At this year’s E3 Nintendo announced several new Mario games, one of them being New Super Mario Bros Wii. Like its DS counterpart and the old Mario Bros games New Super Mario Bros Wii is a side scrolling platform game, but with a new feature that completely revolutionises it: simultaneous 4 player mode.

Whilst the Wii does have a lot of single player games Nintendo are clearly heading towards the market of multiplayer party games. With the exception of Mario Party games, Mario Kart and so on Mario games have been primarily single player for a very long time, with multiplayer only added into a few games as an extra. Before New SMB Wii no Mario game featured multiplayer as one of its main elements, and never to the extent of four players exploring the Mushroom Kingdom at once. Considering Nintendo’s new direction it shouldn’t really be a surprise that Nintendo wants to feature multiplayer in their signature series’ games, especially a party game atmosphere.

The multiplayer can be best described as competitive co-op. Players (playing as Mario, Luigi, and two Toads) can help each other through the levels but they can also cause mischief for each other. Picking players up and carrying them could be an advantage, or it could be a way of throwing them down the nearest pit. Likewise, stomping a koopa would be a good idea for everyone but not once you throw the shell at them. With each player receiving a ranking at the end of the level competition is going to be something everyone’s thinking of, and when one of the characters loses a life and returns at the top of a screen in a bubble the other players might hesitate before helping them out.

Although New SMB Wii does have a party game feel to it this isn’t compulsory; one player mode is still there, and even with more than one player it’s possible to enjoy the game seriously. New SMB Wii keeps the same feel as older Mario games, and the levels have a recognisable style to them. The graphics may be new but the game still has the same charm after all these years. One example is Super Mario World’s Yoshi system. Players can ride around on Yoshi but if they get hit they’ll fall off and Yoshi will run away, but they’ll still be able to catch him again. Power ups remain in the game as well, such as the famous Fire Flower and Mushroom (which, like in earlier games, makes you bigger). There are new additions as well, a Penguin Suit and a Propeller Suit. Penguin suits give you all the powers of a penguin, such as sliding on your belly crashing through blocks of ice and throwing ice balls at enemies and freezing them. The propeller suit will allow you to fly into the air with a flick of the Wii Remote, getting you over obstacles and flying you to safety out of the bottomless pits (traditionally a must have for every sidescroller). Not much has been revealed in the way of story, but it’s a safe bet Bowser’s taken the Princess again. The Koopalings (his children from games such as SMB3 and Super Mario World) appear as bosses in boss battles similar to the old games but it’s not been revealed if Bowser Jr will as well.

Another addition is the “Demo Play” that’s been mentioned by Nintendo. By pausing the game players can sit back and watch as the game completed the level for them, which should be useful for people who get stuck and the downright lazy. There’s a lot of criticism of the idea but New SMB Wii does have a party game feel so will be attracting players who aren’t as used to the games, the last thing Nintendo needs is them giving up because the levels are too hard and that’s ruining their fun. And since Demo Play is purely optional everyone who feels confident enough to play the game without cheating can just choose not to use it.

Mario sidescrollers have always been 2D before the New SMB games, so the 3D graphics in a 2D game do seem a little out of place. However, it worked fine for New SMB DS and I’m sure it’ll work fine here, even if it does take a little bit of getting used to. Overall, New SMB Wii holds a lot of promise and with any luck it will deliver. It looks like it’s going to be a mix of serious gaming with party gaming and depending on how it turns out we might be seeing similar set ups in the future. It’s due to release late 2009, I recommend picking it up.

- Undead God