Its a me! Agony!

[G.Silver]

I'm on the fifth world in one play session, so I'm sure that indicates something. With a second player (who doesn't die when you die) many challenges that might have stopped you repeatedly won't stop you at all, it almost feels like cheating. I don't think it's really any longer or shorter than the DS version, but I do think it's got better levels and is more compelling and a ton more fun with a second player--it's hard to stop! I paced myself with the DS game, but that's not happening here.

[Dasher]

I like how they made Ludwig sound and his battles were pretty fun.

I never liked how in SMW they were all discolored, I mean look at Bowser himself! I guess they were busy making levels and not coloring. I can say surely that The Koopalings are more fun to beat in this game than SMW as in that game some battles were just cloned in this game they're all unique! heck even more fun to beat than in Mario3 of course but that's not a fair comparison.

[Dasher]

I don't know why but my fav Suit still remains the Raccoon suit or Tail and Ears from SM3...and the Hammer suit..and the frog...I need to play SMB3 again, been a while.

[Gaz]

Got this today. I was a bit weary this time around after being a bit disappointed with the DS game and not being overly impressed with what I'd seen of this one. I've played through most of World 1 so far and my first impression is that it is still a bit of retread but it doesn't feel like as much of a backwards step as the DS game was. The new power ups are a little more interesting this time around and there are at least a few more elements of SMB3 and SMW here and there.

[Dasher]

heh, even the box of the game describes the levels as being tough.

[Green Gibbon!]

It's balls that you can only save after each castle. I'd prefer to play each stage one at a time and get all the Star Coins before moving on, but that's too frustrating and time consuming without being able to save after each stage. I assume the option for saving any time will open after clearing the game, as in the DS version, but then I still have to rush through the whole game to unlock that feature. And that's not how I roll, yo.

And not only are there still "ba-ba-ba's", but now the damn turtles actually dance to it! I think I'd prefer just a little less sucrose in my plumber pie.


On the upside, the level design is much more interesting and the power-ups are less gimmicky. There are still enough dubious design choices that I always feel like there's something poking me in the ribs even when I'm having fun, and it still lacks the creativity of the old games, but it's fun regardless and a big improvement over the DS original.

Just as a matter of curiosity, is there a way to choose which character to play in a single-player game?

[Dr. BUGMAN]

And not only are there still "ba-ba-ba's", but now the damn turtles actually dance to it! I think I'd prefer just a little less sucrose in my plumber pie.

Um, they did that in the DS version too. Not to mention hopping power-ups and barrel-rolling cheep-cheeps, among others.

[K2J]

barrel-rolling cheep-cheeps, among others.

Aileron roll. StarFox lied to you.

Just as a matter of curiosity, is there a way to choose which character to play in a single-player game?

Not that I'm aware.

[Dasher]

There's one 2 you can choose,

Mario and HatlessMario.

Itsa Mario Time! Woohoo!

[Gaz]

It's balls that you can only save after each castle. I'd prefer to play each stage one at a time and get all the Star Coins before moving on, but that's too frustrating and time consuming without being able to save after each stage. I assume the option for saving any time will open after clearing the game, as in the DS version, but then I still have to rush through the whole game to unlock that feature. And that's not how I roll, yo.

I didn't think it was quite so bad seeing as you have the quicksave option at least this time around.

Just as a matter of curiosity, is there a way to choose which character to play in a single-player game?

Technically you can play as Luigi but you have to use that super guide thing and then take control.

[Green Gibbon!]

I, uh... I lost my hat. How did that happen?

[Zeta]

Get enough lives. Pointless.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

More games should have completely pointless easter eggs.

[Blount]

A lot of Mario platformers do. Not that Easter Eggs are supposed to have a point anyway. Though I wish you could revert the cosmetic changes in Super Mario World at will.

I honestly didn't find this game to be as much of a kick in the nuts as a lot of people make it seem, though I will concede that it's the most challenging Mario platformer in a long time, and the difficulty level feels just right for Mario experts such as myself, geeky modesty aside. It's just plain fun, even in single player mode, and there are enough tributes to the classic games to make any long-time fan grin with nostalgia. It's pretty much the 2D Mario game I've been waiting for years, though it doesn't quite have the same mood as previous iterations.

Am I the only one who plays the game with the Nunchuk attachment? Call me crazy, but I rather like being able to position my arms and wrists freely. It also doesn't make my thumbs hurt this way. Which makes me wonder about something else - does anyone else just hold the run button all the time? I usually always do that in Mario games, but this game in particular feels very slow if you're just walking at a leisurely pace. Maybe it's the higher resolution.

Oh, and I like how Yoshi no longer sounds like he's constipated all the time. He should always be this silent.

[Shadow Hog]

does anyone else just hold the run button all the time?

There are people who DON'T hold the run button down all the time?

[Green Gibbon!]

How do you control those tilting platforms with the nunchuck?

[Blount]

I just hold the Remote upright and tilt it sideways. Kind of like the ball in Super Mario Galaxy, but with 2D movement.

Or in plumber lingo, SWING YOUR WRIST FROM SIDE TO SIDE!

[gr4yJ4Y]

does anyone else just hold the run button all the time?

There are people who DON'T hold the run button down all the time?

While I was playing with my brother today, he asked if there was a way to run...

[Dr. BUGMAN]

I was playing through Mario Land 2 the other day, and I think it's the only one in the entire series that punishes you for mindlessly running. It was only in Wario's Castle, but it's something, I guess.

[Green Gibbon!]

Actually, why does a game like this even keep count of lives? Unless your save data is erased if you run out or something.

[Crazy Penguin]

That can be said of pretty much every non-arcade game with a life counter from the past decade or longer. Just force of habit I'd wager.

[G.Silver]

I think it matters more in multiplayer where players can continue in the current level endlessly until they run out, so it is possible for some players to be kicked out while others continue to play (the ones who Game Over can continue on the map, of course). It even keeps track of how many times each player has continued, so they're allowing for a competitive angle there.

I think especially in a trick-encouraging game like this the life counter is preserved because they couldn't think of anything better to reward you with when you stomp 8 troopas or however many it takes. Maxing out your lives (ie, a positive score) is more fun-sounding than a perfect game of "zero losses" (avoiding a negative).

[Crazy Penguin]

Maxing out your lives (ie, a positive score) is more fun-sounding than a perfect game of "zero losses" (avoiding a negative).

The latter being something that strangely disappeared from the Zelda series a few years ago.

[Zeta]

Playing through this game solo, it feels like parts of this game actually lack less polish than NSBDS. As if Nintendo new they actually had to put effort into this one but nearly vomited at the thought. Yoshi only being in a grand total of 10 stages and two Toads are just two of the major examples that really stand out. There's lots of other ones, though, too. Mapping the Spin jump to a controller wag instead of the unused B button means that you will never want to use it. Odd physics for item bounces mean it's hell to make sure everyone gets a power up. And no turning off "friendly" fire physics for the character so you don't cause everyone to bounce constantly like drunken rubber tree plants is another big thing that should have been in the game.

I hate to say this, but this game is fun with four players, but ultimately feels almost as rushed as a Sonic the Hedgehog game. It's full of half baked ideas and undeveloped concepts that could have proved fruitful if only the developers had taken a step back to think of what they were doing instead of desperately trying to force the game out by Christmas. And to me, that's Sonic the Hedgehog syndrome.

Had I been in charge of this game:
* Give players a power-up storage system as in Super Mario World. That way you can actually throw unused power ups to friendly players by having them drop in the top of the screen over your characters head. Control it by pressing the Minus button.
* Spin Jump and pick-up mapped to the B Button/Trigger button. Wii remote controls saved for stage gimmicks and obstacles only.
* Unlockable characters and/or costumes so that your players get more rewards in a Mario game than stickers and having Mario take off his hat for once.
* Ability to turn Friendly Bounce on/off from the pause menu. Having it off means that players phase through each other but can still interact with items, stage gimmicks, and picking up objects.
* More Yoshi. In fact, people like Yoshi so damn much, I think it might be time to bring back Birdo and Poochy as ride-able animal buddies. Mario is the only platformer I can think of who ever only stuck to one "Yoshi-type" character. Birdo lets you shoot eggs like Yoshi did in Yoshi's Island and Poochy lets you do a Rambi-like charge attack and makes you invulnerable to spikes and lava.
* More Old Power-ups hidden as Easter Eggs throughout the game would have been great. Especially if you add them in through something like P-Switches. Unlock the stage and the Blue Shell, Super Carrot, Frog Suit, Mega Mushroom, Birdo, and Poochy and Hammer Bros Suit get added into older stages. Would have added some feeling of repeatability this title lacks that older Mario Bros titles seemed to have much better.

All in all, if you forced me to give it a number, I think I would only give it an 8/10 or a B Minus. Which is an improvement over what I thought of Mario Bros DS, which I thought ranked a D or a 4/10. But still, these Mario nostalgia titles still feel like they're step backs from what we had in Super Mario World rather than steps forward, and are starting to stink of a certain Blue Hedgehog's rush jobs and production values.

[Zeta]

Since we can't edit posts, here's my more in-depth take on the game:

Let me get one thing out of the way, I HATED New Super Mario Bros DS. I thought it ranked easily as the worst Mario game ever. Why? It based itself entirely on nostalgia rather than playability or innovation, and was trying to be Super Mario Bros 1 in 3D with an easier difficulty instead of developing the franchise. In other words, it felt like a quick cash in, which is unusual for Nintendo.

So playing through New Super Mario Bros Wii, is in an improvement? Yes, but sadly not enough of one. Not what it could have been.

*Presentation*

Let us get some things out of the way, first. The Graphics and Sound are perfectly fine for a Mario game. They suit the game well. Do any better, and it wouldn't feel like Mario in some ways. I think the future of Mario's graphics will eventually be to give it textures and lighting similar to the Little Big Planet series, so as to make the world look like a hand-crafted art project of a miniature garden (which Shigeru Miyamoto is so fond of and bases all of his game concepts on) but the Wii is really not there enough to develop this idea.

Just one complain: Two Toads? REALLY Nintendo? Couldn't be bothered to make a sprite sheet for Peach for Wario? Or even Toadette (oh wait, I forgot, all females have to be helpless prizes to be won and objectified over, silly me). The characters are already too hard to tell apart when you have four players on the screen. Making two of them simply recolorations of each other is asking for confusion and annoyance at the hands of player 3 and 4.

*Gameplay and Controls*

Where I have a large amount of major issues.

The game has "friendly fire" on ALL The time. When you run into another player, you cause them to bounce in some way. In a tricky platforming game, this just makes most levels simply Hell to play through with more than 1 player. Playing with four people allows you to keep playing through the level as long as one of your friends remains living, but you'll be dying so much more. This game will ruin friendships instead of encouraging teamwork, as playing through the game shortly devolves into a blame game of who ruined who's jumping or pushed who off a platform.

Along the same line of thought comes the atrocious power-up system, which (once again true to the New Super Mario Bros formula!) is devolved from a great system put into place in Super Mario World. It is a living nightmare trying to make sure everyone on your team gets a power-up. The power-ups all have bizarre movements that are usually synchronized that send two of the same item barreling into one player, assuring that one player will always remain Small.

This could have easily been fixed. Give players a power-up storage system as in Super Mario World. That way you can actually throw unused power ups to friendly players by having them drop in the top of the screen over your characters head. Control it by pressing the Minus button. Done

The controls were not as good as they could have been, thanks to Nintendo's insistence on sticking waggle in games where it blatantly does not belong. Mapping the Spin jump to a controller wag instead of the unused B button means that you will never want to use it.

As if Nintendo new they actually had to put effort into this one but nearly vomited at the thought. Yoshi only being in a grand total of 10 stages and two Toads are just two of the major examples that really stand out. There's lots of other ones, though, too. Mapping the Spin jump to a controller wag instead of the unused B button means that you will never want to use it. Odd physics for item bounces mean it's hell to make sure everyone gets a power up. And no turning off "friendly" fire physics for the character so you don't cause everyone to bounce constantly like drunken rubber tree plants is another big thing that should have been in the game. Spin Jump and pick-up should have been mapped to the B Button/Trigger button. Wii remote controls should have been saved for stage gimmicks and obstacles only.

Using Power-Ups between stages is a horrid chore, because you can't control who gets what. If your team is all Small and wants to use a Propeller Suit, but one of your-teamates actually managed to survive and keep a Penguin Suit, your option is to either keep charging ahead and dying at the entry-way of a stage or to royally screw over the best player of your team. Lovely. I am also rather confused at the deletion of the Blue Shell power up, considering it's just a variation on the penguin suit in the same way the Ice Flower is a variation on it.

Is there even any need to point out that Yoshi was thoughtlessly tacked onto this game? A last minute addition when people realized the last good game Yoshi was attainable in was Super Mario World and that he must have called in sick for Mario 64, Galaxy, and NSBDS and SHOULD have called in sick for Sunshine? No? OK. I'll say it anyways. Yoshi is one of the most enjoyable additions to the series. He should not be usable in only 10 stages out of a 90 stage game, and die at the end of the stage automatically. No, bad Nintendo, bad. You put effort into adding things to your game. No treat. If anything, I think it might be time to bring back Birdo and Poochy as ride-able animal buddies because every Mario fan likes the mounted buddy concept so much, but it was expanded on more in Adventure Island, Starfy, and Donkey Kong Country than in Mario.

* The Good Stuff*

It may seem like I'm being a negative Nancy, and that's because Mario warrants a higher standard of judgement than generic platform hero #3. I will say the following praise about the game:

1) The game is far more fun than Little Big Planet, especially in multi-player.
2) Some concepts work really well, the Propeller Suit, Penguin Suit, and Ice Flower add a lot of depth to the game most 2D Mario platformers are missing out on.
3) World 9 - Finally a reward of some kind in a Mario game aside from a kiss on the cheek from Peach!? Unheard of! This is mitigated by the fact that World 9 uses a hodgepodge of visual resources from earlier stages in the game, instead of making the actual worlds appear to be part of the Star Road and making the player feel like he's gotten something worthy.
4) The Koopaling boss fights are brilliant and far outshine the giant minor enemy boss fights from the Nintendo DS title (but if Nintendo ever wanted to do a New Super Mario Bros 3 that did both, I would not object).
5) The level gimmicks that use Wii remote tilt are also a stroke of genius. It's too bad there weren't more of them, really.

*Summary and Conclusion*

This game is fun but unnecessarily difficult with four players. I hate to say this but this Mario game ultimately feels almost as rushed as a Sonic the Hedgehog game. It's full of half baked ideas and undeveloped concepts that could have proved fruitful if only the developers had taken a step back to think of what they were doing instead of desperately trying to force the game out by Christmas. And to me, that's Sonic the Hedgehog syndrome.

This game is an improvement over New Super Mario Bros DS, but sadly not an improvement over Super Mario World, which is ridiculous considering Nintendo only had 15 years to refine what they did in 1994. These Mario nostalgia titles still feel like they're step backs from what we had in Super Mario World rather than steps forward, and are starting to stink of a certain Blue Hedgehog's rush jobs and production values.

If this game were released in 1998, it would have been great. But 20 years after what feels like it's sell-by date? Not up to snuff. Not by a longshot.

It looks like we're going to have to wait for New Super Mario Bros 3 to actually see the series make the leap from 1994 to the decade of the 2010s.