Well dear readers, here at Riddlethos, we finally got a chance to get a little preview on a game for you. I suppose I got Forza 3 early as well, but I didn’t talk about it much before its release and I don’t think there was an overwhelming interest either. Either way, I played New Super Mario Bros Wii for 70 minutes straight yesterday, and so I have definitely played enough to give you fine folks some detailed impressions.

The Expected
Oh no, you have to save Princess Peach. What a flipping surprise. While this is an entirely new game from the DS entry, the premise and set-up is exactly the same. You have the classic layout of worlds from the NES and SNES eras, a Bowser minion to fight at mini-castles and end-of-world castles, and multiple paths to unlock if you find the secret ending within a level. In fact, it’s all so predictable that after we beat the castle in the first world I said “bet you we go to a desert world next”. I was right. I was also then accused of seeing spoiler footage. I had not. But, of course, while no different, this is a classic set-up for a reason and the new mini-boss character models are a nice change although their move sets may barely be different. It also looks just like the DS game if not a little crisper. REALLY makes me want a 2D Mario game in HD though.

The Unexpected
Multiplayer rocks. It really does. I was quite skeptical, but it works, and it’s completely awesome. It’s annoying at times, sure, especially when your head keeps getting jumped on, but that can also be used as a technique to more easily get to certain areas. It’s also very balanced. If you’re playing with players far less skilled than you, they can just press the A button to float in a bubble to where the other players are. You can’t just have everybody just press A, though, you need at least one skilled player to make any progress. The result is that the skilled players still get the better power-ups, they still find the secret areas, and they don’t get annoyed by less skilled players bringing them down. Sometimes it’s just fun to goof around, however. Even in co-op, all four of us were laughing our asses off while riding Yoshis and spitting one poor soul back and forth between us. It’s a huge relief to see that even with all the measures to incorporate newbies, the hardcore Mario fans truly will not suffer. The play session also showed that the very strong Mario level design is still present. I am beyond excited to test out all these new levels. Even the first world proved that legitimate challenge has not been abandoned.

Almost Badass

The Mix
Those goddamned motion controls. While I defend games like Excitebots and the pointer mechanics in Galaxy, I hate whenever moves are attached to random shaking. Granted, Nintendo being Nintendo, it works better in New Super Mario Bros Wii than in other games, and it is minimal, but I’d still rather press the B trigger button awkwardness be damned. However, there are a few tilt mechanics that do work, and add to the experience. The first player to jump onto certain platforms gets tilt power. That means the platform mirrors the player’s remote. It’s actually a fun mechanic, and along with the ice powers and propeller cap, a welcome addition.

The Outlook.
Really good. When this was announced, I was apathetic. I become mildly more excited as news was released, but now I’m full on pumped. I am buying it this Sunday, no question.