Is New Super Mario Bros 2 actually a bad game?

[HellJumper]

When I first saw the reveal trailer for this game, I was legitimately ecstatic. I loved the first game on DS so much. It was the second game I ever owned, so yeah, I have lots of nostalgia for it. But looking past nostalgia, I still consider it my favorite 2D platformer of all time. It's got charming visuals, distinct environments to explore, a great soundtrack (especially the castle theme), the best level design I've seen in a 2D platformer, and the best boss battles in any 2D Mario game. You weren't just fighting the 7 Koopalings at each castle. I mean yeah, you fought Bowser. Jr in every Tower, but he still didn't hog all of the Castle boss fights to himself. Plus, he got progressively harder to beat, and it helps that I find him a very underrated character. And sure, most of the level themes are the same as they were in Super Mario Bros. 3 and World, but I feel they did more than enough new with them. To me, yeah, it's nice to have brand new level themes that we've never seen before, but more than anything, it matters what you do with them, and New Super Mario Bros. DS does more than enough to stand on its own. This game also has one of my favorite multiplayers in any Mario game. The minigames are very fun with friends, and the star battle mode was even more fun! So many great memories. I just hate the title of the game, and how it's associated with its much less original brethren.
P.S: Dry Bowser is my absolute favorite. When I beat that world 1 boss for the first time, and saw Bowser's skin melt off, I was shook as a child. And then I see him in World 8, and... agh! I love Dry Bowser. I love his entrance in the World 8 boss where he falls, breaks upon impact, and then gets reassembled just like every other undead enemy in the Mario series. Very creative.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii was a game I was extremely excited for, despite how similar it looked to the original. Back then, I wasn't super concerned with originality, so it never really bugged me. The game still had slightly altered visuals, which was enough for me back then, but now, it's kind of irritating, yes. See, while New Super Mario Bros. DS brought back level themes from the previous games, it still gave them their own flair. New Super Mario Bros. Wii on the other hand, is uncomfortably similar to the DS game. Still had some little differences here and there, but still gave off that same overall image. But I can still have fun with the game due to its good level design, the ability to ride Yoshi's in multiple colors (but you can't take him to other courses for some dumb reason), the Bowser. Jr boss fights which are a step up from his fights in the previous game on DS, and the awesome climactic final boss. It also has a pretty good soundtrack, especially the final boss track. At this point, Bowser becoming massive at the final boss of a game wasn't as much of a cliche as it is now, and it made for my favorite final boss in the NSMB series. It was also fun and chaotic to play this game with friends, so yeah, while this game was very unoriginal, I still got lots of enjoyment out of it, so its lack of originality was never something I thought about as a kid.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 was actually the first game I ever pre-ordered. Odd, I know. But I was extremely stoked for this game. Watching that reveal trailer just brought out the 8 year old in me. It was a direct sequel to my favorite 2D platformer ever, and one of my most nostalgic games ever. It also looked nearly as graphically impressive as the Wii game, despite the fact that it was on a handheld. And later, I discovered that Dry Bowser was somewhere in the game. And it was also revealed that you could play as Luigi on his own just like in the DS game after you unlocked him which was something the Wii game couldn't do, and it let you experience the entire adventure with a friend! And it brought back the Raccoon Leaf, which played way better than it did in Super Mario Bros. 3. So... what did I think about the game when I got it? Well, I played through it, beat it, had a decent time, but it had a very strong "been there done that" feel. Plus, the final boss was just an inferior version of Wii's final boss, and Dry Bowser's fight was just a slightly harder version of that. So... this game didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth or anything. It's fine for what it is. It's just very hard for me to praise it for the great game it is, when so much of this game has been done in the past. Like, the entire soundtrack is basically the Wii soundtrack, but slightly altered! It also reused a ton of visual assets.

Honestly, I think if the best aspects, level design, theming, tracks, and bosses of these 4 games were combined into one, and not call it New Super Mario Bros, it could've been way better. Of course, if it were up to me, it'd basically just be the DS game with elements from the sequels.

 Jumping feet first into hell isn't my job; making sure it's crowded when I get there is.