I played the old SMB games on release and I play the new ones. I enjoy both. The difference for me is that the old ones were ground-breaking. The side-scrolling levels, what seemed like a giant world, a true ending... that made SMB amazing. SMB3 was simply the best game made to date at the time in virtually every way...graphics, gameplay, sound.... so many power-ups. I think the series stalled a bit with SMW in that the graphics, while good, were not as cutting edge as others on the system. Still a great game though. Really great. I think with the "New" games, they don't push the boundaries enough. Mega-Mario was pretty cool, but they don't do enough of that. And I think they need to really push graphical abilites of the system. I look at games like LBP or Trine as ones that push graphics levels in side scroling. Mario Bros should do that. Mario 3 was, for the day, like combining Mario Galaxie's wow factor and inovation with the ease of play of NSMB. To hit those old hights they need to bring those qualities together again, and it's not easy. Mind-blowing graphics and a pile of cool powerups would be a great start.
