COINS COINS COINS COINS COINNNNNSSSSSSS.

Wow. It's like you're playing a game that has the number of coins from all of Super Mario 3 and World but in a mere few stages. This game is nuts...but addicting! Does it shower you with as many coins as it does lives, effectively making the weight of death easier on you, the player? Yes, but don't mistake that for the game's quality being shot in the foot. If there's anything 2D Mario's good at (past Lost Levels, anyway) it's being quality fun from beginning to end.

~Shouldn't this be called New Super Mario Bros 3?~

Meanwhile, thanks to the above image,  you are now hearing the boss tune from Super Mario World in your head. Manually.



It's interesting how video game companies number their games. While this is technically the 3rd "New" Super Mario Bros game, this being labeled #2 at least showcases an immediate need to compare to the first DS encounter of the "New" Super Mario Bros franchise...and on that case alone this game is a MASSIVE improvement. The visuals have been improved, the platforming more complex (though showcasing a schizophrenic difficulty akin to Super Mario 3. IE: World Flower being easier than World 3), the number of power ups increased, and more secrets to unlock....and of course the loads of coins. Since its "official" unveiling at E3 last year, New Super Mario Bros 2 welcomes players to indulge in the simple joys of collecting a lot of the gold currency that's rewarded Mario throughout the years.

As such, NSMB 2 wants to reward your curiosity of exploring the levels with hundreds, possibly thousands (if you look in the right spots) of gold coins. Not only do you have a counter keeping track of your lifetime count of gold coins, but the game has multiple ways to giving it all to you.

- Coin Block Head: You know the blocks in practically every 2D Super Mario game that have multiple coins in them? You know, the ones where you have to stand in one spot and hit it as rapidly as possible? Well in THIS game if you hit it enough times in rapid succession the block turns gold and you can wear it over Mario's head. The goal after doing this is to run to the fastest speed you can muster as it will reward you coins for basically being fast.

- Gold Rings: Jump through these in the level and every enemy will turn a golden hue. Each stomp or enemy destroyed counts as a multiplicative of 5 coins, and Koopas that are being thrown while in their shells leave a coin trail. Plus, the level's music gets enhanced while gold sparkles appear in-sync with the music.

- Gold Flower: It's the Fire Flower power-up...but it turns every single block into coins. The rules for "multiples of 5 coins per enemy" also apply here from the Gold Ring attributes merely just by stomping on OR firing the enemies.

 As enjoyable as it is to collect so many coins in a Super Mario game, this means collecting lives is easier than it was in Super Mario 3D Land. Then again, that game didn't have any levels where you can collect over 9,000 coins in a single level. (Hint: It's a level in World 2) This may soften the blow of the challenges in the platforming because you have so many lives and if you die too many times in a single level, the game gives you an Invincible White Raccoon Mario power-up. Trust me though: resist the urge to use it because if you do you will lose a mark on your game file. Doing so means you will never 100% unlock every single spot although I'm having a hard time figuring out if that's possible even saying that much...

~I shouldn't be this addicted, but I am.~

While the game gives you 6 main worlds, 3 hidden worlds, and 9 "Rainbow" levels you have to do a bit of 2D Mario mental battle to discover the lot of them. While the Star Coins appear like frivolous side-quest pickups, they are actually necessary to 100% the file of the game you have as they will allow you to explore every facet of every world you go to: just because you discovered an alternate exit doesn't mean you will always unlock it. My only remaining problem with the Star Coins is after you buy everything you possibly can with them, it feels like there's nothing else to discover.

 The super-rare "Rainbow" levels aren't really anything to write home about (which is a shame)  because while they reward you with no-enemy zones and just give you coins to collect...it's NOT that many compared to practically every single level in the game. I don't recall a single Rainbow level where I gathered more than 300 coins, and that's pathetic. Matter of fact, the very FIRST level in the game can net you over 1,000 coins if you play it right! So what is the true reward for getting these rare Rainbow levels FULL OF COINS if you can hardly collect all of them and if it doesn't even add up more than 300?

(Note: I apologize how many times I've said the word 'coin' in this review...but it's a bit hard when this is mostly the selling point of NSMB 2. )

Now that's not to say that collecting coins isn't enjoyable. When you find levels with a certain 'rhythm' of platforming that you can manipulate to give you 500, 800, 1,000 or even MOER coins: it's so satisfying. It's like beating your own high score on an old video game. The 2D platforming in this game is also enjoyable because nearly every single level is so varied and multi-tier like Super Mario World that you'll find joy just FINDING those alternate exits or rare power-ups. Every single boss fight with Reznor (straight out of Super Mario World) or the Koopa Kids (from Super Mario Bros 3, who all have very unique fights) make each world that they inhabit worthy challenges to overcome.

 

~It's at least better than the original Super Mario Bros 2.~

I at least can understand that at the end of the day, Nintendo has made a brand new franchise of 2D Mario and separating it entirely from the original 2D series by calling it the "New" Super Mario (subtitle here) series. I don't exactly agree with some of the choices (like that Yoshi is only appearing on the Wii and Wii U versions, or the stagnant music...which I don't hate but I wish there were more tunes added per game.) but I don't hate what I'm playing either. If you handed either this or any of the other pre-existing 2D New Super Mario Bros games to somebody who had NEVER played a video game before (or a Mario title at least), the game does its job to bring in new fans while defining what made the originals so great and still 'evolving' bit by bit. Maybe New Super Mario Bros 2 isn't that 'evolved' from its predecessors past the addiction to gold coins, but I think this is at least a stagnation that I'm willing to forgive because the game AS IT STANDS is very enjoyable. The music is damn catchy, the Racoon Mario (From Super Mario 3) is back, the platforming is tight, Bowser is still a prick, the score counter is still useless but oh-so-addicting to add to it, and this is just FUN. I can't deny that this "New" series isn't exactly new anymore but as a Mario game it's still a must buy on every account.