This is the hardest Mario game ever. They don't give you yoshi houses to get free crap all the time, they don't give you extra saveable items to drop down whenever you need them. The final Bowser fight is the most out of control tough Mario boss there has ever been. The game ramps up in dificulty after the first world. Not only all of this, but try to play 4-Player and not die every 4 seconds from someone jumping on your head and sending you into a pit of lava.
This is one of the best games I have ever played, and I'm the most critical gamer I've ever met. This game restored my faith in the video game industry, in creativity, in dedication to the gamer. It has classic written all over it, every second is pure nostalgia.
The hardest Mario game? One of the best games you've ever played? I don't want to be rude, but you haven't played a lot of games then; not even a lot of Mario games. Super Mario Bros. 1 and 2 (the Japanese one) were a lot more difficult than this. It's about as hard as Super Mario Bros. 3 I'd say.
And while this is a good game, I don't see how it can be one of the best games ever. Sure, it's a good game and sure, it's really fun to play, but it doesn't really do anything new. I appreciate that they added 4 player coop (which really adds a lot) but other games have done far more and were just plain better.
That said, this game is great. It's ridiculously fun to play for everyone (casual, hardcore, whatever) and it has the amount of difficulty that makes a Mario game fun to play. There's a great ninth world and unlocking the levels in it is very hard too (not to mention time-consuming). Best game ever? Not even close. Best Mario game ever? Certainly not. But very enjoyable and worth buying or at least playing.
Now that we've all played this, it's time for the real next Mario game: Galaxy 2
QUOTE(CuriousG @ Nov 15 2009, 08:58 PM) Without giving any spoilers as to how to get to World 9? Does it require 100% on the Star Coins? I probably have 90-95% of the Star Coins. Also saving Toad every level is a bitch when you can't do anything other than jump or throw him somewhere without killing him. I find it easy to maintain 99 lives and constant mushroom powerups with the side missions. They need to have limited uses for it in the later missions.