New Super Mario Bros.

NEW SUPER MARIO BROS.

Today, let's start in on the "New" series of Mario games, specifically covering New Super Mario Bros., New Super Mario Bros. Wii, New Super Mario Bros. 2, New Super Mario Bros. U, Super Mario 3D Land, and Super Mario 3D World, or as I like to call them: "The Developers Messing Around with Super Mario Maker for Six Games before Releasing It to the Public." These games are more or less six games that simply follow the basic Super Mario format while not bringing very much new to the table. They were a bit concerning for many fans when no major mainline 3D games were being released at the same time, but now that Odyssey is out, I think everyone's settled on them being a nice, charming little piece of the Mario series.

The first of these games included the basic story of Princess Peach being grabbed by Bowser Jr., leading to Mario pursuing the pair across eight worlds, ending in a showdown with Bowser himself.
So, obviously, Mario is our main character, with Luigi acting as an alternate or second player, able to do everything Mario can do. Of course, the brothers can do the basic run and jump mechanics standard for Mario games, alongside a number of power-ups including the Fire Flower, Super Mushroom, and Starman, alongside a Mini Mushroom that makes the brothers miniature, a blue Koopa shell that lets them tuck inside, impervious to damage, and the Mega Mushroom that shoots them up to colossal size, able to plow their way through every obstacle in their path. (Methinks I smell potential Final Smash material).

Peach doesn't give much, as is pretty standard, while Toadsworth acts mostly as Toad himself did in Super Mario Bros. 3, living in a Toad House, and giving Mario the chance to win a power-up. He can definitely be a color swap of Toad at any rate. Bowser Jr. and Bowser act as our main villains. Bowser Jr. fighting Mario at the midpoint of every world, with Bowser acting as the final boss of World 1 and the true final boss of World 8. Bowser Jr.'s boss battles have him out on his own two feet rather than in a flying machine, making his boss battles more akin to the Koopaling fights than his own (and cementing that he could be an eighth color swap for their moveset, just as they are for his). Across these fights, he will charge forward, jump, hide beneath his shell, and throw Koopa shells. As for Bowser, his boss battles return to their original model, with him standing on a bridge over lava, charging, jumping, and breathing fire, with his final battle adding a bright blue fireball, and a fan shape of fireballs. Another feature to consider is Dry Bowser, the initial final boss of World 8, Bowser but as a skeleton, whose boss fight plays out in the same way, with the addition of his throwing his own bones. Dry Bowser will likely work well as either a color swap or an echo fighter, but I'm not quite certain yet.

Each world features a boss at the end, most of which work mostly as their own boss fight than as a character. These include: Mummipokey, a mummified Pokey that spits balls of tape and burrows underground; Cheepskipper, a very large Cheep Cheep; Mega Goomba, a really big Goomba; Petey Piranha, returning once again to fly, hop around, and dive bomb the stage; Monty Tank, a Monty Mole in a tank that drives around and fires Bullet Bills, adds a turret with every hit, and one occasion will throw out Bob-Ombs; and Lakithunder, a large Lakitu that can shoot lightning from his cloud. Obviously Petey is already here, and most of the others give some options to the enemies they represent, but aren't much on their own.

For enemies, almost all are returning and act mostly the same as they always have. These include Goombas, Koopas, Piranha Plants, Dry Bones, Cheep Cheeps, Pokeys, Lakitus and Spinies, Swoops, Hammer Bros (with Fire, Boomerang, and Sledge variants), Fire Snakes, Bullet Bills, Bloopers, Boos, Whomps, Scuttlebugs, the Unagi of all things, Wigglers, Bob-Ombs, Thwomps, Spike Tops, Moneybags, Buzzy Beetles, Chain Chomps, Fire Chomps, and Amps, all more or less in tact the way you classically remember them. Those that are already playable obviously still are, and those that aren't, well, don't have anything new.

As for new enemies, we have: Sushi, a shark that darts forward; Spike Bass, Cheep-Chomps, and Deep Cheeps, which might as well be Cheep Cheeps except they like to follow you; Blockhoppers, who pretend to be blocks; Skeeters, who dump mines from their bellies; Splunkins, walking pumpkins; Balloon Boos, who start inflating when looked at (something to consider for Boos); Snow Spikes, wintery variants of Spikes who cough up snowballs; Snailicorns, spiky mollusks that charge at you; Broozers, musclebound ghosts that like breaking things; Squigglers, little baby Wigglers; Crowbers, crows that swoop toward you; and Kab-Ombs, Bob-Ombs but they have some kind of moss on them, I think? Not a whole lot.

As for the eight worlds, each of them follow a basic climate zone common to Mario games. World 1 is a Grassland, World 2 is a Desert, World 3 is a Beach, World 4 is a Jungle, World 5 is a Snowland, World 6 is a Mountain Range, World 7 is in the Sky, and World 8 is a Lava Land. We also have Ghost Houses sprinkled here and there, and a Tower and Castle at the end and midpoint of every level.

Items include our Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, and Starman, alongside the Blue Shell, Mini Mushroom, and Mega Mushroom, and of course the Life Mushroom.

Let's see what we've got!

Characters:
Mario: run, jump, fireballs, invincibility, get mini, grow gigantic, Koopa shell armor
Luigi: run, jump, fireballs, invincibility, get mini, grow gigantic, Koopa shell armor
Princess Peach: not much
Toadsworth: give items, cast spells
Bowser: jump, breathe fire, charge, blue fireball, fan of fire
Dry Bowser: jump, breathe fire, charge, throw bones
Bowser Jr.: grab, charge, tuck in shell, jump, throw Koopa shells
Petey Piranha: fly, hop, divebomb
Goomba: walk forward, fly
Koopa: walk, tuck in shell, fly
Piranha Plant: rise, chomp, breathe fire
Dry Bones: walk, fall apart
Lakitu: float around, throw Spinies, lightning
Hammer Bro: throw hammers, boomerangs, fire, jump around, slam down
Blooper: dart up
Boo: hide face, float around, puff up
Monty Mole: drive tank, fire bullet bills, throw Bob-Ombs

Bosses:
Mummipokey
Cheepskipper
Mega Goomba
Monty Tank
Lakithunder

Stages:
World 1 - Grassland
World 2 - Desert
World 3 - Beach
World 4 - Jungle
World 5 - Snowland
World 6 - Mountains
World 7 - Sky
World 8 - Lava Land
Ghost House
Bowser's Castle

Items:
Fire Flower
Super Mushroom
Starman
Blue Shell
Mini Mushroom
Mega Mushroom
Life Mushroom

Thanks for reading! Next time, we'll be covering New Super Mario Bros. Wii!