It was like being seven years old all over again as we excitedly stormed into Nintendo UK's office and headed into the clean white room, where a TV displaying the title screen for New Super Mario Bros. Wii awaited us.
This is an exciting time for old-school Mario fans. It's the first proper 2D Mario platformer for a home console since Super Mario World on the Super NES. And we're glad to say that it doesn't disappoint.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii doesn't try to revolutionise 2D platforming. It doesn't mess with the formula. It just does its absolute best to tickle your nostalgia gland, and does so with such incredible (and subtle) charm that it'll put a big, fat smile on your face.
There's no messing with the story - Princess has been kidnapped. Bowser, who's clearly still after a rumble under the sheets with the royal lady, needs to have his ass kicked again and Mario's the one to do it.
Only now, as well as Luigi, he's joined by a couple of well-up-for-it Toads and that makes four-player frolics the big new component.
Before we talk about that though, let's make one thing clear: NSMBW is absolutely brilliant in single-player. While trailers and on-stage demonstrations focused on the game's new multiplayer element, this is a single-player Mario game in exactly the same vein as its classic predecessors, only with the option to slap three more players on the screen.
There's no necessity to ever play it with other people - you can still collect every coin and explore every area of the main quest without the help of others, and we were pleased to find that the level design didn't seem to be affected by the inclusion of a four-player option either.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Official trailer
1:01A new gameplay trailer
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Official trailer
1:01A new gameplay trailer
Age Restricted Content Please enter your date of birth below in order to verify your age before watching this video
You must be at least 0 years of age.
Play Again? Missed something? Just watch it again..
Watch More Videos Browse related videos and see what's new & popular
Share This Video Email this video, or embed it into your own web page
So there are still mental shifting platforms over instant-kill lava, Thwomp-filled corridors that require crazy sprinting skills and unnerving single-block-wide platforms that require every last ounce of your Mario skill to get through.
That was our other major relief - NSMBW isn't a walkover. Fair enough, we finished the game with well over 50 lives in the bank. We never saw the game over screen. But that was mainly due to the fact that the earlier levels gently ease new-school gamers into the ways of Mario kung fu, while any seasoned player blasts through it, hoovering up the insane number of extra lives the game throws at you.
The first couple of worlds are fairly lightweight and the difficulty gradually increases until you're dodging mental Bullet Bill swarms that blast onto the screen like you're playing a Treasure-developed shooter, spinning platforms that give you a split second to land and leap swiftly on, and bastard Cheep Cheeps (the little fish) that swim at you in their dozens. We've never seen so many enemies on screen at once in any previous Mario game. It's awesome.
Yoshi's back, of course, with his enemy-munching talents that give you that satisfying sense of power as you bounce through levels. He can lick up hammers (thrown by Hammer Brothers), fireballs and just about any enemy chucked at you, and spit them back in the opposite direction, just like the old days.
The only shame here is that Mario dismounts Yoshi and waves goodbye at the end-of-level flagpole, which means you can only use the little green dino in the few levels in which he's found. You can't take him elsewhere. Why, Nintendo?
As traditional as NSMBW is, though, it's far from a lazy update. Mastering the new suits is the first new challenge. The Propeller suit lets Mario copter-spin high into the air with an upwards flick of the Wii Remote, and float gently back down to ground level. That's cool, but the new Penguin suit is what it's all about.
Mario, in his snazzy penguin outfit, has enhanced grip on ice, swims like a ninja, throws enemy-freezing balls of ice and can slide along on his belly, battering through enemies and brick walls. It's ACE.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Official trailer
1:01More classic Mario action
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Official trailer
1:01More classic Mario action
Age Restricted Content Please enter your date of birth below in order to verify your age before watching this video
You must be at least 0 years of age.
Play Again? Missed something? Just watch it again..
Watch More Videos Browse related videos and see what's new & popular
Share This Video Email this video, or embed it into your own web page
The level design is just as brilliant, constantly throwing new obstacles and scenarios at you, and presenting you with different challenges to overcome all the way through to the very last boss battle, which is absolutely EPIC, we might add.
Some challenges are familiar to Mario vets - the snaking platform that bends and winds its way through a lava-filled cave, shifting platforms that move swiftly along wires in the sky while flying Koopa Troopers do their best to snuff you, or hovering ship levels filled with cannons just like in Super Mario Bros. 3 (with the same awesome music, too).
Then there are lots of new and genuinely brilliant challenges - a floating raft in a pitch-black cave with a light that can be moved by tilting the Wii Remote (which is held on its side like a traditional controller to play NSMBW), platforms that also tilt in response to the Wii Remote, giant spike pillars that extend the entire length of the level every five-or-so seconds, and loads more we don't want to spoil for you.
These are the stages that'll have even the most experienced Mario player gritting their teeth in frustration as they die for the fifteenth time. But it's a good frustration - a just-one-more-go frustration that keeps you sat there for hours. Dying. And for cop-outs there's a Super Guide mode, which kicks in after eight deaths, which offers to play a section of the level for you (without collecting any coins though). It's a neat option for beginners.
Levels are packed with extra mini challenges, too. You'll hit switches and have to grab eight red coins before they disappear. There are giant gold coins always placed in the toughest of positions, and of course the good old secret pipes that you'll hunt down. In some levels there are secret exits that lead to warp cannons (we found one that blasted us from World 6 to World 8).
Add Video for "New Super Mario Bros. Wii video "
Official trailer
1:14Four-player Mario action coming soon
Add Video for "New Super Mario Bros. Wii video "
Official trailer
1:14Four-player Mario action coming soon
Age Restricted Content Please enter your date of birth below in order to verify your age before watching this video
You must be at least 0 years of age.
Play Again? Missed something? Just watch it again..
Watch More Videos Browse related videos and see what's new & popular
Share This Video Email this video, or embed it into your own web page
And this time you will want to scour every level and find all those coins because there's a very special reward at the end of it all. We'll say no more about that.
The big question is how well all this plays in multiplayer. The possibly controversial conclusion we came to though, after a few hours with four other fairly experienced players, is that it doesn't work as well as you might expect. Essentially, we prefer the game in single-player.
With other players on the screen, the game transforms from a fluid experience to one of waiting. You can't just ninja-bounce over intricate platforms at your own pace, you have to wait for everyone to get through, wait for moving platforms to go back and pick up players forced to hang back, or for less-experienced players (there's always one) to stop buggering it up.
Also, players bash into each other, can pick each other up and bounce on each other's heads. It's utter calamity and results in accidental deaths - lots of them. It's great for the whole co-op competitive spin on the game, but when you just want to get through levels together it's frustrating. The 'I'm-not-f***ing-playing-anymore' type of frustration.
The separate coin battle mode is a better multiplayer excursion, which has players compete to grab the most coins in five specially designed scrolling levels. That's a good laugh. And another free-for-all mode lets you play any of the main adventure levels that you've unlocked, with the game tallying up points and declaring a winner at the end of the stage. All good fun.
Complaints of the game's multiplayer may come as a disappointment to you, but don't let it ruin your excitement. NSMBW just shows how truly timeless that classic Mario action is, and how Nintendo can still have that playful charm if it wants to. The way Koopers and other enemies all bounce in time to certain parts of the background music, or the way the game claps and cheers when you pass certain challenges - it's the little touches like this that made us smile over and over.
NSMBW is a stunning game in single-player, and a chaotic barrel of light-hearted laughs in multiplayer, accessible to beginners while truly challenging to long-term fans. Well done, Nintendo.
That'll do me! - The single player was what I wanted to hear about and really pleased to hear that it's as secret-filled and brilliantly designed as previous games. Can't wait to get my hands on it.
...And that first post about having a game-starved Wii. What with Ghostbusters, A Boy and his Blob, Rabbids Go Home, Muramasa, New Super Mario Bros, Resident Evilarkside Chronicles, Shaun White 2, Pro Evo 10 and Call of Duty Reflex all out before Christmas, you have no excuse!
especially where ghostbusters is involved. I'd say the wii version is actually better than the PS3/360 version. Well the boss fights are at least.
I was just going to edit my post to say that! - The pointer aiming control method makes all the difference. I hated the PS3 version due to twitchy analogue control and a horrible screen-tearing glitch.- The Wii iteration is infinately more fun.
I even prefer the stylised comedy visuals. So much more in-keeping with the humour of the franchise.
i still liked the PS3 version. I played it after the wii one but all the way through it it just felt like something was missing.
The wii one is definately the best. Its one of the games that really showcases what the wii can do in terms of brilliantly stylised graphics and spot on control.
Been seriously waiting for this since it's E3 appearence. Glad to hear about the quality single player mode. An automatic no brainer must buy game for me!
Very pleased with the review. Even my mum is a massive Super Mario Bros fan. It's the first game she played back in the NES days. Cannot wait to get this game at the end of the month. Almost sorry I am going away for a couple of weeks.... naah maybe not. I have patience
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
Retro glory from start to finish
arkside Chronicles, Shaun White 2, Pro Evo 10 and Call of Duty Reflex all out before Christmas, you have no excuse!
