I felt like I was kinda let down by the previous two games, and here we have a new game with almost the exact same art style and, judging from the screenshots, style of level design too.
Actually, come to think of it, I was looking back at the original NSMB and wondering why its level design was so easy and, well, just plain boring. One answer I was able to come up with: the fact that they included the wall-kick move from the 3D games. I mean, seriously, that thing absolutely trivialized large parts of the game (just fell into a bottomless pit? No problem! Just wall-kick back out!). Here, look at this image from the upcoming game:
Imagine you're on the ground, to the left of the shorter pipe and below the left group of bricks. If you wanted to get back to the top of the taller pipe by SMB3 rules, you would need to get a running start, jump off the shorter pipe while the Piranha Plant is retracted, and hope that your speed doesn't carry you into the Koopa, then slow yourself down and jump onto the taller pipe. The bricks are high enough that getting up there can be quite life-threatening if you're not careful. Under NSMB rules? Just wall-kick off the left pipe, then again off the bricks. You're already up there without breaking a sweat.
I'm sure there are some other issues with the newer mechanics/level design as well...
