Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue Toad
Maybe it’s just because they were some of the first games I played on a console (and certainly the ones I played most extensively), but to me, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World represent almost the Platonic Form of video games. I never owned an NES, but I would walk around the corner to my friend’s house to play his copy of Mario 3 for hours until my mom dragged me back home for dinner. I bought the Nintendo Power player’s guide for the game and read through it repeatedly despite not owning the game. When I heard there was a new “Super Nintendo” coming out with a brand-new Mario game, I knew I had to have it, and when I finally got it, it was the only game I played for months, thoroughly exploring every one of the *96 levels.
In the eighteen years since Super Mario World came out, I’ve re-bought those games several times and replayed them dozens more. There have been plenty of newer Mario games for me to play, but I haven’t been nearly as interested in any of them; one time through the main game progression is usually enough for me, and I’ve never fully completed a 3D Mario game. The more recent Marios are still good, but they’ve never recaptured what made me like Mario in the first place… until now. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is the Mario sequel I’ve been waiting for since 1991.
Granted, it’s obviously tailor-made to hit the nostalgia buttons of people like me, from the inclusion of the Koopalings and airships to the flip-a-card minigames and Hammer Bros. battle music. But as heavily as this game trades in nostalgia, there’s a surprising amount of creativity and variety in the level design. Sure, every level is essentially about running from left to right, jumping on things, and getting to the flagpole at the end, but nearly every level incorporates some new element or obstacle or theme that you haven’t encountered before and probably won’t again. The classic Mario platformers established a set of conventions early on and essentially just rearranged them for the rest of the game, but New Super Mario Bros. Wii plays with the conventions in new ways in each level, often immediately discarding a gimmick that could easily have been milked a lot further just to make room for the next new thing. The upshot is that you’re always kept on your toes and never feel like you’re just playing the same level again (unless, of course, you literally are).
Most of the issues that were disappointing in New Super Mario Bros. on the DS have been addressed. The lame mega mushroom and shell power-ups have been replaced by the ice flower and penguin suit, both of which are worthy additions to the power-up pantheon, as well as the propeller suit, which is OK. Bowser Jr. has been kept to a minimum, mostly replaced by more satisfying Koopaling boss fights, each of which has some unique twist. And while you can no longer store a power-up in reserve during a level (which helps to make this game significantly more difficult), you can amass a stockpile of them to use from the world map. But most importantly, the level design is leaps and bounds ahead of the DS iteration’s.
I haven’t even mentioned the game’s biggest innovation, the multiplayer. I’ve only had the opportunity to play with one other person, but it’s very fun and very chaotic. Again I’m impressed that the levels are able to strike a balance and reward you for playing with multiple players, but not punish you if you only have one (though I have to admit it’s hard for me to imagine trying to herd four players through some of the later levels).
On the whole, though, it’s not the innovations that endear New Super Mario Bros. Wii to me so much as the twists on familiar tropes and the wide variety of interesting environments to which the traditional Mario platforming mechanics are applied. It’s not without its flaws, and the context in which it’s being released is so different from that of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World that it’s never going to have the same impact, but it’s certainly a worthy successor to those games and the most fun I’ve had playing a Mario platformer in the last eighteen years.
—Scott
