New Super Mario Bros. Wii

The Mushroom Kingdom are celebrating Princess Peach's birthday in the castle. They bring her a giant cake, but the surprise inside is less than appealing when Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings spring their trap and abduct her. Mario, Luigi, and two Toad servants pursue them. -summary

After probably more than a decade, old school Nintendo fans were dying for the chance to see Super Mario make it to modern consoles in the gaming form that originally made him so popular, and that was in solid 2D plat forming. In 2006 Nintendo introduced New Super Mario Bros DS, which was said to be the little mushroom eating plumber's return to form. Although the game was well received earning mostly high ratings for its game play and new look. I on the other hand wasn't the least bit impressed. I did not care for the short length made even shorter due to being forced into finding two more levels in the main game, to include the insanely easy difficulty. Mario games were never really known for being cakewalks; they were wire tight, sweaty palmed plat formers that tested your memory and reflexes. That game gave me none of that, which is why I had put New Super Mario Bros Wii on hold for a very long time. That was a mistake... The Wii version is what Nintendo should have originally released; this is a totally different game. You get that wire tight, sweaty palm, damn near controller hurling difficulty.

Game Play:

New Super Mario Bros Wii (NSMBW) is a single player plat former that can be played with up to four players, plus it features additional modes. I'm pretty sure by now most people know not to come into Mario games of this type looking for some type of story; it's the game play why you get into these, and I believe Nintendo nailed it here. Mario will venture through eight themed worlds in his mission to rescue Peach. Along the way he will face familiar enemies such as the Goombas and Koopa Troopers, plus the Koopalings make their return in style. Make no mistake, this game is just oozing with fan service and it's done the right way for the most part. Nintendo attempts to mash on those nostalgic buttons, yet at the same time introduce new twist keeping the game feeling very fresh.

First off you get some new items to go along with the usual suspects such as the Fire plant and Starman; there's an Ice Plant that allows Mario to freeze enemies and use them as makeshift platforms to reach higher areas, or even use them as projectiles in the same manner as the Koopa Trooper shells. There's a Penguin suit which seems to be a different take on the Frog suit used in Super Mario Bros. 3. This allows him to slide on his belly into enemies, swim much better than normal, and again, use ice balls to freeze enemies. The mini-mushroom introduced in the DS version returns, but the winner to a certain degree is the Propeller suit that allows Mario to ascend great heights and slowly make his way to the ground. It's definitely influenced by the Tanooki suit found in SMB3, but it's far more difficult to master. In fact, although the game itself is easy to get into, it is very difficult to master; from wall kicking to spring from one wall to the next on to Mario's various abilities. I mentioned Super Mario 3 a few times already, and it's because this game uses it as a pool source. The influence is all in your face, yet it doesn't in the least bit feel like a lazy copy and paste. It's very innovative and incredibly fun to play.

Mario can also collect up to three Star coins per stage. While some of these things are in your face, some are very difficult to obtain and will result in some deaths trying to grab them. They will sometimes be in the oddest places, which forces you to almost become a ninja with your plat forming skills along with using the suits; such as leaping towards a pit and propelling your way out of there. Plus the stages can just be so hazardous to your health. Speaking of the stages though, they are no doubt this games best feature, and I mean by far. Some may believe running and jumping from platform to platform would generate some type of redundancy, but you have to peep how Nintendo keeps the stages feeling unique. Nothing really feels the same, and this is across about 80 stages. There are rotating plat forms in some of the weirdest ways, and many devices to kill Mario on his journey, from falling molten rock shooting out of volcanoes, to crushing devices, and even Bullet Bills and other cannons aiming in his direction. I must also point out how the game uses its environment against you. There are stages where you must weave through the dark, and your only illumination is either your Fire plant or some type of light provided by the enemies. The Ghost Houses return bringing their own spooky flavor into the fray. The game also features alternating routes that can some times lead to a warp zone or an additional stage. These things are not in plain view and they demand some type of investigation.

One thing about the Mario games I have come to be quite annoyed by is the lack of challenging bosses. Well, that is far from a complaint this go around. The stages feature two battles with a Koopaling; they face you as a sub-boss and a final stage boss which sees them fighting you two different ways. Later in the game around the fourth world I would say, these battles get really tough, and landing those three hits on the head can some times feel out of reach. One of them uses a vehicle with a Chain-Chomp guiding his direction towards you and his speed picks up as you hit him; at least one of these fights also takes place on small plat forms increasing the danger for Mario. There's one that takes place with the Koopa Wizard, and that fight is just too cool to play and it's among my favorites; and Bowser, I really liked this confrontation. He is obviously trying to kill Mario this time, as it truly feels like the final battle. Even the world map looks nice and is pretty engaging using the mini-games from SMB3, and you can also travel back to beaten worlds and stages, plus there are some surprises to be found through various Toad houses granting more items and 1-ups; that's another thing too. This game really isn't that forgiving with the extra lives, which makes coin collecting very important. You're going to need every life you can muster, especially for the difficulty spike later on in the game. I even have to mention that the spike feels done right. Instead of only adding more instant death pits, there are tidal waves of flowing lava playing a role towards your possible demise. It's as if Nintendo took to heart the criticism of the last game in regards to fans complaints on just how easy it was.

The game uses the Wii remote, and through the motion sensor you will be able to manually move certain plat forms to guide Mario across lava pits and many falls. There's one stage deep into the game where you're on one of these plat forms, and you will have to multi-task your way across the lava, by paying attention to sweeping birds in the air along with pillars of lava shooting so high in the air that jumping over them is impossible. There are times where it appears this feature is merely added on just because, but for the most part though, it is cleverly placed adding a certain amount of flair to the game.

One thing for sure is that this game gets more right than wrong, but there are flaws that kind of snatches this game away from being perfect. For one thing, there's actually too much fan service to the point where it can feel scatter shot; a few things come to mind here. It's great to see Yoshi in the game, but while he played a prominent role in Super Mario World, he was clearly added here just to have him. The few segments he is used feels forced and quite frankly; I felt those stages should have focused more on using the Propeller suit. You need all the possible practice with that thing and I'll just leave it at that.

Mario has too many moves, he just might have everything he learned here and this could be a problem. You could find yourself in a tight spot where there's no room for mistakes, and you can die a death because you forgot that one particular skill you haven't used much; and yes, I know we don't play these games for story. But does it really have to be that way? The Koopalings are using the same magic wands from SMB3. Why? Did they steal them again? I would have liked some type of story for this. You remember those color corresponding power blocks in Super Mario World? When you hit those switches they created more blocks and alternate paths? In this game, there's only a red one in one world, and it only effects two stages. Why? I see no point digging so deep into history and not even giving these things a reason for being in the game. I understand it's a Mario game, but there's going to be a time when the lack of story is going to catch up with this fat plumber, and finally, if you die enough times, an icon will appear that releases Luigi to complete the stage for you. Up to this day, the gamer's pride in me has never activated this thing. I hate this type of loser handholding and I'll never touch that icon no matter what.

Controls:

One of my gripes is definitely here. Now Mario performs very well and his maneuverability is very tight here. I will go so far to say that if you're slipping off platforms and missing jumps it's more your fault than the controls. His running is even slowed down a bit, and it just needs getting use to. The Wii remote can be used as a control pad, and I recommend playing it like this for that old school feel. Now my problem with the remote is the motion sensor. Mario has a spin move that can be activated by wiggling the controller up and down. This is also how the Propeller suit works. The problem here is that the motion sensor is way too sensitive. I'm sure most of us gamers have this habit where we physically move around with our controllers during tense moments, well here it can actually kill you. There were times I activated the Propeller suit and went right into the lava, and all I tried to do was scratch my nose. So you can imagine how mad that made me, and still makes me even now when I just want to run through some cool stages. Other than that, the controls are very good, they just needed more thought put into them.

Graphics/Sound/Music:

The game looks like a more polished version of the DS. It's obviously prettier looking with some decent backgrounds. The themed worlds made up of Ice, Clouds, and even Fire look good enough. There's quite a bit of variety here with lava falls in the backgrounds and vines wrapped around trees, but I also have to mention that they feel quite vanilla too, even some times a little lifeless. The animation has a fluid feel from the characters movements to descending pipes and moving plat forms. When Mario is being covered by clouds, he can execute his spin to move the clouds and they have a nice dissipating effect. There are times when certain plat forms pick up speed and I never noticed a frame rate drop. This can also be said about the multi-player with four players on the screen at once. It can be chaos some times and the frame rate was still smooth. The character designs are in full 3D with Bowser looking the greatest here in the end. The usual sound effects are present such as the block shattering and coin sounds. Nothing really stands out here and dialog is very close to non existent. The music is mainly remixed tracks from Super Mario 3 and reused stuff from the DS version. I still enjoy the militaristic BGM of the airships, and the menacing Castle themes. The boss tracks are still great and add to the fun.

Replay:

Unlike that garbage sequel for the 3DS. There's actually reason to collect the Star coins as it opens up world 9, plus I believe most people aren't going to get the coins on their first try. The multi-player has two modes being a Coin rush and Free For All across stages that were already completed. This is a competition between the players and nothing more. The main game can be played with four players. This game was made with only one in mind, because all of these players will get in the way a lot. I only play this for some mindless fun. The players can pick each other up and use each other to reach plat forms. The best part is killing your teammates though. I never get tired of hitting them with turtle shells, or just picking them up and throwing them into lava and spikes. The best way to enjoy this part is to not take it seriously. This portion isn't online and I won't complain about that either. It's hard to imagine this effectively working without lag.

Final Thoughts:

NSMBW is a short game some where around maybe 5 hours or so if you blast through it; but the entertainment value is pretty high though. Nintendo outdid themselves with the stage design, and the ample amount of fan service works overall. Visually the backgrounds could have been better as well as the motion control. If you were like me and you put this game off because you were disappointed with the DS version; I recommend giving this a try. It's old school 2D and I still look at this as Mario's true return to 2D form. However, if you found yourself stuck on playing this or the Super Mario Galaxy series, then I recommend that instead.

Rating: 8/10

Pros:Highly entertaining, moderate challenge, some type of replay

Cons:Some fan service was pointless, minor issues with motion sensor, graphics could've been better