Over 10 years since Mario’s last 2D outing and 20 years since his platforming debut he’s back at it again in New Super Mario Bros. And while the story is the same one we’ve all come to know and love over the years, the game is anything but as the latest adventure features new moves, new power-ups, new enemies, and new levels to conquer. New Super Mario Bros. may be targeted at casual gamers but it’s definitely a worthwhile play for all.

After seeing videos of giant Mario wreak havoc on everything in his vicinity I couldn’t wait to get my hands on New Super Mario Bros. Then after my first encounter with the huge mushroom and huge Mario I was officially in platforming heaven and couldn’t wait for my next chance to obliterate another level. Sadly that chance rarely materialized as the huge mushroom is only really present in one level and can optionally be obtained through two other avenues. Also when you do obtain and use it in other levels, a lot of the time it doesn’t work so well and much of the time you can even move. I’ll always have fond memories of destroying 1-1 but it’s ultimately too bad the developers didn’t use the big mushroom more.

It's a me, giant Mario!

Then there’s the tiny mushroom. I initially thought it was a great idea but didn’t fully appreciate its power until I morphed into tiny Mario for the first time. Tiny Mario has way more air than Michael Jordan ever had and he can do a few other things that you’ve never seen Mario do before. Thankfully the tiny mushroom is used more often throughout the game and is absolutely necessary to accomplish some tasks. Also, to get all the big gold coins you’ll have to go small more than a few times.

Last and least of all in the new power-up department is the blue shell. It's needed a total of zero times to progress through the game and is only needed a couple times to obtain big gold coins. Yes it lets you swim faster and yes you can bounce all over the place for huge 1up strings but it’s not that fun to control, and is actually a nuisance to use if you’re like me and always have your finger on the run button.