| System | Wii |
| Genre | Platformer |
| Players | 1-4 |
| Developer | Nintendo |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Release Dates |
JPN - December 3, 2009 USA - November 15, 2009 EUR - November 20, 2009 |
| Overall Score |
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“Nintendo needs to make hardcore games!” “Stop trying to please casual gamers, remember your original buyers Nintendo!” And fans continued to pressure Nintendo to make New Super Mario Bros Wii the hardest Mario game on the Wii. But did Nintendo deliver?
The first step taken to make NSMBW a great game was new power ups. Nintendo smartly got rid of the “cheap” mega mushroom and added two new icy power-ups, the Ice Flower and Penguin Mario. The Ice Flower is just the Fire Flower’s opposite, you shoot ice at enemies instead of fire, temporarily freezing them giving you time to go in for the kill. The Penguin Mario is just like the Ice Flower except as a penguin you can glide on ice and swim differently than normal Mario. Along with that was the propeller suit, which gives Mario the ability burst into the air before coming back down by the shake of the wiimote. These great items along with other original items are available in Mushroom Houses where you play a matching game to get power ups added to your inventory, with Bowser and Bowser Jr pieces in the way trying to make a game over. And one more “item” was added into the mix, fan favorite Yoshi. Dating back to Super Mario World, players could ride a Yoshi through the level and eat apples, enemies, and even your own teammates.
The next step was level designing. And not just the levels, the worlds themselves went from plain path that you walk through to amazing visuals and changing elevations. Sometimes if an enemy like a Goomba or Bullet Bill got in your way as you advanced through the level, you had to collect 8 Toad heads while that enemy was trying to kill you to save a Toad and have them give you 3 mushrooms to your inventory. Speaking of Toad saving, sometimes throughout levels that you had already beaten, you had to save a captured Toad (in a ? block toward the beginning of the level) and bring them to the finish flag and they’d give you a random prize. Luckily, the Toads ate a mushroom before getting captured so they can take one hit before dieing. But back to the levels, the level designing in this game was great. Harder stages in the game were harder to complete and the coins weren’t easy to come by unlike NSMB, and the secret exits weren’t right in your face exactly either. And the great variety of the levels never made the game repetitive as you progressed through.
The last part, probably the best but most controversial part of the game, multiplayer. For the first time in the Mario Bros franchise history, you could progress through story mode as up to 4 players as once. With infinite continues to use, this was hands down the funnest part of the game, whether you work with the person/people your playing with or against them. Sure it makes the game somewhat easier when you have 4 people fighting a boss than 1, but it still is fun and it’s cool to see how many continues everyone has to use. But, many have complained about how this game has no Wifi. In a world where almost every game has to have Wifi gameplay, NSMBW seemed to fall behind on that and has hurt some people’s overall perspectives of the game itself.
Gameplay (10/10)
This game is a blast to play to complete through single player and multiplayer. Despite no minigames unlike NSMB, this game is still a handful and makes you want to pick up the remote and play
Controls (8/10)
Now I am happy that they let you play with the nunchuk along with holding the remote sideways, but when you’re playing with the nunchuk the least Nintendo could do is give you instructions separate from the sideways wiimote instructions instead of confusing gamers with the wrong controls.
Graphics (8.5/10)
Visuals were great for this game and some of the levels are really creative, like levels that are almost pitch black but still have some light from somewhere.
Story (8/10)
Of course this story is a very old and predictable one, but Nintendo did try to spice it up some, especially from NSMB, by adding the fan favorite Koopalings and Kamek into the mix with Bowser and Bowser Jr. And the final boss fight was worth it, believe it or not.
Replay Value (9.5/10)
As hinted before, this game has great replay value between single player mode and the very fun multiplayer mode. Trying to 100% the game is quite the overwhelming task opposed to NSMB giving gamers a lot of reasons to keep on putting NSMBW into their Wii.
Sound (8/10)
The sounds in this game was some classic Mario mixed with some new generation Mario. This wasn’t the best combination as some of it was a bit sketchy, such as the star power-up music, but still nice to listen to and will not make you want to put on your iPod just to avoid listening to the game.
Overall (8.5/10)
I would recommend this game for any Mario fan new or old, and any Wii owner in general because this game is a blast to play.
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