*copies and pastes my post from another forum*
I'm less than satisfied. What's the use of having 3-D-like characters on a 2-D side scroller? It just...bothers me. Call me paranoid if you must. I'll stick to SMB3, thank you very much. New Super Mario Bros. lacks some very important qualities in Mario side scrollers.
First of all, It can get repetitive. The mid stage boss is exactly the same in all 8 worlds just on a different platform, for example. The Giant Mushroom, I find no practical use in. It is just another marketing ploy. The game also lacks the star. How could any mario game not have the star that makes you invincible? Also, my favorite power-up was removed. Raccon Mario. Yoshi also appears seemingly absent in this game. You cannot run as fast as in the previous games, either. My last complaint, is of the mushroom that makes you tiny. This bypasses the innotive and challenging puzzles of getting to secret areas, as in SMB3.
There's my two dollars.
-GP