It’s been a while since we got a new side-scrolling Mario game. 3 years to be exact. Heck, it’s even been a good 2 years since Super Mario Galaxy. So a new Mario platformer was long overdue. Surprising everyone when it was revealed at E3, people were hyped for this. Its most hyped feature was definitely the 4-player mode. But as it went on, people thought it might just be the DS game repackaged as a Wii game. But that’s definitely wrong.

Is it worth the hype? Read on and see!

Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Date of Release: November 15, 2009
Platforms: Wii

Genre: Side-Scrolling Platformer
Players: 1 to 4 players

Looks and sounds
The game looks like Mario. Simple yet surreal environments, the same character designs as in the last million years Mario has existed, upgraded design for characters and enemies from previous Mario games. Not much that I can really say. It’s Mario looking as good as Mario ever looked. Not exactly at the level of Super Mario Galaxy, but it still has great visual design overall. One thing that’s weird is the fact that the game is widescreen. It’s expected that, on a TV with a 4:3 aspect ratio, black bars would be added because the game is widescreen. But why are the black bars added on a widescreen TV? That makes no sense… Oh, and it’s awesome seeing the Koopa kids in 3D, it’s been so long since they were in a game(other than Superstar Saga).

The sound is top-notch, like in all Mario games, though I have a few gripes. My first is that they reuse the music fron NSMB on the DS. Not a big problem, but I’d rather either have new music, or remixes of older tunes from the NES/SNES days. There’s a few of those, and I think a few new tunes, but most of it is the music from the DS. The rest is classic Mario sounds, nothing to add here.

Gameplay
Let’s skip the story because, frankly, you know how it starts  and you know how it ends before even putting the disc in the Wii.

Outside of levels
The game works like Super Mario Bros 3, or Super Mario World. You have a map for each level, litered with levels, castles, mushroom houses, mansions and a few other things. On the map, there’s not much you can do. Going from one level to another is what you’ll pretty much always do, but you can also press 1 to bring up a menu to use items you get from mushroom houses just like in SMB3. Also back from SMB3 is enemies on the map. Instead of just Hammer Bros and other enemies of the sort, there’s just about any enemy type here. Running into an enemy will trigger a level that fits on the whole screen. You have to avoid attacks and enemies here, and pick up all the Toad ballons without dying. This will make a treasure box appear, which contains a Toad, who will give you mushrooms which you can use on the map.

Mushroom Houses contain mini-games either for lives or for items that will be usable on the map. The item game (in red mushroom houses) is similar to the one in SMB3 where you flip cards and match them, except here if you flip a panel it stays there for the rest of the mini-game and gives you the item when you find another one. Find either 2 Bowser panels or 2 Bowser Jr panels and the level ends. The lives mini-game (in green mushroom houses) requires you to get in a cannon, aim at the lives and shoot to hit them. Yellow Mushroom houses just give a star without a mini-game involved.

In levels
The actual stages are just as you’d expect them. Really smooth platforming gameplay, precise and easy to use jumping mechanics, and tight controls that assure that, if you die, it was your own fault. Like in all Mario games you can run, jump, hit blocks to get coins and power-ups, jump on enemies to kill them other than ones with spikes and enter certain pipes to secret rooms and such. This game, like NSMB, adds a few elements from the 3D games, including wall jumping, double and triple jumps. You can also ground pound. By holding 1 and shaking the Wiimote you can grab objects or frozen enemies(except shells, you pick those up like in every other Mario game), and releasing 1 makes you throw them. Just shaking the Wiimote makes you spin, which… I frankly haven’t found much use for other than clearing fog/clouds.

The power-ups are okay. You have the basic Mushroom, Fire Flower and Star, which work like they always did. Returning from NSMB on the DS is the Mini Mushroom which works just like in the DS game. Next the new power-ups. The Ice Flower shoots iceballs that freeze enemies(they only bounce on the floor once unlike fireballs) and stops enemy fireballs. The penguin suit enables you to slide on ground(smashing anything you touch while sliding, and is a lot more effective on ice) and shoot ice balls like the Ice Flower. It also makes it easier to swim. The Propeller Mushroom gives you a weird suit and a propeller helmet, which enables you to go high in the air if you shake the Wiimote(you can do that in the air). There’s an okay variety of power ups, but SMB3 still has it beat by far. Oh, and Yoshi is in a few levels in the game, he works just like in SMW, except you can use the “float” move from Yoshi’s Island and Yoshi’s Story. Too bad you can’t keep him when you’re done with a level.

The level design is really nice, with a bunch of different platforms and obstacles giving lots of gameplay variety. Moving platforms, rotating platforms, platforms you have to move using the Wiimote while avoiding enemies… There’s tons of different things here. There’s also various types of enemies. Most come from previous Mario games, some of which we haven’t seen in a really long time. Lots of enemies really add challenge to the game, some with projectiles, or spiked balls. Most familiar Mario enemies are here, and there’s actually not that many new enemy types.

The boss battles are also really cool. You get 2 or 3 per world. One in the mid-world dungeon against one of the Koopa Kids, one in the world’s castle again against the same Koopa Kid as previously, and sometimes you get really cool airship levels like in SMB3 which end with battles against Bowser Jr. The second boss fight against the Koopa Kid of each world is always different from the first one. When you reach them after going through the castle level, Kamek will come by, and like in Yoshi’s Island, will sprinkle some Rainbow Dust or whatever it is and modify something in the level. Sometimes makes platforms appear, makes things bigger… a lot of different things happen and this makes each boss fight fun and unique. Sadly they’re a bit on the easy side, but some of them can be tough, and all of them are really fun. The final boss battle is just as you expect it, but it has a nice twist and it’s quite epic as well.

Overall the single player experience is incredible, like as most Mario platformers. But what about the Multiplayer?

Multiplayer
You can play the game with up to 4 players. And there’s basically only one way to describe the experience: total chaos. And it’s REALLY fun. You can basically go through any level in the game, or play through the whole game, with 4 people on screen at once. How that works is… just like the single player, except here you have people picking you up and throwing you down holes, or jumping on you forcing you down holes, or you can jump on people to get higher. It’s just fun. Dying isn’t really important as you have infinite continues and a good supply of lives. The only thing is that, if you lose all your lives in a level, you’ll have to wait to go back on the map to get a continue and more lives. In a level, if you die, you will shortly return inside a bubble, and you’ll be able to keep playing once another player pops your bubble. If all players are in bubbles(well, if 3 are in bubbles and the last one dies), you lose and must restart the level (maybe at the check-point if you found it in the level). One “trick” here is that you can press the A button to get into a bubble at any time. So you can save yourself from dying and such. Just be careful and be sure you’re not the only one left outside of a bubble or you’ll lose. One thing here is that some levels are really hard with 4 people on the screen at the same time. The dungeons in the middle of each world scroll vertically, and if one or two people go too fast for the other two, they can die because they get too low under the screen (you can save yourself before that by going in a bubble though). Levels with lots of precision platforming tend to be a clusterfuck of people jumping on each other and falling in holes. Even if you don’t TRY to kill someone, there’s always a chance you’ll do it anyways. Not much more to say about this. The multiplayer is great, which I actually wasn’t expecting. I thought it would just be chaotic and boring, but it’s actually loads of fun (though it is still quite chaotic).

Super Guide
Just a passing mention of this feature. I actually think it’s great. For me it was useless since I never died 8 times in a single level(yeah, you have to die a lot in a single level before the feature activates itself, so it’s giving you a LOT of chances to beat a level before offering to help you), but for people who aren’t veteran gamers like you and me, it’s great. It can help them get past whatever killed them, and they can take control anytime during the super guide. That’s really all I have to say about it. After finishing the game I did try it out, and it does an okay job of finishing a level in a way that will teach people new to the game to play properly, showing various tricks and such. Though I find that it goes a bit too slowly. The thing can be a bit glitched at times, I’ve seen videos of the super guide jumping in easily avoidable holes, but overall, from what I’ve heard and seen, it works well.

Overall
To be completely honest… this is a must buy for any Mario fan, and a game anyone with a Wii should consider buying. The gameplay is classic Mario, and easily the best Side-Scrolling Platformer on the Wii. It’s fun, has great level design and some really cool boss battles. It’s around the same quality as you can expect any other Mario Side-Scroller.

It’s a hard game which can offer challenge to veteran players, but the inclusion of the Super Guide and hint videos make the game fully accessible for less talented gamers which is a great thing. You also get TONS of lives in the game, so you can afford to die a lot. I don’t know WHAT game some journalists were playing before calling it “Contra hard”, it’s definitely not that hard. Still, as far as Mario games go, this one is pretty hard.

The 4-player is one of the game’s draws, but it’s not really the main way you’ll play this. It’s a loads of fun, but it’s a completely different experience from the single player.

Pros/Cons
Pros
– Challenging
- Accessible to any type of gamer
- Great gameplay – Sounds and looks great
- 4 players is great fun despite how chaotic it is
- The Koopa Kids are back!
- Some really fun boss battles
- Infinite replay value (and an extra world to explore for people who find all star coins in each world)

Cons
- Can’t keep Yoshi after finishing a level with him
- Nothing else that I can really complain about here

The Save Factor
The starting price is $50, which I think is a bit high for a Wii game, but it’s frankly worth it. If you’re not the biggest Mario fan, wait for a price drop in… a million years, considering Nintendo never reduce the price on their games. Or get it used.

jobocan Console, Games, retro, wii