Don’t be in it for the success.  Be in it for the fun.  We have played Mario Kart, Mario Party, Super Sluggers, and I am sure a few other Mario based games 4-player…..but nothing compares to having a whole team working on smashing goombas, koopas, and defeating Bowser.  Seriously – how could we ever make it to Bowser?  We spent most of the time trying to a.) figure out what character you are ACTUALLY moving, b.) not kill each other with shells when you jump on a koopa.

Favorite parts included:

• playing as a toad, but moving the wrong toad….I was yellow toad, and blue toad was doing what my hands were telling it to do…..BUT – yellow toad was on a different part of the screen….jumping right to his death.
• coin battles…simply run faster than everyone else….maybe you can push them off the screen to their death and claim all the coins for you.  OR  pick up other players and simply throw them to their death.  Watch out though – neither of these strategies actually result in a win (ok, so the first one did), but while you are fighting with your spouse to try to kill each other, Chris is racing around as Luigi getting ALL the coins.
• once or twice….all four players ended up in a bubble.  I understand when two of us do it  the game is STRESSFUL!  But all four of us?  You would think the odds would be in our favor.

There are many more things to talk about it – but this is a micro review – so go see for yourself.  And see our original review here.

This may be overdue, but I felt I needed all the facts before writing this review. No – I did not already beat the game, but we (ptb and I) are close. Overall, the NSMB Wii is awesome. Some great throwbacks to older Nintendo and Super Nintendo gaming.  And seriously – finally some great multiplayer options on a Mario side-scrolling adventure.  And not just two player….up to four players!  Play as Toads!!!  Sorry girls – you cannot play as Peach, you are trying to SAVE Peach.  You can’t save yourself.

MultiPlayer Game
Truly a new challenge in a Mario game.  Not only do you have to make sure you don’t die, you have to coordinate to make sure your partner does not die or worse yet, go so far ahead of you that you get pushed off a ledge and die.  This can be a challenge all on its own.  With four players however, this was kind of humorous.  There are 20 total lives among the four of you.  Really – does it matter if someone dies?

Back to two player.  Player One, you must be Mario.  Player Two, you have the choice of Luigi, Yellow Toad, or Blue Toad.  I personally think the Toads are the cutest, and once the Blue Toad has a propellorhead on, he kind of looks like me.  But alas, I am Player One in our game.  This game mode is a challenge to our marriage.  Coordinating jumps to achieve a common goal however, makes me think we are going to make it  🙂

The maps in the Worlds – AWESOME.  What was it SMB3?  Those maps were my favorite.  Trying to get the best of the map to find warp zones, even better.  In our first hour of playing, we were able to warp to World 5.  After that, we didn’t manage to successfully find a warp until a week later.  And we have played non-stop for the past week….so it has been a lot of time.

The Mushroom Houses – PRIZES!  LOVE!  Enough said.  Starting a level at the halfway point with a Penguin suit….even better!

The Outfits – Yes – A Penguin Suit.  Walking perfectly on ice.  Swimming without tapping ‘2’.  Oh and spitting ice!  It’s like the fireball of Captain Cold.  There is also an Iceman Mario that results from a blue flower.  You can use frozen enemies to attack more enemies, reach higher places, or just to ground pound a nasty enemy you wouldn’t be able to touch otherwise.  The Penguin is really an upgraded Iceman, but the little penguin suit that comes out of the ? block is so cute!  It even waddles!

Lastly – “BUBBLE!!!”  Fall off?  Your buddy is still safe?  Hit ‘A’ and you go into a bubble, shake and go towards your mate, and they can save you.  Both of you desperate?  If everyone bubbles, you exit the level…..and the music slows down to make you feel bad.

I am sure I have left out a TON but moving on…..

Free-For-All
This is pretty awesome.  You can select any level from a world you have beaten, or there is a selection of recommended levels.  The recommended levels can give you a fun sneak peek to worlds you may not have seen.  At first you just think this is going through a single level with no commitment, but don’t help your brother or toad comrade just yet.  You are competing!  WaHoooooo!

Coin Battle
Same as free for all, but there are also some special coin battle levels.  And you are only competing for coin points, not overall points.  This includes the giant star coins.  A little competition never hurt anyone.

Overall
I say this game is super.   We are going to play through it way too fast, but we also have 3 save files.  One that we play together, and one for each of us alone.  With so many things to explore, I am sure we will be playing beyond just trying to get to World 8-Castle.  We like things to be complete.  We are also really excited about the prospect of playing with our friends.  Once everyone gets used to having Nintendo Thumb again, there should be some fun nights.

Final Points

• side-scrolling rules
  
• I <3 Mario
• I look like a Toad wearing a propellor hat
• Way better than Mario Party 8
• Still totally looking forward to Galaxy 2
• When will we have Double Dash style racing again?
• I could talk about this game all day and it wouldn’t resemble anything near a review