New Super Mario Bros. Wii: In the Bubble, Out of the Time Warp

Though I'm not an avid gamer, I love the Wii. When my roommates decided to get the New Super Mario Bros. I was pretty ecstatic. It's the Nintendo Wii and Mario. What's not to love? Though I didn't purchase the game myself, a quick search shows that it runs about $50 right now. If you spend enough time playing it, though, you'll see that it's well worth the cost.

The premise of the game is, of course, that Princess Peach gets abducted by Bowser, and it's up to Mario and Luigi to go and save her. This takes place in a variety of colorful levels, complete with the classic characters. You dodge goombas, koopas, boo's, the whole gamut. The game itself is relatively challenging for a novice like myself, but there are a few other reasons why this is so.

I want to tell you about the bubble. The bubble is a feature of the New Mario Bros. Wii, and it deems itself very useful, if not a bit inconvenient at times as well. If you are about to die, or collide with a green fire ball, or fall off a cliff, you are able to press the A button and you are instantly surrounded by a bubble. When you shake your Wii-mote, your bubble will float toward your companion player, and they can pop you out of it. Then life continues as usual. This bubble can be useful for a variety of reasons-in particular keeping up with those players that tend to rush through the level. If there is a particular spot where it gets crowded with two or more characters, it becomes very convenient to have one person "bubble" and float to the point they are trying to reach. However, in the midst of chaos and small ghosts chasing you through dark levels it is easy to lose track of who all is within a bubble. If all players bubble at once, you all die, unable to pop each other out. You would be surprised at how often this occurs.

I find the game most entertaining when playing in large groups. As I mentioned previously, the New Super Mario Bros. Wii is fairly challenging, and when you have multiple people trying to get through a level it can be quite frustrating. The process of bumping into each other becomes a tricky thing. It is very convenient in times you need to get up on a ledge-as you can bounce off the other's head and it gives a bit more "oomph." But it is easy to inadvertently bounce your partner off of a cliff, or into a moving bullet. The crowding gets even more fun when you are bumping blocks, and they release mushrooms or powers. If one person accidentally gets both, it can mean an epic battle. I've seen it result in fights, and almost end a marriage. It would have been quite tragic. For those of us on the periphery, however, it is cause for many laughs and much amusement.

Though I may be biased, my personal favorite part of the game is the variety in powers-in particular, the penguin suit. I believe this is unique to the New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but is quite possibly the coolest power to have in the game. It is incredibly useful in levels where you are walking over sheets of ice-as the suit gives you stability on this unsteady flooring and prevents you from slipping all over the place (with the crowding particularly this is an excellent asset). Like getting the ice flower, also, you get to throw little snow balls. This is very helpful in a variety of situations. Not to mention, it's just plain cute. Who doesn't love penguins?

If I were to give the New Super Mario Bros. Wii a grade, I would undoubtedly give it an A. The controls are easy to use, it provides hours of entertainment, and has a nostalgic kick to it that no other game than Mario can bring. If you have a Wii, I would highly recommend picking up a copy and letting out that inner child of the 80's and 90's. It just doesn't get any better than that.