Super Mario Bros Wii

Back in the mid-80s, I played a lot of video games on the first NES: Nintendo Entertainment System. Like most people, one of my favorites was Super Mario Bros. Amazingly, 25 years later, I still love playing the game. After getting a Wii this past Christmas, one of the first things Melissa and I did was purchase the old school NES game for $5 and had it downloaded to the Wii. There’s something relaxing about playing an old game that is always challenging, and the old secrets of the game come rushing back upon maneuvering Mario about.

The new Super Mario Bros. Wii has the same feel of the classic 2D side-scroller of the 80s, but of course with much improved graphics and sound from the original version. Again, you are traversing 8 new worlds and can “power up” with mushrooms, fireball flowers, and the invincibility stars. But there’s some other way cool new features such as powering up with an ice-thrower that freezes enemies, slipping into a penquin suit to easily maneuver ice, wearing a spinning cap to fly through the air, and also shrink to an even smaller mini-Mario for tight spots — oh, and you can ride Mario’s buddy Yoshi around and have him eat enemies, sucking them down with his tongue.

The familiar theme songs are highly polished, and it’s almost fun listening to the music and sounds of even the most struggling board. Once you enter a new world, you can save your game as well. I can go on and on about this game. There’s loads of mysteries in it. Hidden vines, hidden pipes to go down, hidden bricks to bash with your head. It’s all there. My wife killed a tortoise once and she gained 30-some lives!

So, if you’re into the original 2D version, you’re going to dig this game big time, and the controls are set up the same, so you’ll be ready to go. And if you don’t know what to do, the game indicates what controller actions you should perform to do something new, such as pick up a barrel and toss it.

The only thing that is tough about the game is playing with multiple people at the same time. You can have four people play simultaneously, but you can easily kill each other as well. Bumping into each other, accidentally bouncing off each other’s heads etc. can get very annoying and make it difficult to progress.