Is New Super Mario Bros 2 actually a bad game?

[Evil Yoshi Toes]

I think it's my least favorite game in the series but that could be just because it's so bland, even compared to the others. It's a Nintendo game, so good design is almost a given. There needs to be more than that, though. This game had no creativity put into it. I know the other NSMB games after Wii had similar issues, but something about this one in particular just felt so boring to me, probably because it rode so hard on that awful coin gimmick. I also don't remember any of the levels or bosses but that can be said for any NSMB game after Wii. Strangely, I remember the visuals in NSMB2 making me really queasy for some reason.

So I guess my conclusion is that it isn't bad by itself, but it isn't up to par with the creative excellence I expect from Nintendo. And the gimmick is bad.