[Barkley's Justice]

How does New Super Mario Brothers stack up post-release? Instant classic? Or right place at the right time?

[Son of Godzilla]

It came out after Meteos so it's existence was unnecessary.

[Shalashaska]

It's not like the game sold all of its copies around release time. It was constantly in the top 10 in Japan for months after its release.

[Christine]

You will not find the unanimity you seek.

[reilo]

It's not like the game sold all of its copies around release time. It was constantly in the top 10 in Japan for months after its release.

It still is...

[claviertekky]

The DS needed a good platformer. NSMB to a certain extent brought that back with a classic Mario though it is not as good as the classics are.

[Andy787]

It is probably the worst game of the traditional Mario series.

[CreatureX3]

Instant classic! Bring on 'New Super Mario Bros. 2'! :D

[akachan ningen]

I'm playing it right now, for the first time, and it's somewhat disappointing. Even though it's called "new" it sure doesn't feel like it. Canvas Curse shits all over it for sure. The only thing that saves it from failure is that the games it emulates were so great.

[Pureauthor]

I think it's a case of 'WE WANT MORE 2D PLATFORMERS'

[echoshifting]

Yeah I love this game but I will confess it is largely because they just don't make 'em like this anymore.

Honestly though, it's a great portable game. Very easy to pick up, play, put down again.

[sphinx]

in their pursue of innovation and new IPs, nintendo sometimes forget what people already want and they prefer to try to guess what new stuff will people like next.

New SMB is what people had been asking for in AGES: a 2d decent, new, from the ground-up Mario adventure.

in fact, it's not just nintendo that fails at knowing what people want:

where is our traditional Megaman? where is our castlevania III: Dracula's curse styled castlevania? where the fuck is our next gen punch-out?

soooo much wasted oppotunities, it's not even funny.

[Oblivion]

NSMB rocks.

[DeathbyVolcano]

It was great. Only problems I had with it:

-Hey, let's give out 90 bajillion 1ups
-The music, while excellent in some levels, is lacking in both quantity and quality at some points
-Very easy bosses, but now that I think about it, all Mario games have easy bosses

I totally would want a NSMB2.

[CreatureX3]

Where is that cool Japanese Super Mario sales chart?

[cartman414]

I'm playing it right now, for the first time, and it's somewhat disappointing. Even though it's called "new" it sure doesn't feel like it. Canvas Curse shits all over it for sure. The only thing that saves it from failure is that the games it emulates were so great.

You just reminded me of the ending of the South Park episode "Passion of the Jew" there.

[Ramirez]

It was way too easy.

[Andy787]

I'm playing it right now, for the first time, and it's somewhat disappointing. Even though it's called "new" it sure doesn't feel like it. Canvas Curse shits all over it for sure. The only thing that saves it from failure is that the games it emulates were so great.

Agreed on all counts, especially Canvas Curse.

[neverknowsbest]

I bought it, played it, beat it and haven't really touched it since. It was enjoyable but certainly not groundbreakingly so. If instead of NSMB it were Jumping Jack's Adventure or some shit like that it'd sell a fraction of the copies it has. It's banking entirely on Mario nostalgia.

[Xellos]

As a reboot for 2D Mario, I thought NSMB was great. Hopefully NSMB 2 is in development somewhere.

[Squidofman]

Right place righter time?

[omg rite]

It is probably the worst game of the traditional Mario series.

Except it's better than Super Mario Bros. 2 and even Super Mario Bros. 1.

You can let nostalgia blind you, but NSMB is the better game.

[grandjedi6]

It came out after Meteos so it's existence was unnecessary.

Wait what?

[USD]

Wait what?

Puzzle games are the new platformers.

[Hollywood_mIRC]

It was great. Only problems I had with it: -Hey, let's give out 90 bajillion 1ups -The music, while excellent in some levels, is lacking in both quantity and quality at some points -Very easy bosses, but now that I think about it, all Mario games have easy bosses I totally would want a NSMB2.

I think you have amnesia on the lives thing. Play SMB 3 or SMW all the way through and try not to end up with 99 lives.

I think the game was too barebones, and some stuff in the game was a little annoying. The overworld looked like a Mario Party game, the touch screen was useless, the powerups completely useless, the levels not as good as the classics.

Compare this to the other Game Boy Super Mario Land's - and you have a better comparison of what the game was - it was better than both of those, and as basic.

The next game needs to bring back meaningful powerups - they could be new or old, just bring them back - and the level design needs a lot of work.

[Reilly]

I'm still waiting for a price drop on NSMB.

I'm still waiting for a price drop on Mario 64 DS

[Andy787]

You don't sell this many copies just by being in "the right place at the right time". :lol

[blame space]

NSMB is the MGS2 of the Mario franchise.

I don't even know what I mean by this post. Goodnight GAF

[Zeppu]

NSMB is awesome.

Don't care what anyone says, it's a brilliant game which was refreshing and innovative. God knows a good 2D mario platformer hadn't been released since super mario world. Yes it was incredibly easy to beat, then again, both super mario lands on the gameboy were easy. And just beating it isn't all. Getting the coins on all levels gives it replay value.

I think it's a brilliant game, great new power-ups, a good diversity in the worlds, and I like the mario vs luigi multiplayer too.

my vote: Instant classic.

[CreatureX3]

The continued success of Brain Age, Brain Age 2 and Big Brain says otherwise.

[Space A Cobra]

Great game, easily worthy of the Mario title. My only real complaint was the difficulty but it wasn't such as to kill the game. I'm glad to see it selling so well, it deserves it.

[Deku]

By the vague standards laid out by the OP, any successful game can be trivialized as such.

Timing is important, but I think the market was simply ready for it and it was also on the right platform.

[Iam Canadian]

I think you have amnesia on the lives thing. Play SMB 3 or SMW all the way through and try not to end up with 99 lives.

Super Mario World I'll give you, but dying is actually a possibility in Super Mario Bros. 3.

I think New Super Mario Bros. was just the result of Nintendo keeping a new traditional Mario game from us for ten years. Not that NSMB wasn't a good game; it definitely was; but it would never have made the splash it did if traditional Mario games had been the status quo over the past while.

[kaleii]

If by "Right place" you mean "Planet Earth" and with "Right time" you mean "Modern age of civilization", then yes.

[NullPointer]

Anybody who hasn't tried to collect all the coins shouldn't be listened to. Seriously.

Its like playing Crackdown and ignoring all the orbs.

NSMB was and is a great game IMHO.

[polyh3dron]

Canvas Curse shits all over it for sure. The only thing that saves it from failure is that the games it emulates were so great.

[Polari]

I loved it. The most fun I had with a game since Sunshine.

[alistairw]

Good game, not a great game. I've replayed Mario World more times than I'd care to count, but I've only ever played through NSMB twice. That said, I'll be buying a sequel day one when it happens.

[Arch]

More like "Hmm, 40 million Super Mario Bros sold, 33 million Super Mario Bros 3 sold...HAY THOSE WERE PRETTY GOOD IDEAS, I BET WE COULD DO IT AGAIN"

And they did. Not that it's a bad game, but it's Mario Bros. It had been 15 years since a real, 2d Mario platformer. It(the sales) were bound to happen no matter when it would've been released.

[Matt_C]

When I first played NSMB, it is the 3d graphics mario game I always wanted to play.

NSMB is what Mario 64 should of been, and yes I played about a few hours of Mario64 in 2002. Sorry I prefer fast 2d platforming over multi-hour 3d fetch quests.

Now, what about a SMB for the Wii?

[Galactic Fork]

I think the problem with NSMB is that it was trying too hard to emulate both 1 and 3, which are too different of platformers to mix.

If Super Mario Brothers came with a save system it wouldn't be nearly as fun.

But for the most part, I agree with Son of Godzilla.

[cartman414]

One thing they shouldn't have done was give the spin jump the ability to break every single brick. Made it a little easy at times to get on the right tier.

[Stop It]

Super Mario World I'll give you, but dying is actually a possibility in Super Mario Bros. 3. I think New Super Mario Bros. was just the result of Nintendo keeping a new traditional Mario game from us for ten years. Not that NSMB wasn't a good game; it definitely was; but it would never have made the splash it did if traditional Mario games had been the status quo over the past while.

Yes, you could die in SMB 3, but we all know World 1 was a 1up fest, ye old jumping on those flying Goombas trick for one gained more lives than you'll need throughout the game.

Anyway, I really, really need to pick me up a copy of NSMB, I honestly haven't had time to play it (Or much on my DS) So I may wait until Christmas to get it for myself :)

[mj1108]

If the DS releases are anything to go by, it doesn't matter when it's released. The only thing that matters is that it DOES get released.

[Jokeropia]

It's a fantastic game that deserves all the success it's getting.

[AniHawk]

I liked it. I was a bit surprised that I liked it. I wouldn't call it "surprisingly good." The surprise for me was that I had pretty much written it off after I'd beaten it once. Then, for some reason, I tried going after all the coins, which required some platforming skill, and the game jumped from "meh" to "awesome."

[.dmc]

Damn this board is full of cynical arseholes..

[catfish]

It's a fantastic game that deserves all the success it's getting.

^

Best of breed and holds its own against its predecessors.

[Odrion]

My favorite DS game and really, really, really, really fucking needs a sequel.

God Nintendo, don't hold out on us for another ten years. Give us more. :[

[thefro]

It's a great game, and a decent challenge to get all the hidden coins.