A great many articles out there have focused on the innovative and industry-changing mechanics Nintendo has brought to the world. Every new console, from the decisive NES, to the legendary N64, or the mobile workhorse that is the DS, has been a resounding success for the house of Mario. With other companies pining to duplicate the unprecedented victories Nintendo has scored, it's hard to believe that Nintendo has actually become much worse in the eyes of the involved, contemporary gamer. So suit up gentlefolk, as we're about to acknowledge gaming's giant elephant in the room. That's right, this is going to be one of those articles highlighting the recent woes of Nintendo.

We all know what Nintendo has done for gaming, we all know the games they've created, and we all surely know the impact the Nintendo name has on certain households and the world. This is not what we're talking about today. The focal point for this very moment is Nintendo right here, right now, in the present day, and what the hell went wrong for them to get here. How can they be wrong when they've generated billions upon billions, you ask? Put away your spreadsheets and step into the shoes of someone who actually plays their games. All you have to do is look at the library of titles Nintendo has generated for the last fives years and all will be revealed.

Oh man, it's Mario! ...again.

Even before the Wii hit, Nintendo began its decent into madness with the GameCube years. That little purple box surely had some classic titles and sported the very best incarnation of Resident Evil ever found (or replicated), but it was not enough to hide the growing gap between them and their third-party partners. Besides their own primary development squad, Nintendo failed to ignite the industry to develop quality games for their system. What did you look forward to every year? Oh you know, Mario Tennis, Golf, Olympics, Strikers, Sunshine, the usual. Remember Star Fox: Assault? I try not to. What about Mario Kart: Double Dash!!? Like I said, I try not to. We did receive gems like Eternal Darkness and the original Metroid Prime during Gamecube years, but the majority of that console's titles were produced by Nintendo itself - and even then most were of questionable quality and value.

If you want to get picky, multi-platform titles were always better on the PS2 and Xbox. I remember picking up the Mega Man Collection on the GameCube because, hey, that's where the Blue Bomber originated. Once I got back to the house I was dismayed to find that the jump and shoot buttons were reversed and there was no way to change them. How hard is it to give us total control like PC games? That's a discussion for another article, but it was two friggin' buttons and they couldn't even get that right. The GameCube was also the only console which never fully accepted the concept that the future was tied to online capability. You had titles like Phantasy Star Online, but when that's basically your only online title and star player in an industry saturated with multiplayer games, there's a major issue at hand.

Hey, let's play another game. Oh, it's another Mario one? Cool...

So the GameCube came and went, people who never played a PS2 or Xbox loved it, and Nintendo devotees hugged it tightly every night before they slept, and then... the Wii hit.

Yes, yes, the Wii is a phenomenon; an industry innovation that levitated Nintendo to total conquest of the realm. But like I said above, we're talking about the games here, and Nintendo's direction as a game company. I'm not an accountant, business junkie, or monetary guru; I'm here to play great games, to support the creation of great games, and to write about them - the money accrued is completely meaningless when you can't even craft a compelling remake to the Donkey Kong series.

I remember E3 last year and how incredible Nintendo's plans sounded. If you look back, Penny Arcade created a series of E3 comics that depicted Nintendo in the way I believe most people felt at that time. A new Zelda, Goldeneye, Kirby, et cetera, all coming out soon? Finally, the perpetual wait of the hardcore gamer could come to an end. The months that would go by without a single compelling Wii game were a thing of the past! Slowly, however, these games would be rolled out and one by one they'd completely fall off the radar in the most discrete way possible. Is anyone talking about Goldeneye? Cute as Kirby: Epic Yarn was, where is it now? When Metroid: Other M was announced, the hype was unreal; there aren't even whispers about that game anymore.

We could go through the list of all the games and attribute 'this' and 'that' to the complaint board, but our real focus should be on Nintendo's motif of promising great things, but falling short. Nothing is more painful than picking up a game you've so desperately wanted, thought about daily, and thirsted to play only to have it become some sub-par re-imagining of a game you loved in the past. Donkey Kong Country Returns is a great example of this. Granted, I haven't played too much of it, and that in itself should be a crime now that I'm critiquing it, but what I played left me deflated. The Donkey Kong Country series is legendary (especially the second game, which is among my favorite games of all time. Don't you know David Wise?). To have it become something I'm just not interested in playing through is stunning. Why? In a nutshell, it's missing too much of what made Donkey Kong Country... Donkey Kong Country. No Kremlings? King K. Rool is gone? It's like taking Goombas out of Mario. That wouldn't ever happen.

If you'd like to participate in the worst story of the Metroid series, Other M is your ticket.

More importantly, Nintendo has become stagnant with their design philosophies and concepts. New and original titles are extremely hard to come by on the Wii; everything is predictable in every game release, every single time. You can only take so many Mario games before you want to explore other avenues and Nintendo simply does not have that to offer. Right now, their idea of a great game is something you can play for 15 minutes with your family and then be done with it. Forever. Because of this design philosophy, we've been presented with walls upon walls of shovelware. Walk into any retail store and I guarantee you'll find the Wii and DS sections the most flooded with low-quality 'games' like this. I also guarantee it'll be the hardest place to find a solidly good title.

"But the Mario and Zelda games are always lots of fun, and Mario Kart is fun with your family and..."

Just stop. Please.

Nintendo has zero, I mean ZERO growth as far as third party titles go. What further proof do you need than to look at the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3? How many franchises have no been firmly established on Sony and Microsoft's systems? Hundreds! Not to mention there are myriad quality third-party games to be found alongside first party titles. Follow that up with a robust selection in their indie and online stores and you really do have the diversity that can keep every single demographic happy. Nintendo seems to be unable to see the appeal of this, for some undisclosed reason.

Titles like Mad World were quite unique and fun. It's too bad more Wii games like it never surfaced.

The reason Nintendo probably has no ambition to please their hardcore audience is because people actually buy WiiFit, Babysitter Challenge, and the 3DS. It nets them the money on what hardcore gamers would call gimmicks than on 'serious' titles, and that's all they currently care about. So when the E3 rolls on up this year and the gaming world hears about Project Cafe from Miyamoto and friends, expect to see your Zelda and other cliche Nintendo titles on the rampage. They may look great, they may give you a nostalgic trip to the good ole' days of yore, but I guarantee that whatever surfaces in Nintendo's lineup will get the short stick. You'll be there day one, buy it, and then dust will collect on your unused system just like 90% of the people who own both a Wii and a second console. When all is said and done, I'll be right. And I don't want to be.

The best thing I can say about Nintendo is that when it finally ups the ante and increases the graphical processing horsepower of its next 'god-like' machination, it'll create a console that could very well explore the territory this generation is missing. With the way things have been going, I highly, highly doubt that Nintendo will take that route instead of utilising the same game design philosophies that they have for the last decade; the ones that never truly evolve the other consoles have in this modern era. It's sad, but Nintendo would have to make quite a turnaround for me to even remotely be impressed with them again. Maybe once they adapt like the rest of the industry has, we'll get the quality Nintendo titles we deserve.

Labels: 2011, Andrew Whipple III, Donkey Kong Country, GameCube, Mario, Metroid, Nintendo, Samus, Starfox, Super Nintendo Wii, Wii

It's happening. Angels are singing, politicians are hugging, unicorn Pegasus are flying through the sky. Rivers are running with cream soda. The beer is flowing like wine. The Korean DMZ has be redubbed the "Designated Mega-fun-time Zone." Medical researchers have discovered that the cure for cancer is Rease's Peanut Butter Cups. People can now talk to animals. Lightsabers have been invented by a mad scientist in Canada that don't kill, but tickle. All governments worldwide have decided to give each eight year-old child their very own dolphin. Life is good.

Life is great.

And why? Because Nintendo has conscripted Haephestus to forge an HD, possibly heavily multiplayer-capable, Super Nintendo Wii.

There is only one appropriate response:



After the spectacular success that came with releasing a blockbuster, household name like The Legend of Zelda alongside the Super Nintendo Wii's father console, I strongly believe that this young new piece of hardware will sport its own mega-hit title come release day. If it worked once, Nintendo is likely try it again, only this time in a way that shows off the Super Nintendo Wii's simultaneously hardcore-courting and family friendly hardware.

Please note: I only believe that one, or perhaps two of these titles actually have any chance of being released. Appealing though it may seem right now, I doubt we'll have an avalanche of all five blockbuster titles rushing at us come that great and terrible day, when the clouds part and Thor reaches down from Asgard to give humanity the Super Nintendo Wii.

5: Mii Tournament

Imagine if Mario Party and Wii Sports met each other at a romantic cabana and hit it off over jokes and strawberry daiquiris somewhere in the Caribbean, only to copulate and bear an adorable Mii-populated game-board mini-game tournament release title for the Super Nintendo Wii. Mario Party could cheat on the Mario universe, leaving behind its characters to instead adopt Miis, which would run through Mario Party-styled fun endlessly in family rooms and old folks homes while Nintendo used their swimming pools of money to secretly carve Shigeru Miyamoto's face into a volcanic island somewhere in the mid-Pacific.

When the Wii was released, it brought families together. Even though it may be courting a more "hardcore" audience, Nintendo isn't stupid enough to relinquish its stranglehold on adorable family room fun-time to Sony or Microsoft. Keeping a game that uses Mii is a great way to get soccer moms and assisted living centers to buy the Super Nintendo Wii in droves.

4: Super Mario... Universe?

While it didn't work for the GameCube, it definitely worked for the Nintendo 64. Releasing a new Super Mario title that expands on the vertigo-inducing effects of the Galaxy series is a solid move, in that it...

a) Ties the Wii to a memorable product within the Nintendo brand

b) Shows off jaw-dropping HD capabilities reminiscent of pictures sent back to Earth by the Hubble telescope, using the game's backdrop of space

c) Can tie (a) and (b) together by demonstrating to the world that amazing graphics and the cartoony Nintendo brand are not, in fact, oil and water

I'd personally love to take another trip to Luigi's mansion, but something tells me that Nintendo doesn't want to touch that sales tragedy with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole.

3: Popular Third Party Title

And I mean actually popular. Perhaps a Call of Duty, or an Assassin's Creed, or something of similarly cyclopean-scale. Releasing a great third-party game alongside its counterpart console release would dispel fears that the Super Nintendo Wii might have the same third-party development issues as its forerunner.

Even if Nintendo opts to develop one of its own titles to unveil alongside its new console, I wouldn't be at all surprised if a blockbuster third-party title was added to shopping carts come release day.

2: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Is anyone else having the strangest feeling of deja vu? We all thought Twilight Princess was going to be a GameCube exclusive.

...until it wasn't.

Twilight Princess gave gamers a chance to try out the formula they had been fantasising over since the Wii was first announced: Wiimote = Lightsaber/Sword. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we heard, come E3, that Skyward Sword had been pushed back to the Super Nintendo Wii release.

1: Super Smash Bros. [Synonym for Escalating Altercation]

Let's just call it 'the new Smash'. If the Super Nintendo Wii is truly and honestly a powerful multiplayer device, then Nintendo may want to prove it to gamers with its strongest 'hardcore' multiplayer title right off the bat.

A release title Smash Bros. would generate all the hype a new console could ever need, and leave plenty to spare once its success showed gamers that a hardcore, online Nintendo game was in fact possible. The question is: will Masahiro Sakurai have the time to complete a new Smash between now and the Super Nintendo Wii's release, given the fact that he's been directing Kid Icarus: Uprising? Does he even want to come back to direct another Smash? These are all important questions, but given the upside of a Super Nintendo Wii/New Smash Bros. dream team, Nintendo could always find a way.

Hell, they could re-release Tetris for all it would do: I'm buying a Super Nintendo Wii.

Labels: 2011, Greg Mengel, Mario, Mii, Nintendo, Project Cafe, Super Nintendo Wii, Super Smash Bros, Wii, Zelda

We’ve come a long way in gaming. But not that long.

I don’t want to make another reference to Roger Ebert and his beaten-to-death statement that games will never be art, but I have to. One of the best lines that came from Ebert’s diatribe was actually from a post on his blog about using the word “nigger” in Mark Twain’s novel Huckleberry Finn. Ebert wrote he would “sacrifice every video game in existence rather than lose Huckleberry Finn”.

That line has stuck with me more than any criticism I’ve heard labeling video games as a pointless past-time. A lot of the backlash Ebert's received from the game community contains the argument that the video game industry and its fans shouldn’t waste their energy trying to please Ebert, who is far from knowledgeable when it comes to video games. That line of thinking burrows itself into a bitter and isolated hole, one that sacrifices the perspective of outsiders for the comfort of navel-gazing. Roger Ebert is not an idiot. His purview over the literary and cinematic worlds stretches farther than most of us will ever have the time to challenge.

I have trouble justifying an intense interest in video games. In video gaming, fun trumps all. It is paramount to story; more important than art design, more valued than communication. Many games will sacrifice logic and instead parade inanity, as long as it serves the gaming community's need for fun above all other things.

Our most celebrated and discussed works in video games are arguably the most irrelevant to regular people, and we’re fooling ourselves when we make arguments otherwise. Call of Duty is not a worthwhile war saga; it’s about shooting people in the face and feeling great afterwards. Bioshock is about creative killing. Mario is a giant playground. It may seem unfair to boil these games down so simply, but at their core gameplay, the distinguishing factor between games and other media, there is simple and crass heart.

Fun in video gaming is usually defined by rewards, which is why so many video games of today employ some sort of progressive reward system like that of Call of Duty’s multiplayer mode: everything you do is rewarded in some way. You shot someone in the head? Excellent! You got a kill from fifty yards? Awesome! You ran thirty feet? Incredible.

There's a parallel here to any artistic medium where there’s a challenge to gain an audience. Creation is all about communication of some idea, whether it be a story, an experience, or even just a feeling. But, at the end of it, if there's nothing to tell, then there's nothing to do. In video games, where gameplay is our conduit to the experience, the communication is usually engineered to make the player feel awesome, and the more awesome you feel, the more successful a game is. This often results in a struggle for the author(s) between including enough to keep people interested while not sacrificing the work's purpose, its communication to the world. In video games, we do so much to keep people interested that we don't even consider the idea of communicating an important theme or idea.

Of course, maybe all we want to communicate is a sense of fun. Playfulness is not something you typically find in other mediums, and video games do it well. But how long can we ride that wave? Ebert wrote of his idea of an “art” film, “They are not mechanical constructions of infinitesimal thrills. They depend on intelligence and empathy to be appreciated.” How many examples do we have in video games that fit that definition? I can think of less than five. Video games are not built on intelligence and empathy but instead reward and empowerment, where very little work is exchanged for maximum payoff. It’s escapism, and there’s nothing wrong with escapism, but if that’s all video games have to offer, how long can they possibly stay relevant?

I don’t really care whether or not Roger Ebert accepts gaming as something adult, much less as a legitimate past time. What sticks in my craw is that I know deep down that I myself would sacrifice every video game I’ve ever played in order to keep my favorite book, Catcher in the Rye. That said, when it comes to my relationship with video games, there’s no turning back - we’re in this together. They’ve been a part of my life for nearly twenty years now. I’ve grown up a lot since first playing Super Mario Bros.. But where are video games?

Technically, video games have grown exponentially. Technology has drastically changed the nature of what you see when you think of “video gaming”. Mario has grown from the simple coding language of an NES platformer to a complex, 3D, directionless world with wireless motion controls and analog sticks. The effort put into fine-tuning our ability to manipulate a virtual world is astounding, and it’s paid off into some of the most engrossing experiences.

Emotionally, video games have remained largely stagnant. For all the effort poured into the minutia of game design, its attention into the spectrum of human experience has remained meager. We’ve spent so much time pressing buttons in the name of fun that it’s hard to believe there’s room for much else. Being a gamer means always sniffing out the next high of excitement, searching for that same sense of empowerment wherever it can be found. It has rarely meant more in any substantial way.

When I fan out the experiences of my life, there’s only so much room for remembering the feeling of constant reward, constant empowerment. Humanity's palette is more diverse than this. Video games have fed us almost nothing but sweets our whole life, skirting the salty, the bitter, the sour and the savory and heading directly for dessert. There are tinges of other flavours sometimes, experiences that deviate from the norm and touch on wider or even universal appetites. But we don’t validate these deviations. They aren’t accepted by the community as “real” games. As a result, that community, and the rest of the world, end up missing something.

Where is our salesman desperately planting his garden? Where is our orgastic green light? Where do we find our mockingbird? Where are our princesses in another castle? We don’t need to please Roger Ebert, but we should be concerned that an increasingly larger number of people find the heart of gaming to be hollow.

We owe it to ourselves to reexamine the way we determine the worth of video games and the role they serve in people's lives. There are questions worth asking. Is it useful, in a larger sense, for us to pursue some constant high? Are we destined to be a derelict corner of escapism from that real world, or is there something more, a broader, cathartically diverse realm of interaction that we haven’t yet explored, just waiting for us? Until we start looking for it, we’re on a collision course for that day when we return from escape, only to find ourselves alone, hollow and unhappy.

Labels: 2011, Art, Bioshock 2, Call of Duty, Feature, Mario, New Features, Parker Scott Mortensen, Roger Ebert

Game Information


Basic information
Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Developer: AlphaDream
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: September/October 2009

Platforms
Nintendo DS

Genres
Role-Playing Game
Action
Adventure
Platformer

Certification
CERO: A
ESRB: E
OFLC: G
PEGI: 3+

So, another Mario game has been released, and you're probably thinking, "That’s nothing new". Well throw that notion away, because Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story is the freshest, most original Mario title to ever hit a Nintendo system. The biggest inclusion is the new protagonist, Bowser. Yes, Bowser! The decades long arch nemesis of Mario finally gets centre stage. This is an exciting concept, considering only snippets of Bowser's personal life and ambitions have been revealed in past games. Now we get to search beneath that rough exterior and see what makes Bowser tick on the inside... literally.

The game opens to a scene inside the life of a Toad family preparing for dinner. Suddenly, the father Toad breaks through the wall of the house, afflicted with a horrifying ailment known as "The Blorbs", which causes those infected to balloon to enormous size, ceasing their ability to do... anything. An emergency meeting is called at Peach's castle, which includes herself, her Toad council, a Star Sprite named Starlow, and of course the Mario Brothers. During the meeting Bowser storms in, but is easily bested by Mario. After being ejected and feeling rejected, Bowser comes across a mysterious mushroom dealer who offers him a "lucky" mushroom which will make him strong enough to defeat Mario. Bowser scoffs down the mushroom and returns to the castle, where he proceeds to inhale everyone at the meeting (and some other Mushroom Kingdom objects), just before passing out. He awakens with a case of amnesia, not knowing what he just did, but discovers that his castle and the Mushroom Kingdom have been taken over by the evil Lord Fawful. The goal of both Bowser and the Bros. is now to defeat Lord Fawful, although both have completely different motives.

As Bowser (and eventually Mario and Luigi), you travel throughout the different venues of the Mushroom Kingdom. The 3/4 overhead view is very simple to navigate - sometimes too simple. As you progress you will explore caves, beaches, forests, towns, and castles. However, they are only half of the areas to discover. As the title suggests, Mario and Luigi must navigate their way through Bowser's internal organs, into areas such as the Funny Bone, Nerve Cluster, Flab Zone, and Rump Command. Bowser's insides are viewed as a traditional 2-D platforming style, which adds a nice variance to the overworld camera angle. Both venues are loaded with obstacles, many of which can only be accessed by gaining different powers throughout the game. While some may sneer at the idea of revisiting cleared areas, the rewards are definitely worth the trip, and since all of the enemies are specific to their location, sometimes it's fun to return and lay the smackdown on those baddies who caused you grief earlier in the game.

At the start, Bowser is limited to only using his punch, and the Mario Bros. can only jump. As the plumbers make their way through Bowser they often come to an impasse, where - after putting their heads together – they discover new abilities within them which allow them to move on. Some moves include standing on each other's head to spin across large gaps; Luigi whacking Mario on the head with a hammer to make him fit into tight places; and together drilling underground in order to access even tighter places (and uncover treasure). Bowser's new powers are unlocked by the Mario Bros. after successfully clearing areas of his insides. Bowser will eventually be able to unleash his flame breath, do a ground pound, and roll around with his spiky turtle shell, among other things.

Many of the powers are unlocked through minigames, and believe me, there are a tonne. Thankfully, most of them tie in beautifully with the wacky story, and all of them are incredibly fun, and challenging, to play. Mario and Luigi can enter a Challenge Node within Bowser to test their skills with battle powers, or take on insanely hard bosses; while the Bowser minigames require him to use his battle powers to massage a big block's back. All of the minigames require expert timing to obtain a high rank and reap the rare rewards.

As with previous Mario and Luigi titles, this one has a strong RPG element and is presented beautifully. Killing an enemy grants you experience points to gain levels, and coins to purchase equipment. As you level up, your stats increase (such as HP, Power, and Defence), and you even get to play a slot machine minigame which adds even more points to a specific stat. Also, as you reach specific level milestones your rank increases, allowing you to equip more gear and shop at more upscale stores. The equipment is also well tailored and varied to allow a great deal of customization. Besides the shells and overalls that Bowser and the Bros. can equip, respectively, to increase their defence, many different items will increase the stats, battle powers, and even the amount of loot you receive. It's quite a treat when you have multiple treasure boosting gear equipped and watch the bonuses rack up after clearing a battle. Some such pieces are powerful enough that they create a handicap, making the bad guys tougher to take down in order for you to claim the gold and experience.

A new element to Bowser's Inside Story is the use of badges. As Mario and Luigi progress they will obtain, and can purchase, badges, which unleash benefits in battle when enough well timed attacks are accomplished. These too can be customised, and each brother has their own badge set which can be combined with one another for different results.

The battles themselves follow a standard turn-based RPG format. The Bros. can attack with their jump, hammer, or other special attacks which are unlocked by collecting puzzle pieces throughout the world and inside Bowser. Bowser can use his punch, fire breath, and other special attacks as well, which he unlocks by rescuing his trapped minions. Bowser can also inhale certain enemies, who fall into his stomach and must battle the Mario Bros., adding even more nuances to the encounters. As with the minigames, the battles require finesse with your buttons. By timing your attacks perfectly you can deal a greater amount of damage. This is also the case with your defences. Every monster has a different attack, and many times more than one type. You can avoid taking damage, or even inflict counter damage, by anticipating the attack and pressing the button at the precise moment. This certainly adds complexity to the game, considering the plethora of different attacks that you must memorize. Also, each brother is assigned their own button to perform... well, everything; and Bowser has a button specifically for punching and one for ducking. So figuring out what attack is coming, who is being targeted, and pushing the right button at the right time will have even veteran gamers thinking on their toes. But consistently timing your attacks perfectly will yield an enormous sense of gratification.

The biggest flaw in the game would have to be the graphics. While the world is beautifully coloured (as is with all Mario games), the backgrounds are far too integrated; meaning the character sprites feel very detached from the rest of the world. Aside from that though, the animation of all the moves are smooth and lag free.

The music score and sound effects are slightly above par. It is a refreshing change to not hear the classic Mario songs remixed, and most of the tunes are catchy and fit the different locations. Only one gives me ire; a sombre melody that befits Boo's haunted mansion, but is oddly played in numerous areas both within Bowser and around the overworld. The tune is simply out of place. As expected, the script is all subtitled, with only some choice words spoken by the Bros. and the Koopa King. Personally, every time Bowser says, "Showtime!" before a battle, I can't help but think of Aknot from "The Fifth Element"... Okay, that may be an obscure reference, but fans of the movie will know what I'm talking about. Back to the script; it is whimsical, well written, and full of humour. Almost all the characters have a distinct personality, with the exception of the Mario Bros. They are actually the most linear characters in the game... but then again... this is Bowser's story, right?

Small technical errors aside, Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story ranks near the top of my list of the most well-rounded Action/RPGs, and that is high praise in my very critical RPG eye. Whether or not you're a diehard fan of the Mario series, this game has a rich and off-the-wall plot (think Earthbound), very customisable characters, and a challenging battle system designed to hone your timing skills, or knock you unconscious trying.

9/10

Sean

Labels: DS, Mario, Nintendo, Review, Sean, Sean Engemann

Everybody knows Mario. Everybody loves Mario. The man could easily run for Pope. So it was no surprise when his new game, the appropriately titled New Super Mario Bros. Wii, came out last November, the world went wild, and Mario found himself in the stockings and under the trees of over ten million people. Just to put that into perspective - that's ten more times the human population of the US state of Montana, and 1.5 times its number of cattle. And it's nowhere near done selling. It seems appropriate to say that Mario has once again sealed his brand onto yet another Nintendo cash cow. Yeeeee-haw.

So how good was this game, that invaded the homes of millions this holiday season? Check out my review and see for yourself after the jump.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Fun when played alone
Multi also good, just know...
Many toads will die


New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the happy new installment from legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto, will consume, and then destroy, your closest relationships. This is how it will work:

You'll go to the store with your friends, skipping happily past the electronics section, oversized lollipops in hand, when one of you will stop, turn, and happily point to the Nintendo aisle. "Hey, it's that New Mario game! I hear it's just like the original, only with more friendly fun! ...we like fun! And the best part about it is, we can all play at once - it's got multiplayer! We should get it. Cause we're friends! Yay! Multiplayer!"

Minutes later, as you pass your money on to the cashier, sealing the sad fate of what you will soon remember as the empty shells of what once resembled long and joyous friendships, you may find those sad, fateful words echoing in your head as if to forever haunt your purchase.

"...it's got multiplayer."

...in nomine patri, et filii, et spiritus sancti, Amen.

Alright, that was needlessly melodramatic. Cryptic prophecies of friendicide aside, New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a factory for childlike fun. By taking the side-scrolling platformer concept of the original 1980s and early 90s Mario titles that we all came to know and love, and marrying it successfully with later concepts such as the triple jump (à la Super Mario 64), the air spin (à la Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros., and others), and the rideable Yoshi (à la Super Mario World), it creates a great revisitation of a classic that is simultaneously fresh and true to its roots.

You can play Super Mario Bros. Wii alone, or in groups of up to four people, in competitive or cooperatively modes. Going it alone feels like the old days - you'll flex muscles long left dormant in new and exciting ways. Playing it with two people will feel aggravating at times, but the game will never seem unfun or unbeatable. Three people will be disastrous - you'll yell, you'll scream across the couch, you'll have an asthma attack, you'll glare daggers at the person next to you, you'll accuse your brother of having been adopted, and you'll storm out of the living room in a huff. Play it with four people and you'll spend the rest of the night crying, alone, in a dark room, curled up in the foetal position, brown bagged liquid comfort in hand, pausing your weeping only to stare wordlessly at the ceiling and silently mouth the word "Why?" to what you once thought was a loving and merciful God.

But, somehow, you'll still have fun.

Playing with more than one person is definitely more difficult than playing alone. It takes a level of skill and teamwork that doesn't come naturally to a lot of people. Weird though it is, thinking on the same page as your partner in Super Mario Bros. Wii can sometimes prove disastrous. It's a strange phenomenon. If similarly minded people both make certain jumps, or head for a certain coin, or sprint for a certain tight escape, they stand the risk of bumping into each other, and knocking each other into enemies, off cliffs, et cetera. It gets even more hectic when you've got four players going for that exit or star coin at once. Unless you use some quality teamwork, you'll paint a picture of anarchy.

If you've played the multiplayer in Super Mario Bros. Wii already, you probably understand what I mean. The multiplayer is bound to prove a welcome challenge for seasoned Mario experts who usually fly through Miyamoto's games without so much as a thumb cramp. If you can beat this entire game alone, then you deserve a pat on the back. If you can beat it with a group, you deserve a parade.

The set up of the game is like that of Super Mario Bros. 3 - there are nine major world maps, each of which resembles a board game, on which Mario moves from level to level. Every time he beats one level, a path to another is unlocked. Each world map has a different general theme that will effect the levels inside of it. In an air level, for example, Mario may have to jump on the backs of flying carrier turtles over the open sky. At the end of each regular world, you'll fight a member of Bowser's family/gang, the Koopas, who have - shock horror - kidnapped the princess.

Like in most Mario games, Mario and his companions can find and use upgrade items, which, when consumed, will give them amazing super powers. While the red mushroom makes Mario bigger, for example, the blue one makes him small. Just ask Alice. Besides familiar power-ups like mushrooms or the fire-flower, players can now use a few more. The penguin suit is my personal favoirite, and allows Mario to walk on ice and slide for long periods of time on his belly, while shooting snowballs that will turn enemies to ice. He's an adorable little doom bringer.

In each level there are three giant star coins, generally hidden or precariously placed, though sometimes they'll just be out there for you to blatantly see and obtain. Once they're captured, you can spend these star coins on videos at the Princess's Castle, in World #1. Each video contains some useful information, be it a hint for an elusive secret, insider trading on infinite one-up attainment, or jaw-dropping demonstrations by players with "Super Skills", who you will grow to hate, then respect, and then emulate. Obtaining all of the star coins in a world will unlock its representative stage in the secret World 9, which becomes available only after you beat the game for the first time.

The New Super Mario Bros. Wii is what it is - a fun revitalisation of a classic. Playing it will take you back to a golden age of gaming, before the dark times of trendy first person shooters, industry-eclipsing MMORPGs, and orgiastic button mashings of violence. I don't know anybody who hasn't played a Mario title - I'm sure they exist somewhere, like Russia, or something - but I have no doubt that they will get the same feeling from this New Super Mario Bros. that most of us got from the originals - that good, old-fashioned, NES-style fun. That's the kind of good that this game, and the entire Mario series, offers - it can be appreciated by gamers and non-gamers alike. It's what Nintendo's new marketing is all about. In that way, it succeeds in its design mission in a way that few other games can. For that, it deserves a wealth of attention. Just be careful - friendicide is real, and it strikes when you least expect it.

10/10

Greg

Labels: Greg Mengel, Mario, Review, Wii