At first glance it looks like another typical Mario title complete with Goombas, Koopas, "?" Blocks, platforms, mushrooms, etc. Then I came to a coin brick that you can hit repeatedly and like any good Mario player, I do just that. Suddenly, the block dislodges from its suspended place in the air, and became stuck on Mario's head, and every few steps I took, a coin got added to my total! Curious, I began running and jumping and coins started streaming out of the block on Mario's head. Now I'm only 20 seconds into the first level of the game and I've already got 60 coins and suddenly the one million mark doesn't seem like it will be as daunting of a task.
This game is a direct sequel to the original New Super Mario Bros. for the DS and just like its predecessor and New Super Mario Bros Wii, NSMB2 keeps the same style, music, and gameplay. You know how in NSMBWii the Koopas and Goombas dance to the music? Yeah, that's back too! A 2D side scrolling platformer, get to the end of the level and touch the flagpole, collecting coins and power-ups along the way. The difference is this time, almost everything you do can cause coins to appear. And I mean everything. If you see a ledge that just looks out of place and serves no purpose, hop on it, and a couple rows of coins can appear out of thin air! Hit a switch and pipes may start spewing coins everywhere! Wario would probably have a seizure if he saw this vagrant display of financial hijinks. There may even be something if you reach the flagpole under certain conditions.... Hmm....
The Tanooki Leaf makes a return in NSMB2 and this time it functions more like the original one in the NES's Super Mario Bros. 3. Grabbing the leaf will turn you into Racoon Mario allowing you to whip enemies and blocks with a swing of your tail and flutter down slowly from a jump or fall. Also returning from Mario 3 is the ability to take flight after running a short distance, allowing you to reach greater heights (and more coins!) Pro tip: if a block gives you the Tanooki Leaf, you should probably try flying up somewhere in that immediate vicinity. Just sayin'.
A new power-up item in this game is the Golden Fire Flower which turns you into -- you guessed it -- Golden Mario. And let me tell you, this item is about as awesome as a Mario power-up can get. As Golden Mario you will throw fireballs that are golden in color, and every enemy it hits will give you 5 coins, or if you hit a chain of enemies the number of coins will increase like multipliers. Every block that gets hit will turn into a coin, and also destroy surrounding blocks into coins as well. You can unleash sheer golden fury and wipe out whole screens worth of enemies and blocks with this item, all the while fueling your own greed for coins. I'm not usually a perfectionist, but damn it when I had that golden fire power in my hands, there wasn't a single block or straggling Koopa left unscorched. I turned them all into cash without a single one left to tell the tale.
One of the other new additions is the Golden Ring that when touched, turns all enemies in the area to gold. Eliminating them or otherwise using them (such as kicking a Koopa shell) will produce coins. This effect lasts for about 10 full seconds so make sure to take advantage of it as best you can! It feels really good to jump on a Koopa, get five coins, then kick it so a trail of money starts flowing behind it, chase after it, and watch as every enemy it encounters gets you an increasing amount of coins per hit.You may not think you're greedy now, and you're not going to bother trying to collect a million coins, but let me tell you when you see that money popping up everywhere, you're gonna find yourself going out of your way to grab every last coin. You will make daredevil jumps and take risks you'd normally never think about just to make sure you nab every single penny.
The hub world consists of a map with levels that must be completed to form a path to the next level. Also present on the hub screen is a counter that tracks your total coin count that you have collected throughout the game. It's this very coin counter that will mock you and also motivate you. Every time you enter a level, you see the numbers there, telling you how far you've come or how far you still have left to go, (y'know the whole half-empty, half-full thing) to reach that shiny million mark. As is typical of the Mario formula, each world has a theme (grasslands, desert, iceland, etc) and you can only progress to the next world after clearing the castle of your current world. Each area has some levels that can only be accessed by discovering secret exits within some of the levels themselves and these new areas can open shortcuts across the maps or take you to new areas with special coin levels, like for example riding on a platform while hundreds of coins are just rained down upon you and your only goal is to collect as many as possible. Pretty sweet right?
New Super Mario Bros. 2 features two new modes as well. For those who loved playing co-op in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, you can relive the fun and frantic action with a 2nd player who also owns the game via local wireless connection. With Luigi at your side you can topple enemies together and also work together and gather as many coins as possible. ...Or choose to betray each other so you can get more. Whatever strategy works best for you. The other mode is one that everyone seemed excited about and I didn't share their enthusiasm until I played it. The all-new Coin Rush Mode gives you a single life, and throws you into a set of three randomly selected stages from levels you've already cleared. Your goal is to race to the finish as quickly as possible, while also collecting as many coins as you can along the way. Getting the highest number of coins in the fastest possible time can only be accomplished by practicing speed runs, and studying where the biggest amounts of coins can be found in each level. It's quite an experience trying to rush through a level, yet grab every coin, and avoid hazards. It's a nice balance of risk and reward and you may impress yourself with how fast you can go when that timer starts flashing red. Also if you have Streetpass enabled for the game you can send and receive Coin Rush challenges to see if you can beat other player's high scores.
New Super Mario Bros. 2 has quite a bit to offer and will give you hours of gameplay goodness. But like all good things it does have to come to an end, and the replay value isn't the best. Sure there's all the hidden levels to find, and there are 3 Star Coins hidden in every level and of course reaching your one million coin goal. But after you beat the game, there really isn't much more to do, as is typical of most Mario games. But it'll take you a while to get to that point, and Nintendo has released waves of paid DLC producing all-new Coin Rush challenges and special levels to try out.
***Synopsis***
New Super Mario Bros. 2 brings about classic Mario side scrolling gameplay, with the added task of gathering as many coins as humanly possible (and then gathering more.) What happens when you get to 1,000,000? I'm not gonna tell you here, so only one way to find out. Co-op and Coin Rush Modes allow for new ways to play and test your platforming and coin collecting skills. Great game if you're a fan of the Mario series.
Have you hit the 1,000,000 mark? Do you have a Coin Rush video you want to show off? Contact me with your questions and comments, maybe show off some of your records. I'm here for all your gaming needs!
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