A new Mario game was anticipated by the crowd as we all filed into the Nintendo E3 Media Briefing last Tuesday. Many, including myself, were looking for a new Super Mario Galaxy, which we did receive. That was not until much later in the show. Well before that announcement was the announcement of the New Super Mario Bros. Wii. More of a party game than a solo adventure, though it could be played that way, New Super Mario Bros. Wii blends the fun and chaos of a four-person Mario Party game and an old-school Mario side-scroller. Once again, you must make your way through the perilous Mushroom Kingdom stomping goombas and relieving koopas of their shells. The controls are easy as you play using the wiimote-only in the classic position.
You and your teammates (our choices at E3 included Mario, Luigi and yellow and blue Toad) must decide whether you will work “all for one” or “all for me.” It’s like playing co-op and competitive mode at the same time. Cooperating, you and your teammates can share mushrooms, rescue each other after deaths, jump on each other’s shoulders to reach difficultly high spaces and toss one another across chasms. Playing greedy and competitively, you can steal those mushrooms, stomp heads, endanger lives or leave them behind.
There are at least two new “suits” for our heroes to wear: the propeller suit and the penguin suit. The propeller suit can be employed to lift your hero into the air by shaking your wiimote. The penguin suit freezes enemies into ice blocks that can be used as platforms for a short time to continue your adventure. Other neat features include being able to move your post-death respawn bubble towards another hero to force them to pop the bubble and allow you to re-enter the game and of course, the use of Yoshi including being able to swallow the other heroes and spit them wherever you wish.
Putting hands-on New Super Mario Bros. Wii on the show floor, I was immediately thrown into chaos. Normally, a very team oriented player, it was easy to fall prey to the temptation of greed, grabbing coins, stealing mushrooms and Yoshis and generally being a jerk. You see, at the end of each level, each player is ranked by how many points they have, how many coins they’ve collected and how many lives remain. But as the level went on, working against one another increased the general difficulty of the level. My poor Mario skills showed true as I only missed last place by 20 points, 20,000 points behind 2nd place.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii is not your typical Mario offering. It is wild and chaotic and fun. Attempts to take completing this seriously will most likely be done as a duo or in a single player mode. You will most likely bring this out when everyone is done playing Rock Band and want to try something different and wacky. The worlds are crafty and colorful and while I wasn’t able to put a ton of time into the game, I can say that you are going to enjoy this game with your friends and family in a brand new adventure everyone can play.
