New Super Mario Bros. Wii

[hisak]

More information on the demo play feature (sort of):

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is also the first Nintendo game to feature a dynamic help system, which allows you to access a mode showing how a level can be completed if you are stuck. The best thing about this mode is that you are free to jump into the action you’re watching on screen at any time!

I'm wondering if it just shows you part of a level over and over until you pass it, or if it actually plays the game for you.

[hisak]

MTV Multiplayer claims the later levels of the game are really hard.

Apart from the multiplayer, the difficulty seems to be the most striking thing about "New Super Mario Bros." on the Wii. Completing some of the later levels on your first try is nearly impossible, and you'll probably end up blowing a large cache of lives on a single tricky jump.

If that's true, it's nice to see them using Demo Play ("Super Guide"?) effectively.

[Rew]

Ah, this is reminding me a lot of the talk leading up to Mega Man 9 last year.

Then again, we do have to consider that our source here is MTV. I'm still inclined to to say that I'll believe it when I see it.

[hisak]

Not just MTV:

Any hesitation about revealing the mode ended this morning when, in a hotel demo suite in New York, Kotaku was shown how the Super Guide works. Nintendo is using this new help option to offer an unprecedented amount of in-game assistance, but it will only be available to players using the game's single-player mode who have failed at a level eight times. Nintendo's intent is to offer Super Guide as a helper for its less skilled customers and to allow its designers to make some of the game's levels devilishly difficult.
New Super Mario Bros. gives a starting player of the game five lives. So, to activate the Super Guide option this morning, a Nintendo representative had to sacrifice her Mario character five times, then use a Continue option to replenish her lives before losing the rest needed to enable the help. Once she did that, a floating green box appeared at the start of the level she had repeatedly failed at. Hitting it with Mario — the only available playable character in single-player — will restart the level in Super Guide mode. Mario is replaced with a computer-controlled Luigi, who then proceeds through the level on his own.

The recorded Luigi playthroughs are run in-engine, not as pre-recorded video. They are, essentially, the equivalent of "ghost modes" commonly available in racing games, though the player can only watch Luigi do his thing, not play alongside him with Mario.

The Nintendo rep showed Kotaku two Luigi super-guide runs. She explained that these would be simple zips through the game's levels and would not reveal shortcuts and secrets. The runs were definitely not the perfect playthroughs that a gamer might find if they searched YouTube for an expertly played Mario Bros. speed run. A more faulty human hand was evident. In fact, in this pre-release version of the game, the first Luigi run that I was shown ended prematurely when Super Guide Luigi died halfway through the level. That's not supposed to happen in the final build, Kotaku was told. In the second Luigi run, the Mario brother got through the level on his own without any trouble.

What separates Super Guide from traditional video-based playthroughs of game levels is that the player can assume control during the Luigi run. At any moment, the player can press a button and cancel the computer control of Luigi. An indicator showing that that game is in Super Guide mode stays on screen, and the player assumes control of Luigi, rather than switching to Mario. But the breakthrough in the feature is that the player is not starting the level from the beginning. They are taking control in the midst of the Super Guide run. Thanks to this, players who repeatedly struggle with a tough part of a level in New Super Mario Bros. Wii will be able to let Super Guide Luigi get past that tough part for them. Even though a player takes over as Luigi using this help system, the completion of the level counts and they can play deeper into the game.

The levels of New Super Mario Bros. Wii I saw today seemed harder than those of the last side-scrolling Mario platformer, New Super Mario Bros. on the DS. Super Guide does appear to have given Nintendo license to make the new game tougher and may provide the relief some players need to get to the end of the latest Mario world-hopping adventure.

Interesting. I hope the entire game is upped in difficulty and not just the late levels.

[hupla]

http://nsider2.com/2009/10/14/nsmb-wii-the-koopalings/

Hooray!

[hisak]

Bowser Jr. is not a Koopaling.

This boss battle looks delightful, however.

Miyamoto also hosted an event where he talked about the game quite a bit. There's also some other interesting tidbits in there, including his thoughts on HD, user-generated content, and the eventual application of Super Guide in upcoming Zelda games.

[hupla]

People ask dumb questions .

[hupla]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZYPIGNYD9E&feature=player_embedded
:O

[Ezlo's Apprentice]

This just moved a little bit higher up my to-buy list, regardless of who I get to play it with. Until now, I had been concerned that there was no reason for me to buy this game without getting a trio of associates involved - which seemed unlikely - now though...

Instead of feeling like it was designed primarily for four players with the single-player mode as an afterthought, it seems like the opposite is true.

I'll still do my best to get Amy involved - and perhaps the rest of my family as my Wii may be migrating to the lounge soon - but if it stands up strongly as a single player adventure, it could tide me over til Galaxy 2 (along with heck knows what else on my to-play list).

Also, it's terrific news on the difficulty front:

The game does start off as easy as its handheld sibling did (by the end of World 3 we had earned 68 lives), but it soon gets fiendishly difficult and will have even the most die-hard Mario players cursing at times

And the best quote of all?

This is the sort of game you bought a Nintendo console for. Not those daft mini-game collections that are considered a success if the controls actually work.

Sounds a lot like Nintendo are back to doing what they do best. Real games for real gamers. I think the next issue of ONM is due this Friday. Unless the internet leaks it first, I'll get it to you as soon as I can.

Source: http://computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=225749

[JordAnime]

I have to say that this one seems a little too phoned-in for my tastes.  I'll probably end up picking it up, I just wish it were more than simply "New Super Mario Bros." a DS game, brought over to the Wii with sufficiently(I suppose) updated visuals and four player.  I wish they'd do something either more a throwback to the old-platformers or something really new and bold.  This title just seems to be skimming the margin in so many ways.  Ah well, it'll sell 18 million units so who am I to argue?

[hisak]

I guess it looked that way at first to me, but every time I've read impressions in the past month, they all make the level design sound really good. I'm excited for the game, and I think it could end up surpassing one of the revered older Mario games (I'll say World) in quality.

[The_Human_Cyborg]

Ah, difficult mario games. I REALLY missed em. I think the last game I had a challenge with was on the snes. I enjoy games MUCH more when i'm screaming at the controller for slipping out of my sweaty grip, instead of blaming bowser for my death. I think videogames should move back towards the player screaming "NO!" as they lose their last life to a bottomless pit... Memories...

[hisak]

IGN has a video preview up for the game. It has a lot of new footage, most of which looks very good. It also features a enormous Pokey and a giant Goomba that splits apart into more Goombas.

[Ezlo's Apprentice]

That preview is helping to raise my interest levels a little bit more, but I'm still not sure where it's going to rank on my Christmas wish list.

Been meaning to read ONM's review in full, but haven't found my usual mag-reading time. NGamer also came in the post this week, so I've got that to read as well. Numbers-wise, it got an 85. One per cent more than Mario & Sonic at the Wolympics, but one per cent less than the Rabbids.

Yes, Rabbids are better than Mario. Apparently. But only just.

[JordAnime]

I dunno about reviews for this game, it seems like some people will go in with the mentality I have where I'd rather see something more interesting from Nintendo as far as Mario goes, or would rather be playing say, Mario Galaxy 2.  I think for what it is, a multi-player 2D Mario Platformer, it'll probably offer more fun than any other game this year.  In terms of being a brilliant 10.0 masterwork, probably not. 

[Ezlo's Apprentice]

I dunno about reviews for this game, it seems like some people will go in with the mentality I have where I'd rather see something more interesting from Nintendo as far as Mario goes, or would rather be playing say, Mario Galaxy 2.

We've been spoiled over the last few years with the top quality 3-D titles. The classic 2-D experiences hold very special places in many people's hearts. People called out for a return to 2-D, they get a return to 2-D, they still can't be satisfied. It's not directed at you, Jord, but it is a recurring sight on the internet when it comes to Nintendo trying to please their "fans".

I think for what it is, a multi-player 2D Mario Platformer, it'll probably offer more fun than any other game this year.  In terms of being a brilliant 10.0 masterwork, probably not. 

The more I see of it and the more I read about it, the more it appears as though it's a classic single-player 2-D Mario platformer with the option of multiplayer not so much an afterthought but an optional extra carefully integrated into the classic mechanics of days gone by should you fancy getting some friends or family involved.

I think it's going to come down to how fans feel about their old-school gaming being brought bang up-to-date graphically, while the co-op gameplay brings Mario's traditional gameplay into the realms of family-gaming.

[hisak]

a brilliant 10.0 masterwork

That's what Super Mario Bros. 3 was.

I guess a full-2D approach might look a little nicer, but the 2.5D works fine.

[Ezlo's Apprentice]

a brilliant 10.0 masterwork

That's what Super Mario Bros. 3 was.

Don't you mean Super Mario World?

[hisak]

No. Super Mario World was too much in love with Yoshi and the Cape that it never reached the level of SMB3. I guess Special World was good.

[Rew]

Super Mario Bros. 3 was a perfect 10, the finest game ever produced on the NES. Super Mario World was a 9.5--legendary in its own right but not quite up to SMB3 standards.

I'm so hyped for NSMBW that I could realistically see it hitting 9.0 territory or above. It seems to have a lot of the elements that made SMB3 and SMW so special--and I mean more than just the Koopalings, although I definitely had a fanboygasm when I learned about their overdue return!