New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Gamefreaks Review

Who knows if the Mario well will ever truly run dry for Nintendo, they have been returning to it for decades and, where any other developer would be crucified for such derivative behaviour, we positively celebrate the company for it. The New Super Mario Bros. series, first seen on the Nintendo DS, might just be the clearest evidence of the brand's immortality; Nintendo essentially remade a game from 1985 and we went nuts for it.

And now they've done it again for the Nintendo Wii, a simple side-scrolling 2D platformer thriving in the age of photo-real CGI, dynamic breast physics, world-beating MMOs, and development teams bigger than most nations' military forces. It's a concept that shouldn't work, and likely wouldn't from anyone without the vast stores of goodwill Nintendo have cultivated, but somehow the game manages to conjure nostalgia for a character that never actually went away and by all rights should be well past his expiry date.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii asks players to once again take off on a perilous quest to rescue the kidnapped Princess. Smashing bricks, stomping on enemies, jumping bottomless holes, traversing pipes, leaping lava; everything ingredient of the original Super Mario run is present and accounted for exactly as you remember but for the glossier graphics. The only innovation the game claims credit for is one of most painfully simple logic; you can now bust goomba skulls with up to three friends simultaneously.

The biggest contributing factor in making the New series work is in authentically capturing the feel of the old titles being paid homage. This is likely not such a big hurdle for Nintendo as the man in charge of the project is the very same man who delivered the originals over two decades ago. This is Miyamoto's love letter to Miyamoto and I'll be damned if the man doesn't write fine poetry. The fundamentals are dead on, just point-for-point perfect. It's not too surprising that by now this relatively simple form of platformer has been perfected, but for a game like this it was absolutely necessary, and they've nailed it.

New Super Mario bros. Wii is the first to exhibit Nintendo's new lean on accessibility; it's a very forgiving game, easy to a fault at times, and boasts the new 'Super Guide' feature which basically gives the player the option of letting the game play itself if things get a little too much. This level of simplicity may be in line with modern Nintendo's all-encompassing philosophy but it's certainly at odds with the original Mario games, which were at times devilishly difficult.

Ensuring the title lasts longer than it's too-easy story mode, the multiplayer aspects are the real reasons to come to the party. It's possible for up to four players to play along co-operatively through the game's story, but it's the heated battles for supremacy in 'Free Mode' and mad scramble of 'Coin Battle' that give the title its inexhaustible energy, guaranteeing it will be atop the go-to party game list for the season.

Synopsis: Essentially just Super Mario Bros. with added multiplayer, New Super Mario Bros. Wii does a remarkable job of appearing fresh and new with a minimum of effort. Every bit as absorbing and fun as the old titles it apes, the game exemplifies the cult of levity that many believe gaming ought to represent.