the Tommy|Zor era

Happy New Year!

I trust that you had a fun and relaxing holiday. As for myself, I can proudly say that I was a lazy piece of shit and enjoyed every minute of it. Over the course of my holidays I read a few books, toasted many beers with v2, ate enough seafood to make the ocean jealous and got to play Super Mario Bros. Wii.

When I first saw the preview of the game, I was skeptical, but really wanted to play. Could this be the game that could actually take me back to my childhood? Or was it a complete gimmick that was ultimately going to piss me off and put me in a position to hate Nintendo forever? After playing Super Mario 64, I felt that the switch of Mario Bros. from platform to 3D platforming was successful. Nintendo was breaching on new grounds with their cherished icon and would leave its traditional platforming on a high note.

Mario 64, Mario Sunshine and Mario Galaxy are all excellent games. However, it was time for me to accept that Mario 3 and Mario World (and Yoshi’s Island to another extent) would be cherished memories of gaming from my childhood. I could still look back on them, but it was time to move on. It had seemed the days of worlds, koopa kids, power suits, linear progression and ’secret’ infinite 1-up spots were gone. I was cool with it all, until Nintendo dropped this bomb.

As I told you earlier, I really wanted to play, but there were a few shortcomings.
First; I didn’t own a Wii. Further, I don’t intend on buying one either.
Second; of those who I knew owned a Wii, it would be difficult to convince them to buy this game for the sole purpose of me trying it.
Third; even if I did convince them, our friendship would now be based one me using them to play with their Wii Nintendo gaming system.
However, as luck, or fate, would have it, one of the houses I was invited to over the holidays had the system and the game.

From the very second I picked up the controller, I was in love. The best way to summarize it would be this: if Mario 3 and Super Mario World had a baby, this game would be it. Almost everything about this game screamed awesome. The controls, the level design, the challenge were all perfect. This game actually brought me back to my childhood.

There was no need to ease myself back into the game. My platforming instincts quickly took over and I found my old tricks were working wonders in this game. The sense of satisfaction you feel when you fly through a level without getting touched is revitalized. The sheer frustration of falling into pits or getting hit by enemies returns, along with the chants of, “that’s fucking cheap!” The urge to play “one more level” was dominant, revitalizing the addiction to gaming that I felt I had kicked years ago. Most importantly, the game is FUN. I wasn’t playing to get to the end, I was playing for the fun of playing. To me, that is a trait that is lost among many games today. Well, games that aren’t based on enticing violence among its audience by having them shoot and kill everything that moves on the screen.

I only have one issue with the game. As I said, almost everything about this game screamed awesome. The negative factor: multiplayer. Traditionally, 2 player in Mario meant one person would attempt a level, then the next person would attempt a level. It was a system that worked well because one player may be better at certain levels and the two would help each other out to make it through the world. There was also the satisfaction of smack talking the other person when they died really stupid deaths.
In this game, all players play at the exact same time. Ugh!

Let’s pretend for a moment that 2 people are playing this game and both are exceedingly good at it. They decide to play together and start running their asses off through the first stage. Then it happens: they both jump dangerously for that one thin platform. Player 1 gets their a split second before player 2. Player 2 bounces off of Player 1 and dies. Repeat; over and over and over again. This game on multiplayer is the equivalent to playing a game of baseball where the pitcher is doing nothing but trying to bean you. It’s annoying, you may get on base and you’ll eventually find ways to work around the problem, but it doesn’t solve the fact that the pitcher is defective. If you’re really hankering to play with more than 1 player, set the game to 1 player and pass the controller around. Unless, of course, you want the challenge of 4 players at once and still remain friends with those people at the end of the session. Your call.

I loved this game. Period. While I still won’t run out and buy a Wii just to play this one game, it does give me hope for Nintendo once more.