Destination Point: World 2 (Desert). Mid-castle boss. Roy Koopa.

Number of Players This Session: 2

Yes, that Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story review is still on the way. For some reason I’m having a hard time gathering my thoughts on it. In the meantime, let’s talk about that other Mario game everyone’s looking forward to play.

That’s right, people. I just bought New Super Mario Bros. Wii yesterday and started my first session today. I had my younger brother on hand with me. He’s not a hardcore Mario fan, but he has played New Super Mario Bros. DS so there’s a bit of platforming experience in him.

Here’s the part where I summarize the whole game by naming others. Basically, you’re getting a 2D Mario platformer that has the look and mechanics of the DS prequel, but the level design and feel of all previous 2D Mario games mixed in a blender. Since most people judge a book by its cover, they’ll take one look at NSMB Wii and think that it’s a cheap enhanced port of the DS “version”. Big mistake.

Multiplayer makes all the difference in the world. When I first experienced Little Big Planet offline multiplayer with my brothers, I seriously wished that Nintendo would make a Mario game with that very same functionality. Well…here you go. This is just as fun as LBP with friends and even more so thanks to additional interactivity with your partners. In LBP you were limited to holding on to another sackboy…whether if both of you wanted to get past through certain obstacles or just for the sake of dragging your partner to death with you. Areas which required co-op existed (indicated by obvious signposts) but those were very few and far in between.

NSMB takes it to the next level. You always feel that you’re with your partner(s) through thick and thin. My brother and I are pretty understanding so we’re usually in “truce terms” and competition only comes when we’re racing for large amount of coins. Even then, hilarious deaths and screw-ups are bound to happen….all thanks to “Mario physics”. You can get multiple power-ups by mistake and leave your partner hanging. You can push your friend unintentionally and let him/her mess up the timing of certain platforms. You can (by mistake) move so fast you’re partner won’t keep up and simply die. You can bonk on his/her head with every intention to simply jump over a gap. If you’re friend is dead and you want to get him/her back in the game by bursting the bubble prison, you might do that in the wrong place at the wrong time…sending the player to death once more. If one of you is in a major hurry, you may find the end-level pipe and go through it while the other players want to explore a certain hidden area on the top…there you go, last star coin missed and all of you must retry the level again for 100% completion. All of this happened throughout the course of our first session…and we’re just two players! Imagine what will happen with an additional player or two.

On the other hand, there are a lot of areas in which you’ll surprisingly be helping each other. Many levels have multiple pathways, so we end up splitting up in order to cover a lot of ground. We replayed a few levels in World 2 a lot of times because we were finding the right way to help each other. There’s one part in particular that I had to keep by “tiny Mario” power-up intact so I can enter a small pipe towards the end of the level. My brother opted for a fire flower in order to “have my back”…and it worked really well. There’s still a lot of potential for “helping” to open up because of one big gameplay element carried over from Super Mario Bros. 2: the ability to lift stuff…including your own partner! I’ve seen a lot of smart uses of POW Blocks from that ability alone.

Counting out everything I’ve mentioned about “co-op” level design, inspirations from past 2D Mario games aren’t there for nostalgia alone. Placements of these enemies, objects, and what have you have been carefully calculated by the developers in order to get the flow just right. That type of integration is executed a lot better in NSMB Wii compared to the DS prequel.

I’m a sucker for nostalgia, however. Let’s rant off some cool examples. The reappearance of the Koopa Kids after years of no-shows in Mario platformers (yes, notice I said platformers since they did make boss appearances in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga). Looks like Nintendo’s doing a bit of retconning because they’re appearing alongside Bowser Jr. Also, to throw in a bit of Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario World 2, you have Kamek sprinkling the arena just before fighting off against a Koopa Kid.

The Desert World (World 2) has quite a handful of Mario Bros. 3 influences. Remember that stupid fire snake enemy from the NES classic? He’s back with a vengeance here. Remember that stupid green enemy that “vomits” spiked-balls on you? Present. Remember Boomerang Bros? Still here. Remember when you had to fight against one of these Hammer Bros. in the overworld? A variation exists. Remember in one of the levels of the final world of Mario Bros. 3 in which you can drown yourself in a certain area of quicksand to find a secret area? Found one here as well. Remember how you can store power-ups to be used in the overworlds of Mario Bros. 3? Yep…that feature is here as well. I’m certain that I’m going to meet “The Angry Sun” sooner or later.

I haven’t seen a lot of Super Mario World and Yoshi’s Island influences yet…aside from two things. One, you can ride Yoshi here just like good old times. And two, hidden areas behind “fake walls” ala Yoshi’s Island.

Again, let’s take all the nostalgia…and inject the “originality” that comes with this game. That level with that the dumb fire snake is dark and you can only see through these enemies, sparsely-placed torches, and fireballs from the player or Piranha Plants. You’ve got your classic underwater level that would remind one of the original Super Mario Bros…well, only this time we have a new “Ice Flower” power-up that you can use to freeze Cheep-Cheeps inside ice blocks then use these blocks as platforms above the water. I’m sure there are many more of these moments in the game.

So…about the difficulty. So far, I’m not finding any major trouble with the game. It’s not like The Lost Levels or something. My brother, however, was surprised. He found World 1 to be easy…but World 2 is where he started dying like a madman thanks to being in a hurry all the time. He used up 3 continues. Overall, two things which make this game a bit harder for me: when I’m trying to collect all the “Star Coins” and when I’m playing with someone. If I had played this session by myself, I definitely would’ve found this game a cakewalk.

Finally, let’s talk about controls. Even though the horizontal Wiimote-style is nostalgic and simple, I found one major annoyance…and no it’s not the motion/tilt controls. Those are good stuff. I’m talking about the “A Button”. Seriously…WTF? Basically, when you press “A” you’re essentially performing “suicide”, entrapping yourself in a bubble prison…without costing you a life I might add. That can be useful for inexperienced players who can’t get through certain obstacles…giving all the work to the pro then eventually being freed from the bubbles in calm areas. It just sucks when you press it by mistake. It’s so close to the control pad so it has happened with me a couple of times. Sometimes, I pressed the button just as my brother died so we both had to restart the level. Other times, we both pressed the “A button” unintentionally. I find it baffling that critics are complaining of the motion controls while no-one has mentioned how inconvenient that “A button” can be.

That’s it with my initial impressions. Great game thus far! Keep tuning in to our blog for more posts in the near future.