New Super Mario Bros.
In the year 1985 probably the biggest and most influential game came out for a small time game manufacturer called Nintendo on their Famicom system. By this time Nintendo had kicked up a sandstorm of Japanese fans from their ventures into arcade classics such as Donkey Kong.

However, the kick-start of the gaming revolution was nothing but a fat Italian plumber called Mario... And his twin pixel brother, Luigi. The game "Super Mario Bros." came out for the Famicom entertainment system by Nintendo, which later got shipped to the states under the title Nintendo Entertainment System, NES. Needless to say, the game was very popular and even though that Nintendo at this era was responsible for such evils as region coding chips, they sure knew how to make good games.

Now, 41 years later Nintendo pays tribute to the original styling of the original Super Mario Bros. video game with a jump, hop and a system later with the New Super Mario Bros. game on the Nintendo DS. To ship the end of June 2006 in Europe and has been out for over a month by the time this article goes out, else where such as the States and Japan, we had to get our hands on a copy of the game. We'll cut to the chase, the game is brilliant. The game play is very much like classical Mario Bros. games yet so different, with new features such as Wall jump as seen in games like Mario 64 (/DS) and Mario Sunshine.

With the return of the good old, flag-pole ending as seen in the original Super Mario Bros. game, (you jump on a pole, the flag comes down and you walk into a small house like castle thing.) which, if you jump on the pole with the time remaining being double digits (say, 299) you'll get fireworks corresponding to the number and a special toad-house.

The game itself however, on the whole plays very differently to the original Super Mario Bros. game. There's a new Map System more like used in Mario Bros. 3 (NES) where you move along the map and press A to enter a stage. Each stage leaves you feeling satisfied that the game is defiantly worth the time and money you spent on it.

Another nice new feature added to the game is toad-houses in which most you will have to pay your way to get to, you pay in Star Coins which you can pick up 3 special star coins in each stage. These coins will also buy you special wallpapers once you complete the game. It's very cool. Toad Houses can be used to acquire old items such as Mushrooms and Fireflowers and the newer items such as Blue Shells, Micro Mushrooms and Big Mushrooms. Micro mushrooms will turn Mario tiny which can be used to squeeze into tiny pipes and jumbo mushrooms can be used to make Mario huge, which can be used to basically destroy the level you're in or lantern bosses.

A nice touch to the game is that new worlds can be accessed via defeating bosses by being Mini-Mario, which is harder than it sounds. Let me tell you. Another crafty secret to the game is that you can find hidden exits in some levels which have RED flags on the flag-pole instead of BLACK flags. These will open up secret passages to different levels and other things such as cannons, pipes and "Lettered worlds". All for you to discover when you buy the game.

Music in the game is amazing, it sounds like nothing you'd expect but it's all you ever wanted from a Mario game, it's got a childish ring to it, but also a very Mario ring to it, some music sounds like it's always been a part of the Mario series without it seeming too distant from a new title, it's a nice mix. What's also cool is that enemies on screen will REACT with music played, if there's a "ah" in the song, enemies and items will JUMP on screen to the music, thus offering a hindrance or a blessing to anyone in a certain situation. Whichever, it's still pretty damn cool.

This review now being twice as long as any other review has been so far, it's time to now wrap it all up. So, the game. It's beautiful, it's magnificent and another classic from Nintendo. Any old school Mario fans out there should snap this game up right away, believe the hype, this game is awesome. Get it or not? Have you been paying attention? GET. The game's out June 30th in Europe for £29.99 (€39.99)