What was new became old. New Super Mario Bros was the first new 2D side-scrolling platformer in over 13 years after Super Mario Land 2's release. During that time, Nintendo experimented and released two 3D Mario games for the N64 and GameCube respectively, four remakes of the plumber's past adventures for the Game Boy Advance, and a plethora of spin-offs. Mario was given a ton of support around that time frame, but it was clear something was missing. So in May 2006, Nintendo released New Super Mario Bros to the world on Nintendo's most successful console, the Nintendo DS, trying to recapture the experience of his past 2D adventures while making a few changes to make it accessible to a wider audience, and I think it worked both critically and financially. It takes elements like an overworld and finding secrets (in the form of exits) like in Super Mario Bros. 3 and World and has some classic power-ups that remained unchanged like the Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, and the Star. It's clear that the game was a return to form for 2D Mario, and I think they did it well.

Let's get on to the "new" stuff, starting with the movement. Mario feels so good to control, and they brought moves from the 3D outings like a triple jump and wall jump, and it's so fun to pull off. The Star Coins are the main collectibles of the game, every level has three of them, and they have their own use. You can unlock Toad Houses and additional paths to new levels at the cost of five Star Coins. They're fun to collect, and while the series doesn't reward you with anything cool for completion, they do have their worth compared to something like the Dragon Coins in Super Mario World.

For the items, we have a few new ones. The Mini Mushroom makes Mario extremely tiny, making it easier to walk through small areas that couldn't be possible with normal-sized Mario, and he also has a high jump and can run on water, and the only way to get to Worlds 4 and 7. The Blue Shell (different from Mario Kart) grants the ability to shell dash by either ducking or dashing, decimating through enemies and blocks, but is vulnerable to bottomless pits, lava, and poison if the player is not attentive. I don't like this one; it feels like you're not in control of the shell most of the time and can accidentally trigger the shell dash and lead to deaths that weren't on purpose; I'm glad this one never appeared as a power-up again honestly. Lastly, we have the Mega Mushroom, the one that was featured on the box art and was advertised as this big power-up for the game (no pun intended), but in reality, it wasn't. The item was only implemented to a few levels, and what it essentially does is make Mario or Luigi grow big for a limited amount of time, decimating everything its path while earning some extra lives. I feel mixed on the new items overall, but what about the bosses? Of course, we have Bowser as the main bad guy, but Bowser Jr. is heavily involved in attempting to stop the Mario Bros from proceeding further. We battle him at the end of every tower level and the final castle with a showdown that takes a few seconds long if you have the Fire Flower equipped; very thrilling. The castle bosses are a mix of new and old enemies from past Mario games like Petey Piranha from Mario Sunshine and new ones like the Mummipokey, Cheepskipper, and Dry Bowser. Every boss goes down in three hits like usual, but at least there is some originality here which can't be said with the Koopalings in the following NSMB games. I think you all are starting to see the picture here; there's not enough stuff that can justify as "new" in New Super Mario Bros. When looking at this game from a 2023 perspective, it's a solid 2D platformer, but it comes off as generic, and that statement can be described for all of the NSMB games that came after, starting to feel repetitive and play it safe.

With that said, why do I rate this game a 4/5 then? Well, for two reasons, and both are outside the main game. First, Mario vs. Luigi mode. This is a mode where you and another person with a DS can play locally, select one of the two Mario Bros., and duke it out in a duel where whoever gets the maximum amount of stars wins. If you've not experienced this mode for yourself, I highly recommend it; it's fun just being an ass and steal stars from the other player, it's wonderful. The second reason, and the one thing that beats out every NSMB for me is the minigames. Returning from Mario 64 DS, these were my biggest time wasters growing up, trying to achieve high scores while trying to play every minigame possible as all of them are unlocked plus some new ones that are exclusive to this game. My favorite ones are easily the table minigames featuring Luigi; there's something so addicting about betting in-game coins and playing Picture Poker or Memory Match and witnessing my coin count go up every time I win. So, thank you Luigi for teaching kids how to gamble.

I enjoyed revisiting New Super Mario Bros. While it's generic and not as remembered fondly compared to the classic 2D Mario entries, it's still an enjoyable 6-hour adventure and it has its significance to the Mario series by being a solid return to form. I have a soft spot for this one, and after replaying the whole series in out of order in the span of a few years, the DS one remains the best, all because the others don't have a mode where we can gamble with Luigi.