This week I finished up the New Super Mario Bros for the Wii.  I will tell you right off the bat that I enjoyed this game from start to finish.  It stays true to it’s roots and doesn’t disappoint.

Speaking of dissappointments, I have been generally underwhelmed with the Wii since it’s inception.  I have really only played through Zelda: Twilight Princess (EXCELLENT!), but other than that there hasn’t been anything that has interested me enough to purchase.  Call me old fashion but I prefer button pushing to controller swinging.

With that being said,  the Wii is not my favorite system however when I heard they were bringing back Mario Bros to it’s original (and best) design, I couldn’t run to the store fast enough.

I urge anyone who has loved the Mario series from when it all started back with the old NES system, to purchase this game.

WHAT TO EXPECT?

New Super Mario is a cross between Super Mario 3 (NES) and Super Mario World for the SNES.  It is entirely side-scroller, so if you hated the N64 Mario and anything after that, then you will love that this has zero of those elements.

You start the game out with the same excellent story that you have heard throughout the years.  The Princess has been kidnapped and you must get her back.  You begin in World 1 and continue up until you reach Bowser’s castle in World 8.  Each World has a different theme, much like SMB3 and SMW.  You will find yourself on Ice, Clouds, Sand, Grass, etc.  You will see familiar baddies throughout the game as well as some new ones.  Yoshi even comes back for a few levels!

The main objective is still the same, reach the flagpole and finish the level.  There is a ghost castle in each world, along with a mid and final castle.  The Koopalings you fight in each of the castles will be very familiar to you.  Don’t worry though, just because it all seems familiar doesn’t mean it’s extremely easy.  There were plenty of levels and castles that took me 5-10 lives to finish.

As with the prior Mario games, there are plenty of secrets for you to enjoy.  Each level has 3 large coins for you to get (much like the Yoshi tokens in SMW), instead of simply giving you free lives the coins actually can help you get information about secrets and how to find free lives throughout the maps.  Eventually in the end you will need all the coins in every level in order to complete the game in it’s entirety (I have not yet accomplished this).

ANY DOWNSIDE?

It seemed short.  The levels seemed shorter and the maps seemed smaller.  That might just be because I ran through the game without stopping to take in the scenery.

Some of the levels are EXTREMELY easy and some are EXTREMELY hard.  Overall it’s a good balance though.

The multiplayer is almost impossible.  Instead of allowing two people to play seperately during the game (one of you die, it’s the other ones turn) they decided to put up to 4 players on the same level at the same time.  It’s insanely hard and honestly not much fun.  Stick with one player.

There are a few elements of the game where you need to shake or turn the Wii controller.  Don’t worry, it’s rare and not that difficult.  Typically you use the same A/B button scheme and arrow pad.

OVERALL THE NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. FOR THE WII IS EXCELLENT! For anyone who loves the Mario series (pre-Game Cube), you will ABSOLUTELY love this game!

Happy Gaming,

Jamie O’Dell

Up Next:  I am currently playing Mass Effect.  It’s an older game but very cool.  Mass Effect 2 comes out January 26th, 2010 and i’m super stoked about it!