New Super Mario Bros

The new super Mario Wii is terrible. It would be a lot of fun, if we didn't have to go back to the first entry into the game every time Mario is killed. A person can repeat a difficult game many, many times. An idiot planned this game.

To note - I've only played up to the 3rd World. If anything changes as I progress through the game, I'll update this review. But right now, I'm just too bored with the game to continue on.

So basically, this game is an updated mix-up of earlier Mario games. Here's a break-down:

Super Mario Bros: The individual levels, some of the enemies, and the overall difficulty level are on-par with SMB. Many of the original enemies have returned with little change, such as the Hammer Bros., Bullet Bill, Koopa Troopas, the Piranha Plant, and of course Goombas. Many of the levels mirror those of the original as well, with tight-jumps that require a good judge of distance and even the castle maze from the last level. Mario's death and death music are also from SMB. So is the Underworld Theme.

Yoshi's Island: The collection of red coins and Dragon coins are both present, as are variations of the mini-games. Yoshi's ability to float, and the ability to jump-stomp are also here. A magikoopa from Yoshi's Island, probably Kamek, returns to aid the Koopalings in boss battles just like he did with the bosses in YI.

Super Mario World: The map screen/overworld, some of the levels, and some of the enemies return from SMW. The Ghost Houses are here, too. The save feature, first introduced in SMW I believe, also returns, with an added quick-save feature.

The quick-save feature doesn't actually work for me, but when I can save after each mini-fortress or boss, it doesn't really matter and is largely unneeded.

Super Mario Bros. 3: The Koopalings, first introduced in SMB3, are updated and brought back as bosses of each region. Other aspects from SMB3 that are present are: the Koopa Airship, the matching card game, the Hammer Bros on the map screen, both the item and game toad houses, the way the map screen itself functions, power-up collection and use, Mario Suits, and probably many other things I can't recall right now.


Why this isn't a 5 Star game . . .

1. Yoshi is way too scarce. He's only in a handful of levels, and he cannot (to my knowledge) be used outside of those levels. That's not okay when riding Yoshi is half the fun. Super Mario World had the perfect balance of Yoshi-use, and this game totally screwed that up. I took off an entire star for poor Yoshi management.

2. You have to actually drop Toad in order to go through a pipe. Why? What possible reason could there be for this?

3. The music, excluding a few updated tunes like SMB3's Hammer Bros. Battle Theme, was uninspiring, bland, and just awful. And there wasn't enough variety. After the first handful of stages in the first region, I was beginning to wonder if there would ever be a change in music.

4. Variety of gameplay. So far, it's almost the exact same formula as SMB3 - stage, stage, stage, toad house, stage, overworld enemy, mini fortress, stage, toad house, stage, boss.

That was fine 20 years ago on a system with limited resources; it's not fine today on a system that could have done a lot more if the creators wanted to go so retro. They went TOO retro, I think . . . and failed to add enough new and novel ideas that would have augmented the old formula AND showcased the Wii. Yes, the graphics are nice. But, they probably aren't anything the Gamecube could not have pulled off. Possibly even the N64, to be honest. And that's sad that they didn't take full advantage of the Wii.

5. Controls. The return to the original controls is great. But why not at least use the B button when it's RIGHT THERE!? One of my fingers even rests on the B button during gameplay, so why wasn't it utilized at all? I get the A button not being used - it's a little awkward to reach, but the B button? Yoshi could have thrown eggs with that button, or it could have been used to zoom in or out. Another missed opportunity.

6. It's not Super Mario World. Any game that tries so hard to recreate the fun of earlier games needs to be at least as good as Super Mario World, and then it can build on that. But this game just doesn't live up to SMW, or SMB3 for that matter. What made those games 5-star games was the fact that they both pushed the envelope, and implemented fresh ideas and new ways of doing things. And they both had plenty of variety throughout the game.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii didn't do that. It simply relied on previous incarnations and really only added a few shakes of the controller. And that's okay . . . for a 3 star, [...] game that's nothing more than an update on the classics.

But to call it 'New'? No. Not even close. More like a Super Mario All-Stars Wii.

Still, this is a quality game that a great deal of effort went into. So despite its failure to surpass previous installments, and despite it being geared toward younger children, it still deserves 4 stars.

As outlined in the product description, this game plays very much like the original Super Mario Bros. (or perhaps most like Super Mario 3), but it has sharp, colorful, detailed graphics that are at home on the latest Nintendo console. If you're a moderately skilled gamer, you'll likely find that playing alone is much easier than playing simultaneously with others. When others are involved, it's very easy to knock other players off ledges, or otherwise interfere with carefully timed jumps. But if you're not playing too seriously, trying to gather every last coin and bonus, I find that the frenzied gameplay of having multiple players is actually more fun than going solo.

Very fun game to play. I purchased this game for my 5 y/o nephew. I played for hours with my nieces and nephew the day I received the game. Had to buy another copy for myself.

We have been wanting this game for awhile. First of all, it's great that you can play with up to 4 players at the same time, helping or hindering. Quickly we were having fun recognizing level/locations, characters from all the previous Mario games with enhanced graphics. It was a blast trying to remember how to do certain things or beat bosses. Of course lots of frustrations as well, but no controller throwing like when I was a kid. This game is a lot of fun and anyone who has played the originals and liked them will love this. Of course it's a great game for people new to it as well.