A look at New Super Mario Bros from and old Super Mario Bros fan

Ever since I was about 6 years old I have been playing Mario games. Sadly, I only began with Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64, so I don’t have the strong NES roots many of today’s hardcore gamers have. My girlfriend and her sister, neither of which are hardcore gamers, do, however. They remember the fast-paced running and jumping thrills of the first real side-scroller, and all the little nuances in the controls and the level design. Even today I can see my girlfriend pull out the SNES and pop in Super Mario World and just run flawlessly from level one all the way till the end without even breaking a sweat. I tried my hand at player 2, and she quickly told me to leave it to her; go figure.

Why am I mentioning all of this? Well it’s because recently I borrowed Super Mario Bros Wii from Nisute headquarters to see what all the fuss was about, and also to pass it on to my girlfriend, just to see if it passed her nostalgia test. To be completely honest, every other Mario platformer that I have put in her hands, she has quickly put it down, claiming it doesn’t feel the same as the originals. When I suggested playing NSMBW, she was interested considering the hype, but I was very surprised at the reaction it got from her and her sister. Read more