Sunday the latest installment in the multi-billion dollar Super Mario Bros. franchise was released to… Well, I’m sure quite a few happy fans. I can’t say how many exactly, as I don’t have the figures right here in front of me, and frankly I can’t be arsed to look it up. Suffice to say, it was probably more than four.

The important thing here is this is the best Super Mario game since Super Mario World, on the Nintendo Entertainment System. That’s right folks, it’s taken them over a decade to release a game as fun as that old school classic.

I should, maybe, clarify my position on the Mario franchise before I go further: I tend to view Super Mario World as the pinnacle of Mario platform gaming. I loved SMB3, although I prefer SMB2, on the NES – and I enjoyed Super Mario Land 2 on the GameBoy… but I found New Super Mario Bros. DS to be too short, Super Mario 64 too devoid of everything that made Mario fun and entertaining, and the less said about Super Mario Sunshine the better.

Super Mario Galaxy was okay, but it wasn’t the game I wanted – I wanted a true, 2D side scrolling platformer filled with power-ups, jumps, enemies whose heads I jump on, and simple, classic, old school controls.

In other words, I wanted a game that wouldn’t make me shout “GET OF MY DAMN LAWN!” at passers by. (more…)