Ok my last post was a fluke because I was just so excited to have the game and I was having so much fun. I wanted to make a full review after I’ve had some time to spend with the game.

First I would like to say that this game looks GREAT. On a youtube screen it doesn’t look all that impressive, but on a TV at home you notice so much more that you didn’t see before. It’s all the subtle little things which make this game scream of perfection (things like the mushroom platforms wobbling ever so slightly when you land on them).

Second, I wanna say that this game is HARD. If you’ve played New Super Mario Bros on the DS then you should know that gaining 99 lives is pretty darn easy (especially in the early stages). Well NSMBwii has the same level of 1-up collection, but you certainly put those extra lives to good use. I’m not saying that you’ll ever really run out of lives, but you do certainly go through a lot of them (mostly while trying to access the hidden areas).

I’ve heard people complaining that this game doesn’t feature fully rendered and epic cinematic cut scenes like in Super Mario Galaxy, and my reaction is “why does a game like this NEED those?” Pure and simple, NSMBwii is all about platforming awesomeness. You don’t need a fancy story to get right into the meat of the action (something I wish other games would take stock of, especially a certain blue hedgehog). Princess Peach is kidnapped, you run in pursuit, you travel the Mushroom Kingdom to get her back by beating various koopa kids. Simple, straightforward, to the point.

The controls take a little getting use to. People who grew up on the earlier NES games might have problems with Mario’s slight slippery handling, but those who’ve played and mastered the DS game will feel right at home. You can stomp, ground pound, and even do a little Mario Galaxy style spin jump.

Some of the motion controls are a bit strange as well. I would have preferred that they not use motion controls at all for such a precise game as this, but they’re never overbearing or get in the way of the fun. Shaking the wiimote will make Mario either zoom up into the air (while wearing the propeller suit), pick up an object (or player), or make Mario do a small twirl in the air to stretch out a jump. Some platforms will rotate depending on how the WiiMote is held, which adds an extra layer of difficulty to some levels.

There’s alot of Mario 3 and Mario World in this game. The Koopa Kids are back, as are the Air Ships. Yoshi is used in select levels too (although it’s a great disappointment that you can’t bring him to other levels after you finish one). Many of the enemies from Mario 3 are in this game but slightly reimagined to make them more unique and challenging. The map-screen enemy events from Mario 3 are back too, as are Toad houses and picture flipping match-up games.

Like the DS game, you travel the Mushroom Kingdom level to level. You fight a midway boss in a fortress before continuing to go through more levels. At the end you fight a revised version of the boss in the big castle before you continue on to the next world. Each time you fight the Koopa Kid the second time, they’re more powerful and have varied attacks, so it requires more skill to defeat them.

If you’re really having trouble with a level, Nintendo introduces the super controversial “super guide mode.” If you die 8 times on a level, a little green box will appear. If you hit the box, Luigi will come in and play the level for you. He doesn’t go after secret areas or coins, and just shows you the most rudimentary way through the level. At any time you can stop Luigi and jump right back in where he left off.

So much debate has gone on about the Super Guide mode I just wanna reassure people that it’s really not that big of a deal. It’s completely optional and you don’t have to use it if you don’t want to. In fact there’s several reasons why you should ignore it. One reason is because it feels like giving up to make the computer play for you and you don’t actually get any better by letting it play. The second reason is that there is bonus content that is only unlocked by not using Super Guide at all.

Star Coins are back like in the DS game, but this time they’re used to purchase “Super Skill Movies” back at Peach’s castle. These videos are simply amazing to watch. Honestly I don’t know how ANYONE could EVER be as good as the people in the videos. They put the rest of us to SHAME with their amazing skills. Some videos will even show you secrets you might’ve missed and overall they’re simply fun to watch. They demonstrate how tight and precise the controls are and how deep the gameplay can actually be to people who develop their eye hand coordination well.

All of this, by the way, is for the single player experience. I haven’t even touched upon the 4 player mode. At any time in the game you can add an extra person to play in a level with you, and as you already know, 4 players can play on the screen at the same time. Having more than one player creates all kinds of interesting scenarios.

On one hand, having another person is chaotic sometimes and it’s easier to die by accident. The good news is that as long as one person is playing, the game keeps going. So even if you die, you can still come back and continue the level. Playing multiplayer is probably the best idea if you want to make it through some of the more challenging levels.

The game is meant to be played widescreen, so if you’ve got a standard TV you get black boxes on the top and bottom just like if you were watching a widescreen DVD. It’s not annoying at all, but I just wanted to let people know about it since I haven’t really heard anyone talking about it in any of the reviews I’ve seen/read.

The 3rd and 4th player characters are 2 generic toads. Many fans got annoyed that more interesting characters like Wario or Princess Peach weren’t playable ala the American version of Mario Bros 2 on the NES. What Miyamoto himself has said is that he wanted everyone in the family to be able to pickup and play the game. He didn’t want to give special advantages to certain people and basically wanted to keep everyone on the same level of controls. By adding a character like Wario or Peach, they would’ve been expected to add special abilities to the characters (like Peach’s floating or Wario’s farting) which would have easily made the multiplayer game unfairly unbalanced. Mario, Luigi, and the two Toads all play exactly the same way and not one character is better or worse than the other.

Also, according to Miyamoto, the two toads have a similar physique to Mario and Luigi and that Peach’s dress would’ve required extra programing and scripting to get right for such an action oriented game. To be honest, I agree with Miyamoto.

There is no online multiplayer, which again ticked off a bunch of fans. Apparently we’ve reached the age in video games that if you want multiplayer it HAS to be online or else it sucks. But there’s several good reasons why the 4 player local is perfectly acceptable:

The first and most obvious is that Nintendo’s online network isn’t the greatest in the world. Games that demand a high level of perfect interaction with the characters (like Brawl) have a hard time keeping up and can lag. On a game like this with so much interaction any sort of lag would’ve simply been a huge frustration. Not to mention the obvious disadvantage of the dreaded “friend codes.”

The second reason is that the game is mean to be played by families together. Everyone in the same room. It’s easy and simple enough for mom and dad to “get” and play, and you can add or drop people pretty much anytime you want. Being together and being sociable is alot more fun in person than with a faceless and random online user.

And finally, this game screams of co-op. Without any sort of way to communicate effectively with the other player, the game would be a mess to play in muliplayer online. Nintendo doesn’t have any sort of headset mic aside from WiiSpeak, and not that many people even own that. It’s just so much easier to be talking directly with the person next to you than trying to tell someone what to do without being able to see or hear them. For all those reasons and more, I feel that having online would’ve been a major disservice to this game and I am glad they kept it out.

I guess I’m starting to wrap things up. Overall I am thoroughly enjoying this game. The controls are spot on, the graphics are bright and colorful and polished to perfection, the levels are all interesting and varied, and there are so many little nods to previous Mario games. If you love video games, 2-D Platformers, or just Mario... this is a most definite MUST BUY! It’s been 18 years since Mario has appeared on a home console in 2-D, and if you have any nostalgia for your childhood you owe it to yourself to play this game! 

Also if you’ve been thinking that Nintendo has been going “soft” with all the casual games lately, this will help remind you that they know what they’re doing and they can still kick butt whenever they want!

If I’ve missed anything please ask me and I’ll be happy to reply and elaborate.

1. r3v3r53d
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