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Well, it’s finally happened. After 27 years of exhibiting a degree of consumerism so rampant,
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he’d literally spend his entire savings as soon as he earned 100 coins...the Mushroom
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Kingdom’s potbellied paragon of platforming has finally learned a lesson about financial
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responsibility. A coin saved is freaking 20,000 earned in
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New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Nintendo 3DS.
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Evidently, the Mushroom Kingdom has discovered capitalism.
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Released to the 3DS just a few weeks ago, New Super Mario Bros. 2 is—addition be damned—the
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third New Super Mario Bros. release, following up 2009’s New Super Mario Bros. Wii and
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the original DS release from 2006. Frankly, to say there’s much difference between them
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would be untrue—they’re all built from the same timeless gameplay. But in a relative
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sense, this one does feel distinct among the three.
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In fact, it might be one of the most distinct 2D Mario games ever.
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Now, why is that? Well, it has less to do with the gameplay than how players are encouraged
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to approach it. New Super Mario Bros. 2 is the same kind of creative, precise platformer
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you’re expecting...but you might find yourself playing it a little differently than you played
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Mario’s prior games.
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Slower, maybe more deliberate...certainly greedier.
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And that’s because New Super Mario Bros. 2 is all about the coins. And yes, they’ve
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always played a huge role in Super Mario games...but never to this degree. The game is really designed
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for maximum looting. You can collect hundreds and hundreds, even thousands of coins in a
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single level. And the game makes sure your total is always prominently displayed on the
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map.
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What this does is change the traditional left-to-right focus of the gameplay. Mario is concerned
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not only with reaching the flagpole, as usual...but with filling his wallet, as well. Old strategies
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you’ve relied on for decades get tweaked a little when you see a string of precious
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coins just out of reach. Mario basically becomes Golem.
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Only fatter. And with a mustache.
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To go along with his newfound greed, Mario naturally finds some new flora to suit the
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occasion. The shiny Coin Flower turns Mario into Midas—everything he touches turns into
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shimmering gold. So in the same way Super Mario World fundamentally changed things by
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giving Mario a dinosaur to ride, New Super Mario Bros. 2 also adds an interesting new
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element to that time-honored, razor-sharp platforming.
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But of course, the primary difference is that...while coin hunting is built into the design, it’s
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not to the extent that Yoshi was. And that’s where the game falters a little. It has this
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interesting focus on coins, it even brings back the Raccoon Leaf...but the design never
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really exploits those concepts as much as it could. I really think these things could’ve
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been taken further, but like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, this one also plays it safe.
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But you know, when the game is this good, it’s tough to complain. New Super Mario
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Bros. 2 isn’t the technical showpiece or platforming-defining release Super Mario 3D
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Land was, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s incredible how sharp it controls, how fun
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its levels are...how 30 years later, Mario is still the platforming champion.
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Only this time, he’s not afraid to wear
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the gold.