Topic: New Super Mario Bros. 2

[nickmitch]

Nintendo needs to announce something soon if the only thing people have to complain about hearing "bah" in the music for NSMB2.

[tendoboy1984]

So for those of you who have played the game, what do you think of the level design? From the walkthrough videos I've seen on YouTube, the level design looks pretty good.


EDIT: I can't find the review for New Super Mario Bros. 2 on Famitsu.com. Using Google Translate to translate the site into English didn't even help.

[nickmitch]

Apparently is got all 9s.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=482910

Did you want to read the review? Because I don't think Famitsu reviews ever say that much.

[tendoboy1984]

Apparently is got all 9s.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=482910

Did you want to read the review? Because I don't think Famitsu reviews ever say that much.

I was hoping I could actually find the review on Famitsu's website. I searched around and couldn't find anything. The Japanese version of NSMB2 wasn't even listed in their database.

[TJ Spyke]

Their reviews tend to be about 2 sentences per reviewer, you aren't missing out on much.

[nickmitch]

I think we had a discussion about that somewhere. Someone linked to a site ranting about Famitsu.

[ThomasO]

From what I've read the reward for getting 1 million coins is a new title screen. Probably as bad, if not worse than Sunshine's reward for all 120 Shine Sprites.

[Mop it up]

I think that's a bad reward for something that's an advertised goal.

[Shaymin]

Better than five shiny sprites on the file select screen like in Mario Wii.

/missed them by one level
//isn't bitter or anything
///cries

[Pixelated Pixies]

*The following is not intended to be incendiary and neither should it be thought of as whining. These are just my opinions of a video game I played*
 
Got this game yesterday and have just seen the credits for the first time (I say for the first time because there's still quite a few secret exits, star coins and no doubt worlds to see). Of the 6 worlds that I've played though my expectations were met and my worries realised. The game is, indeed, another fun Mario 2D Platformer, but it truely is tame bordering on trite.
 
Much has been said of the fact that the basis for NSMB 2 was created from concepts and ideas which were spawned of a 'Mario cram school', in which a younger group of developers were taught how to make Mario levels; and maybe that's part of the problem. The NSMB series has always felt to me as though Nintendo took the Mario series as a whole and distilled it's basic elements into a set of rules and blueprints. Ones which can be taught, copied and applied. NSMB 2 feels like the result of such administration.
 
With each level and world of NSMB 2 I felt like I was going through the motions. There were no new twists, no new mechanics, no new power-ups (shooting golden balls as oppose to flaming ones doesn't count), no NEW anything. The levels were fun, but they weren't as fun as the first time I'd played them in [insert relevant Mario precursor]. With the Mario series Nintendo has always had a healthy does of nostalgia and it's never been shy about bringing back mechanics and concepts from previous games, but by and large the series has managed to walk that line of being rejuvenative rather than falling into the trap of lethargy.
 
New Super Mario Bros on the other hand feels like a series sleepwalking.

[Kairon]

I wonder if this is what it feels like to have "B" teams make your handheld games. I wonder if this is what owning a Vita is like. *treasures his copy of Mario 3D Land*

[NWR_insanolord]

I feel like I'd appreciate the New Super Mario Bros. games a lot more if I didn't have to compare them to EAD Tokyo's Mario games. In a vacuum, the DS and Wii (and based on what little I've played, 3DS and Wii U) NSMB games are very good Mario games. I'd personally give them the edge over any 2D Mario that came before them except SMB3.

The problem comes when you compare them to the other contemporary Mario games, which are so much more creative and experimental, and feel a lot more like the spirit of the older games. While the NSMB games are good, they do sometimes feel like they were just going through the motions, and I think a lot of that is by comparison to the Galaxy games and 3D Land.

[Pixelated Pixies]

I feel like I'd appreciate the New Super Mario Bros. games a lot more if I didn't have to compare them to EAD Tokyo's Mario games. In a vacuum, the DS and Wii (and based on what little I've played, 3DS and Wii U) NSMB games are very good Mario games. I'd personally give them the edge over any 2D Mario that came before them except SMB3.

The problem comes when you compare them to the other contemporary Mario games, which are so much more creative and experimental, and feel a lot more like the spirit of the older games. While the NSMB games are good, they do sometimes feel like they were just going through the motions, and I think a lot of that is by comparison to the Galaxy games and 3D Land.

They (being the NSMB games) definitely suffer from comparison to their more exciting siblings (3D Land and the Galaxy games); but I would argue that the NSMB series suffers not only when compared to superior Mario games, but also when compared to other modern platformers. We're very fortunate to be gaming in an era in which indies, many of whom were likely inspired by games like Bros. 3, are stealing all the best bits of the 8 and 16 bit generations and leveraging them in such a way as to make something distinctive and exciting.

[tendoboy1984]

So we are really comparing 3D platformers and 2D platformers?


That's like comparing Contra and Halo. Sure they're both shooters, but one is in 2D, and the other is in 3D, and they both play differently.

[NWR_insanolord]

I'm not comparing their gameplay; I'm comparing the overall feel of the games, and the perceived level of effort and creativity that went into crafting them, which doesn't require the games to be that similar in play.

[Kairon]

Game's up for download for what appears to be MSRP: $39.99.

[Caterkiller]

So we are really comparing 3D platformers and 2D platformers?


That's like comparing Contra and Halo. Sure they're both shooters, but one is in 2D, and the other is in 3D, and they both play differently.

For corn sakes read everything they say first. When people look at me and go "who pissed in his sandwich?" I say "that blasted Tendoboy."

I really can't wait to play this game. Just to really check it out myself. If it goes through the motions as much as people say I hope fans become very vocal about it. I'd love to read an Iwata asks that discusses the criticism of this game being more or less a level expansion pack, if that is indeed what it is to most folks.

[Pixelated Pixies]

So we are really comparing 3D platformers and 2D platformers?


That's like comparing Contra and Halo. Sure they're both shooters, but one is in 2D, and the other is in 3D, and they both play differently.

Surely that's the whole point about making a comparison? The process of comparison not only allows for difference, it's pointless without it. The pertinent difference that insanolord was highlighting, and that I agree with, is the disparity in quality between the games. I do appreciate that to compare two game series' which differ in composition or genre is more difficult , but surely we can assess how successfully each is at what they intended to do? Their intended purpose being to entertain us.
 
I would also argue that the differences between a 2D Mario platformer and a 3D Mario platformer are not as drastic as you suggest, but that would be getting even deeper into semantics (if that's possible).

[Pixelated Pixies]

I really can't wait to play this game. Just to really check it out myself. If it goes through the motions as much as people say I hope fans become very vocal about it. I'd love to read an Iwata asks that discusses the criticism of this game being more or less a level expansion pack, if that is indeed what it is to most folks.

I feel like I need to keep reiterating this, but, NSMB 2 is a fun game. However, whereas Galaxy 2 felt like a broadening and deepening of the concepts seen in the original Galaxy, NSMB 2 does in fact feel like an expansion pack. I imagine that if Nintendo took the coin collecting metagame and the 15 best levels of NSMB 2 and released it as DLC for NSMB Wii I would have had just as much fun. The problem is that NSMB 2 feels very insubstantial. 3D Land this is not.
 
I look forward to hearing what the rest of you think when you guys play the game.

[tendoboy1984]

I just got the game on the eShop.

PROS:
- the game is FUN
- coin collecting can be addictive
- creative level design
- the remixed NSMB Wii music isn't nearly as bad as I first thought
- Star Coins are well-hidden

CONS
- bosses are easy (Reznor)
- reward for collecting 1 million coins is useless
- only 6 normal worlds, and 3 special worlds (that still gives us a total of 9 worlds) -_-
- lava world is in World 6, instead of World 8
- no online multiplayer makes 2-player co-op unusable

[Caterkiller]

CONS
- lava world is in World 6, instead of World 8

Everything you say from here on out is invalid.

[tendoboy1984]

CONS
- lava world is in World 6, instead of World 8

Everything you say from here on out is invalid.

But it's true! Nintendo gave us 6 normal worlds, and 3 special worlds. That still gives the game a grand total of 9 worlds. Nintendo could have at least given us 8 normal worlds, and 3 special worlds, but they wanted to do things the easy / lazy way.

[Tizona]

So I just got this this morning with my shiny new XL.

I've only just played the first world, but I can already say that I actually think the coin mechanic is a nice wrinkle, IF, you choose to "play the game" and go for high score and the million coins.

What I mean by this is, in the past few NSMB games, coins have been completely useless. To the point of I could be going through a level, see a big cloud of coins in the air, and not even be motivated enough to do the work getting to them because, who cares?

I've never really made it a point to get coins, but now, when that's a more key mechanic, I find myself playing the game much differently, going for every coin I can, looking high and low for little nooks where they may be hidden, etc.

It's not a major game changer, and so far the general game looks like a very normal Mario game, but I think the incentive to "go for the gold" creates just enough of a change in how I play to keep it fresh.

Plus it looks so nice on the big ass screen!

[alegoicoe]

Got my copy at 12am, so far the game is great, its true that it has similarities to the ds version, but to my taste is much more improved, and the 3d effect although subtle is very neat, am quite happynwith the purchase, and 100 coins from club nintendo.

[Kairon]

Sadly, this game came too late for many people who were depending on those 100 Club Nintendo coins for their gold nunchuks.