Wii Review: New Super Mario Bros Wii

New Super Mario Bros Console-Nintendo Wii Year-2009 Developer-Nintendo Publisher - Nintendo Genre-Platform Everyone’s favorite Italian plumber is back in a brand new adventure on the Nintendo Wii. For the first time ever you can play with up to 3 friends simultaneously as you journey through the Mushroom Kingdom on yet another epic quest to rescue Princess Peach from the clutches of Bowser & his kids. The best way to describe this game is a marriage of Super Mario Bros. 3 from the NES & Super Mario World on the SNES. If you loved one or both of those games then you’re going to be in heaven with this newest addition to the Mario universe. GAMEPLAY I chose to play this game with the Wii remote held sideways ala the old NES controller. It can also be played with the nunchuk attachment. The game handles just like the classic Mario games with a few new controls, such as shaking the wii-mote to spin. Mario has a couple of new items in this game which give him some really fun abilities. First off is the propeller suit which allows Mario to spin high into the air thereby skipping a lot of action on the ground. Secondly there’s a penguin suit which allows Mario to throw snowballs that can freeze enemies in a block of ice. The penguin suit also allows Mario to slide along icy surfaces & swim through water with exact control, similar to the frog suit in SMB3. Finally there’s an ice flower which as you may have guessed is just like the fire flower but allows Mario to throw snowballs. Advancement through the stages is done on a map-style playing area ala SMB3 or SMW. There are hidden paths that can be unlocked to reach alternate paths or cannons which act as warp zones. Sometimes these hidden paths are easy to find & other times may require several playthroughs to discover. Each world (there’s 8 in all plus a bonus 9th world) has a mini-castle about midway through the world that allows you to save your progress once its conquered. Upon beating the final castle in each world you can save your progress again. Saving can also be done via a quicksave option, although that’s only allowed once per playing session. Every level in the game has 3 star coins that can be obtained. You can unlock the levels in world 9 by collecting all the star coins in its corresponding world (collecting all the star coins in world 1 unlocks 9-1, etc). Sometimes these coins are in plain sight, but most of the time a little exploring is required or having the right power-up such as a propeller suit or mini mushroom. You can go back & replay a level at any time, but you must beat the level to obtain any of the star coins you collect. In addition to the regular levels there are ghost houses & toad houses throughout each world. Ghost houses usually have 2 exits: a regular one & one that unlocks an alternate path or warp cannon. Toad’s houses come in 3 varieties: green, yellow & red. Grenn houses offer the chance to get extra lives, yellow ones give you an invincibility star & the red ones offer up a chance to get items by playing a memory-type game. You must turn over 2 cards at a time to try to get a match while trying to avoid the Bowser & Bowser Jr cards. Turning over 2 of those cards will result in the end of your bonus game. Playing with other players opens up a whole new dimension to your classic Mario game. Sometimes its  a blessing having more than one person & sometimes its better to try to get through a level with only one person. I was only able to play through the game with one other person (my wife) & we had a pretty fun time doing so for the most part. It can be frustrating at times when you’re trying to get that last star coin & both players die at the same time because then you have to start over, but if one player can manage to survive then there’s a chance that the level can be completed. There were several instances of one of us sacrificing ourselves to get a star coin so that the other could make it to the end of the level. One player going down a pipe or into another area of the level causes the rest of the players to follow along after about 5 seconds. Dying in the game & having more lives left means you come floating back onto the screen in a bubble that must be popped by another player. If the other players die before they can pop the bubble then all the players must start over. GRAPHICS The Wii isn’t a showcase for HD graphics, but SMBW holds up well. The colors are vibrant just as you’d expect from a Mario game. The screen scales back depending on how many players are on the screen at any given time: if there’s just one player its fairly tight & if there’s several it pulls back to offer as big a view as possible. That being said, there’s always a chance of a slow player being left behind on levels that are constantly scrolling forward or up. AUDIO First off let me say that most of the times when I play games its after my son has went to bed or is done for a nap, so I don’t really get to enjoy the sound in games like I should. That being said, there isn’t a whole lot to say for the sounds in the game. If you’re familiar with the Mario universe then just about everything in the game will be recognizable. FINAL WORD If you love 2D Mario platformers then you’re going to love this game. It’s not a revolutionary title by any means, but it sure is fun & that’s what counts. There’s just enough new stuff to keep old school Mario fans interested & adding multiplayer to the mix creates a whole new dynamic to your typical Mario adventure. Whether you choose to tackle the game solo or with some friends there are definatley fun times to be had. This game is a must-own title in my book!