New Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo Wii: Proves Classic Gameplay is Still Just as Fun!
Written: Dec 10 '09 (Updated Dec 10 '09)
Product Rating:
Pros: Classic gameplay, multiplayer co-op mode, lots of fun, classic music and graphics
Cons: Multiplayer mode can be frustrating, no extra reward for getting all Star World star coins
The Bottom Line: If you have ever played and enjoyed a Super Mario Bros. Game, you’ll enjoy New Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo Wii. The classic gameplay is classic for a reason!
noangels's Full Review: New Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo Wii
It's difficult not to have a soft spot for Super Mario Bros. games after growing up with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Super NES consoles. I've amassed most of the games featuring these koopa-killing Italian plumbers (sounds ridiculous when you spell it out...), but as fun as some of the newer Mario games are, the old two-dimensional games remain among my favorites.
I was excited when New Super Mario Bros. was released for the Nintendo DS and the announcement of a full classic-style console game made me even happier. I picked up New Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo Wii on its release date, beat it three days later, and I'm still enjoying it!
Gameplay
As shocked as most players will be by the completely innovative title, they'll be even more surprised by the storyline. Princess Peach gets kidnapped as she celebrates her birthday with Mario and friends. Seriously, though, this classic plot results in the launch of an equally classic, side-scrolling platforming adventure.
If you have played any Mario games from the mid 80's to 90's, you'll recognize this game's gameplay. Mario must navigate platforms, bodies of water, and pipes to make his way to various castles (where the princess isn't being held - you know the drill), before eventually arriving at the final castle to save the damsel in distress. All of the familiar baddies are back for this game, including koopas, piranha plants, and goombas. Power-ups are back too, including the newer mini mushroom from the latest Mario DS game. While the gameplay isn't unique, it proves classic gameplay is still fun. It can also be quite challenging as you try to duck flying fish and navigate towers while avoiding boos. While some levels were a blast, others took numerous tries to complete.
Besides the obvious inclusion of all of the classic Mario characters and environments, I liked that this game incorporates details from many of the classic Mario games. Like the original Super Mario Bros. for the NES, each level concludes with a large flag pole that Mario must slide down to end the level and gain extra points and lives. The classic timer was also included, which can trigger fireworks when the level is ended with certain intervals of time remaining. The included game references continue with the world layout and battle ships from the NES gem, Super Mario Bros. 3. This game features eight worlds, which each feature a castle midway through the world and at the end. The worlds are also ordered as they were in the third game, with a desert-set second world and lava providing the setting for the last world. The initial high of nostalgia quickly dissipated when I reached the ice world and remembered how frustrating platforming is on slippery surfaces, but it was all in good fun.
Borrowing from its immediate handheld predecessor, New Super Mario Bros. DS, the game incorporates three hidden star coins into each level. It added a small puzzle-solving component to the game that I really enjoyed. Some of them were very well hidden. I basically ran into every wall in the game to see which I could walk through to find a hidden area. These coins are used to unlock hint videos in the game that help you find secret paths and other goodies. My husband and I managed to collect all of the coins during our first run-through of the game, which unlocked all of the Star World levels. This world is unlocked after you've beaten the game and collecting all of the star coins for a particular world unlocks another level (for a total of eight). Like the Star World from Super Mario World (SNES), the levels are incredibly difficult. If someone had watched a video of my husband and I playing through them, you would only have been able to distinguish it from a Jerry Springer episode by the lack of punches; There were that many expletives being repeated. Despite the frustration, it was a lot of fun, and I felt we accomplished something upon completion. There was no reward for collecting all of the Star World star coins, which I felt was a little anticlimactic. The fact that no Wii remotes were wedged into my television (which my husband insists survived only because we love it so much) after those levels deserved some kind of recognition. Other details from Super Mario World like the apples for yoshi to eat and the red block switch also had cameos in this game.
Drawing from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Kamek is back to spread his baddie-mutating magic. The game also provided the bubble idea, which facilitated the multiplayer co-op mode in this game. Up to four players can play at once, adding a fun element to the game play. I liked being able to play with so many friends. It gives the game a Mario Party-type feel, but ten times as fun. I thought the multiplayer co-op also eliminated some of the tedium of repeating levels to collect all of the hidden coins and items. My husband and I played the game together and found it much easier to find secret paths and items when we could cover twice as much of the level within the time limit. I thought the multiplayer was well thought out, with the game requiring only one person to go through a door or pipe to advance. It would have been very frustrating to have to wait for two to four people to all reach a particular exit.
I also liked the strategy component that the multiplayer capabilities added to the game. With two or more players, you could strategize to reach certain star coins or other items. My husband and I would often coordinate jumping on one another's heads to reach high coins or spread out to cover entire moving platforms.
The drawback to the multiplayer feature is that it can make some levels more difficult, especially since this is a platforming game. There were so many times that we lost lives while trying to navigate small platforms. One person would fall off the platform or ricochet off the others head into lava. It became quite frustrating at times. The side-scrolling format posed another problem, since all players needed to be within a certain span of the screen at any given time. Falling behind could result in a death. Another small downside was the omission of the super mushroom that appeared in New Super Mario Bros. DS. It had been a lot of fun to become a giant and smash everything, but with up to four players on screen, it was probably impossible for it to be integrated into this version.
We would also become confused between all of the characters on screen. Even though each playable character is a different color (Mario, Luigi, and Blue and Yellow Toads are available), it's easy to lose sight of your character or confuse it with the other characters. I can't tell you how many times I stage-dived into a pit while thinking I was controlling Luigi instead of Mario, or vice versa. Luckily the developers thought of a good plan for bringing back suicidal Marios.
When any player dies (as long as at least one of the other players is still alive), he or she floats in a bubble on-screen until someone pops the bubble to bring the player back. Luckily, the irritating crying wasn't carried over from Yoshi's Island, but players can shake their Wii-remotes to move the bubble closer to their teammates and call out to them from the speaker in their controller. The bubble adds another strategy element to the game by allowing players to toggle it on and off (using the ‘A' button) in situations where having too many people on screen is a liability. This can be risky business, though, because if all of the remaining players die while everyone else is "bubbled", you must start the level over again.
This game's controls are very simplistic, resembling those of the NES games. The Wii-remote is held sideways while players make use of the directional pad and ‘1' and ‘2' buttons to control their character on-screen. Shaking the remote causes the character to spin during a jump, which is necessary when using the new helicopter hat power-up. Anyone who has played an older Mario game will pick this up quickly and those that haven't will have a minimal learning curve. Players also have the option of using the Wii-remote/nunchuck control scheme, with the latter used for movement. I think the classic-style control scheme is more fun, though.
The game allows you to "quick save" at any point, saving your game and bringing you back to the start menu. You're also given the option of saving after completing castles and haunted houses. Warp tunnels allow you to skip ahead to other worlds and navigation through worlds you have unlocked occurs with the touch of a button. Without giving away too much, I can say I enjoyed the game's ending. Classic Mario fans will be pleased before all hell breaks loose, and the credits are a fun little mini game!
This game is rated E for everyone, and I concur with that rating. This is a game that is fun for all ages. There is no content that would be inappropriate for any particular age group. It's easy enough for young gamers to learn and nostalgic enough for older gamers to enjoy. Graphics
New Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo Wii has cartoon-style graphics that are just a bit more refined than those of the older games. The graphics are 2.5 dimensional, meaning some of the characters are three-dimensional against a two-dimensional background. These add a new level of polish to the classic Mario worlds and environments that were brought back for this game. The animations can be described as cartoon-ish as well.
The graphics also work well for the Wii's limited hardware capabilities. There are no concerns about realism or jagged edges in this game. The graphics aren't meant to rival those of Assassin's Creed 2. They do, however, serve as a colorful addition to the whimsical feel of the game.
Audio
The music and sound effects in this game were almost entirely borrowed from previous games. You'll recognize the classic Mario theme, the music from all the levels (castles, water levels, underground levels, etc.), and the well known Mario sound effects such as jumping and throwing fire balls. The level-ending theme from the original Super Mario Bros. (NES) was included as well. Each sounded re-recorded, but it didn't lose any of the nostalgia. Like other games, the music changes to add a galloping-type track while a character is riding Yoshi, but it was a little different in this game from other games. I was happy to see that detail included, and improved upon.
The audio in this game is classic, not revolutionary. It's not the type of game that takes advantage of surround sound, but I'm sure most players won't be expecting that.
Price
We purchased New Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo Wii for $49.99 at Gamestop.
**PS** Thanks to everyone who managed to get all the way through this review. It was a bit longer than I usually intend my game reviews to be. Should teach all of you not to get me started talking about classic Mario games! :-)
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