Nintendo Launches 2D Mario Switch Online Missions Next Week (Australia)

No rewards that are worth it. So find all the missions pointless. But thanks for trying nintendo

Just today, I finished playing through New Super Mario Bros. 2 on the 3DS for the first time in several years. I was able to 100% complete the whole game in around 8 hours cause, y'know, it's really not that long. But then I went to the Activity Log, and I'm not sure how my kid self managed to do that, but I've somehow racked up a total of OVER 160 HOURS PLAYING THAT GAME! HOW?? I was always very particular about wanting my play time to be accurate, so I didn't leave it idol or anything. I also don't think I really picked up Coin Rush mode except to try out each of the new packs as they released, so it's not like a bunch of time was spent there.

I was always a staunch defender of that game, that even if it didn't reinvent the wheel and reused a lot of stuff from other NSMB games, the core Mario gameplay was still a lot of fun. But I dunno, maybe I just wasn't in the right headspace, but it was definitely more of a slog to get through this time around. I basically forced myself to keep playing, even though I found myself bored with a lot of the level design. I always held it and NSMBU on pretty much equal footing, and while I do still really enjoy the latter, I may have finally been able to take my rose-tinted glasses off of the former.

I kind of want to go back and replay the original NSMB on DS for comparison, to see if that one holds up any better. Maybe I'll do that before Wonder comes out, if I don't burn myself out on 2D Mario. There's a good number of levels I can remember that stood out in the DS game, but I don't know if I can think of any memorable ones from the game I just finished. I do quite like the final castle level, though, where the Koopalings are flying in the clown car in the background and you have to hide behind walls to keep from getting stunned. That one was pretty good. But the rest just didn't really have much of an identity. There were also a LOT of boring autoscroll levels and very little challenge.

There's some aspects of NSMB2 I can appreciate though, like bringing back Reznor from Super Mario World instead of just giving us Boom Boom again. They also brought back the Racoon Suit from Mario 3, and while 3D Land did have the Tanooki Suit a year earlier, you couldn't actually fly with it. But the Racoon Suit in NSMB2 feels even better than the original. You can hold B to fly instead of mashing it, and if there's even just a little bit left in the P meter when you touch the ground, you can fill it right back up. It's very nice.

And while the game is seen as being the least innovative Mario game, it's worth noting it was the first Nintendo game EVER to get paid DLC and the first Nintendo retail game you could purchase digitally, so that was pretty novel. So, it kinda has historical significance--even if that DLC wasn't great and should've just been extra levels added to the main campaign instead of that Coin Rush mode.

Is this comment directly related to the article at hand? Only loosely. But c'mon, what's there to really to say about this topic? At least I'm helping with engagement, so Nintendo Life should love my unrelated comments, lol.

@KnightsTemplar Spent mine on the NES, Zelda and Metroid icons that rarely go up in-between the one thousand Pokemon and Animal Crossing icons, lol. There was also a physical pin set for Metroid Prime Remastered that I managed to grab with Platinum points and another physical reward that I missed out on because I was too late.

It's rare, but non-Pokemon/AC rewards do exist.

I hope as part of this, they add Super Mario Land and SMB Deluxe to NSO. Especially the former, you have playable Daisy for the first time in a Mario platformer with SMB Wonder but you can't even play Daisy's origin game on the Switch.

I have FOMO when it comes to icons so I own Every. Single. One. Of the Splatoon icons. That’s like a million platinum points and now I am questioning my life choices lol!

@Not_Soos I lost my copy of NSMB for the DS so picked one up recently and just completed it last week!

It's pretty easy to 100%, around 8 hours, and has many ideas in it that have been developed further (and made better) in future titles - which are interesting to revisit.

Aw man! how about some love for the US??