The original Super Mario Brothers was the first NES game I played when I got the NES as birthday present back in 1988 (my older brother had an Atari, so I had a bit of an experience with games, even though I was only four..Pitfall being the very first game I played), fell in love with it immediately, and its sequels were among my favorite NES games, also loved Super Mario World, though not to the extent of Super Mario Bros 3, which is my favorite 2D Mario game.

When NSMB for the DS was announced I was pretty excited, and despite not enjoying handheld gaming I had to make an exception..after all, it was the first new 2D Mario in 15 years! (I never considered Yoshi´s Island a 'true' 2D Mario game)...though, after finishing it, it was just 'ok'.

When NSMB Wii was released 3 years ago, I got pretty darn excited (again), despite not having really enjoyed NSMB like I expected to, but I thought to myself "hey, maybe the reason I didn´t really enjoy NSMB was because it´s a handheld game, and I don´t like handheld gaming, and this is the first 2D Mario on a home console in 18 years!"...as predicted, I enjoyed it far more than the DS version, but still something was missing.

And more recently, i borrowed my brother´s 3DS and Wii U to play NSMB 2 and NSMBU...didn´t enjoy NSMB 2 and was somewhat looking forward to NSMBU after hearing about the game being a successor to Mario World, but honestly, I got to world 4 and have no desire to keep playing.

Thing is, it´s not because I´m tired of 2D platformer games...I´m not, I love some of them on XboxLive Arcade, really enjoy DKC Returns, and even today, i can go back and play Mario 3/Mario World from start to finish and love every second of it, but i can´t say the same about the NSMB games.

My opinion is..Retro did a better job of capturing the "essence" of the DKC games than Nintendo has done of capturing that "magic" of the old 2D Mario games.

One of the things that I think it´s pretty lame is the recycled music, especially that 'wah wah' music...listen to this superb Mario Galaxy OST

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ_mM06vkdE

Why can´t they put that effort in the new 2D Mario games?

I feel the same way. Mario games used to have ambition and new content.

I played all of the Mario games back in the day. As for NSMB I loved it. It was so great to be playing a Mario platform game after so many years. This was the main reason I bought the DS, and I wasn't disappointed. NSMB Wii was even better due to the multiplayer. It was great being able to play with my brother, who's 14 years younger than me. NSMB 2 was pretty good. The level design was still top notch, but there was something missing. As for NSMBU... there are some moments where I found myself a little bored but there were other moments where I was amazed by the brilliant level design.

I think New Super Mario Bros. was one of the better games of the last ten years, and one of the two best games for DS. I wasn't crazy about New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but I did have fun playing it. Haven't played 2 or U yet, so I can't comment.

It's pretty hard to top games like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. The DS came closest, in my opinion.

The problem is we've been so spoiled by amazing Mario games from Nintendo. It's tough to compete with games that are among the top 20 of all time.

I hated NSMB on the Wii. I beat it and thought it was terrible. Not only was the entire game a tutorial, that you can't turn off, it was super easy. I had 99 lives the whole game. I guess the levels were okay but it didn't compare to SMB3. I can't tell you how angry I was evertime a notice popped telling me how to use a freak'n mushroom, every time I got a mushroom. Mario has always been pretty kid friendly, I was completely fine at 4-6 playing mario so who are they targeting with NSMB? 2 year olds?

IMO super mario World was the best.The games now are great but it does seem too easy compared back to nes/snes days.

The classics will always be better because that what made them so great. Anything after that just seems, like you said, recycled. NSMB is still a great game and fun to play, it just seems more effort goes into game like Mario Galaxy and Mario 3D Land. Which, for me, are superior games. But Nintendo is playing their cards right. There is a huge demand for NSMB and it is a cash cow with minimal effort. But as of late, we have seen soooo much Mario it kinda makes me sick. Since Super Mario World in 1990 we hadn't seen classic Mario for 16 years (2006, DS). So, to see him return was AWESOME! Now, we saw him again in 2009 (Wii) and twice already in 2012 (3DS & WiiU). The nostalgia is starting to wear off!

swii26 said:
The classics will always be better because that what made them so great. Anything after that just seems, like you said, recycled. NSMB is still a great game and fun to play, it just seems more effort goes into game like Mario Galaxy and Mario 3D Land. Which, for me, are superior games. But Nintendo is playing their cards right. There is a huge demand for NSMB and it is a cash cow with minimal effort. But as of late, we have seen soooo much Mario it kinda makes me sick. Since Super Mario World in 1990 we hadn't seen classic Mario for 16 years (2006, DS). So, to see him return was AWESOME! Now, we saw him again in 2009 (Wii) and twice already in 2012 (3DS & WiiU). The nostalgia is starting to wear off!


Tbone↓
Another one should be made but in a few years and make it superior to the others, but what you said its true. They should release a 3D mario game for wii u and start working on their othr franchise's next three years. DK returns sequel. Best and most challenging last decade(nintendo franchise's) and bring back star fox and f-zero!

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.

Nintendo should have an option to turn that shit off.