New Super Mario Bros. Wii Review

Developer: Nintendo / Publisher: Nintendo / ESRB: Everyone (Comic Mischief) / Played on: Wii / Price: $49.99

Mario is back on the Wii! For the first time ever, up to four players can take on Bowser in the Mushroom Kingdom together. Collect coins, stomp on some Gooba heads, and make thrilling leaps onto impossible platforms while trying to save Princess Peach from Bowser’s grasp. Familiar faces from past Mario games jump in to help, like Toad and Luigi — and yes, even Yoshi makes an appearance or two.

Graphics

Still cartoony and just as roly-poly as ever, Mario and friends look right at home with the re-energized graphics. This is still classic 2D side-scrolling Mario, mostly resembling Super Mario Bros. 3 and New Super Mario Bros. on the DS. But little touches everywhere breathe new life into the Italian plumber’s fantasy world. Cute animations give the characters more personality, such as Toad’s deer-in-the-headlights stare at a frozen Boo or Mario’s belly-flop-to-belly-slide when he’s skating over ice with his tummy. Koopas dance to the game soundtrack, flowers sway in the breeze, and clouds disperse when you fly too close with your new propeller suit…I could go on and on, but just know that this is the most animated, most “alive” 2D Mario we’ve ever seen.

Gameplay

Finally, Mario fans everywhere can live out the dreams they never realized they had: having Mario and Luigi play alongside blue Toad and yellow Toad (Princess Peach isn’t available since she’s the one needing saving by this motley crew). At first, you might think that four players on-screen at the same time might be too chaotic — and you’d be right — but that’s where all the fun comes from.

You’re going to hear a lot of laughter while playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii with three other players. What is normally a very precise side-scroller becomes a madhouse when other players are bumping each other off of ledges, throwing turtle shells haphazardly into the group, bouncing on each other’s heads…. It’s the same sort of frenzied fun you find in Mario Party’s minigames or Bomberman. You’re going to die a lot more often because of the other players, but the game gives you plenty of lives and 1UPs to compensate. A very strict, no-nonsense platform gamer won’t like any of this chaos, but while he’s off living his dreary no-fun life, everyone else can enjoy this ultimate party game.

Having other players around can help at times, too. Perhaps Luigi still has his ice-flower power-up that you lost, so he can freeze that Cheep-Cheep to create a new, icy platform to stand on. Or maybe if yellow Toad’s having trouble reaching that sky-high Star Coin, he can bounce off of Mario’s head for an extra altitude boost. And even though some may consider this cheap, anyone can hit the A button to instantly go inside a protective bubble to let the other players navigate the more difficult parts of a level — they come back out when someone pops it to release them. While you can’t die while in this state, if no active players are left to free their bubble friends (either because they themselves died or everyone’s in a bubble at once), then all players lose.

Even though a lot of the levels are actually easier with other players, the entire game can be played through single-player if co-op isn’t your thing. The stages are just as deep and plentiful as you’d find in any past Mario games. Although New Super Mario Bros. Wii looks kid-friendly, don’t expect it to go easy on you — it gets tough very quickly.

Also for anti-co-op people who still want the four-player experience: Coin Battle mode. In these stages, you stomp, push, and jump your way past your competitors to finish each stage with the most coins. To keep things interesting, all of the coins collected during a match go into a shared pot until the end of each level, when the results screen shows who got what and who did the best — that way it’s anyone’s guess as to who’s in the lead until the end.

Sound

Mario’s tunes are some of the most familiar around — always catchy, always dear to many gamers’ hearts. It’s no different in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but it helps that a lot of its soundtrack is made up of modern, orchestrated updates to classic tunes. You’ll find yourself saying, “Oh, this song is from [insert Mario game here]” quite often. You might even find yourself humming along once in a while.

The game also takes advantage of the Wiimote speakers to let players know when they’ve picked up a power-up. Everyone will still hear the classic magical-growth sound when someone eats a power ‘shroom, but it’ll be more localized to that person’s controller now to be less distracting for all players. There is one thing to complain about in the sound department, however: when the characters call out for help after dying and respawning inside a bubble, the voices coming out of the Wiimotes do not sound anywhere close to the “real” thing.

Control

The controls in New Super Mario Bros. Wii are as simple as they were back on the original NES. The basic setup has the simple “jump” and “run/spit fire balls” buttons — only an occasional Wiimote shake (to fly with the propeller suit or propeller block, or to pick up items in conjunction with the 1 button) changes up the classic formula.

Bottom Line

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a must-buy, with great, nostalgic references to past Mario games, classic gameplay that everyone loves, and wonderfully lush graphics. The addition of four-players at once makes this game like nothing that has come before it — LittleBigPlanet doesn’t compare or even come close. More than any Mario Party or Mario Kart, NSMBW will bring back the fun of inviting your friends over for some classic party gaming filled with plenty of laughs and memorable moments.

9/10

SHARE THIS POST WITH YOUR IDIOT FRIENDS: