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New Super Mario Bros. 2 Game Review

New Super Mario Bros. 2 is a 2012 platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It was an inferior entry to its predecessors.

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“Secret!“

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This game got pretty good reviews back when it was released, but now it’s ranked among the weaker entries in the mainline Mario franchise and for many valid reasons. It lacked the innovation and excitement of mot previous entries, relying too much on the already established formula and failing to include anything truly unique.

The plot is been there, done that. It’s the same old scenario with no meaningful alterations. I even predicted the final Bowser fight going on longer than initially seemed. I loved the voice acting, though. Mario sounds as wonderful as ever and some of his catchphrases here are quite funny. I really liked the new exclamation whenever you find out a secret level – “Secret!” There are no bugs here, the menu system is simple, and we see the same map from before, which was fine for me as I find it intuitive and easy to follow, but again it needed more unique elements of its own.

This is a sequel to the first ‘New Super Mario Bros.’ and not the Wii game. I would say that the two of a similar quality. This one improves upon many things, but it’s also a rehash of most of that game’s elements. It’s a 2.5D game, but it’s effectively a 2D game in a very traditional sort of way. Graphically, the game left a lot to be desired. It looked pretty serviceable and the characters were polished and well animated. I really liked some of the well imagined background work too. But the overall look was a bit too familiar.

As for the sound, it’s excellent per usual, but the soundtrack was pretty much a repeat of the first game with very few new additions, which made it feel lazy and tiresome. All of those tunes are just as enjoyable and catchy now as they were back in the aforementioned entry, but still it needed more fresh tunes. We do get some, though, in those additionally unlocked worlds and those were so elegant, fun and charming that they made me wanting for more.

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The overall gameplay is pretty much the same too with only a few minor additions and/or alterations. There is a huge emphasis here on collecting coins. There is even a power-up called Gold Flower that turns everything into coins for you to collect. The coin-collecting was fun for sure and it led to a visually cluttered, but very entertaining playthrough. My issue lies in the fact that they don’t matter much. It would have been a much better choice to include special items that can only be bought for coins and that would have been a great incentive to seek them as often as possible.

Instead, items are bought with Star Coins. The power-ups are just the same as they were in previous games, even including the Super Leaf that was first introduced in ‘Super Mario Bros. 3’. That raccoon suit was absolutely crucial as many levels require from you to fly around the levels to collect collectibles that are hidden either in the sky or in inconvenient spaces on the ground. There is also a power-up that makes you invincible and that is activated for you when the game sees that you are struggling with a certain level, which made it feel quite insulting.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 has multiplayer that sounds interesting, but I couldn’t play it myself sadly. Playing this game on a Citra emulator was sometimes a chore as I encountered some bugs with the save states, but at least the save system inside the game worked and I really liked the overworld map that was intuitive, though familiar. The game is actually rather easy and short. The difficulty level at first seemed to be insultingly easy, especially for a Super Mario game, but when you finish the main six worlds, you can unlock the three additional ones and it is there where the game became quite demanding.

I 100% completed the game and once again that required getting every single Star Coin. They are scattered throughout each level and mostly were hidden in very tough spaces, sometimes requiring to either by hit with thrown enemies or collected while flying. Of the six main worlds, I preferred the snow and desert one over all the others, but once again we get most of the regular landscapes and themes repeated, which was frustratingly lazy from the developers.

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But the other three worlds are quite tough thankfully so. Both the collectibles and the overall levels were refreshingly difficult and I really appreciated how you get into these worlds. You see, in order to unlock them you need to find a secret exit inside some levels. Finding these exits is fun if you know where they are, but otherwise they were too well hidden to find on your own. But these added a much needed level of complexity to an otherwise easy, straightforward game.