega Mushroom (which I think I encountered all of once), Mini Mushroom, Golden Flower (turns everything into massive quantities of coins), Golden Leaf (a version of the tail that makes you mostly invincible). You can also get a coin block stuck to your head, which will spit coins as you move around. And you can steal Lakitu’s cloud, as has been the standard for a while.
Mario’s edge gravity is a little wonky, harkening back to the original NES games rather than Super Mario World (which was the game I really built my chops on). I had this same issue with NSMB and NSMBWii, of going slip-sliding off ledges, but I adjusted pretty quickly. I think this game was overall easier, for that matter—getting through stages is generally a minor challenge, but getting all the Star Coins, hidden exits, and coin high scores is tough. (If you have a lot of trouble clearing a stage, the game will start giving you bonus power-ups as you restart.)
The 3D mode is unexciting. It makes things prettier, but doesn’t seem to affect gameplay.
Getting to the two secret worlds is a bit less reliant on abusing Mini Mushrooms in exactly the right spot, which I’m grateful for. There are also at least two entrances into World Flower, one of which I stumbled on by accident. (Most of my finding hidden exits from levels was by accident, especially in ghost houses, where I often found the “hidden” exit first!)
Overall: Do you like side-scroller Mario games? That’s what this is. You’ll like it.
…that’s pretty much all you need to know.
In a lot of ways, this is a “more of the same” mission-pack sequel (especially as a direct sequel to New SMB), but that’s okay. It’s a Mario game, the gold standard of platformers. There’s only so bad any Mario game is going to be.
Power-ups: Fire Flower, Leaf (Raccoon Tail), Star, Mega Mushroom (which I think I encountered all of once), Mini Mushroom, Golden Flower (turns everything into massive quantities of coins), Golden Leaf (a version of the tail that makes you mostly invincible). You can also get a coin block stuck to your head, which will spit coins as you move around. And you can steal Lakitu’s cloud, as has been the standard for a while.
Mario’s edge gravity is a little wonky, harkening back to the original NES games rather than Super Mario World (which was the game I really built my chops on). I had this same issue with NSMB and NSMBWii, of going slip-sliding off ledges, but I adjusted pretty quickly. I think this game was overall easier, for that matter—getting through stages is generally a minor challenge, but getting all the Star Coins, hidden exits, and coin high scores is tough. (If you have a lot of trouble clearing a stage, the game will start giving you bonus power-ups as you restart.)
The 3D mode is unexciting. It makes things prettier, but doesn’t seem to affect gameplay.
Getting to the two secret worlds is a bit less reliant on abusing Mini Mushrooms in exactly the right spot, which I’m grateful for. There are also at least two entrances into World Flower, one of which I stumbled on by accident. (Most of my finding hidden exits from levels was by accident, especially in ghost houses, where I often found the “hidden” exit first!)
Overall: Do you like side-scroller Mario games? That’s what this is. You’ll like it.
