The One About Partners In...Platforming

First off: Yes, I’ve been gone for a really long time. I had college graduation, and the papers/finals leading up to that, and now a (thus far) fruitless search for a job. I can’t say it’ll get any better, because I shouldn’t be spending that much time posting on Mario blogs when searching for full-time writing-related employment, and should I find a job, I can’t imagine my free time is going to increase. But I do plan to drop in when I can, so hopefully there’s still people who occasionally check this place, because I’ve prepared a lengthier piece, and I don’t wanna rant to myself.

I sometimes brainstorm what the perfect entry of a given game series would be. Not as much as I used to, especially during the early 64 era, when flawless shining beacons called Yoshi’s Island 64 and Donkey Kong Country 4 danced through my mind’s eye with beauty the PS3 couldn’t replicate. No, I came to realize some of my expectations were unreasonable, and that developers have limitations. Still, I occasionally let my mind drift to what a future title should have. And on rare occasions, it actually happens.

Case in point: New Super Mario Bros. Wii. This little gem came completely out of left field during Nintendo’s E3 conference. Despite the (ridiculous) title, this is an entirely new game (New Super Mario Bros. 2? Newer Super Mario Bros.?). Anyway, the game’s intended selling point is its co-op feature: four-player co-op. Those who followed the DS title’s development probably remember the point where two-player co-op was a touted feature. Well, it looks like it’s been resurrected. Players 3 and 4 are blue and yellow Toads (I’m going to assume the blue one is “The” Toad going back to his SMB2 coloring, because my hatred of replacing established characters with generic mooks runs too deep), combining with Mario and Luigi to form a rather familiar color scheme. But more on the World of similarity Newer SMB seems to bear to one of its ancestors later.

If you don’t understand the significance of co-op available in a Mario sidescroller, you’ve obviously never gotten together with a couple buddies and tried to romp through SMB or SMW. You all more or less know the game back to front, but the sheer euphoric mood and attempts at backseat driving means none of you are all that focused. And if one of you is, he quickly realizes he needs to lighten up…until you miss the same jump twice apiece and get serious for a minute or two.

It’s a blissful, irreverent experience that only good friends and the wonderfully tight, forgiving, but not insulting design of a Mario-caliber platformer can create. And how much sweeter will it be when you can be playing with your friends simultaneously?

SMB3, the game that got so much right, came closest to this. You weren’t “racing” like in SMB; a stage cleared by Mario is out of Luigi’s way too. But the map kept track of the individual players’ cleared stages, and they could “battle” each other for cards, showcasing simultaneous play in the format of the Mario Bros. arcade game, a nice nostalgic nod. But while SMB3 included that “cooperative AND competitive” atmosphere, you still couldn’t interact in the main game, nor could you in any Mario platformer (Galaxy’s pointer doesn’t count) until now.

Admittedly, unless Nintendo makes an uncharacteristically difficult game, Newer SMB will flatten like a Goomba before four Mario veterans moving like a coordinated strike team (if strike teams jumped on things). But for kicking back with your buddies--all of whom are platforming veterans and KNOW how to play efficiently, they’d just much PREFER to chuck you into a Hammer Bro. every once in a while--the typical Mario format is just perfect.

Now, I suspect I’m preaching to the choir here, but I have to call out folks claiming this is a pale imitation of LittleBigPlanet. To its credit, LBP is one of the better things to happen to platforming. It has a “cute but not nauseating” charm that Mario fans should be accustomed to, and its level editor is beyond anything of the kind Nintendo has produced or seemingly will any time soon. But there’s more to “Mario Magic” than consumer brand recognition. Any platform aficionado can recognize Mario physics, as well as their accessibility and smoothness. And the aesthetics of the Mushroom Kingdom are just unbeatable. Kid-friendly, but something all but the most self-conscious college kids wouldn’t hesitate to revisit. If the level design is as good as any other Mario hop-n-bop (that isn’t Super Mario Land), it’ll be head and shoulders above LBP. And there’s no way LBP can compete with the locales, items, and enemies of Mario. Hey, what a segue!

Now, before my past hiatus, I revisited (Old) New Super Mario Bros. I won’t rehash that, but the point I want to dig back up is how it drew just as much from SMB3 and SMW as it did from SMB1, yet its developers went out of their way to exclude some of those games’ key elements. Well, with World’s notorious “red-green-blue-yellow” motif returns the late ‘80s/early ‘90s…with a vengeance!

Newer SMB is no longer shy about its inspiration. First off, while Old NSMB paid its tribute to SMB3’s suits with the Blue Shell, the sequel gives us at least two more. First is the Propeller Suit. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a tribute to Fly Guys, but regardless, flight has returned to Mario sidescrolling! I don’t really have much else to say about this power-up…it doesn’t look quite as thrilling as the Tanooki Suit or the Cape, but we’ll see. And did you notice no two Mario games have the same flight power-ups? Weird…

Next is the Penguin Suit, which fits in nicely. Penguins have enjoyed their niche in the series ever since Bumpties slid into Yoshi’s Island (subsequently bumping Yoshi into a fatal batch of thorns), and as cool as the Tanooki and Frog Suits were, I like ones based off series regulars. Word is this suit blends aspects of Old NSMB’s Blue Shell and Galaxy’s Ice Flower, which were my favorite items in those respective games, so I approve.

As you may recall, the developers felt Yoshi was way too new-age for a retro romp like New SMB. But Newer SMB is a different story, and the dino with the bottomless belly is back! He seems to handle much like his SMW debut, with the addition of his flutter kick. I couldn’t be much happier.

Finally…the Koopalings have returned! I’ll be modest and pretend it wasn’t because a Nintendo spy read my scathing criticism of Bowser Jr.’s existence from a few months back (thank you, thank you, thank you). Of course, that post details why the Koopalings fit this type of game much better than Bowser Jr., so I’m not going to reiterate that.

Newer SMB is reportedly coming our way Holiday 2009, barring a patented First-Party Nintendo Title Delay ™. But wait! There was MORE Mario news at E3? Read my opinion on two more Mario games soon!*

*May not be “soon” by any stretch of the definition, but here’s hoping!

~Waluigious: I'm not sure if I can trust that newcomer yellow Toad. He seems like the type to toss the others into a lava pit, filling the castle halls with shrill cries of "I'm the best!!"