When it comes to 2D side scrolling platformers, there is a fine line between repetitive gameplay and addictive brilliance. It all depends on whether the game can tread daintily along this line, successfully creating an enjoyable experience that doesn't get old as you play through many levels. Developers have tried and failed, toiled and stumbled, yet one has consistently stayed strong - although Sega takes Sonic out for walkies every now and then, Nintendo and Mario have arguably always come up with the very best goods for some retro 2D action. However, after Super Mario Land 2, Nintendo entered the 3D realm with Super Mario 64 and then Sunshine on Gamecube. Despite remakes of the original adventures on Game Boy Advance, there hasn't been an original 2D Mario game for fourteen years - until now!

Let's start with the graphics, as they're the first thing you notice when you start the game. The characters and objects are in beautiful 3D, while the backgrounds are in 2D. Now that things have been updated visually, everything not only looks nicer, but it really brings the enemies and obstacles to life, such as the piranha plants, now in full 3D, which strain themselves to get into striking distance of you. I would even go as far as to say that this is the best looking game on the DS, alongside Metroid Prime: Hunters. The 3D and 2D elements blend together flawlessly, thus keeping faithful to the original for all the fans whilst providing a fantastic 21st Century makeover for those who are new to the franchise.

Thanks to the power of the DS and its unique abilities, the game can do various things that just wouldn't be possible on other systems. For starters, the scrolling can switch from horizontal to vertical in an instant, so levels can have a lot more to them than initially meets the eye. Furthermore, going down pipes transports Mario onto the bottom screen, a flawless transition that's so natural that I never even noticed it until I saw someone else playing the game! However, a lot of the DS functions go untouched, such as the microphone and the DS's WiFi capabilities. The touch screen is only used to acquire power-ups and for displaying a map, which isn't too revolutionary either. But seriously, does any of this matter? After all, it's all-new Mario! Personally, I feel that touch screen and microphone capabilities would just ruin the traditional formula of the Mario games, and I for one am pleased with Nintendo's 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' approach.

So then, let's get down to the real essence of Mario; the gameplay. If this aspect was faulty then the whole thing would collapse like a house of cards in a breeze. Fortunately, as we all anticipated, this is New Super Mario Bros.' greatest strength. Traditional Mario players will feel right at home, jumping, dashing, eating mushrooms, collecting coins, uncovering secrets and, most importantly of all, defeating bosses! On the other hand, you have a number of new features that add to the already decent number of moves. The Ground Pound, Wall Jump, Triple Jump and Wall Slide all make their debut in the 2D world as a few of the new moves - some are from Mario's 3D adventures and others are completely new. These features are made use of for various puzzles throughout the game, and of course for finding certain Star Coins in each level.

Accompanied by the classic power-ups of past games, there are three new power-ups here that are very interesting. There is the Mega Mushroom, which turns Mario (rather unsurprisingly) into Mega Mario, a full-screen sized version of Mario that decimates and crushes everything he touches. What's good about this mode (apart from the ease of just running through everything) is that if you deal out lots of damage, you're proportionately given a number of 1up mushrooms, awarding you with extra lives. The second new power-up is the Blue Koopa Shell, which puts a Koopa shell on Mario's back, making it easier to swim in the underwater levels, plus you can turn Mario into a dangerous spinning shell whenever you want. The third and final new power-up is my personal favourite. The Mini Mushroom shrinks Mario down to about a tenth of his size, which doesn't sound too promising in terms of defeating enemies, but with the change in height comes various exciting bonuses. Mini Mario can run on water, access tiny pipes that lead to secret areas, plus he is super light, allowing him to make longer jumps than his regular-sized counterpart.

The various enemies from Mario's past, plus a few new ones, are all included in this game. From Mini Bowser Jr. and Bowser himself to the Koopas and Goombas, they're all here. Particularly annoying creatures include the Lakitus (flying Koopas in clouds that drop prickly bombs) and the Bullet Bills that always seem to fly right into your path - darn those cheeky bullets! But what would a Mario game be without cheery levels within which to frolic? Accompanying this great range of enemies and bosses, new power-ups and new moves, are eight action-packed worlds, each of them completely unique. Nintendo certainly had their work cut out for them and as per usual they've lived up to their almost impossibly high self-imposed standards; there isn't a single level that felt in any way samey or even a little tedious.

Every level is filled with typical Nintendo brilliance, and whether you just found a secret cave full of coins or a bouncy mushroom to blast you into a new location, you will always be smiling while you play. As you unlock each world, you find yourself in new locations; for instance, you leave World 5, which has a snowy theme, to enter the stony, medieval styled World 6. Each new world brings new enemies according to the setting, so in World 4, which is comprised of a lush forest, there are lots of colourful spiders and Venus flytraps. In contrast, icy World 5 has penguins to stomp on and snowballs to dodge in its frigid landscape. The levels just fly by as you race to get to the next world, and then the next, and the next. You can bounce along the worlds, keeping to the main path, fine, but what you'll miss (and eventually come back to) are the levels that lie off the beaten track. Combining the unlockable levels with all the normal ones, there are 59 levels of non-stop fun to explore. This, of course, is not counting the two completely secret unlockable worlds, which when bring the level count up to 80! Unsurprisingly, this amount of gameplay is where New Super Mario Bros. draws you completely into its irresistible grip.

Replay value, is what makes games great, full stop You don't just buy a game to go through it once and never return to it - you expect more. And more is what this game gives you. Multiple ways to complete levels, secret warp cannons, secret locations, you can even unlock special background patterns! There really isn't much that lets you down in this game, extras-wise. Some minor downsides could be that the game isn't the most difficult in the world, nor is it too different to the other 2D Mario adventures in its visual style, but both these elements come with the Mario territory and only add to the charm - this game has had me playing my DS solidly for the past three months!

The sound effects and music in New Super Mario Bros. benefits from the surround sound option that adds a little bit of quality over past Mario games. While most of the game is accompanied by the same Mario jingles (what else do you expect?) the menu screen and the environments that Mario has never before ventured into feature brand new music to reiterate that a completely new game is in your hands.

What you get here defines what Nintendo is all about - simple but brilliant gameplay that keeps you hooked from start to finish. While some veterans of the Mario franchise may complain about the slightly easier levels over the SNES games, nearly everyone will agree that this is a fantastic return to form for Mario. Sure, New Super Mario Bros. isn't groundbreaking, and neither does it use many of the DS's unique capabilities, but it nevertheless delivers absolutely fantastic levels, graphics and gameplay throughout that won't disappoint any Mario veteran, or indeed any fan of 2D platformers. So, coming back to the 'thin line' that those 2D games must walk, it is to our good fortune that New Super Mario Bros. literally skips, hops and triple jumps all the way along that line, making this an absolutely essential purchase for every DS owner.

Reviewed by Will Stronge for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).