Your quest to find all those coins and save perennially kidnapped victim Princess Peach is backed up by mainly solid controls that have kept the simplicity of previous Mario games. You play with the Wii Remote held sideways, with the 2 button used for the all-important jump and the 1 button used to throw projectiles. It works fine for the most part, but some of the motion-control-based moves--such as shaking the Wii Remote to launch a spin attack or quickly jerking the Wii Remote down to pick up objects--can sometimes lead to unexpected lapses of control as your hands shift. It's not a game breaker, but there will be the occasional instance where a carefully planned and intricate sequence of jumps and attacks is undone by waggling-induced control loss. And while you can play with a nunchuk attached, for some odd reason, there's no Classic Controller support built into the game, which is a disappointing omission.
Multiplayer can be fun, as long as you're not playing with jerks.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii's biggest new feature is the ability for four people to play the game at once. Players take on the role of Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad, and Yellow Toad. Though technically they're different characters, they all share the same abilities and moves. Playing with friends is initially great fun--you can bounce off other characters, push each other into crevices, or even pick up and throw other characters. It's chaotic and can provide plenty of laughs; that is, as long as you're not actually serious about quickly reaching the end of a level. The ability to bounce off other's characters makes navigating most tough levels with more than one player a slow process, and it reaches frustration levels if you're partnered with Mario newcomers who will, more often than not, accidentally get in the way. That's not to say you should avoid multiplayer--with other experienced players at the helm, it can be fun, if a little tedious, to make it through a world. Multiplayer can also be a great teaching tool, with experienced players taking the lead and showing the ropes to platformer novices who want to build up their skills. Outside of the main game, players can also compete in two dedicated multiplayer modes--Free mode and Coin Battle. Both these modes allow you to play any level you've already unlocked, but while Free mode is just a straight-up replay, Coin Battle sees you competing with your friends to see who can make it to the end with the most coins collected.
While New Super Mario Bros. Wii is the second Mario platform game offering for the Nintendo home console, it pales in comparison to the looks of the first game: Super Mario Galaxy. This new Mario for the Wii features the usual bright colors and cartoon look of the series, but it lacks the sharpness and detail that Galaxy showed off. Sound is more a collection of nostalgia-inducing music and noises from previous Mario games than anything groundbreaking or new, including sounds from the 8-bit era, such as the distinctive noise made when Mario first grabs a super mushroom.
Controls are mostly fine, but some waggle and motion moves can be annoying.
Thankfully, New Super Mario Bros. Wii has more than nostalgia to back it up. While it doesn't stray too far from what's come before it, New Super Mario Bros. Wii's tight gameplay, multitude of secrets, accessibility for newcomers thanks to the nifty Super Guide, and some fun multiplayer additions all add up to a great platformer that Mario fans and nonfans alike should enjoy.
