This does not mean that I haven’t been playing anything. I have beaten a couple of games and been playing another few pretty extensively. The two games I have beaten deserve more than just a quick gloss over, so each will (hopefully) get a full and equal treatment, so without further wasted words:
New Super Mario Bros Wii
Let me tell you what I remember.
I remember that a majority of my childhood was spent playing Super Mario Bros 3.
I also remember that SMB3 is easily on of my top ten games of all time. It's damn near the closest thing to perfection from the 8-bit era.
Given that New Super Mario Bros Wii is directly inspired by SMB3, I suppose I was the target audience. Additionally, the nostalgia that sold me the game might also be responsible for my reaction: I freaking love New Super Mario Bros Wii! (NSMBW? how is it the acronym is almost more cumbersome than the actual title?)
Here’s what I liked:
1) Classic Approach: SMB3 changed the Mario paradigm by not simply advancing the player level by level, but incorporating a sort of overworld. This allowed a player to choose their path, route around difficult levels, and find secrets and bonuses. NSMBW returned to this style, complete with Mushroom houses, bonuses, hidden paths, and varying routes.
2) Play Style: This is traditional Mario play style with innovative, creative, and flat out entertaining side scrolling levels. Simply put, I really enjoyed almost all the levels. Each was unique and reflected the respective theme of the world in which it was located. Additionally, there was plenty of familiar enemies and terrain, but each level also contained a healthy mix of new and just plain cool stuff. The best example of cool new shit is in World 8, the new lava and volcano based hazards are crazy… crazy awesome!
3) Airships: In the first world, I was a bit disappointed that it ended simply with a castle and lacked an airship battle, like in SMB3. However, this only made my excitement even greater when I discovered there were indeed airship levels (and they even had a sweet updated version of the original music)!
4) The Final Battle: I’m not going to spoil this one. If you’ve played it: you know what I’m talking about. I’ll simply say, I did not see that coming and it was Awesome!
5) Challenge: The game rewards you for finding all the star coins in each level and beating all the levels. The difficulty in accomplishing this varies on the level and your own personal standards. For the more difficult locations for star coins and secret levels, one can usually go to the Mushroom Kingdom Palace and watch one of the many hint videos, which are less like hints and more like flat out cheating. However, if you resist the urge to head to the videos for a coin you can’t find, the feeling of accomplishment can be very satisfying.
While I thoroughly enjoyed NSMBW, I did find some flaws in the game. Here’s what I didn’t like:
1) Challenge: NSMBW is easy. I mean really easy. I accumulated 99 lives by World 3 without even trying. Only a few levels in the game actually pose some sort of challenge, and those are mainly the bonus levels in World 9 (and of those... 9-7 is flat out brutal). But, the rest of the game is a relative cake walk. I don’t like how a vast majority of the challenge in NSMBW is wrapped up in the collection of star coins or finding the secret levels.
9-7, the exception to the 'too easy' complaint...
2) Power Ups: Most of the power-ups in NSMBW just plain suck. The propeller cap is so powerful it reduces 95% of all the levels to all kinds of easy. Meanwhile, the remaining power-ups are only useful for the specific areas for which they were designed. All I really want is a Racoon or Tanooki Suit and a Hammer Brothers Suit. Is that too much to ask? Oh, I would also have really liked to see a level or two sporting a goomba shoe. I loved that thing…
Oh, it's on now!
3) Multiplayer: Nintendo billed the four-player aspect of NSMBW as the primary feature, and honestly, it sucks. First, the mechanics of multiplayer just don’t seem… right. The way the characters interact and react to hitting each other seems way too loose and over exaggerated. I suppose if a dedicated group of people spent a ton of time planning and practicing, the result would be in some truly epic youtube videos. But, if you simply want to sit down and have some fun with friends for a few hours, go play Mortal Kombat or something.
4) Multiplayer, Again: Why am I stuck with Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Another Toad!? Seriously. With the massive wealth of characters available to choose from, why are we stuck with the lamest three choices in the entire Mario universe? Remember how Mario 2 sucked? Yeah, well at least they had four characters to choose from, each of which had a unique trait that distinguished them from the others. Why didn’t NSMBW follow that model? And don’t tell me it would ‘unbalance’ the game. This isn’t competitive, professional gaming. This isn’t Starcraft or Marvel vs Capcom, this is Mario. It’s already insanely easy, why not spice it up. Let me play as Peach. Yes, I know the point is to rescue Peach, but gloss that over with some convenient explanation and put her in the game. Or Daisy. Or, hell, let me play as Bowser. Or Yoshi. That would be interesting: Player One as Mario, Player Two as Yoshi. That could lead to some pretty inovative cooperation. At least make some of these characters unlockable. How about instead of getting gold stars (or even the glowing gold stars for doing a super good job…) for beating all the levels and getting star coins you get additional characters? That could be fun. The point is that Nintendo phoned in Multiplayer in virtually every respect. It sucks and I really don’t think I’ll ever play it again.
However, despite the flaws in NSMBW, I loved it. It was enough nostalgia mixed with some really awesome levels with creative and fun platforming. Yes, it wasn’t a big challenge. But it was a blast to play and kept my attention long enough to completely play through it twice in a row. And in my book, that’s the biggest complement a game can get.
Current State of the Steke:
Games Owned: 305
Games Finished: 121
Percentage: 39.7%
Progress to Date: Embarrassing
