Who’s the Miniboss? (original) (raw)

They had New Super Mario Bros. 2 on display at Walmart, so I played it up through the first fortress, and already I noticed the focus on collecting coins. It makes it easy to get extra lives, but I can’t think why this is supposed to be the gimmick that sells the game. When I told my wife about it, her reply was, “Why? Because the economy’s bad?” Maybe there’s something in that, since at least we can become rich in video games.

Anyway, one of the main complaints I’ve seen in reviews of the game is that there isn’t much new. If the entry on the Mario Wiki is to be believed, the only real new enemies are skeletal versions of existing ones. Somehow this includes bony Piranha Plants. Wait, they are supposed to be PLANTS, right?

The Reznor Rhinos from Super Mario World are the bosses in every tower level, and the Koopalings apparently have similar attacks patterns to the ones in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. It’s always nice to see the Koopalings, but I have to wonder why it’s the same middle boss in every world.

Is it something to do with programming limitations, or is that just the way it works? Instead of the Reznors every time, they could introduce new bosses, or even just reuse them from previous games. I’m sure Wart’s generals from Super Mario Bros. 2 are aching to get another shot at the plumber heroes. I also liked how the original New Super Mario Bros. used more powerful forms of common enemies as bosses. By now, it seems like just about every sort of enemy has a leader, or at least a special representative. This sort of started with Triclyde in SMB2 being like a more powerful Cobrat, but it was really Super Mario 64 that launched the idea with the Bob-omb and Whomp Kings. The DS remake throws in the Goomba King, otherwise known as Goomboss. Since then, we’ve seen Petey Piranha (Piranha Plants), General Guy (Shyguys), Cheepskipper (Cheep-Cheeps), Gooper Blooper (Bloopers), Mummipokey (Pokeys), Giga Lakitu, and the Army Hammer Bro. I’m sure I’m forgetting some, too.

This entry was posted in Focus on the Foes, Mario, Video Games and tagged koopalings, new super mario bros., new super mario bros. 2, new super mario bros. wii, petey piranha, piranha plants, reznor rhinos, super mario 64, super mario bros. 2, super mario world, triclyde. Bookmark the permalink.