Portal:Video games/Featured article/115

New Super Mario Bros. is a side-scrolling platform video game published and developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. The game was released in North America and Japan in May 2006, in Australia and Europe in June 2006, and in Korea in March 2007. It is the first original side-scrolling platform game starring Mario since Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins in 1992, and it is the first game to be a part of the main Mario series of video games since Super Mario Sunshine in 2002.

The game's story is similar to those of other side-scrolling Mario games. New Super Mario Bros. follows the titular Mario as he fights his way through Bowser's henchmen to rescue Princess Peach. Mario has access to several power-ups that help him complete his quest, including the Super Mushroom, the Fire Flower, and the Starman, each giving him unique abilities. While traveling to eight worlds with ten levels in each, Mario must defeat Bowser Jr. and Bowser before finally saving Princess Peach. Reviews were generally favorable towards the game, which received an aggregated score of 89% from Metacritic. Praise focused on improvements made to the Mario franchise, while criticism targeted the game's simplicity. (more...)