A little over 20 years ago, the Mario bros. first arrived on the NES, ushering a new era of platformers. It’s now been a long time since we’ve seen a traditional 2-D Mario adventure, and now on the DS, Nintendo is taking Mario back to his roots with New super Mario bros.

Not a whole lot is known about the game, other than the fact that princess peach has again be kidnapped and it’s up to Mario and Luigi to save her.

New power-ups include mushrooms that can shrink our heros or make them grow to fill the entire screen, even cooler is the koopa poweup with allows Mario and luigi to slide on their backs and take out groups of enemies or other obstructions.

As mentioned gameplay is entirely 2-d, but features awesome polygonal characters and objects, creating a game with contrasting visual styles and giving it a unique look.

The developers have been quick to say that the game is really taking the bros. back to their roots, but that doesn’t mean it’s all been done before, no sir, also included is a wireless co-op mode in which two players can tackle the adventure. And an adventure it shall be, several worlds are planned, some with multiple paths and exits, also worth noting is that players can only save after completing an entire world as opposed to after every level. Old school, bitches.

Awesome.

It may have taken a long time to get a new 2-D Mario platformer, but this DS incarnation is looking to be one of the best yet. Stay tuned.