New Super Mario Bros. on the DS is basically the classic Mario experience but with just enough new tricks to keep it interesting. You’ve got your usual running, jumping, and stomping Goombas, but now there’s this whole wall-jump move that feels weirdly satisfying once you get the hang of it. The touch screen stuff is mostly for power-ups—like tapping to spin a shell mid-air—which is neat but not overdone.

Some of the levels are surprisingly creative, especially the ones where you’re shrinking down to tiny Mario or riding those giant bullet bills. And yeah, it’s got that same old-school charm, but with way smoother graphics than the NES days. The music’s catchy too—I still hum the overworld theme sometimes.

If you’ve ever played a Mario game before, you’ll feel right at home, but there’s enough little surprises to make it worth playing even if you’ve stomped your way through a hundred Koopas already.