Let’s march to the end of the galaxy!

Has a super infectious personality to it that makes it hard to hate, with a lot of character, charm, and fun ideas to make up for the fact that this game sometimes feels like it barely works.

The rhythm mechanics here are very basic, but the timing is extremely precise, where being off even a bit can ruin everything and the game will try its damnedest to catch you out constantly. It is a deceptively punishing game which, when it works feels very harsh but fair but at its worse feels like it's fucking with me. The final level has some insane timings that no matter how much I redo feel like I'm the crazy person. It might just be the means by which I played it that caused there to be a bit harsher delay in input, but it did cause issues as it got more demanding.(I've been informed the game has audio/input delay issues, that'll explain it)

I wish the gameplay didn’t feel like this because everything else is just really a delight, the characters are eccentric and memorable, the bosses have fun designs, the story is simple but is campy enough to really carry it all, Space Jackson and the music is a treat to listen. I see a stronger game in here held back by its own simplicity in gameplay and I just hope its sequel and unlock a lot of that (as well as not having as hash a input issue this one did).

Until next time Space Cats, Ulala out!

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is the home console follow-up to New Super Mario Bros. that acts as the triumphant return of 2D Mario to home consoles after 19 years. For the time of its release, NSMB Wii had a lot of novelty that has unfortunately worn off nowadays, and separating any fond memories some people may have had with this game reveals it as an iterative, bloated, and quite bland entry in the series.

The big appeal with NSMB Wii is its introduction of a true multiplayer 2D Mario experience, and I have to give credit where credit is due, it probably ushered in a new era of multiplayer 2D platformers. I think a lot of the fondness people have for this game comes from memories of playing it with someone else, and I can’t take that away from anybody.

My personal experience is different, as I mostly played it alone. For this playthrough, I did manage to play a few chunks with my wife, but honestly, the multiplayer experience here just isn’t as enjoyable as later Mario entries that include multiplayer. I feel like the way they went about it in this game makes playing in multiplayer significantly harder than playing solo. Characters can bump into each other and mess up each other’s jumps, and when some stages auto-scroll — requiring precise platforming with a ticking timer — the experience just becomes annoying.

I don’t remember if NSMB U handled multiplayer any differently than this game, but I could’ve sworn it felt better there. In a vacuum, NSMB Wii’s exciting novelty definitely is the inclusion of multiplayer, but revisiting it now reveals a rough, unrefined multiplayer experience that’s been done much better in later entries.

Another novelty of NSMB Wii that has worn off big time nowadays is the return of the Koopalings from SMB3 and Super Mario World. I really like the Koopalings, and it’s nice to see them alongside Bowser Jr. here. I like that you pick them off one by one throughout the game and that their boss fights bring mechanical variety, but them being the only bosses in this game makes facing them repetitive and uninteresting.

Maybe if they were only kept to this entry they would feel more special, but from here onward they act as the only bosses of all these games, and it’s definitely a downgrade compared to the variety of NSMB’s boss lineup on the DS three years prior. Even when ignoring the fact that they become a staple moving forward, the boss lineup in this game just feels uninspired.

I think that’s the perfect word to describe this game: uninspired. The presentation is mostly recycled from NSMB but is much less stylish now and far more bland. This is the true beginning of the sanitization of Mario, as titles from here on rely heavily on this lifeless aesthetic. There are a few flourishes that do bring something to the table, like the flowers and enemies doing a little dance every time the soundtrack goes “bah-bah.”

Speaking of the soundtrack, while a lot of these arrangements are new, it feels recycled and reused from NSMB. It’s definitely catchy, but it mostly boils down to “happy grassy music” or “happy desert music” without much flavor. It doesn’t really leave anything worth writing home about.

The levels themselves are pretty good, and the introduction of Yoshi definitely elevates every level he’s in. He feels similar to how he did in Super Mario World, and I really like how they add drums to the soundtrack when you’re riding him, just like they did back then. It’s a shame he’s not featured in that many levels in this game.

While the levels are good, I think the pacing of the game makes it tiring to go through. Levels feel a tad too long, and each world feels like it could cut a couple of stages and be much tighter for it. This game’s runtime is the longest of any previous 2D Mario platformer, and it ends up feeling bloated because of it. I was really enjoying my time, but by the last two worlds, I couldn’t wait to be done.

Thankfully, it ends with one of the best final bosses in any 2D Mario. It feels like an appropriately grand finale for Mario’s return to home consoles.

When all is said and done, NSMB Wii is definitely a solid game that had a lot of novelty at the time of its release. But the series goes on to retread and improve almost everything it does, making a revisit today feel like an experience that doesn’t stand out much. If anything, I’m glad it introduced a lot of people to this series and served as the source of fond memories for many.

this is actually a secret ARG that'll tell us the upcoming crossworlds characters, and what the next 3D sonic game will be about!

...

sonic generations spelled backwards is snoitareneg cinoS.

...yeah, I got nothing. sorry :P