New Super Mario Bros. [DS]

Sure, Mario's been busy lately, appearing in everything from Mario Golf to a new Mario Dance Dance Revolution. But, with all these releases, we still haven't seen an update to the classic Super Mario Bros. since the early '90s. The gaming world may have moved onto 3D, but there's still plenty of demand for 2D action. The tentatively titled New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS should meet that demand and then some.

At first glance, the game looks identical to the original NES game, right down to the yellow and red mushroom platforms. But just a few seconds of play reveals there's a lot more going on here. Most notably, all of the characters have been rendered in 3D, rather than painted pixel-by-pixel as in the older titles. This leads to smoother animations and better overall designs.

But there's more to it than that. Now, when you collect one-too-many mushrooms or fire flowers, you can save them to an inventory on the bottom screen and tap the appropriate icon when you need one. Mario also has a slew of moves that are new to the Bros. series, including rope-swinging, wall-jumping, and a 2D version of Mario's trademark butt-stomp.

There's also a new mushroom -- one seen in the later 3D Mario games -- which lets Mario blow up to epic proportions. When he's inflated like this, he can stop and punch all the puny enemies on the screen. Interestingly, baddies like goombas can use these 'shrooms too, and a giant angry walking mushroom is a bad scene.

Other out of the ordinary tweaks include warp pipes that burp up Mario and send him flying through the air and mushroom platforms that dance back and forth as you jump on them.

Graphically, the game looks simple but clean. There's a decidedly retro look here when compared to even the Mario Advance titles, which have a lot of colorful graphics and flashy effects. New Super Mario Bros. was designed to look more like the original game, but to extend the gameplay using modern Mario conventions.

The action takes place mostly on the top screen, with the touchscreen being used for simple inventory. However, make a trip down a warp pipe and Mario will pop out on the bottom screen; a nice touch. The game will feature two-player WiFi races with Mario competing against Luigi -- each player can attack the other with special items.

We don't know much else about this title just yet -- there isn't even a release date. The version available didn't have many levels, so we don't know where Mario's new adventure will take him. For those whose first gaming experience started on the NES, this one should be a blast.