E3: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

By Tom Bramwell Published 2 June, 2009

2D, four-player co-op, this Christmas.

Nintendo has announced New Super Mario Bros. for Wii, due out worldwide this Christmas.

Unlike Mario's last Wii outing, it's a 2D platform game which can be played alone, but is largely designed to take advantage of co-op support for up to four players, and includes a mixture of traditional level design and gameplay elements, and Wii-specific controls and gameplay.

In an on-stage demo at Nintendo's ongoing E3 conference, we were shown how item blocks now generally produce one mushroom each for all four players. It's also possible to throw other players, either to reach new areas or to take out enemies. (Or to throw Kristan off buildings, hopefully.)

New items include a "propeller suit", which allows you to shoot up into the sky and then drift back down twirling (a bit like Mario's cape in Super Mario World), by shaking the Wiimote. This is a good way of saving yourself just as you're falling into a pit - shaking to suddenly thrust back up - and can be used to access hidden areas.

To accommodate four players on-screen, the camera also pans out, although if somebody gets caught behind the group long enough then they are wiped out. Should a player die, they respawn a few seconds later in a bubble, which can be popped by others to release them.

The initial level shown is very close to the traditional first Mario Bros. level design, with lots of green hills, blocks to bash, pipes to go down and goombas to stomp. There were also a couple of rotating strips of land, a bit like waterwheels. At one stage, a pipe transported the group to an underground bit where they storm across destructible blocks trying to grab coins.

That friendly spirit of competition extended across the level, and culminated with the traditional flagpole-grabbing ending. Once the first player grabs the flag, the rest get "about three seconds" to grab it themselves to get bonus points. Once it's all over, there's a ranking screen to tot up points.

With the game on the show floor today, look out for our own hands-on impressions soon.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Ninja_Tino #1 3 years ago

    While I love New Super Mario Bros this has disappointed me. I rarely play these kind of games with people physically with me and WiiOnline is crap. Hopefully there's a lot to like for the Single Player. Siiiiigggggggggh!

  • smelly #2 3 years ago

    FUCK YEAH!

    This is what IM talking about!

  • LazyDan #3 3 years ago

    I've been asking for this for so long ;.; Nintendo have delivered exactly what I wanted. SO HAPPY.

  • Canyarion #4 3 years ago

    It sure looked like a lot of fun.

    But of course it's just Zelda: Four Swords with Mario.

  • wellzy4eva #5 3 years ago

    now why don't they just re-release 4 swords with wireless connectability and DS linking to Wii, almost everyone I know with a Wii has a DS

  • optimusprym8 #6 3 years ago

    wow Nintendo really know how to innovate

  • jeebthegreat #7 3 years ago

    you know what would be real awesome? pokemon 3D

  • ZeroAX #8 3 years ago

    little big planet with mario characters and no level editor?

    yeah i'm going to love it but it's not original

  • Widge #9 3 years ago

    It sounds fun. I bet its really snappy.

  • Widge #10 3 years ago

    It sounds fun. I bet its really snappy.

  • cheekyjay #11 3 years ago

    I'm sure this will be a lot of fun, have no doubt that the level design and control scheme will be as simple and sublime as past installments, and that the co-op will be a welcomed addition. However, I do think that this seems like a technological step backwards from much of what Little Big Planet pioneered. First of all, I feel like I've played this already in that game (there are now hundreds of Mario levels out there, some actually very good indeed - though none quite up their with Nintendo's best level designs of course), but secondly I feel like the lack of any kind of level-creation tools in a game that's this high profile seems like a missed opportunity. Imagine Little Big Planet but with the far tighter controls, and genius campaign level design of Mario thrown in - that would be very special indeed.

  • Les #12 3 years ago

    Most exciting news for me so far. I'm really longing for good 2D games lately. :)

  • bigbadbeasty #13 3 years ago

    "Imagine Little Big Planet but with the far tighter controls" - cheekyjay

    You're spot on there. As much as I wanted to love LBP, its sloppy controls really let it down. I proper 2D Mario is something I would have hoped for. Now Nintendo do the same with Metriod and my Wii will have been worth the price (not a big fan of the 'new' 3D Metroid's).
    Edited by 1 at 02/06/09 @ 19:19

  • man.the.king #14 3 years ago

    "To accommodate four players on-screen, the camera also pans out, although if somebody gets caught behind the group long enough then they are wiped out"

    Looks like they have taken a page out of LBP's co-op gameplay. Good for them, as I really liked the co-op and online not splitting up the screen.

    @bigbadbeasty
    "As much as I wanted to love LBP, its sloppy controls really let it down."

    From what I understand, LBP was trying to stay true to physics, so they probably took into account Sackboy's body-weight or something like that, and tried to apply the effect of what an actual jump and other movements by such a character would be like. I think they did a good job of ensuring that the laws of motion/inertia were carried out by the game as correctly as possible. In my opinion, while the kind of tighter controls you refer to give you immediate control, they are not very true-to-life and means you can immediately correct any mistakes you made. In LBP, you had to gauge your jumps and movements accurately. Anyway, to each his own and I guess LBP physics was not your cup of tea. Cheers!
    Edited by 1 at 02/06/09 @ 19:27

  • bigbadbeasty #15 3 years ago

    @ man.the.king

    That is all lovely and all that, and I appreciate the effort in your reply. Sadly it still doesn't make up for what are poor controls. Gameplay before realism I say.

  • man.the.king #16 3 years ago

    @bigbadbeasty

    "I appreciate the effort in your reply. Sadly it still doesn't make up for what are poor controls"

    Oh I wasn't trying to convince you otherwise or anything. I was just giving my opinion of the controls, and having played through LBP both in the Story mode and Online, I found those controls to be perfect.

    But as I said, to each his own, and you are perfectly welcome to your opinion of the controls being poor, as am I to mine about the controls being perfect.