New Super Mario Bros Wii, if ever there was a game that guaranteed everyone in the world to have a Wii, this is it. Overall, this return to the heyday of Mario gaming is the best Wii-specific game I’ve played this generation. And as a huge bonus, I was able to play the entire game with my wife by my side. Being a huge Mario fan growing up, she was able to instantly join in on the fun. From the new costumes to the new gameplay, from top to bottom, THIS is the game to play this season if you own a Wii.
With the old formula intact, you start off at a lucky mushroom kingdom festival, where moments after starting, Bowser’s nosy kids show up, steal the princess, and fly away. Yes, you read that correctly! The Koopalings are back! The only twist so far is that 2 seemingly random toads follow Mario and Luigi to go save the princess. You are then placed on the world map, which in turn goes back to Super Mario World (SNES) and Super Mario 3 (NES). Each world is separated into two halves, each half ending with a castle. Unlike the other versions, you fight the Koopa boy in the middle castle, after which you defeat the Koopaling who runs to the other castle.
Mario and his gang get some surprise new outfits this time, of course; The Propeller Suit and the Penguin Suit make their debut in this title. Each suit gives the player a different ability that will need to be harnessed to discover coin treasures and secret areas. Speaking of which, New Super Mario Bros Wii takes secret areas to an incredible new height. Seemingly solid walls give way to a player discovering coins, power-ups, and even secret exits.
No review would be complete without a mention of the multiplayer aspects of this game, I admit I was skeptical about this mode. However, my fears were soon put to rest as I found myself pushing my wife for power-ups or getting into the warp pipe first. NSMBW uses the first in, first out method for pipes, the player who goes in first out first, getting the first dibs in collecting coins. Surprisingly though, all players share the score plus coin count during normal play. For coins, whoever gets the 100th coin of the token wins an extra life. However, there are two other game modes, the coin battle where players search for the most number of coins while navigating the levels, some completely custom levels for the coin battle. And Free Play, where you and up to 3 other players can play selected levels of the game.
While I highly praise New Super Mario Bros Wii, there are a couple of gray spots I need to mention. First, the most obvious, during multiplayer gameplay, whenever someone dies, there is a very brief pause while the classic Mario “oops, you’re dead” music plays. Every time that pause happens, the momentum is cut off, so if you’re in the middle of a jump and your friend dies, you’re going to fall. I can’t believe this got past Nintendo’s QA team so it must be working as intended. However, if anyone at Nintendo reads this, please tell Mr. Miyamoto that the “feature” was the most irritating thing in the entire game.
The other small problem my wife and I had with the game was the difficulty. Now, I should mention that we play together. Meaning that if one died, the other could stay put and wait while the other floated back onto the screen. This created a feeling of invulnerability in both me and my wife. Balanced against the seemingly easy level designs, we were able to breeze through the game in just a few days. This doesn’t mean we’re done with NSMBW, with 3 “Star Coins” on each level, as well as kidnapped Toads to rescue, there’s plenty to keep us busy for the rest of the holiday season.
While it has its flaws, New Super Mario Bros Wii is overall the best game released for the Wii to date. Combining both solid platformers along with a new “Wii Revolution” twist, this is THE game for Wii this holiday season.