Following the resurrection of 2D Mario gaming in New Super Mario Bros., a number of gamers have been clamoring for a "New Super Mario Bros. 2," featuring elements of the Nintendo classic which bears a similar name. And with Super Mario Bros. 2 being one of my favorites of all-time, I cannot say that I find myself in disagreement.

In addition to the ability to play as a Toad, Producer Shigeru Miyamoto revealed in a Nintendo Power interview: "One thing that I was going to show people at the roundtable but I completely forgot to do was that once you freeze an enemy you can actually pick that enemy up and throw that ice block. There are a lot of things that you can pick up and throw, just like in Super Mario Bros 2."

I wonder if any turnips, bombs, POW blocks, or even enemies will be involved in this? In truth, I get the feeling that it won't be quite as full-blown in similarity to all of that. Still, it might be nice to see some Shy Guys.

Another item of contention brought up is the concern by some gamers that the game may be too multiplayer-oriented for a lone plumber player to navigate alone. Miyamoto assuages those fears by saying:

"We really didn't think about designing the courses or levels for multiplayer. They're designed for that single player experience. But it's fun to have more people playing together. We really didn't go out of our way to build anything for multiplayer."

Reports from E3 sound as though the multiplayer works just fine, whether they went out of their way or not, so with any luck, it will be fun for one or for all when it comes out later this year. Even so, I imagine some secrets may be more easily found with a helping hand around than if they were to be navigated by one's lonesome.

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