Nintendo 3DS Update

Nintendo gave us some news on Saturday. There is a new Mario game coming out this August titled New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS. As with New Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, this will be a 2D sidescroller. From the few screenshots revealed, Mario can now climb spider webs, and Mario and the enemies can have a golden color. This makes three Mario 3DS games slated for a 2012 release. We can expect to get word on the release dates of Luigi's Mansion 2 and Paper Mario on the 3DS at E3 this June. Also, later in April, the 3DS will receive an update, which will include patches to currently available software. For example, it will eliminate unfair shortcuts in Mario Kart 7 online gameplay. Hopefully, this will take care of some of the lag. 2012 looks like a great year for Mario games. We'll just have to wait and see if any Mario games are included in the Wii U's first party launch lineup. We'll have to wait to see until then.

New Super Mario Bros.: 2-2

This level features some arcade-style platforms. After a short distance, Lakitu appears to cause chaos with his Spiny eggs. Stomping on him will get rid of him temporarily, but if you kill him with a fireball, his cloud remains and you can hop in and float around for a while. There are coins high above. We can reach Lakitu from some blocks early on. Straight up from that point is the first Star Coin. For the second Star Coin, we need to ground pound some brick blocks between a green anad red pipe. To reach the third, we need to take Lakitu's cloud past the midpoint and follow a trail of coins to a yellow pipe in the sky. This takes us to Coin Heaven, where the third Star Coin is. Hop into a green pipe, which serves as a cannon to reach it. The flagpoile is nearby.

New Super Mario Bros.: 2-1

World 2 is a desert level, complete with Egyptian-themed music. This level has Pokeys and Spinies. To go over the Pokeys, we hit the yellow blocks three times to create a stack of four blocks, making it easier to hop over the Pokeys. The first Star Coin is between the second and third Pokeys. The second Star Coin is over quicksand, beneath a Pokey on a small, moving platform. The quicksand will slowly drag you under to your death. Farther along, there is a platform over the abyss and the third Star Coin floats above a lower platform. We have to jump over another Pokey and reach a pipe. There is a P-Switch in a block, so we can jump over a Pokey and reach the flagpole. That wasn't so bad.

New Super Mario Bros.: 1-Castle

Time for the first castle! There are lots of tightropes, which allows us to bounce high. The castle has lots of lava and there are stone platforms that appear from and disappear into the lava. There is a spiked ceiling that raises and lowers, so don't get caught between it and the floor. In one of the gaps, we can wall-jump up for the first Star Coin. After the spike ceiling are more stone platforms. The second Star Coin hovers over the lava. There is a small stone platform underneath it, but it can be completely submerged by the lava, so time your jumps carefully. We can reach the third Star Coin using the last tightrope. Bounce from its center to reach a green pipe overhead which leads to the third Star Coin. Exit using the same green pipe and go through the boss door. We run into the battle room to find Bowser. We can defeat Bowser using two methods: jumping over or running under him and hitting the switch, which destroys the bridge and opens the gate, or with fireballs. Either way, he falls in the lava, surfaces as Dry Bowser, and goes back into the lava. I used fireballs. Afterwards, we hit the switch, the bridge falls away, and the gate opens. We find Peach and Bowser Jr., who grabs her and runs off to World 2. We can now save.

New Super Mario Bros.: 1-5

This level features pink springy mushrooms, which can be a lot of fun or a lot of trouble, as you cannot run on them. The first Star Coin is over one of the earlier pink mushrooms in the level. Next are some balancing platforms, where one goes down when you stand on it and the other goes up. Don't stand on them for too long, or they'll fall off. The second Star Coin is on a small red mushroom that you can stand on. There is another set of balancing platforms. We use this platform to reach a green pipe to Coin Heaven, where the third Star Coin is. We ride a moving red mushroom to the right, where we can get coins and the third Star Coin at the end. It's in a set of coins shaped like a mushroom. Back in the main level, we get a Fire Flower from the Red Coins, which can be tricky to collect when bouncing off of spring pink mushrooms. Next is nearly uncontrollable bouncing to the flagpole. Be careful here and time your bounces so you can cross the gaps. The path opens up to the castle.

New Super Mario Bros.: 1-A

We need 5 Star Coins to unlock this level, but it gives us an opportunity to save. It's an underwater level that is also an automatic sidescroller. There are sharks that will periodically appear and swim by, so don't swim around the right edge of the screen. Further along are yellow bouncy spheres that will push you around, making the area a little difficult to navigate. There's a P-Switch that will make lots of silver coins appear between the spheres. The first Star Coin is soon after, but some invisible blocks will make getting it a little difficult. There is a green pipe nearby that takes us to the second Star Coin. There is a Red Coin Ring before it. We get a much-needed Fire Flower from it, which we can use to take out the sharks. At the midpoint, we get a Starman from a random item block and take out some sharks. Next are some pipes creating currents that can push you into sharks if you're not careful. The third Star Coin is past a yellow pipe. It's near the ceiling. You can get it from the left side if you're small, or go around the right side. Soon after is the pipe to the flagpole. This opens up a path to the castle.

New Super Mario Bros.: 1-4

We're back outside and heading for the castle. There are a few pipes that produce an infinite amount of Goombas, so be aware of them. We slide down the hill to take out the Goombas. As we continue, we see a small green pipe. We can't go in it until we get the Mini Mushroom, which is in a nearby item block to the right. As Mini Mario, we can run on water and bounce higher, but can only damage enemies with a ground pound. The pipe takes us to a room with water. We run across the surface to the right and wall jump up and to the left for the first Star Coin. We exit that area and reach a vertical maze of blocks. There is a Koopa nearby that we stomp into its shell and pick up, sending the shell into the maze. The shell destroys the brick blocks and gives us access to the pipe below. The pipe takes us underground, where the second Star Coin is. We can't quite reach it, so we hit the last brick block before the pipe to the exit to make a P-Switch appear. This switch temporarily turns coins into brick blocks and vice versa. We run up the newly formed blocks to reach the 2nd Star Coin. The third Star Coin is past the maze. We have to run under a ledge while small or with a well-timed duck. Afterwards, go back left, then on top of the ledge to the right and continue onto the goal.