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I'm actually glad I own a Wii now!
I've been a long time fan of Mario; Heck, he's the whole reason I started playing video games. The first time I ever saw the original Super Mario Bros, it blew my eight year old mind. Ever since Mario has pretty much kept my interest. I was even one of the few people who enjoyed Super Mario Sunshine if you can believe that. Still, there are two games that are pretty much what I consider to be the pinnacle of Super Mario Bros games. Super Mario Bros. 3 and my all time favorite, Super Mario World. I was happy to see that New Super Mario Bros Wii, had features from both games. I shed a single manly tear.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii is kind of the game I was hoping would be the natural progression of the Mario games after Mario World. Instead, we got Mario 64, which I can't really say was a step in the wrong direction cause we did eventually get Super Mario Galaxy which was an absolute masterpiece. In 2006 we got New Super Mario Bros on the DS, and it was amazing. Its what I had been waiting for since 1992. Now if only we could get this...on a console, and in 2009 my prayers were answered.
At it's core, its a standard 2D Mario game; you run from one side of the stage to the other, breaking blocks, getting power ups and stomping on baddies the whole way. Just like old times! The only thing that's different are the power-ups and that it allows for four people to play at the same time, controlling Mario, Luigi, and two Toads.
I'll talk about the power-ups first. While there are plenty of new ones, there is only one that carried over from the DS NSMB, and that's the mini mushroom. Sadly they took out the mega mushroom, but that's ok the other items are interesting enough. First off is the propeller suit, which basically turns Mario into a human helicopter, by shaking the wiimote you propel upwards and slowly float down, as you can imagine, its very handy. Next up is the Ice Flower, which is just like the Fire Flower, but shoots ice that traps enemies in an ice block. Finally there is my favorite, the Penguin suit, mostly because its just adorable. I don't say that about many things, but dammit, that Penguin suit is! It also has the same ability as the ice flower and allows Mario to slide on his belly.
Also returning after a long hiatus are the Koopa Kids. Here's where I shed a tear of joy. I never liked Bowser Junior, he couldn't hold a candle to Lenny, Morton, Wendy, Lemmy, Iggy, Roy and Ludwig. They even have wands like they did in SMB3! The fights against the Koopa Kids are also rather amusing. I guess I don't mind Bowser Jr sharing the spotlight because when you fight him, you do so in an air ship, another nod to SMB3, it even has the same music. The nostalgia factor is quite thick here.
I didn't get to try the game with four players, however I did try it with two. It made me wonder, how the hell you could accomplish anything with four players, cause I had trouble with one other person. I don't think you're supposed to, though. The multiplayer part of the game probably isn't to be taken too seriously, and I'm cool with that. It would be a great party game.
There's really not much more to say about this game, its a lot of fun both single and multiplayer as long as you don't take it too seriously. It's a classic 2D Mario game, that's all I needed to hear.
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Nintendo Wii
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Platformer
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| Experience: |
Finished the game single-player and played a little 2-player
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