Super Mario Brothers returns to the Wii, this time with up to 4 player simultaneously on the screen helping to get through the puzzle.
I was hesitant to get this, because it's pretty expensive and I don't know how much better it would be than Super Mario Brothers 3, which you can download on the Wii as well. I also heard the multiplayer is "kinda cool" but really frustrating. Disregarding all of these seemingly valid points, I decided to throw my money away and pick it up anyway.
This game is cool. If you like the feel of Super Mario Brothers 3, you will love this. It can get just as challenging and frustrating as the old games and the multiplayer is really fun (so long as you don't get overly frustrated with taking your time through the levels). I find it's actually more challenging with other people because the difficult sections become even harder trying to get another person with you through them. Nintendo came up with an easy out though in case it's just too frustrating, just have your partner enter their bubble and they'll float around as you finish the section of the level.
All-in-all, I've been pretty addicted to it this past week and would recommend it.
That video is an unlockable video in the game and is really impressive and cool.
GJ said 33 minutes later
The game is awesome, and I'm enjoying it more than Galaxy. Multiplayer will be very frustrating if you take it too seriously, but once you chill out it's a blast. We've had it for a few weeks and are still playing it all the time.
GJ said about 1 hour later
And the bubble is hilarious--that's how you come back into the game after you die, provided other players are still alive and not in bubbles. Nothing like getting popped over a chasm or some other trap!
Marc said about 6 hours later
Laura is the champion of the dying, or I should say was. She's gotten real good at bubbling right before she falls to her death. I didn't realize how often I had been doing it too until I played the single player and started to die a fair amount!
I liked Galaxy, but from a multiplayer standpoint is was pathetic, which is fine since I thought it was at least a neat little addition over no multiplayer. Galaxy was really easy though, this game just has that classic feeling of difficulty and well thought out maps.
GJ said about 9 hours later
Yeah, we're mired somewhere in world 5 with those damn rolling logs. We're *all* good at dying, but some of us (I'm looking at you Darcy) have made an art form out of bubbling. Unlimited continues is a good thing...Aaron is somewhere around 60 now. I'm about halfway there. :)
GJ said 3 days later
Oh, and the bubbling to get players through would be fine, except when the bubble drifts near you. See, you interact with the bubble--hit it in midair during a jump, and you fall from where you hit the bubble...likely over a death trap. So you bubble to save your skin--and of course the original bubbler has (probably) bubbled. If all players bubble, the music slows to a crawl and you're booted from the level. You don't lose a life (good), but you lose any status changes (dammit, I want my propeller hat back!!!!).
Marc said 3 days later
The propeller hat is by far the cheapest upgrade in the game. I love it to death, cause it's so much fun, but man it makes the levels easy. Laura and I beat the game last night (or DID we?!) and we were really struggling with Bowser, then I had the bright idea to upgrade before going into the level to the propeller hat and beat it first go.
To me, the ice levels kill me. I thought the swimming world would suck based on the first swimming level, but it turned out to be pretty tame. Now I'm just going through and collecting all the gold coins (I never was a big fan of collecting everything, but it's kinda fun in this game) and man some of them are in ridiculous locations. One of them I found by "dying" or so I thought until I was warped into another part of the level.
Playing back and forth between multiplayer and single player is a very strange feeling with Mario. Some things are super easy by yourself (pretty much all the castles), and other things are super easy in multiplayer (collecting star coins). The best part is attempting to bubble right before you die in single player, it's so disheartening and makes you feel like such a cheater that you even attempted it. :)
Marc said 3 days later
I also love, love, love jumping off walls. I don't remember what mario they first added that in, but it's a joy in this game. That's actually how I found another star coin, I was fooling around waiting for Laura to catch up (hopefully she doesn't read this ;)) and I was trying to get really high up bouncing between two close walls and suddenly got warped to the coin part of the level.
GJ said 3 days later
Yeah, overall this is a terrific game (which is high praise indeed from a non-Mario gamer).
Geoff said 4 days later
how much is it?
GJ said 4 days later
$50 (but I got it on sale for $40 at best buy several weeks ago).
