5/15/06 - Super Mario Bros. (DS)

[Samwise]

Woohoo!  A bona fide Mario platformer!  From all I hear it's a worthy successor to the previous Mario games.

[schild]

It's Sunday morning! You're doing my job!










Thanks! :P

And yes, I put my preorder in a week or so ago. Should be good.

[Strazos]

Agreed.

[schild]

Picking up my copy today. Sorta stoked. Still not happy about walljumping. Will probably beat it in a sitting or two. Anyone else getting theirs this evening?

[andar]

I don't like hills in this game, and it doesn't control as well as previous mario platformers.  Still fun--but I wouldn't give it a 93% like ign and others did.  On the 'honest' scale where 0-50% is for bad games and a 70% is still fun, but not the greatest ever, I'd give it around 78%. 

[schild]

Physics are bad. Powerups are bad. Game seems short (90 minutes played roughly on World 5). Bosses are too easy. Walljumping is just annoying and makes the game too vertical.

Other than that, I think it's awesome and could pretty much recommend it to anyone. The level design is - for the most part - phenomenal. I think they tried too hard.

[voodoolily]

Ach I've had it for a coupla weeks and am just now joining you. I like it very much but am annoyed at the revisitation of instant death (vs. hit points or a health meter). That's just a little old skool for me. Yes I am a pussy.

The wall jumps aren't bad; since I still play Mario 64 from time to time I've stayed pretty honed. I hafta disagree with schild about wall jumping creating too much verticality. I like the little licks of some vert in a game that is nearly entirely horizontal. Again, I think after all these years of 3D, a side-scroller can feel just a little too restrictive.

I like the easy 3-jump-and-yer-dead bosses, because I think it's more reminiscent of the original SMB. And because I am a pussy. But I HATE all of the strategic-jump-on-mushrooms levels. Those ones in level 3 are like bucking broncos and I kept missing the last star coin which really pisses me off.

Having been playing Super Princess Peach up until I plugged this one in, a lot of the tricks were still fresh. I am very much looking forward to the new Paper Mario, though. The new SMB teeters on the line of 'fun' and 'frustrating' a little too often to spend a whole afternoon relaxing with the DS. I found myself screaming at the thing far too much.

[Samwise]

I'm annoyed by the fact that there are a finite number of times you can ever save the game.  That seems like a really poor choice for a collection-driven game.  I guess once you've burned all the save points on the map you just never turn your DS off?

The actual gameplay is very good, though.  Even if I do miss the range of powerups they had in SMB3.

[Yegolev]

I'm annoyed by the fact that there are a finite number of times you can ever save the game.

Double you tee eff?

[Samwise]

Okay, I take that gripe back - it's only a problem until you beat the end boss.  Basically, until that happens, there is no "Save" command on the menu, so you can ONLY save when automatically prompted, which is only after you either unlock a new part of the map (finite number of those in the game) or beat a fortress for the first time (finite number of those in the game).

This absolutely drove me crazy when I started the game for the first time, since I had a window of about fifteen minutes to play and never got to the first save point in that time.  So I try to quit the game, and it warns me that I haven't saved my progress.  I go look for the "Save" command that it obviously wants me to run, and it's NOT THERE.  So I ended up replaying the first few levels a few times until I finally figured out that I had to just leave the DS on until I beat the next fortress, at which point it would let me save.

After you beat the end boss, though, a "Save" command magically shows up in the menu, WHERE IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALL ALONG, ASSWIPES, and you can save whenever you want.

[voodoolily]

I've not had enough time to goof off with it much more, and I kinda want to see the ending of Lost in Blue still. I tried to see what happens if you just get back in the raft to float away, and the hilarious thing is you just die.

[ahoythematey]

Spending star coins anywhere gives you the option to save.  It is essentially the save system SMW used.