Make no mistake: New Super Mario Bros. has all the new Mario moves introduced over the years, it bundles in some mini-games, and it even has comparatively zippy surround sound, for a handheld. It's a spectacularly complete Mario Bros. package, and one of the year's best reissues. And yes, the fanboys and fangirls who grew up on Nintendo are rightly slavering over it. But this is still a 20-year-old game gussied up to cash in on nostalgia. Nothing major was added, nothing changes the formula—it's Mario Bros. on the Nintendo. Again.
And yet… It's still an unparalleled platformer that should make your eyes light up, then glaze over in obsessive concentration. It gets everything right, from the brilliant colors to the consistently inventive levels, and it's also balanced perfectly: You can barrel through it, or take your time and explore, and you can lose almost all your lives on one map, but win most of them back on the next, making gameplay frustrating and satisfying. Playing it on the small but bright DS screen heightens the details, like the expression on a giant fish's face as it tries to suck you down, the whoomph of trudging through a snowbank, or the incredible satisfaction of grabbing a Mega Mushroom and barging across the old familiar maps, smashing everything in your path.
Beyond the game: It's still a shame that for every progressive new DS title, like Electroplankton or the genuinely next-gen Metroid Prime update, there's another release like this one or Tetris DS, which suggest that handhelds are really meant for reselling old games in fresh packages.
Worth playing for: Although it comes with head-to-head modes and a handful of trivial mini-games, you'll spend most of your time playing it the way you did 20 years ago—alone—as you cross eight different single-player worlds, helpfully mapped out on the second DS screen.
Frustration sets in when: The balance of challenge and ease almost never frustrates—for example, the game only gives you a save point after you've really earned it.
Final judgment: There's a reason Mario Bros. will never die.