Best New Super Mario Bros. game

[TK14]

I'm in the vast minority (knowingly), but I would have to say NSMB 2 (by a hair). I own and have played a good amount of all 4, but I've only beaten the DS and 3DS versions. To me, the multiplayer focus of the Wii and Wii U games makes the levels feel too open and empty when playing single-player, and personally I found the multiplayer to be borderline terrible. The handheld versions however just feel "right" to me…with the camera zoomed in a bit more so there's no "empty" feeling. The NSMB series in general, in my opinion, is lazy. They've recycled the same world themes, the same damn music (an unforgivable sin given the talent of Nintendo's various music teams), and the art design and graphics just seem half-assed. The DS game was a novelty when it first came out cause it had been so long. The other three are aggravatingly redundant. However, I can almost forgive both of the handheld versions because the series feels more "at home" there. If they were to try and be creative and go in a new direction with the level designs, or art style, or music, or graphics…THEN it'd be okay to make console NSMB games. The way they are though…there isn't an appropriate amount of effort put in for the console ones. Handhelds, with lower system specs and the cheaper price point is more acceptable. This is long-winded, sorry…basically I only like the DS and 3DS versions and of those two I like NSMB 2 slightly more just because it looks nicer and I love 3DS, so I'm biased. :p