E3 ‘09: New Super Mario Bros. Wii Impressions

One of the big surprises that Nintendo had to offer at this year’s E3 was the newest title in the “New Super Mario Bros.” franchise – “New Super Mario Bros. Wii.” It’s a follow up to the massively selling Nintendo DS game, and puts Mario back in the lead role of his first console based 2D side-scrolling platformer since the Super Nintendo classic “Super Mario World.” However, there was one catch that came along with the announcement of the new title – it’s Mario’s first co-op game, and it was the intentions of series creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, to be played by up to four players at once. It’s new ground for both Nintendo and Mario to be venturing into, and it could really take a turn for the worse, if it wasn’t executed properly. Fortunately, after spending some time with the game on the E3 show floor it looks like Nintendo is going to have yet another winner starring Mario on its hands.

The biggest change in “NSMBWii” is obviously the four-player, co-op nature of the game. In what was shown at E3, Mario will be playing along side, and sharing the screen with Luigi, as well as two Toads in this adventure. Who knows if that will be the final lineup for release, but there are some pretty big characters missing from that list. Each character plays the same (i.e. Luigi didn’t appear to be able to jump higher) and you need to work together to complete the levels. And, once those levels are completed, each player gets ranked, based on their performance – the more coins you collect, and the more enemies you kill are just a few of the factors that determine your rank. It’s an interesting addition to a game that is being billed as a co-op experience, and not a competitive one. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to play Mario competitively, but knowing Nintendo, and their family friendly out look on Mario, they may not be open to embracing that idea. As an added bonus, if you don’t have any friends, you can play the game completely one-player if you’d like.

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