New Super Mario Bros. Wii Review

It’s been almost two decades since a two-dimensional Mario platformer has graced a home console, but only three years ago Mario reemerged in 2.5D on the DS with New Super Mario Bros. Now the side-scrolling action is back on a console with New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and the iconic plumber has brought along a few friends for the journey. Mario, Luigi, and a pair of Toads will have to journey though multiple worlds and face the return of the Koopa Kids (now called Koopalings) in order to rescue Princess Peach. Classic Mario platforming and presentation return with four-player multiplayer and a few new power-ups. Older gamers will no doubt appreciate the rampant nostalgia, and the traditional gameplay with a co-operative twist will draw in new fans.

The story is the same tried and true Mario formula that has been used for over thirty years: Mario rescues Princess Peach from Bowser. The Koopalings make a welcome return, but otherwise, NSMBWii is all about the gameplay, which again is tried and true. The game represents Mario platforming at its finest: a variety of worlds to explore, hidden coins to collect, branching paths and secret exits, and several power-ups to help you along the way. Fans of Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES and Super Mario World on the SNES will find a lot of similar elements in the Wii game. In many ways this is a nod to old fans, but it also means a lack of a lot of new innovations. There are some, certainly, such as moving levels in the sky that require a careful foot, but overall the gameplay is largely derivative. When a game is derivative of two of the best games of all time, though, it’s hard to go wrong.

Standard locations reappear in NSMBWii: caves, deserts, water levels.

The two new items for NSMBWii–the propeller mushroom and the penguin suit–manage to shake up the game in new ways while still being consistent with the traditional gameplay. The penguin suit, like the frog suit from SMB3, is a fun item but incredibly niche; there are only a handful of underwater stages that put its swimming capabilities to good use and even fewer decent areas to slide around in. Even the ability to throw ice balls is already covered with the ice flower. Still, it’s hard to deny its value when properly used, and the characters look adorable as penguins. Just don’t expect it to be a huge part of the game.

The propeller suit is infinitely more valuable for its ability to speed you through the entire level, floating across dangers with a shake of the Wii remote. Spiraling through the levels is fun but requires some finesse, else you’ll find yourself helplessly falling to your doom. It’s also necessary for some special coins and secret paths, so conserving this rarity is a must. In addition, to these new items, you can earn power-ups from mushroom houses (through an image-matching minigame) on the world map and store them for future use. It really helps when you’re stuck replaying the same level over and over–even just using a regular super mushroom can often mean the difference between victory and defeat. It’s easy to collect super mushrooms, but other power-ups are more limited in their availability, so managing your item use is key.

New and old; propeller suit takes you to new heights, while Yoshi is back to eat enemies in your path.

The big controversial feature in NSMBWii is Nintendo’s new super guide, where the game finishes a level for you if you should find yourself incapable of progress. Purists have no need to worry, though; the function is not only completely optional, but the guide doesn’t even activate until you’ve failed the same level eight times in a row. Veterans will likely never see the guide at all considering the overall ease of much of the game. Furthermore, you can spend the special coins you collect in each level to watch hint movies in Peach’s castle. These videos show you how to access hidden paths, secret exits, and even how to find some tricky special coins. Like the super guide, this feature is optional to the player, but it’s a nice to have the option to ask for help within the game rather than asking friends or scouring the internet for walk-through guides. While running through levels can be somewhat simple, finding all of the game’s many secrets requires much more patience and exploration–hint movies are a great help for the completionist.

The penguin suit allows you to slide along your belly, speeding you on your way.

If you only play the game solo, though, you’re not getting the full experience at all. Multiplayer adds a whole new layer of chaos to the mix, no matter if you’re trying to play cooperatively or competitively. With multiple players, you can’t help but mess up one another, even when trying to support each other. Four players is particularly chaotic, even on early stages. It’s both fun and frustrating, adding a whole different challenge to the game–especially on moving stages–but there are a few tricks that multiplayer provides to ease the tension. When you die in multiplayer, the level continues as long as one player is still alive. Players that have died come back in bubbles, which the surviving player has to pop to release them. If you’re falling to your doom, though, you can activate the bubble at any time, sparing yourself of a lost life (as long as one partner makes it to the end of the stage or releases you). You can also pick up players to carry them across gaps if they keep getting in your way, or even toss them into a pit if they’re particularly annoying. This system makes retries much easier to do, and special coins laid just above pits become easy as pie. In addition, the competitive modes–free-for-all to earn a high score and coin battle to collect the most coins–are all out mayhem. The kind of silly but intense competition as seen in other Nintendo games like Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros. is pure light-hearted fun and can lead to some very memorable moments in gaming.

Finishing fortresses allows you to save the game.

All you need to play is the Wii remote turned sideways, mimicking the simple controls of the NES. Press 2 to jump, hold 1 to run or shoot fire/ice balls, and move with the D-pad, obviously. Mario and company feel a little loose as the run and skid around the Mushroom Kingdom, so controlling your character takes just a little time to get accustomed to them. Motion controls are minimal, but they still manage to feel out of place. Shake the Wii remote to spin, fly with the propeller hat, or hold 1 and shake to pick up objects like frozen enemies or fellow players. It’s a perfectly simple move but it doesn’t quite mesh with the rest of the game, especially on the rare occasion that a shake doesn’t register, costing you a life.

The 2.5D graphics are beautiful, especially in details like lava or water. The environments are, admittedly, somewhat repetitive after a while, but everything looks great with fantastic little details like enemies dancing in time with the music. There’s nothing quite like discovering that little surprise while you play. The music is great for old Mario fans; there are a lot of remixed tunes from previous games, but NSMBWii keeps it consistent by giving each of them a little revamp that matches throughout the game as a whole. The tunes do repeat themselves quite a bit by the time the game is over, but overall it’s still great to listen to while you stomp goombas.

Cooperation and planning is key to progressing in multiplayer.

For a solo veteran gamer, finishing the game to absolute completion will only last around thirteen hours–not terribly bad considering the quality of that game time. Speeding through the game will take much less (especially if you make liberal use of warp cannons and shortcuts) but that would miss out on the numerous special coins scattered throughout each level, some of which are very cleverly hidden. And of course, you can replay the entire game with multiplayer, practically making it a wildly different game. And maybe even more difficult, depending on whom you have playing with you.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is largely familiar territory for Mario veterans, but the addition of multiplayer completely changes the experience. Getting together three friends to run and jump through the Mushroom Kingdom is really how the game is meant to be played, and it quickly becomes an absurdly hectic and entertaining experience. NSMBWii brings Mario back to his roots of gaming excellence, and he truly shines in this side-scrolling adventure.

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