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[Slurpy]

I've played up through World 6, and I'm thinking SMB3 still edges ahead, for a few reasons.

1. As great as the propeller and penguin suits are, their usefulness is very situational.

Love the propeller suit for air-based platforming, but I find it very underwhelming for "on-foot" levels. It feels like it cuts your physical momentum down a lot, which never feels right.

Penguin suit is a godsend in water and on ice, but beyond that, it's just an ice flower.

And I'm finding the ice flower to be very situational. Sure, it's nice to be able to freeze anything and everything to slow down your pace, but the ice balls simply do not travel fast or far enough to be useful, and their bounce trajectory is becoming harder and harder to accurately predict.

Given the choice between freezing an enemy and just blasting them with a fireball, I've got to go with a fireball. It kills them right off, I don't have to worry about butt-stomping or picking the frozen enemy up, and fireballs are just way more dependable.

2. The control itself. Way too slippery. I don't feel like I'm in direct control of Mario. Whether I'm trying to hit a coin block, jump on an enemy, navigate across platforms...more often than not what I thought would be a precise movement either comes up short or overshoots the target, leading to either death or agony.

I mean, look at the Propeller suit. Great new power-up, but I really, really miss the no-question-about-it-direct-precision of SMB3. Like the Leaf. To fly with the Leaf, all you needed was enough space to get up to P. From there, it's all the D-pad and A button. There are no accidental "oh crap I jolted the controller" moments.

Here, though, even the slightest jostle of the Wiimote is popping me up in the air at the most inopportune times.

3. The map screens. For the most part, they're identical, so it starts getting to be the little things that make the difference. Like the amount of time you can't do anything when you're sent to the map. Do the pirhana plants, vines, etc, really need to shift positions every time? I know that SMB3 had stuff like that (Hammer Bros, airship, etc), but it just feels so much more obtrusive here.

4. Accessing the power-ups. SMB3's power-up menu was instant. Hit B, select item, boom. Good to go. Here it has loading times. It loads the power-up menu itself. It loads the suit graphic. It loads back to the map. So much loading for such a little menu.

5. The pop-up instructions. Is there no way to turn them off? I've played two-thirds of the game, I think I understand how to play a simple mini-game, for chrissakes. lol. I loathe going into Toad Houses because of the constant pop-up instructions.

---

Overall the game is amazing. When it's good, it's incredible. But when it's lousy, it's aggravating as hell.

Having beat the game, I agree with everything you've said.

I also have to say that compared to other Mario games, they played it extremely safe. I had very few 'holy shit' moments- which were very common in previous Marios. I know it isn't fair to copare this to Mario Galaxy, but that game pretty much blew my fucking face off with every level, the creativity and originality exhibited was just off the charts- I guess it just set my standards for future Mario games to an incredibly high level.

There's always Mario Galaxy 2.

 

[rpmurphy]

Thewiire isn't too bad in my book, though it's Wii-only. I do like the Wii Folder too. Josh focuses on the games, which is what I want. GAF is where it's at for all the business talk anyway.

Josh has a peculiar taste in games that I don't quite understand. But he does give a lot of great in-depth coverage for those games that other sites have not done for them.

I like Stephen Totilo's coverage of Wii games as well, and he is the reason why I frequent Kotaku at all.

 

[tabsina]

I don't think so, actually. I think the only movies that are free are those that show you how to get more star coins.

I didn't buy any movies until I collected every star coin, and I had exactly enough to buy all of them.

yeh, that is right - kind of makes sense too - would seem a bit silly to spend at least one star coin in order to get another single one

 

[autobzooty]

Beat the game a while ago. I'm a little surprised at my own unwillingness to go back and get the star coins I missed. Usually stuff like that is right up my alley.

Now, this is sort of me nitpicking, but it's also slowly becoming my biggest issue with the game. The menus and overworld are so damn unresponsive! I hate that I have to wait for the menu to finish doing it's little animation or whatever before I can make a selection, making exiting to the map a real pain in the ass. And jesus, why does it take so long to use an item from your inventory on the map screen? You use it and then you just sit there for a few seconds for no god damn reason. You can't skip it, you just have to wait for the game to take you back to the map.

And when you die? Forget about it. It's not like in SMB or Lost Levels where it spits you right back into the game in a second or two, just enough time for you to sip your beverage of choice. The first problem is, the game spits me back out onto the level select screen EVERY time, when 90% of the time, I'm just going back to the same level anyways. And when they DO finally get your ass back out on the level select map, you have to wait for Mario to do his (admittedly hilarious) little "I-fell-on-my-face" animation, wait for all the roaming enemies on the map to shift around meaninglessly, and then wait an extra second or two for good measure. Then you finally can choose the level again, wait for the lives indicator to come up and remind you how many god damn 1-ups you've gotten throughout the game, and then finally...FINALLY you're playing again. Try not to die because you don't wanna go through all that again.

I realize I'm exaggerating a little bit here, but after this happens a few times from dying in the same exact spot in the level, the rage starts to become genuine and bountiful. I enjoy playing this game recklessly (afterall, I've collected about sixty or seventy 1-ups without even TRYING to look for any), and I enjoy the challenge that comes from trying to run through an entire level without stopping, pulling off risky jumps and screaming the whole way through. However, this style of play comes at the expense of many deaths, and I get so sick of waiting for the game to finish playing with itself before I get another go that usually I just quit in frustration.



Again, I know this is nit-picking, but it's becoming frustrating as all hell as time goes on. Especially since I've already beaten the game and I'm only really going back for my own satisfaction and some casual screwing around.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

And jesus, why does it take so long to use an item from your inventory on the map screen? You use it and then you just sit there for a few seconds for no god damn reason. You can't skip it, you just have to wait for the game to take you back to the map.

There is something wrong with either your disc or your console. This stuff is instantaneous for me. Or at least no slower than it was in SMB3.

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

I read this somewhere but still have no idea why it's the case - my Wii is on a 4:3 CRT and is normally set to 4:3 in the options - resulting in black bars for NSMB Wii. Change Wii settings to 16:9 however and it'll fill up the entire screen. Diabolical!

Putting the Wii in 16:9 just squishes the image though. Sadly it almost (but not quite) looks better that way if only because it fills the whole height of the screen. That's the whole thing: If I really wanted to play in 16:9 on my television I could just set my Wii to that aspect ratio and toggle my television to the same setting. As it happens I haven't seen a single aspect of the level design thus far that wouldn't work in a 4:3 full screen setting (I'm about halfway through world 3). The zoomed view at the start of each level rubs it in further. The only real reason I can see for the fixed wider view is for multiplayer with 3-4 people, but that shouldn't limit the options you have when going solo. It's an absurd oversight on Nintendo's part any way you slice it, and runs completely counter to their stated philosophy this gen. I know the varrious rationalizations people have for why it's acceptible or "not a big deal", but it's a completely unnecessary omission. That's enough.

While the 16:9 only sucks now, in 10 or 20 years we will be thankful for it most likely. Unless they changed the standard again.

Let me be clear; I don't have any problem whatsoever with Nintendo including a 16:9 mode; in fact, I fully support the idea for all their games. I think it's unfortunate that some titles this gen have only supported pseudo widescreen. My problem is the failure to include alternate options, especially because the extra real estate on either side of the play field doesn't serve an essential function in this game as far as I can tell. Like I said in my previous post, the Wii was designed around SDTVs, few of which are 16:9. Even when I ultimately get an HDTV there's a good chance I'll leave my Wii hooked up to the SDTV because I'm not particularly fond of upscaled SD content, and I'll have my CRT around for my old school games anyhow.

Obviously I think the entire aspect ratio thing is a really, really stupid decision on Nintendo's part, and I find it incredibly distracting. I understand not everyone it going to agree, but It's an ugly blemish on the experience for me. That aside, there is a lot I like about the game so far. To put it simply, NSMB Wii represents everything the original NSMB should've been but wasn't. While I'd have prefered to see Nintendo take a more original direction, at least the have the right idea this time around if they're dead set on going the literal route in paying homage the classics. Most importantly the controls and level design are both a damn sight better than the DS version. I was one of those that worried this would be too similar when it was first announced- the same basic experience with prettier window dressing, but I'm glad to say this game feels much more at home in the pantheon of Mario sidescrollers. There are a lot more little touches and layers of complexity to appreciate here, not to mention better abilities (the penguin suit is my favorite in a long time), enemy variety, and pretty much anything else you can think of. NSMB Wii really does do everything better than its predecessor, which I could never shake the feeling was simply going through the motions. Although they're thematically similar everything here feels like a more thoughtful homage, and the secrets, enemy patterns, and overall balance just "feel right".

I've only hit up the single player so far, but it's a blast. Having combed through the DS version to unlock the last few paths for a complete file I'm relieved to say I'm finding this one much, much better so far. I'm looking forward to giving co-op a try tomorrow.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

NSMB Wii really does do everything better than its predecessor

Off the top of my head, I'd say that boss encounters were better in the DS game, but that's about it. I'm probably going to replay that one all the way through soon just to see how it really measures up. I hold it in higher regard than most, it seems.

 

[Tain]

I'm liking this game more than I expected, so far. Especially after NSMB DS; it feels like even the late World 2 stages in this are harder than the hardest stuff in the DS game.

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

Off the top of my head, I'd say that boss encounters were better in the DS game, but that's about it. I'm probably going to replay that one all the way through soon just to see how it really measures up. I hold it in higher regard than most, it seems.

I guess I'll have to reserve judgment until I play further into NSMB Wii, but I wasn't especially taken with the bosses in NSMB. There was one very Metroid-esque moment I dug, but none of the patterns themselves seemed that great. Of course, bosses have never really been the strong point of any of the mainline 2D Mario games, unless you count Yoshi's Island.

I'm liking this game more than I expected, so far. Especially after NSMB DS; it feels like even the late World 2 stages in this are harder than the hardest stuff in the DS game.

Agreed, and not just harder, but more clever as well. That's why I say NSMB Wii seems to fit better into the pantheon of classic Mario games. The level design has that "just so" quality i thought NSMB was missing.

GrotesqueBeauty, while I fully agree with your views on the aspect ratio issue, keep in mind that it is nothing new. Trauma Center:NB also did this.

I wasn't aware. That's a bummer, but I guess it's still more of a shock to me that it's an issue in a Mario game, and this one in particular given Nintendo's big push for the title as all inclusive. If Trauma Center was as near and dear to my heart I suppose I'd probably be pretty pissed about that one as well though.


edit: In regards to your edit, I think I'd be more forgiving if I thought there was a strong rationale behind leaving the feature out of this particular game. I just haven't come across a compelling one in my time with the title so far. No part of the core single player experience seems to rely on the expanded view, and I think the presentation would actually benefit heavily from a full screen option where the characters shared a closer proportion to the classic Mario games.

 

[HUELEN10]

GrotesqueBeauty, while I fully agree with your views on the aspect ratio issue, keep in mind that it is nothing new. Trauma Center:NB also did this, and no one complained. Also, a lot of HD console games don't have a 4:3 option. While I fully agree with your statements, I also support the idea that the thing should be presented in the aspect the creators feel best delivers the experience.

 

[Kilrogg]

Josh has a peculiar taste in games that I don't quite understand. But he does give a lot of great in-depth coverage for those games that other sites have not done for them.

I like Stephen Totilo's coverage of Wii games as well, and he is the reason why I frequent Kotaku at all.

To finish the OT talk: you might be right about Josh, but what I actually like is that he's enthusiastic. I know, sounds stupid, but so many sites are polluted by business talk and a certain opinion about what games should or shouldn't be that I can appreciate his approach, even though I might not always like the games featured on his site.

You're right about Totilo.

Damn, can't wait to get my hand on the game!

 

[Coolio McAwesome]

Off the top of my head, I'd say that boss encounters were better in the DS game, but that's about it. I'm probably going to replay that one all the way through soon just to see how it really measures up. I hold it in higher regard than most, it seems.

I loved the boss battles in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. It was a blast to take down the Koopa Kids again, and the battle with Bowser was downright epic. Also,

Spoiler

getting to ride one of those flying clown pots to battle Bowser Jr. was so much fun. When I first got to this point in the game my brother said, "You mean we all get one?" with the biggest smile on his face.

It truly was one of those "magical" moments.

 

[Azure Dream]

There is something wrong with either your disc or your console. This stuff is instantaneous for me. Or at least no slower than it was in SMB3.

No, I've noticed it too, and it is longer than SMB3. There's an extra second or so after you apply the power-up that I guess is for effect. It's really noticeable when you want to use a regular power-up and a Star both, since you even have to wait for the screen to close automatically before you can open it again, use the second power-up, then wait for it to close again.

I'd love to say it's not noticeable, except a lot of the levels are really enhanced by getting a specific power-up, which it won't spit out unless you're already at least Super.

Speaking of Stars, stocking them is so useless. The game makes them out to be a big deal, but there's usually no hazards of significance near the beginning or mid-point, and they run out way too fast. On a lark I tried to use one on Bowser (like how you could bring a Mega Mushroom in to him on NSMB DS and take him out in one hit), I couldn't even get down the single hallway before him at full sprint. They should last double or triple the length of normal Stars, since you can't time when to activate them.

Two random things I've noticed, I'm not sure if they've been commented on: 1. Mario will occasionally change which fist he punches up with. Jump up a lot in a tight spot and it'll become obvious. 2. On a 4:3 TV, the title screen has that widescreen cropped effect like the rest of the game, but the logo drops down over the black area, meaning it's not actually rendering at the resolution it's pretending it is. At least on the title screen, anyway.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

Hmm, maybe you're right with the inventory thing. I don't think I ever stacked items. I only ever used Super Mushrooms on our co-op run because you more or less never run out of them, and I didn't touch the inventory at all on my solo run. I still don't think it's so slow to the point where it would ever actually start to bother me.

Stars are kinda useful on the infinite starman stages. Check the infinite 1-up hint video for World 2-3 (I think) to see what I mean. Pretty sure it was 2-3. Very situational, though.

I started replaying NSMB DS again and am up to the halfway point in World 2. It's a much simpler, more straightforward game than this one. More SMB1-ish in design, really, but that's pretty okay with me because SMB1 is a cool game. The stages in NSMB Wii are generally much more varied and I think this helps its replay value. NSMB DS is still fun, but I'd never see myself doing back-to-back complete playthroughs with it like I did this week with NSMB Wii.

 

[HUELEN10]

Absolutely gorgeous! Taken from the Dolphin thread.

 

[beelzebozo]

so... for all the IGN Nintendo complaining, I never see anyone recommend a wide coverage site they feel accurate represents Nintendo besides Go Nintendo which really isn't the same kind of site at all.

1up didn't review Endless Ocean, Gamespot complained about no Mii support in Fire Emblem, IGN are self-loathing, EDGE gives low scores for gags, Game Informer never features Wii games... okay, so where do people who want Nintendo coverage actually go?

even though 1up as an outlet didn't review ENDLESS OCEAN, and though i don't particularly turn to any one site for my wii news or reviews, there are pockets of reliable critics in those groups who i think do a fine job of giving the things on wii worth playing a good, honest look. to use NSMBW as an example, parish's review of it is quite good; ray barnholt is good, too; hell, i thought david ellis's review of MAD WORLD was perhaps a bit overly forgiving.

beyond the ENDLESS OCEAN indiscretion (a mistake i think easily made; EGM almost didn't review ROCKET SLIME on ds because of its exterior, and sometimes in the land of deadlines and quick decisions, great things get overlooked because of their first impression), i can't find anything really faulty with 1up's wii coverage. it always seems fair to me.

that's really beside the point that trusting any single outlet with uniformity is a fool's errand, but i imagine you were trying to point out that the vast conspiracy fans perceive that big outlets are against the wii is juvenile paranoia. but here's a serious answer anyway.

 

[zigg]

Absolutely gorgeous! Taken from the Dolphin thread.

Yeah, those solid white hills in the background are positively beautiful.

The perfect complement to the blurry platforms that Sharp Goomba is standing on.

 

[666]

Overall the game is amazing. When it's good, it's incredible. But when it's lousy, it's aggravating as hell.

It's a me, Mario!

 

[rhino4evr]

my copy FINALLY SHIPPED!!

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Played four-player multiplayer last night and we all had a blast! So much fun. Though while we had a done of fun and are planning on doing it again, all three of them had some comments on the game that maybe will be eye opening to some of you guys with the extreme fanboy glasses on.

-First of all, all three agreed the Toad characters looked stupid. I agree, really. The two Toads do just come off as lazy, which is not something this game needs going for it.
-Second of all, even though they can have their own purposes, the Bubbles are completely game breaking.
-"What happens when you get a game over?"
"Nothing. You can't really die."
"What? That's retarded! [his/their words, not mine] What's the point of this game if you can't die?"

Some of the levels we encountered have been REALLY hard as well. The Red Block level in the third world was IMPOSSIBLE. We're up to the fourth world now.

I'd still say that this game suffers from being uninspired like NSMBDS, but not nearly as badly. I don't think I need to explain this one, because anyone who has played either NSMB titles would know what I'm talking about.

I'm planning on buying a third Wiimote this Black Friday just for this game now, as long as I have resisted doing so. But I can't keep stealing Wiimotes from Residents, haha.

Can't wait to play more, especially single player. While I would say you enjoy the game much more in single player, it is more the interaction and trash talking that the game creates, rather than the game itself, when playing multiplayer.

 

[The Blue Jihad]

Having beat the game, I agree with everything you've said.

I also have to say that compared to other Mario games, they played it extremely safe. I had very few 'holy shit' moments- which were very common in previous Marios. I know it isn't fair to copare this to Mario Galaxy, but that game pretty much blew my fucking face off with every level, the creativity and originality exhibited was just off the charts- I guess it just set my standards for future Mario games to an incredibly high level.

There's always Mario Galaxy 2.

While I don't hold the overall love for Mario Galaxy that you do, I know what you mean. SMG had some amazing fanservice moments. Like the first time I heard remastered SMB3 music in some of the bonus stages. I squealed with joy, man. Just utterly, totally squealed with joy. The music in that game was phenomenal. Probably my favorite part about it, though I eventually warmed up to the SMG Ice Flower, too. Freeze-jumping up a waterfall was boss as hell.

To be fair, NSMB Wii does have those moments, too. The airships were fantastic surprises. The spectacular (and too easy) fights with Bowser's kids. The mini-games in the Toad Houses are nice fanservice throwbacks. There are a lot of wonderful little elements in the game. It's just that it all doesn't combine as well as SMG.

And really, I guess that's the big issue with NSMB Wii here: that the whole is less than the sum of its parts.

It has all of these great moments sprinkled throughout, but ultimately, when all is said and done, you're still playing a game that's nowhere near as precise as NES Mario games, and it starts to show when the game difficulty starts ramping up. And that's not even entirely accurate, because it's not that there's an increased difficulty; it's the level complexity rising faster than the game's controls can consistently match.

In World 1 and 2, I thought the game was too easy. In 3 through 5, it felt too hard. In World 6, it's getting uneven. There are times when I think this is way easier than the NES games. There are other times where I feel like this is infinitely harder than some of the hardest levels in SMB1 or 3.

The funniest part is that I don't know why.

Is my frustration coming from learning how to play a new game? I remember how hard the original games were when I first played them, how many times I died at the same spot. To this day World 8 in SMB1 still kicks my ass. There are levels in SMB3 that bend me over a chair.

But the thing is, I eventually don't have a problem with NES Mario. I can burn through those games just as quickly at 26 as I did at 6. I was playing SMB1 last night, actually. Sure, I was missing tons of jumps here and there, but there were other times where not a thing could touch me. There was no question that I was in control. I really don't see that becoming the case with NSMB Wii.

My biggest disappointment with NSMB Wii is that I'm fighting the controls and physics more than the level design or enemy placement. Transplant the controls and all from SMB3 and NSMB Wii would largely become a cakewalk.

 

[Dash Kappei]

And when you die? Forget about it. It's not like in SMB or Lost Levels where it spits you right back into the game in a second or two, just enough time for you to sip your beverage of choice. The first problem is, the game spits me back out onto the level select screen EVERY time, when 90% of the time, I'm just going back to the same level anyways. And when they DO finally get your ass back out on the level select map, you have to wait for Mario to do his (admittedly hilarious) little "I-fell-on-my-face" animation, wait for all the roaming enemies on the map to shift around meaninglessly, and then wait an extra second or two for good measure. Then you finally can choose the level again, wait for the lives indicator to come up and remind you how many god damn 1-ups you've gotten throughout the game, and then finally...FINALLY you're playing again. Try not to die because you don't wanna go through all that again.

I'm with you 100%, sadly.
Came ITT to post this.
You're not exaggerating at all as far as I'm concerned, since it is indeed a BUMMER and the main reason I'm not playing the game as much as I'd like to... I just end up switchin' my Wii off when for the nth time I miss a golden coin and die jumping and can't be bothered to go through the un-skippable level selection's iter again.
Don't get me wrong, I love the game but faults like the one you and I have mentioned are almost game breaking to me, it really gets on my nerves.
As a result, I'm playing the game only in short bursts and thus cannot really dig in it and get lost in that old Mario magic... and enjoy it like I should and wanted to.

I was hoping it was just a case of silly me missing the game's manual explanation of what Wii remote button I had to push to retry a level on-the-fly, since I have a JPN copy and I don't speak japanese... but I guess that's not the case, damn.

I can understand if Punch-Out didn't have the best user's interface out there, being developed by Next Level Games and all, but this is Nintendo's flagship title and I honestly can't believe Mario Club testers or Treehouse didn't point out the obvious to the development team.

 

[Amneisac]

Finally showed up from Amazon last night, played a little single player and my wife and I played some. I'm not all the way through it yet, but I don't really see my opinion changing:

I don't really like the motion controls, but even putting all that aside, I just don't think it has the same charm as 3 and SMW. Maybe it's just falling short of the hype I had built, but I was really hoping for something more. I still think it's great, and I'm glad they have finally returned to some fun 2D traditional Mario platforming, but it's just not the complete package I was hoping for.

 

[levious]

even though 1up as an outlet didn't review ENDLESS OCEAN, and though i don't particularly turn to any one site for my wii news or reviews, there are pockets of reliable critics in those groups who i think do a fine job of giving the things on wii worth playing a good, honest look. to use NSMBW as an example, parish's review of it is quite good; ray barnholt is good, too; hell, i thought david ellis's review of MAD WORLD was perhaps a bit overly forgiving.

1up did review it (B+), it was EGM that did not...

 

[Ranger X]

The hell is with people? :lol

-It takes a fucking second to bring up the power up menu, basically the time it took for Mario3 to flip the bottom bar in the screen.

-Toad was also explaining bullshit everytime you entered a toad house in Mario3.

-When you died in Mario3 you were also taken back into the world map.

-Stuff the map was moving EVERY TIME you came back in the map in Mario3 too.


Sometimes I wonder if we play the same games at all. You guys must be some EXTREME nitpickers + you don't seem to remember what I just said up there. Glasses?

.

 

[ccbfan]

Got to level World 5 and getting more and more disappointed.

1. The motion controls are terrible but you can get by when its not too important. The motions control start making the entire game terrible when it starts being an important part of the game. Its like 90 percent of the difficulty so far in this game is because of the controls. Why not have another control option where the spin is a button? Why can't I use the much more comfortable CC? WTF thats the definition of lazy.

2. WTF with the bosses? Ok the mid-boss being a throwback to SMB3 bosses is fine. But to have the world final bosses to be just the mid boss + minor environment change. WTF thats the definition of lazy.

3. Yoshi is so underused in this game that its sad. Its used like less than once a world so far.

The game is still good through. Level design much better than the DS one and the throwback worlds are great. The problem is that this game could be so much better. But its just so freakin lazy.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Beat the game a while ago. I'm a little surprised at my own unwillingness to go back and get the star coins I missed. Usually stuff like that is right up my alley.

Now, this is sort of me nitpicking, but it's also slowly becoming my biggest issue with the game. The menus and overworld are so damn unresponsive! I hate that I have to wait for the menu to finish doing it's little animation or whatever before I can make a selection, making exiting to the map a real pain in the ass. And jesus, why does it take so long to use an item from your inventory on the map screen? You use it and then you just sit there for a few seconds for no god damn reason. You can't skip it, you just have to wait for the game to take you back to the map.

And when you die? Forget about it. It's not like in SMB or Lost Levels where it spits you right back into the game in a second or two, just enough time for you to sip your beverage of choice. The first problem is, the game spits me back out onto the level select screen EVERY time, when 90% of the time, I'm just going back to the same level anyways. And when they DO finally get your ass back out on the level select map, you have to wait for Mario to do his (admittedly hilarious) little "I-fell-on-my-face" animation, wait for all the roaming enemies on the map to shift around meaninglessly, and then wait an extra second or two for good measure. Then you finally can choose the level again, wait for the lives indicator to come up and remind you how many god damn 1-ups you've gotten throughout the game, and then finally...FINALLY you're playing again. Try not to die because you don't wanna go through all that again.

I realize I'm exaggerating a little bit here, but after this happens a few times from dying in the same exact spot in the level, the rage starts to become genuine and bountiful. I enjoy playing this game recklessly (afterall, I've collected about sixty or seventy 1-ups without even TRYING to look for any), and I enjoy the challenge that comes from trying to run through an entire level without stopping, pulling off risky jumps and screaming the whole way through. However, this style of play comes at the expense of many deaths, and I get so sick of waiting for the game to finish playing with itself before I get another go that usually I just quit in frustration.



Again, I know this is nit-picking, but it's becoming frustrating as all hell as time goes on. Especially since I've already beaten the game and I'm only really going back for my own satisfaction and some casual screwing around.

I completely feel the same way. It's not that big of a deal, and is really just annoying, but all the explanation screens every single time you enter a Mushroom House and the loading/lag when moving around the map is too much. The people I was playing with yesterday were yelling at me to "GO GO" and I just said nothing because there was nothing I could do about it.

And I do find myself comparing it to an extent to Super Mario Galaxy. In the sense of level gimmicks and creativity.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

The hell is with people? :lol

-It takes a fucking second to bring up the power up menu, basically the time it took for Mario3 to flip the bottom bar in the screen.

-Toad was also explaining bullshit everytime you entered a toad house in Mario3.

-When you died in Mario3 you were also taken back into the world map.

-Stuff the map was moving EVERY TIME you came back in the map in Mario3 too.


Sometimes I wonder if we play the same games at all. You guys must be some EXTREME nitpickers + you don't seem to remember what I just said up there. Glasses?

.

Exactly. Why is waiting about one to three seconds enough to kill your enjoyment of a game. If it were a delay in controller responsiveness that is one thing, but to wait for an animation to end during an action lull is just asinine. Does the animation of Kamek flying around the screen at the beginning of boss battles piss you off too? How about the time it takes Mario to run into the castle after getting the flag at the end of the stage? If you wanna nitpick small timing things, why not go all out?

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

I saw that too when I brought the Wii downstairs to my old TV—I figured it was a case of keeping the visible playfield constant. Changing the visible playfield would mean restructuring the levels or exposing a lot of things hidden off-screen.

Yep. Same reason as WarioWare Smooth Moves being permanently 4:3.

 

[Shiggy]

Yep. Same reason as WarioWare Smooth Moves being permanently 4:3.

You mean The Shake Dimension, do you?

 

[levious]

Got to level World 5 and getting more and more disappointed.

1. The motion controls are terrible but you can get by when its not too important. The motions control start making the entire game terrible when it starts being an important part of the game. Its like 90 percent of the difficulty so far in this game is because of the controls. Why not have another control option where the spin is a button? Why can't I use the much more comfortable CC? WTF thats the definition of lazy.

2. WTF with the bosses? Ok the mid-boss being a throwback to SMB3 bosses is fine. But to have the world final bosses to be just the mid boss + minor environment change. WTF thats the definition of lazy.

how are the motion controls difficult? I can understand not liking them, but they are not difficult.

2. isn't that how it is in SMB3?

 

[HUELEN10]

Yeah, those solid white hills in the background are positively beautiful.

The perfect complement to the blurry platforms that Sharp Goomba is standing on.

What do you expect? It's an emulator playing a game in 720p that uses models in a stylized sprite-based world.

You mean The Shake Dimension, do you?

You mean Land, don't you?

 

[Azure Dream]

Does the animation of Kamek flying around the screen at the beginning of boss battles piss you off too?

If you fail at the boss the first time, it usually plays a much shorter version of the animation a second time through, often a "Oh, you're back" version.

It's weird, this game has a lot of polish in some places, then in others, you have things like Mario tipping an invisible cap, Yellow and Blue Toads that don't even get actual names... Conversely, the ending shocked me at how well the characters animated. It's just all over the place.

Odd question: when I was fighting

Spoiler

Kamek

in World 8, I spun up just after I stomped him using the Propeller Suit, and as the boss' KOed animation played, I lost control of Mario, but he still drifted down and to the sharp right. If you've seen that arena, it's not the most stable for flooring. Has anyone died from the game from something like that? I'm curious how it would handle it, if it would bubble Mario to safety, or just make you take the death and try again, or what.

 

[Kai Dracon]

Got to level World 5 and getting more and more disappointed.

1. The motion controls are terrible but you can get by when its not too important. The motions control start making the entire game terrible when it starts being an important part of the game. Its like 90 percent of the difficulty so far in this game is because of the controls. Why not have another control option where the spin is a button? Why can't I use the much more comfortable CC? WTF thats the definition of lazy.

2. WTF with the bosses? Ok the mid-boss being a throwback to SMB3 bosses is fine. But to have the world final bosses to be just the mid boss + minor environment change. WTF thats the definition of lazy.

3. Yoshi is so underused in this game that its sad. Its used like less than once a world so far.

The game is still good through. Level design much better than the DS one and the throwback worlds are great. The problem is that this game could be so much better. But its just so freakin lazy.

On 1: I have to wonder... are motion controls /really/ an icepick in the ear for so many people? It's /really/ that hard to bounce the Wiimote to activate the spin jump/propeller suit? The force required to tap the Wiimote is tuned to be very gentle in NSMB... so much so that many people complain it's /too easy/. Do some people grip the Wiimote like a vice and shake it angrily? :lol

On 2: To be fair, this is a toss up. It's understandable that people would want to see a big, roaring boss monster. But the Koopa Kids are used this way on purpose; it's a callback to Super Mario 3 and World. The game is supposed to put them front and center. It's why you don't even see Bowser until the finale. There's nothing thoughtless or lazy about it. Lazy seems to be the codeword for "I wasn't impressed by this". That's fine, not everyone will appreciate the same things. Doesn't mean the developer is incompetent.

On 3: here I have to agree. Yoshi is fun to use, and in multiplayer he's hilarious because there's so many tricks a team of Yoshis can perform. However, his use seems to follow the design ethic the game has of making every single course something unique; a one-off. The levels with Yoshi seem designed around having Yoshi in them - notice there are specific jumps and star coins a single player needs Yoshi to grab in those stages. Since he's not as generic a power-up, like the propeller suit, they seem to have chosen to only use Yoshi in the few stages specifically built around him. Really, they probably just underestimated how much people would want to use Yoshi.

 

[levious]

You mean Land, don't you?

same game

 

[HUELEN10]

same game

No...

Wario Land: Shake It aka Wario Land: The Shake Dimension is not the same game was Wario Ware: Smooth moves, not in the least. I was further correcting the statement made by the original poster by brining to light an omission in his "don'tcha mean" with the original quoter. Such an act may be uncommon, but technically correct. You just misunderstood my quote.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I think a lot of people who wanted the Koopa Kids back never stopped to consider that they didn't like the Koopa Kids and were just angry Nintendo wasn't pandering to their specific childhood.

 

[JasoNsider]

Wow, you guys are really harsh! Honestly, I can say with full confidence this is one of the greatest games I've ever played, and I'm only starting World 3.

There are these moments where a piece of work comes out that cements the fact that things were at a stand still before. As if they show up and say "yeahhh, by the way, here's how you do X properly..." and BAM it hits you like a rock. That happened with Mario Galaxy with me, where I just felt like 3D gameplay had only gone so far and it was really feeling like the entire industry was starting to become exhausted of ideas in the 3D realm of interaction. Then Galaxy came in and (to me) said "so we thought we'd freshen things up a bit".

Now with Mario Bros Wii I feel that exact same feeling. I didn't know what to expect as I had only seen that 1 minute clip from E3 way back. It's knocking my socks off. This is a company walking in and saying "we know everyone (including ourselves) has dabbled with game/gameplay/level design for the last while, but here's how you do it right". And the devil's in the details on this one too, as they made it VERY easy to just soak in a lot of these points without ever screaming at you "See what we did there!?" It just does it's thing and stands so confidently on the matter that it doesn't need to fight you on it. You just naturally end up agreeing.

One more comment, and this one is huge for me. I almost ALWAYS take exception listening to people talking about sequels because very often a phrase is thrown around like "it's doing everything better, so why wouldn't it be better than it's predecessor". This statement is almost always a sign, to me, that the person speaking has no idea what the "soul" of a game is composed of. It's often about the person breaking the game down into smaller, more quantitative chunks - the game pushes more polys, the sound is has more texture or layers, there are more features on the checklist and so on. But this means little in the grand scheme of things. It doesn't really speak to the heart of the feeling of playing that game. This can come through the level design, the feel of the visuals, and more. History proves me right on this point, so I probably don't need to get into it.

For Mario Bros Wii and select other sequels in "gaming history", one can say it really gets the big picture and does it just right. In my eyes, the developers understood what is the core experience needed, even if that experience is "dicking around with your friends". Because on paper that sounds easy, but as I'm sure we'd all agree upon, it's not nearly as easy to execute. In essence, the game does everything better than the title before it and on all the levels that are meaningful. I can say this with all confidence. And the best part? Sometimes it's hard to even pin down why. All the small elements just add up to one cohesively tight video game that makes it look easy; which we know to be the biggest display of expertise of all.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

You mean The Shake Dimension, do you?

No, but since I haven't played Wario Shake it may apply there too.

 

[levious]

No...

Wario Land: Shake It aka Wario Land: The Shake Dimension is not the same game was Wario Ware: Smooth moves, not in the least. I was further correcting the statement made by the original poster by brining to light an omission in his "don'tcha mean" with the original quoter. Such an act may be uncommon, but technically correct. You just misunderstood my quote.

Shake/smooth moves being different games, no shit. Have no idea what you were "correcting" by clarifying "Land." Just that he omitted "land"? Pretty unnecessary.

 

[rhino4evr]

I think a lot of people who wanted the Koopa Kids back never stopped to consider that they didn't like the Koopa Kids and were just angry Nintendo wasn't pandering to their specific childhood.

seriously...the koopa kids were some of the worst bosses in all the mario games. Why did everyone want them back so bad?

 

[gimz]

i think the multiplayer in this game is the best thing this game could have,
when i started the game with single player, i was kind of disappointed cuz i was expecting something revolutionary in this game, but until i played it with a friend (i only have 2 wiimote)
the game suddenly became a blast btw me and my friend, and it made the game so much harder and funnier. and for some reason many of my friend likes to pick Toad over Luigi in multiplayer

 

[Bananakin]

Exactly. Why is waiting about one to three seconds enough to kill your enjoyment of a game. If it were a delay in controller responsiveness that is one thing, but to wait for an animation to end during an action lull is just asinine. Does the animation of Kamek flying around the screen at the beginning of boss battles piss you off too? How about the time it takes Mario to run into the castle after getting the flag at the end of the stage? If you wanna nitpick small timing things, why not go all out?

See, to me, my favourite part of a Mario game is trying over and over again to beat a really tough level. I absolutely love the feeling of gradually getting better and better at the level, making it a little further each time, and then finally stringing together a perfect run and making it to the end. The thing is, any time you die, you feel a little pissed off or annoyed that maybe you made a stupid mistake. So you want to be playing the level again, RIGHT NOW, because you know that you won't make that same mistake again and you want to prove it to yourself. So it's not so much the fact that you have to wait 3 seconds, it's that you have to do it repeatedly, and when you're at your most impatient, and when you most want to just be playing the level.

The hell is with people?

-It takes a fucking second to bring up the power up menu, basically the time it took for Mario3 to flip the bottom bar in the screen.

Alright, I play SMB3 all the time, and I've played it since getting NSMB Wii, so there's no glasses here - this is just plain false. Bringing up the power up menu and applying a power up are both pretty much instant in SMB3, and it takes a good three seconds in NSMB Wii. Maybe it doesn't sound like a lot, or maybe it doesn't bother you, but like I said, it makes a huge difference when you're really annoyed and trying to get back into a level that you had a bogus death in.

-Toad was also explaining bullshit everytime you entered a toad house in Mario3.

True, and to be honest, I do find that annoying in SMB3.

-When you died in Mario3 you were also taken back into the world map.

In this case, I think it wasn't a big deal because everything loaded so quickly back then (cartridges and all).

-Stuff the map was moving EVERY TIME you came back in the map in Mario3 too.

Again, it did it a lot faster in SMB3.

Sometimes I wonder if we play the same games at all. You guys must be some EXTREME nitpickers + you don't seem to remember what I just said up there. Glasses?

.

It's not really about nitpicking, though. I certainly don't go into a game looking for faults or anything. This is just something that I noticed was annoying me as I playing through the game. I can't really help it if some part of a game annoys me. And that's all it was: annoying. Certainly not game-breaking.

 

[Vinci]

The hell is with people? :lol

-It takes a fucking second to bring up the power up menu, basically the time it took for Mario3 to flip the bottom bar in the screen.

-Toad was also explaining bullshit everytime you entered a toad house in Mario3.

-When you died in Mario3 you were also taken back into the world map.

-Stuff the map was moving EVERY TIME you came back in the map in Mario3 too.


Sometimes I wonder if we play the same games at all. You guys must be some EXTREME nitpickers + you don't seem to remember what I just said up there. Glasses?

.

I've actually stopped reading this thread for the most part due to all the nitpicking. It's making me start paying attention to little, trivial shit that had no impact on my enjoyment prior to hearing people mention it. It's like when people show you something and you can't unsee it.

At any rate, I agree. The nitpicking is a bit nuts on this title.

 

[zigg]

Wow, you guys are really harsh!

Welcome to every sequel to a game people grew up playing ever. Franchise baggage. Pretty much assures your game will never be as great as memories of sneaking downstairs in the early morning and playing in your jammies, yet you'll buy it anyway because it is tied to those memories.

Game is fantastic, and the multiplayer is my childhood dream finally come true. I've managed to put in nearly ten hours doing just that this week.

 

[Kai Dracon]

I think a lot of people who wanted the Koopa Kids back never stopped to consider that they didn't like the Koopa Kids and were just angry Nintendo wasn't pandering to their specific childhood.

This is probably true :lol

However, on the whole, I think the Koopa Kids are one of the best parts of the game. Also, they seem to be doing their job right - I've talked to some people with kids who are playing the game, and you know what? The kids ADORE the Koopa Kids. They laugh at them and they're excited to get to the castles to fight them. They're memorable; one guy said his nephews wanted to see if a particular Koopa Kid showed up again after that world, he wanted to know what happened to him.

This is how you make fans (and gamers) for life. You get them to actually care about your game as more than a passing distraction until the next shiny thing.

Wow, you guys are really harsh! Honestly, I can say with full confidence this is one of the greatest games I've ever played, and I'm only starting World 3.

It was said recently that we never truly recognize classic games as we're playing them because we're too busy playing them. Sometimes, I think, we stop and enthuse about all the bells and whistles in modern "experience" games because our mind is just so blown, but after we're done having our mind blown by the cinematics or set pieces, what else is left? Is there a core game under all that which we'll keep playing for 10 years?

People are still playing Super Mario Bros 3 today, right now, as we speak. Like, a lot of people.

Are there really tons of people playing Call of Duty 1 in single player, for its campaign? I mean, I'm sure there's someone. But how classic is it really?

Having finished NSMB Wii, I do feel that it's something I'll be playing again and again in the years to come. I suspect it's one of those games that will become increasingly well-regarded as time passes rather than forgotten about for the Next Big Thing. I have a shelf full of Huge Industry Event Games that I keep for the multiplayer mode but I know I won't frequently play again, if ever, for the campaign. There's just no reason to. When we see so many people talking with assurance about how "single player games are mutants that have outlived their time", it just makes me think "you're saying that because you are in reality a mediocre game designer and you can't make a timeless single player game."

At any rate, you might appreciate this: someone remarked not long ago that if you think about it, this being the first console 2D Mario game in 19 years, and it being released in time for Christmas, that means that for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of children, they will be getting a Wii this christmas along with NSMB. This means that for an entire generation of children, for the first time since 1991, the first video game they play that is their very own in their own home will be Super Mario Bros. Well, that, and Wii Sports.

There's some math there and I believe it adds up to awesome.

 

[dallow_bg]

Quick question.

How do lives on 2 player work?
Plan to play with my lady friend but expect her to die and get frustrated on harder levels.

 

[evilromero]

I take back everything I said about the propeller suit. It's awesome. Very fun to use.

This is honestly way better than NSMB DS for several reason- the levels are just more fun to play. The map screen music has a slightly dark edge it, which gives the game a very epic feeling. I love the the castles. Very menacing. It doesn't seem so bright and cheery this time around despite the dancing flowers and shit.

 

[Zeliard]

When I get home this'll be the first 2D Mario I've played since Super Mario World, which I've played over and over but don't think I've touched since some time in the mid-90s.

I'm actually pretty excited. :lol

 

[joelseph]

I've actually stopped reading this thread for the most part due to all the nitpicking. It's making me start paying attention to little, trivial shit that had no impact on my enjoyment prior to hearing people mention it. It's like when people show you something and you can't unsee it.

Gaf does this to me for every game I swear!