For the rest of this article, the aforementioned game will be known as NSMBW. That title is far too long for me to type every time.

Now that I’m nearing the completion of NSMBW (see how much easier that is?), my daughter has become less relentless at forcing me to play. It seems that her standard four year old attention span has nearly reached its maximum capacity for this subject. But, while she is back to her “projects” (known to us as coloring, cutting, taping, and gluing anything she can get her hands on that she considers pretty) I am left a mere one world away from being “done” with the game. I highly doubt my thoughts will change after actually completing the game, so in ½ assed review tradition, I will talk about it now.

Hey do you like old school Mario Brothers games? No, I don’t mean the classic arcade version where you had to knock turtles on their back and kick them off the screen, but come to think of it, that would be an awesome mini game with the use of NSMBW graphics. Anyways, if you like the old side scrolling adventures of the worlds favorite Italian plumber a la Super Mario Brother 3, then you are in luck, because this game is pretty much that, with a couple of gameplay twists. Mind you, those twists are not nearly even 180 degree turns; they are acute changes to how you traverse a level, namely, the addition of a couple new suits, as well as a new type of nose projectile. He does shoot that stuff from his nose right? Why else does he put his hand up there like that?

The Koopa Kids are back in full early 90’s fashion. Nothing says flashback like a large male turtle wearing a pair of pink sunglasses, except maybe the feeling of even playing this game. This is exactly what Mario fans who grew up with the series have been clamoring for all these years. Of the few reviews I’ve read, the only criticism I’ve found is that it plays too much like the old games. Fuck that, this is awesome. It is a graphical step forward with added abilities and obstacles. That is what every Mario game before this has been, and this has stayed true to that formula. The only question I have is why didn’t they call this Super Mario 4?

The biggest change that I’m sure everyone knows about by this point is the added multiplayer element. While it can be great fun playing with a couple friends or a spouse who has some anger issues and a heavy backhand, I really have had more fun playing the game by myself. That’s where the magic time machine plays in and sends me back to my years as a tween playing the last of the truly great Mario games. NSMBW is simply a game you must own if you have a Wii. It will always live on my shelf because there is no game that I can go back to more often than a classic Mario game. Well, other than Food Fight of course.