MARIO REVIEWED: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

If after playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii you don't feel entirely satisfied and won over, I think there might be something wrong with you. This is undoubtedly the very best 2D Mario game ever made. People expecting a complete overhaul of the game might be disappointed, but if you were expecting Nintendo to tinker with their 2D formula, well… that might have been an unreasonable expectation, especially considering that the game has already sold over 10,000,000 copies.

If you've played Super Mario 3 and Super Mario 64, you should be up to speed on the mechanics. This is straight ahead, run left to right (and occasionally, go up and down) platforming, and it shows why nobody in the business even tries to compete with Nintendo in this arena. Mario controls tightly and smartly, and the implementation of motion controls is fairly seamless and offers up some really interesting challenges.

And challenged you will be – this game is hard. Maybe my skills have dampened since I was able to beat Super Mario 3 in just over half an hour, but I found this game to be extremely challenging. The ice world and the "bullet hell" world in particular. The interesting thing is that in the game's much-promoted multiplayer setting, the levels get even harder, mostly due to the fact that you have to keep track of not only the obstacles and the enemies, but also the other people in the level with you. Something that I kept forgetting when playing in multiplayer is that the other players actually occupy a physical space, so you can't run straight through them. As well, their heads can be used as trampolines to humorous effect. Multiplayer is an absolute blast and I can't recommend it highly enough. I will warn you though: you'll kill each other a lot, and vengeance will probably be swift. I'd like to see what the game is like with a group of people extremely skilled at managing the multiplayer because as it stands, I can't imagine any party of four being able to best, say, the eighth world together.

Some people seem to have been expecting Nintendo to completely stray from the formula, and that expectation is totally ridiculous. The complaints about this game that seem to make people think that Nintendo is "lazy" are what I think are it's greatest strengths. First, the number of levels: 77 seems just about right, especially considering how inspired they are. Complaining about the lack of a level editor is pretty stupid, especially when you consider that not even professional studios have been able to match the quality of work that Nintendo has produced in their level design. If people are that dedicated, they can tackle one of several homebrew options that exist.

Second: lack of online multiplayer. Let me say that having played The Conduit online (not that that's a good indicator of anything), Nintendo's online service can be laggy. Even if it was on, say, XBox Live or PSN, the timing of jumps, especially on mulitplayer, have to be pixel exact. Online multiplayer would have blown – wisely, Nintendo didn't even bother. Besides, this puts the focus back on the interpersonal relations that you'll be having on the couch, something that couldn't be recreated and would be severely dampened online.

Third: a similarity to its DS counterpart. Wasn't that expected? The game is not a DS port, and is actually a really beautiful game – there's really lovely lighting, the animation is fluid and polished, there are some really interesting things going on in the background. In fact, I'd say this game is as pretty as Super Mario Galaxy, except in 2D. As for similarity of mechanics… it's a Mario game!

Finally, I'd just like to say that even if I was disappointed with some aspect of the game (which I wasn't), the final battle with Bowser would have made up for that. It pretty much rules.

So what you're getting isn't the crazy upside down worlds of Super Mario Galaxy, but simply the most refined and fun 2D Mario game ever. I don't see why Nintendo can't do both, which with the release of Super Mario Galaxy 2 this year, they're clearly aiming to do. There's no reason to get upset when they're still cranking out fantastic games.