New Super Mario Bros Wii Review - Mario's Triumphant Return to 2D

It has been nearly 25 years since the original Super Mario Bros. was released for the Nintendo Entertainment system. It, and several other Mario 2D platform games, have impressed players with a sheer amount of excellent game play and difficult challenges. Such is the case with the iconic plumber's latest hit game New Super Mario Bros. Wii. With this game, Nintendo sets off to present a challenging Mario adventure filled with nostalgic features designed to appeal to Mario fans young and old. Were they successful? I think so, and I am here to tell you more about a game so addictive and awesome, it is no wonder why it has become a best seller in a relatively short amount of time.

As is par for the course in traditional Mario games, the story is minimal: it is Princess Peach's birthday, and her friends are at her castle to celebrate with her. Things turn sour in a hurry when a cake appears, and Bowser's children pop out of it. Not only is Bowser Jr. from the more recent games present, but so are the seven Koopa Kids from older Mario games. As you might probably guess, they proceed to kidnap the Princess and take off in an airship. Naturally, Mario sets off to try and save her, along with his brother Luigi and a pair of Toads. Again, not much of a story, but then again, the classic Mario games were likewise weak on storytelling.

If you have ever played any of the older Mario platform games, you have an idea of what to expect here: our hero must travel through a variety of side-scrolling stages filled with enemies and other perils. Along the way, he can collect power-up items to give him added abilities. The Super Mushroom makes him grow a little bigger and allows him to take a hit from enemies. The Fire Flower enables him to shoot fireballs, while the Mini Mushroom allows him to enter really tiny areas and run extra fast. If Mario grabs a star, he can become invincible for a short period of time. New additions include a propeller hat that can increase Mario's jump with a shake of the Wii remote, an ice flower that can have him shoot ice balls at enemies, and a penguin suit that makes our hero slide really fast. Even Yoshi, Mario's old dinosaur friend, shows up in some stages, with his usual large appetite and flutter jump, though he will not be carried over to other stages.

The levels take place in a variety of environments, from the desert land to the snow world and an island region. In every stage, you will need to reach the end of the level while doing your best to avoid enemy attacks. While you can simply race to the end of the stage, there are plenty of secrets that you can find if you take some time to look around. Chief among the secrets are the Star Coins hidden in every stage. If you manage to find and collect all three Star Coins in every stage, you can unlock special movies in Peach's Castle that show you such things as how to get unlimited extra lives in various stages and how to collect some of the Star Coins in trickier locations. The latter type of movie is especially useful, since the coins are often hidden well and require a lot of searching and a great amount of effort to collect. It is not necessary to accumulate the coins to simply beat the game, but doing so will give you a true sense of accomplishment.

In addition to normal stages, you will encounter towers, castles, and airships filled with a great deal of peril. Each of these stages concludes with a boss battle, mostly against Bowser's children. It is great to see that Nintendo has finally remembered that the Koopa Kids existed and has brought them back. Each kid has various special attacks, some of which will really keep you on your toes, and sometimes, they get some magical help from Kamek, the evil wizard from Yoshi's Island. I will leave it to you to discover what the battles are like, but I will have you know that some of them are quite challenging and epic.

Speaking of challenging, this is possibly one of the harder Mario games out there, especially if you are going for every last coin and secret exit (some stages have two exits, one of which can provide either a shortcut to the later stages of a world or a warp to a later world). There are often a lot of enemies and traps on the screen at once, and some coins are so tough to grab that you might lose a lot of lives trying to grab them. I was surprised at how hard the game could be at times: I could not just race through the stages all the time. Particularly difficult are some special stages that you can unlock as you accumulate Star Coins. Granted, the game is not quite as challenging as the Lost Levels (a.k.a. the real Mario 2), but it can still be incredibly tough at times.

Even with the challenging tasks, there are ways to help you get through the game a little easier. You can unlock Toad Houses in which you can collect extra lives and items that you can equip on the map screens. If you run into enemies on the map, you can play mini games for a chance to earn extra mushrooms. Then there is the Super Block Guide: if you die in a single level continuously, the block will appear, and you can opt to watch Luigi show you how to beat the stage. It is a nice addition for people who struggle through the harder levels, but for a really great sense of accomplishment, try going through the game without having the block appear at all. It is a rather good challenge.

There is a lot to love about this game. The sheer amount of nostalgia makes me feel like I am playing a classic Mario game. Many old enemies, some of whom have not been seen in years, make a come back, and some of the classic Mario tunes have been remixed. The challenge level is quite high at times, and the game length is decently long if you are going for every last secret. It is possible to get through the game without exploring all 77 stages, but for people such as myself who wish to find every last secret, why would we want to skip a lot of things? Even with the added motion controls at points, the game is very addictive and simply a lot of fun. Maybe it does not break a lot of ground, but when the game is this much fun, it does not matter that much. One thing I cannot really comment on is the game's major selling point: the multiplayer mode, since I do not have multiple controllers, but I am sure that it leads to a lot of excitement among multiple players.

The graphics and music really present a sense of nostalgia while at the same time keeping up with today's technological advances. Every stage combines 2D and 3D elements well, and the frame rate remains constant, even when a lot of enemies are present. The music consists of the typical happy Mario music, with remixed tunes and catchy new music. A nice touch is having the enemies dance to the background music at some points, and some classic sound effects also make a come back. You really get the feel that this is a new classic in the making, and very much worthy of the fun and excitement that Mario games are known for.

Nintendo tends to make Mario games some of the best games around, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii is no exception. It is a lot of fun, and it is quite challenging. It brings Mario back to its roots rather well, and it proves that, even in an age where hardcore games are enticing players everywhere, Mario still has a magic charm that still attracts players in a way that no one else can. If Nintendo can make this and Super Mario Galaxy wonderful experiences, here's to hoping that Super Mario Galaxy 2 will likewise be a marvelous adventure. In the meantime, be sure to pick up a copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii if you can find one...they were virtually sold out at many places during the holidays! You might agree that it is one of Mario's best adventures yet!