I was going to hold off on buying this because its supposed to be same old Mario but I played it instore today and have decided to pick it up as a pay day treat next week, and its because its the same old Mario. Go figure.

I'm enjoying it in single player, but I fear much of the enjoyment comes from the novelty of using my new 3DS XL.

Trish and I however are also playing co-op. While not as well-designed for co-op as the Wii offering, it's really, really fun! If you have a chance, play some co-op!

The music makes me sad though. Very sad.

@ploot There's no XL thread! Damnit! How is it? Comfy? Is the Dpad easier to hit than before? Picture looks good?

@PogueSquadron
The 3DSXL is amazing, up there with the iXL and the SP+ in terms of greatness. It's a thousand times better than the old 3DS in every way, and even though it's bigger it doesn't feel huge or heavy, it feels just right. Now if only it had the 2nd pad so I didn't have to buy another ungainly CPP, that would have made it perfect.

@PogueSquadron
@deathly_hallows
Pretty much this! Maybe I'll post some personal impressions in the new XL thread!

@ploot

Does the music change when you get the Raccoon Suit? And something else audio-wise happens when you activate a gold event - like a P-Switch or the Golden Flower.

I like the music.

I suppose this should be arriving in the mail soon. I think I'm going to wait until after Backlaugust to crack into it though. That's only 11 more days.

Actually I have a whole pile of handheld games I need to get to, maybe this one will end up on the pile while another game gets played. Probably not though, since I want to knock it out before NSMB U.

@GameDadGrant
I really like the effects they add to the music when certain things happen (reminds me of the Yoshi-drums from Mario World), but the melodies have been used in far too many games. I have yet to hear one new track, and that makes me sad.

I've always liked the New Super Mario Bros music... I'm just upset that they are recycling it over and over again. New game should mean all new music.

I don't think the NSMB music is as terrible as some people seem to, but I don't think that it is particularly great either. Would definitely be near the bottom if I started ranking Mario soundtracks. Whatever the case, reusing it over and over... ug.

Got to Bowser's Castle during my break, today. I gotta say, if this is the whole bag of tricks, this one is too easy, at least for an old Mario hand like me. Agree?

I'm still excited by the number of hidden secrets, though. I'm still playing the game in a slightly different way from my usual coin-ambivalent approach. And that's helping to make a below average Mario game more memorable.

EDIT: I've always thought the NSMB music was decent, but not as classic as the original soundtracks. I don't knock it too hard for that, because that's one hell of a reputation to live up to, but the reuse of this fairly average soundtrack is more the issue. Smash Bros Brawl got dozens upon dozens of new arrangements of songs. You're telling me a numbered Super Mario Bros game can't get a shred of that royal treatment?

@Zero

Agreed. Animal Crossing: City Folk is guilty of the same thing. If it's the same for the 3DS version, then that's overkill (though it already sounds different...NSMB2 sounds almost like a direct copy-paste from NSMBW).

@kriswright

If the coin collecting gimmick isn't obvious that this is a quick cash in...

The funny thing is, I think the "New" games are pretty different from one another. That is to say, the DS and 3DS offerings feel very similar to one another (aside from the raccoon tail), while the Wii one has a different "feel" to it. Maybe it's just the amount of the screen characters take up.

@VofEscaflowne

@ploot

I would say the physics are different (and better, or at least they feel more right to me) in NSMBW. Same with NSMBU.

Missed the flagpole. Restart. Over and over, and I love it! I've never played a Mario game in this way before. The whole coin gimmick is entirely validated by Coin Rush mode.

I've done the first two main worlds and the first hidden world. At first I was pretty underwhelmed (I didn't even die in the first world), but I'm starting to enjoy it more now. It's basically what I expected--fun, but relatively low on real surprises. The stage design is often quite clever and makes me smile, though, and the Ghost Houses have been noticeably stronger than the tepid ones from past NSMB games.

Coin Rush mode is pretty compelling and a nice diversion, but I think Nintendo sort of missed the mark a little if they were shooting for capturing score-driven gamers' hearts with it. As someone who enjoys arcade-y high score stuff like this, a few issues keep it from achieving greatness:

-Clunky interface: you can only save a single high score for your file, and can't share it online. To attempt to keep beating a StreetPass record, you'd have to pass the same person more than once to send the score back to them--fun for friends and family, but nigh useless for the chance StreetPasses you'd get in public.

-A topped-out score that some have already reached. Combined with the fact that you only have one high score, once a player reaches the max of 30,000, there's no real purpose for them to play Coin Rush anymore (except to add to their coin total). They've "beaten" it, and there's nothing to shoot for beyond that (since that's as high as the counter will go in Coin Rush).

-Randomness/Luck, a high-scorer's bane. This is the biggie for me. Basically, you've got too many variables out of your control. The three stages are chosen at random, making for a pretty major factor determining score, and elements within the stages are semi-random, such as the slot-machine-esque rotating multi-coin blocks and power-up blocks (which contain a game-changing Golden Flower).

Those three things aside, I have been enjoying Coin Rush anyway, more for the sake of seeing how high my own score can get, but it frustrates me that these things could be easily fixed and it could make for an extremely competitive and addictive side-mode.

I'd suggest keeping the core concept of Coin Rush, but allow players to select their stages, replace all "rotating" coin blocks and power-up blocks, and possibly start players off with a Golden Flower in each level as well, to really encourage chain-hopping and such. And then throw the whole thing into online leaderboards!

@TriforceBun Aw, I was under the impression that I would do a Coin Rush challenge against someone on my friend's list, and we'd keep going back and forth until somebody died.

@TriforceBun

You reckon it's possible that the planned DLC will expand this mode & add the features you speak of?

I am sick of the New Super Mario Bros games, could this game change my mind or am I better off not playing it?