What NSMB Series games are your favorite?
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Carissa
Princess of Calix
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I would say DS if I had to choose one but since the poll is multi choice I also voted NSMB Wii. Both of them are pretty great games and are nostalgic for me because I grew up with them as a kid; but DS is my top pick because it has the minigames and the Mario vs Luigi mode that I used to have tons of fun playing against my older brother, and generally feels like it has more soul than any of its sequels.
Princess Viola
Dumbass Asexual
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New Super Mario Bros U is my favorite and honestly the only NSMB game (and New Super Luigi U) I would say is a game that is genuinely worth playing in 2025.
If I had to rank them it would be: NSMBU >>>>>>>>> NSMBWii >>>>> NSMB2 > NSMB
The original game is really not that good y'all. It's so fuckin soulless. Sure, it's got all the stuff you'd expect in 2D Mario game but it's just so...basic and forgettable. You'd think from the box art that the whole Mega Mario thing would have been a major gimmick in the game and being able to become giant and just destroy the level would be used frequently and like no, it fuckin wasn't. I think there were like five levels that had a Mega Mushroom in the whole damn game.
The original game is seriously more like a rough draft of the formula that mostly got praise for being the first new 2D Mario platformer since the early 90s. Once you get past that? Yeah nah it's just so fuckin bland.
If I had to rank them it would be: NSMBU >>>>>>>>> NSMBWii >>>>> NSMB2 > NSMB
The original game is really not that good y'all. It's so fuckin soulless. Sure, it's got all the stuff you'd expect in 2D Mario game but it's just so...basic and forgettable. You'd think from the box art that the whole Mega Mario thing would have been a major gimmick in the game and being able to become giant and just destroy the level would be used frequently and like no, it fuckin wasn't. I think there were like five levels that had a Mega Mushroom in the whole damn game.
The original game is seriously more like a rough draft of the formula that mostly got praise for being the first new 2D Mario platformer since the early 90s. Once you get past that? Yeah nah it's just so fuckin bland.
As a big fan of SMB1 I enjoy DS' return to basics while keeping most of what I like about the sequels before and building upon'em, find it more easily enjoyable than World and 3... and the diabolical Famicom 2 twins. I've grown to appreciate NSMB2 more after playing the original, it's actually pretty well designed and much more polished...but... silly old computers trying to be cartoons. Lo-fi mixed media graphics. beep boop. cuter game I'm sorry.
haven't played the others cuz I have nothing to play'em with
I mean I could play U on Switch... I'm not paying for that botched port lollll
haven't played the others cuz I have nothing to play'em with
I mean I could play U on Switch... I'm not paying for that botched port lollll
I liked New Super Mario Bros. U and its companion game New Super Luigi U (the whole package is optimal instead of one or the other). It might not look like it but it plays very well. If there's only one thing I would've liked, it's for Mario to get playable in Luigi U instead of just copying his physics and calling it a day.
I can't deny that New Super Mario Bros. (the DS one) is the most unique for its usage of things you don't normally see in other games, like bosses that aren't the Koopalings, or its unusual mode that prevents scrolling back. And of course, the minigames that aren't found in any other New Super Mario Bros. game.
I do think that New Super Mario Bros. Wii is due for a Deluxe version to address some of its shortcomings, such as penalising players for losing too many lives by not giving shimmering stars in the save.
Thank you for reading.
I can't deny that New Super Mario Bros. (the DS one) is the most unique for its usage of things you don't normally see in other games, like bosses that aren't the Koopalings, or its unusual mode that prevents scrolling back. And of course, the minigames that aren't found in any other New Super Mario Bros. game.
I do think that New Super Mario Bros. Wii is due for a Deluxe version to address some of its shortcomings, such as penalising players for losing too many lives by not giving shimmering stars in the save.
Thank you for reading.
and bomb ass minigames like the ones in sm64ds. And unlike SM64DS you don't have to track down stupid rabbits to get them!!!!!!!!!!
They're all good but NSMB is probably the best because it's the freshest with unique bosses and Moneybags!
Fizzle
woah
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I've haven't played either NSMB or 2, but I've nearly 100% Wii and enjoyed... most of it (curse you, 5-4). My favorite may be U, judging that I've played through it all twice and speed run the game occasionally. I played through NSLU, using the speed run strats to beat it quickly, but I'm going through stage by stage aiming for 100%. So:
NSMBWii > NSMBU & NSLU and unranked are NSMB and NSMB2
NSMBWii > NSMBU & NSLU and unranked are NSMB and NSMB2
Keyboard Playing Hedgehog
BlueShelledKoopaTroopa
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NSMB DS was a cool basic return to 2D gameplay. (Just wish it did the co op multiplayer). Multiplayer minigames was very based and the Mario and Luigi mode rocked. (On a side note, that online fan version of the Mario And Luigi game is also chaotic).
NSMBWii was fun and NSMBU also served it's purpose to provide further 4 player madness. New Super Luigi U was a cool twist to the original game.
NSMB2 has grown on me and I think its a solid game. I still view it as NSMBWii lite, though. (It did co op mulitplayer, but despite separate screens the camera only focuses on one player).
NSMBWii was fun and NSMBU also served it's purpose to provide further 4 player madness. New Super Luigi U was a cool twist to the original game.
NSMB2 has grown on me and I think its a solid game. I still view it as NSMBWii lite, though. (It did co op mulitplayer, but despite separate screens the camera only focuses on one player).
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The DS game was peak. The style was completely new for 2D Mario, it felt connected to SM64DS via the minigames, sound design and reuse of most models, and a good chunk of its bosses were unique enough takes on enemies to feel straight out of Paper Mario.
Dry Bowser was a novel idea that was genuinely unexpected at the time (he'd later get repeated enough to lose that impact but here it was cool), playing as Luigi being accessed via a classic cheat code style method rather than just a basic menu, and it even took a 3D Mario boss and adapted it into a 2D boss fight in Petey Piranha, in addition to the original bosses. I should replay it sometime, that'll be a nice nostalgia trip.
The Koopalings returning in NSMBWii was novel at first. Then they did it again, and again, making all the non-DS games feel like just repeats of the same thing. I know World had also reused the Koopalings from SMB3, but idk I don't think that should have been a precedent for repeating them to an even more derivative degree in the NSMB series.
Objectively, Wii and U are the games with the most replay value thanks to their multiplayer co-op, but I'm a shmuck that never had friends to play with and my fondest memories remain of the DS one. The others blur together in my memory so much that you could show me certain levels and I literally wouldn't be able to definitively say whether they were from Wii or U.
2 is just Wii and U except with a fucked economy instead of multiplayer. In some ways it's similar to DS, but not in any of the ways that made DS my favorite.
Dry Bowser was a novel idea that was genuinely unexpected at the time (he'd later get repeated enough to lose that impact but here it was cool), playing as Luigi being accessed via a classic cheat code style method rather than just a basic menu, and it even took a 3D Mario boss and adapted it into a 2D boss fight in Petey Piranha, in addition to the original bosses. I should replay it sometime, that'll be a nice nostalgia trip.
The Koopalings returning in NSMBWii was novel at first. Then they did it again, and again, making all the non-DS games feel like just repeats of the same thing. I know World had also reused the Koopalings from SMB3, but idk I don't think that should have been a precedent for repeating them to an even more derivative degree in the NSMB series.
Objectively, Wii and U are the games with the most replay value thanks to their multiplayer co-op, but I'm a shmuck that never had friends to play with and my fondest memories remain of the DS one. The others blur together in my memory so much that you could show me certain levels and I literally wouldn't be able to definitively say whether they were from Wii or U.
2 is just Wii and U except with a fucked economy instead of multiplayer. In some ways it's similar to DS, but not in any of the ways that made DS my favorite.
AgentMuffin
Monty Mole
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The first game is my favorite because of the unique pixel art, music, bosses, and side modes, which the sequels never matched. No way is it the objectively best choice of platformer here—the power-up selection is notably mediocre, and so on—but the other options are so homogenous with each other that I can't bring myself to favor any of them per se.
LuigiFan24
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I've only played New Super Mario Bros. Wii and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe before, (though I have seen videos of New Super Mario Bros. DS and New Super Mario Bros. 2). I personally like New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, mainly because you are free to play as Luigi in single player instead of him being locked into multiplayer like in the Wii U original. I also think Peachette is an underrated character and that the super crown is an underrated powerup. Honestly I hope they use both of those more in the future!
I think 2 would have had a much better reputation if it had Wario as a playable character, used the coins in-game to unlock Coin Rush packs, and expanded on the story.
As it stands, the game's good. The level design is among the best in the Mario series, and the throwbacks to Super Mario Bros 3 are pleasant to have. And for all the griping about the lack of originality the game does include some unique levels and worlds, showing it had the potential to be creative when it wanted to be.
It's just not a great game. But I firmly believe if it had done those things, it would have led the New Super Mario Bros games to be regarded as classics on par with the old Super Mario games. As it is, I still believe that of them.
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