The highly hyped New Super Mario Bros. developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS is a side-scrolling platformer of which is the first since Super Mario Land 2: The 6 Golden Coins. It was given an ESRB rating of E for everyone, as if it’d not be, and was released on May 15 th, 06 in the U.S. On May 25 th, 06 in Japan . It will be released on June 8 th, 06 in Austalia, and on June 28 th, 06 in Europe . And before I even write the rest of this review, I think all of you DS owners out there should give this game a shot.

Graphics, 8/10.

The graphics for the must part are very nice. The various menus and different screens look and work very well, aswell as the fact there is touch screen functionality. When it comes to in-game graphics, Mario looks really good. And the enemies are amazing, considering they aren’t in full 3D like Mario is. The maps look good, and stick to the way SMB has always been. Overall, the graphics of this game are some of the best I’ve seen on the DS. Considering it’s a 2D sidescroller for the most part, that’s good.

Gameplay, 9/10.

Gameplay, as always is the most important aspect of a game, and is shown to be known in this game. Hence the unbelievable play mechanics. The game plays very similar to the original SMB games, though with many changes. Mario is still hitting blocks, collecting coins, and stomping baddies as he’s always been. But if your hoping to see Raccoon Mario anywhere in this game you will be quite disappointed, as he does not appear in the game. In case any of you are wondering, Nintendo used many map elements as seen in SMW and SMB3, but not the flying ability as seen in SMW and SMB3. Throughout all 80 of the levels in this game, Mario has a variety of tricks and enemies to overpower to reach the flagpole. Also known as the finish. The points earned by jumping at the flagpole range from 100-8000, and even a 1-UP if you grab the very top of the flag pole, designated at the green circle. Throughout the 8 worlds, world 4 and 7 are skipped entirely unless the player finds the secret paths in worlds 2 and 5. Though there are already many in each and every world. Leading every which way. That sums up most of the gameplay. One of the more important things to remember is that there are 3 star coins in each level, but those are used to access certain paths and mushroom houses for a fee of 5 of them. There are also a variety of minigames, 18 in total, 15 from SM64DS, and 3 new ones. The new mingames include Danger Bob-Omb Danger, Whack-A-Monty, and Balloon Racing.

Controls, 8.5/10.

The controls consist of jumping, dashing, sliding, wall jumping, and swimming mainly. A or B to jump, X or Y to dash. You can wall jump off just about anything, and swim in just about any body of water. Unless of course your massive or tiny Mario. Most anemies can be killed by simply being jumped upon, or thrown fire upon. But there are few exceptions. Very simplistic.

Story, 7/10.

The story, as you might’ve guessed, is extremely simplistic, and I’m sure if you even guessed you’d get it right. While walking with Princess Peach, Mario notices Princess Peach’s castle is under attack, and rushes to see. Looking back he sees Bowser Jr., yes, Bowser Jr., taking Princess Peach. And obviously, Mario gives chase. This, is where the game begins. You travel through the eight worlds, fighting boss after boss. Of which include the following. W1: Bowser. W2: Mummipokey. W3: Cheepskipper. W4: Mega Goomba. W5: Petey Piranha. W6: Monty Tank. W7: Lakithunder. W8: Skeletal Bowser(As seen after you’ve defeated Bowser at the end of World 1).

Multiplayer, 7.5/10

The multiplayer consists of no online, but wireless play. One play is Luigi, one player is Mario. Each duke it out to collect a certain amount of power stars before the other. They can also be stolen, by attacking the other player. In addition to this, there are many mini games that are multiplayer compatible. It is definetly something recommended to try if possible. Pretty fun, really.

The game met a massive success upon launching in Japan , selling near 420,000 units in its first day of availability, for a total of 899,518 copies in its first four days of release supposedly. Does that not tell you to get going right now and buy this game..? Because if it doesn’t, there is something incredibly wrong with you. Not as if any of that is of any relevance. A truly unforgettable experience.

Overall, 9/10.