VG Review - New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Hey, hey, everyone! It is I, Ouroburos, comin' at 'cha with the final FINAL official VG Review... And what better

way than to review New Super Mario Bros. Wii, available for the Nintendo Wii... If you didn't notice that, then it's because you're an idiot!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! No, just messin' with us. Ooooh, where do I begin?

NSMBW is published and developed by Nintendo, and was released November 12, 2009 (Australia), November 15 (North America), November 20 (Europe), and finally hitting Japan on December 3rd, to high as all hell critical acclaim, both commercially and reception-wise... OH YEAH, MARIO TIME! What many players might expect is that New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a drastic follow-up to the 8-Bit days, and we're talkin' Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros. 3, and of course, Super Mario World, one of the ultimate kings of Super Nintendo!! Another thing notable is that NSMBW is the first title since the arcade Mario Bros. title that actually features simultaneous multiplayer gameplay... EAT THAT!!! One more thing I should add is that the installment has a rather unique box, having a red case instead of a traditional white one... And that's just very swell and productive! It shows how much Nintendo really cares for us... SEE, HARDCORE GAMERS, SEE!?!?!?! NOT EVERYTHING IS BLACK AND WHITE BY YOUR STANDARDS?!?!?!?!? Oooookay, I'm gettin' a little ahead of myself. Let's move on to the glorious wonders of this masterpiece...

Now I own New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS, and lemme be the first to say that while a bit long, many fans could say that it was too short-lived in terms of difficulty level, which was below even Easy areas for me. Thankfully, Nintendo have gone back on that one and heavily increased the difficulty for the Wii version, making challenges all fun and games for a while... And they even made this one almost nostalgia-based, it makes me cry of joy!

As one would see, all Mario titles (especially the 3D ones) really have no deep plot and such, but I'll just say some things about the story here, anyway... 'Cause I like ya! Now don't that too seriously!! It all starts out at the Toadstool Castle, as Mario and two Toads are celebrating Princess Peach's birthday. Immediately, a large cake rolls in, but to the heroes's surprise, Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings C-C-COMBO BREAKER!!!!! Finally, you guys are back after Super Mario World!!! How I missed you so!!!! *WAAHHH!!!!* Okay, enough outbursts! Where was I? Oh, yeah! Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings hop out of the large cake and trap Peach with it, kidnapping her once more as she is loaded onto Bowser's airship as it takes off, with Mario, Luigi (WHERE'D YOU COME FROM?!?!?!?), and the Blue and Yellow Toad in hot pursuit. As for the Toads back at the castle, they unleash two items via a cannon. What are these new items you speak of? The Propeller Mushroom and Penguin Suit, sillies, yes! And of course, the rest of the story is like this: Mario, Luigi, and the two Toads cut through a total of 88 levels, and then finally face off against the big bad Koopa himself, Bowser. Immediately after he is defeated for the second time (as "Super Bowser"), Peach is rescued and gives a warm kiss to the playable character on the platform. In the end, Mario and Peach exit the evil Area of Hell as they are greeted by Luigi and the Toads, in hot-air balloons. Luigi offers Mario and Peach his balloon, but unfortunately, he is left behind and instead leaves with the Toads. After the minigame-esque credits where you can smash blocks containing characters of the people who developed the title, earning coins as you progress, the actual epilogue shows Larry Koopa limping and Bowser Jr. ordering the former to help him and the other siblings flip Bowser the right way. Whilst succeeding, there is one downside: the impact of the big bad monster's weight causes his unstable fortress to fall on him, the Koopalings, and Bowser Jr.... Heh-heh!! Everybody's a critic, eh, Bowser?!?!?! No, that's not it!! It should've been "SO LONG, ME BOWSER!!!" Ahahahahahahaha!!!! Yeeeeah, that explains it in a nutshell...

New Super Mario Bros. Wii features various power-ups in the game, especially the Tiny Mushroom, Starman, and two new items: the Propeller Mushroom, which acts as some sort of Cape Mushroom or Raccoon Suit as you fly, and the Penguin Suit, which enables a character to slide on their stomach like a natural penguin, throw ice balls at an enemy for about ten to fifteen seconds (it IS much shorter depending on a small amount of enemies that cannot be killed normally by either stepping on, picking up, or shooting projectiles and throwing inanimate objects at them... I'm not kidding!), and in places with water, they make them swim faster. My only gripe other than two other things I'll mention later on is that the Big Mushroom and the Turtle/Shell Suit from the DS port are absent... However, I'd rather the Penguin Suit than the latter, and is the Big Mushroom really a big deal? Just a power-up, and nothing more is all. But we have to keep moving with this sucker because I fear this is gonna be a fuckload of a review... Something other VG Reviews weren't in terms of length.

Another thing you'll notice is that in certain levels, players can find a Yoshi, which acts the same way it did in Yoshi's Island, complete with Flutter Jumps and swallowing inanimated objects and enemies... Oh, you dino, you! How we missed you as well!! But not too much, now, because you're busy with your spinoffs an' all out.

Now New Super Mario Bros Wii is made up of eight worlds in general, plus the secret World 9. Lemme tell ya how this thing works out: each world features a map enemy, 1-Up houses (a minigame by being shot from cannons as you earn a different amount of "free mans"), Mushroom houses (some sort of match-up area where you crawl all over tile cards like Spiderman and hit a card. If you get a power-up icon, attempt to get the same card icon, and then you are awarded with that power-up. If hitting Bowser or Bowser Jr. icons, then that's no good, folks, as you get nothing afterwards), a fortress level where you face one of the world's Koopalings, a Star house (you earn a Starman here from a treasure chest... Nuff said), and the castle level where you face the appropriate Koopaling again, but under different circumstances caused by the Magikoopa, making these fights harder than the previous. What may be different are if you encounter Boo houses, which include nothing but regular-sized Boos, Big Boos, and Broozers (purplish ghosts with punching bags, hitting anything in sight, which makes me think Nintendo pulled off a Mike Tyson on us), and there's also airship levels, which appear in Worlds 4, 6, and 8 only... And for some reason, I wanna know why! Does Nintendo think using airship levels for even-numbered worlds is cool to them? I wonder. But nevertheless, these airship levels are filled with Mecha-Koopas, bullets, those enemies who throw wrenches (I FORGOT WHAT THOSE WERE CALLED!!!), and at the end of each area, you will come face-to-face with Bowser Jr, who is playing in the same style as his father from Super Mario World: Clown cars!! HEE-HEE-HEE!!!!!

Now each world has a diverse type of setting: World 1's your classic type of area where you would start off, akin to the basics, World 2 is a desert land taking a nod from SMB3, World 3 is a snowy place which I'm not where that came about, first of all, World 4's your beach-like land that also takes another nod from SMB3, World 5 is a forest similar to the Forest of Illusion from SMW, albeit more poisonous, World 6 is the canyon which I don't think I've noticed before, World 7 is your sky courtyard, taking a nod from SMB3, I take it? World 8 is the final level filled with fire, hatred, and the Son of Sam looking at you with utter disgust. This takes another nod from SMB3, since there's fire all around, minus the tank enemies, of course. You also get World 9, which is a Star Road from SMW, with eight levels, all of which happen to be unlocked if you obtain every Star Coin from that world... The one most people cannot deny that is brutal are 9-7 and 9-8. First of all, 9-7 is full of these plant-like enemies on the ground, which make their only appearance in this game, filled with an icy forest setting, Fire Bro enemies, and if you use a Fire Flower in this level, you are pissed out of your mind!! No, really, you are! At first, if you look at this level, you'll think "Oh, this isn't that bad, I've seen worse!", but maybe it looks that way because Nintendo creates simple levels, only for them to be painful after playing. Another gripe is for 9-8, which features bubbles that make this level an offspring of Wacky Workbench Zone from Sonic CD, and the ferocious King Bills, the only enemies that cannot be stopped in either way, and can kill someone regardless of powerups in a single hit... JESUS CHRIST!!!!

Now I really would like to mention more, other than my last gripe with Boom-Boom from SMB3 not being in as a fortress boss... But don't worry, he reappears in Super Mario 3D Land, I'll say that much! Some last things I wanna point out are like this: musically speaking, although Koji Kondo isn't helping out, I can honestly say that New Super Mario Bros Wii has some pretty nostalgic tracks personally, and they ain't afraid to show what they're made of, also! Graphically speaking, the character models look pretty fluid despite the fact that the Wii is unable to handle HD resolution (DOESN'T MATTER!!!), and the level design seems pretty innovative, actually. But that's all this title goes for, in general.

So to wrap up the end of his amazing review, I could best describe New Super Mario Bros. Wii as "one of the most nostalgic titles the Wii has to offer, aside from Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and Super Smash Bros Brawl... Fans of the franchise should give this one a massive chance!" No doubt that Mario has been looking fresh since the early 80s, and for about 29 to 30 years, it all says a lot about Mario, because unlike Sonic, Mario still holds our heads up with his rather impressive voice and his mannerisms, and his duties as a plumber... And no hate to the Blue Blur, everyone! I have played the DS version as much as the next guy, but still, the Wii version is something I find superior, giving that Nintendo had more to work with on this one. I give NSMBW a sold A+! Yep, not afraid to give it that, especially since I'm so DAMN HAPPY!!! I finally finished the VG Reviews... Official, that is. And now the rest of you users can send in requests for what video game you want me to review, if you wanna. I'm Ouroburos.TheNewSaurian, and please wait for November nicely, because I will officially start FG Reviews, which are "Flash Game Reviews" all and all. This wiki is something I hope that lives on in the future, and it does a great job for it!

Pros

 * The red case is unique... Need I say more?
 * Gameplay is smooth and nostalgic as ever
 * The level designs are creative and reflect some of the older days, a trait I rather enjoy
 * 1-Up and Mushroom games have fun minigames where it's not just, something to laugh about
 * The difficulty is increased, making challenges more astounding
 * Simultaneous multiplayer FTW!!!
 * The music is rather fantastic on its own
 * Koopalings made a comeback!
 * Yoshi looks as stubborn as ever... But otherwise, a nice addition

Cons

 * If the Koopalings returned, how come Boom-Boom didn't???
 * Princess Peach would've been a great playable character if Nintendo didn't take her out for "fanservice" issues (this was also something I forgot to mention)
 * 9-7 and 9-8 are levels I suggest you risk: 9-7 for the slipperyness, and 9-8 for the King Bill destruction!
 * If the difficulty can become a pain in the butt, then it's off to the original version
 * You're only allowed to play as Mario if you're Player 1. That means if you want to play alone, you have to be Mario, which is irritating if you find the Toads or Luigi more entertaining.