New Super Mario Bros 2 Review: Money Money Money!

Mario’s latest 2D adventure is finally here for the Nintendo 3DS with New Super Mario Bros 2. With the focus on collecting coins, you would almost expect Wario to be involved in the game somehow. Is the focus on collecting coins fun or just a pointless gimmick? Luckily coin collecting is as fun as ever in Mario’s latest platformer entry.

The main aspect of the game deals mainly with the aspect of collecting coins. If you ever played any 2D Mario game before, you might have noticed how hard it is at times to not go around collecting coins when you see them. Take this and knock it up a level and you get this game. There are several new coin related items that are introduced in this new game. The biggest item is the Golden Mario power-up. This is basically like the Fire power-up but will reward you with coins when you hit enemies or blocks. These coin items really do help to make the game fun.

Although the game is indeed fun, there is one major issue with this latest Mario game. It isn’t challenging. I don’t mean that it isn’t hard; I more mean that it is rather way too easy. The boss and mini-boss levels alone are easier than the rest of the game. Might just be me, but I always feared (in a good way) the castles in Super Mario World. The Rhinos alone were both challenging and scary to face. But unlike Super Mario World, I end up pitying the bosses. The Rhinos alone don’t leave much to be desired as you beat them even before any of the platform below falls.

Another issue with the game comes with how it looks. The game looks like it is an upgraded port of the original New Super Mario Bros for the Nintendo DS. Now I’m not saying it looks bad, it just doesn’t look like the development team didn’t put much work behind the looks. This is very much seen when it comes to the 3D effect. It is barely even there. I found myself sticking to 2D instead since there was almost no difference when 3D was added. This is really disappointing when you take in how many existing Nintendo created games for the Nintendo 3DS which have excellent and truly marvelous 3D effects.

Coin Rush might just be the biggest thing in the game. Not only does it help to strengthen the re-play value, but it is quite fun to boot. Each Coin Rush mode consists with three randomly selected levels with the last one always being a min-boss or main boss. The main purpose of Coin Rush is to, obviously, collect coins. The more you collect, the better you preform. At the end of each level, if you happen to beat a boss or reach the top of the flag pole, your currently total coins are doubled. Doing this three times can easily help you reach into the tens of thousands. Streetpass is tied into this mode very nicely. If you streetpass someone with this game, each others saved best Coin Rush is exchanged allowing you both to try to best the other. Coin Rush is very much a redeeming feature in New Super Mario Bros 2 which makes owning the game worth it. Eventually there will even be more reasons to play Coin Rush when DLC is eventually introduced with brand new levels.

Despite it’s several flaws, New Super Mario Bros 2 for the Nintendo 3DS is quite fun. The game may be lacking in challenge, but the Coin Rush and coin collecting in general does a great bit to help extend the gameplay. If you are a fan of 2D Mario games, I do recommend this game. Getting over 10,000 coins in Coin Rush challenge mode has quite a good feeling to it. Even if the game is a very much too easy, the game itself is still fun and rewarding.

Review: 7.5/10

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