Nintendo Console | Warp Back To The '80s With Mario On Wii

November 18, 2009 – 9:52 pm


    By David Wylie, Canwest News ServiceNovember 17, 2009  StoryPhotos ( 1 )   

It’s time to play video games like it’s 1986.

With the release of New Super Mario Bros. Wii this month, Nintendo has gone back to the popular plumber’s roots with a side-scrolling, 2-D adventure reminiscent of the franchise’s first four titles.

Since Super Mario Bros. debuted in 1986, Mario has dressed in his best red overalls for a starring role in dozens of games. However, Nintendo hasn’t put out a classic Mario console side-scroller since the release of Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo in ‘91.

Instead, Mario moved forward with the rest of the video game industry as technology improved.

Nintendo started rendering the Mushroom Kingdom in 3-D with the release of Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64 in ‘96. The game was a huge hit.

The franchise remained in 3-D with Super Mario Sunshine for the Nintendo GameCube console in 2002, then Super Mario Galaxy for the Nintendo Wii in 2007.

But on Nov. 15 Mario warped back to a time when he’d first squashed goombas and kicked koopas. While it’s sweet nostalgia for those who remember blowing on game cartridges before putting them into the original Nintendo Entertainment System, it comes at a time when conventional wisdom says a blockbuster video game requires a sizzling script and gorgeous graphics.

The newest entry into the extensive Super Mario Bros. canon launched alongside a number of other holiday blockbuster sequels that succeed thanks to their realism and Hollywood-style cinematics, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed 2 and Left 4 Dead 2.

New Super Mario Bros., meanwhile, looks like it has regressed with its 2-D style and repetitive, simplistic storyline about rescuing a kidnapped princess.

But the classic feel is exactly what makes the game stand out in the sea of new releases. It’s a blast from the past for those who grew up in the 1980s – the same people who happen to be the average age of the current gamer: the 30- somethings.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii mixes together some of the tastiest ingredients from the original side-scrolling games and adds new flavours that change the way the game is played, notably the first multiplayer mode in the history of the series.

The motion-sensing Wii remote also comes into play – but not enough to take away from the simple button scheme made famous by the original NES controller.

Stomping on walking goombas, throwing fireballs at spiky beetles, bashing blocks for coins and jumping over bottomless pits is just as fun and addictive as it was in 1986. And the New Super Mario Bros. Wii is proof that if you peel back the flashy graphics and Hollywood explosions, fun is still the heart of a great video game.

The history of Super Mario:

* The character who would become Super Mario first appears in 1981 as "Jumpman” in the video game Donkey Kong, where he dodges barrels to save a damsel kidnapped by a giant ape.

* Super Mario Bros. launches in 1986 on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

* In 1988, Nintendo releases Super Mario Bros. 2 for the NES, which differs greatly from the first Mario game. Some of its elements are adopted by later games, which more closely resemble the first title.

* Raccoon Mario introduces flight to the series in Super Mario 3, which launches on the NES in 1990. The game also adds a world map and the ability to store items.

* Mario picks up his first set of clubs in 1991’s NES Open Tournament Golf, in what becomes a long-standing franchise, Mario Golf. He later picks up a tennis racket, baseball bat and soccer ball, spawning other sports series.

* Super Mario World gives the series a graphical upgrade, as it launches in 1991 along with the next generation Super Nintendo. Mario gains the ability to mount Yoshi.

* In 1992, Mario Kart debuts on the Super Nintendo. The racing game lets drivers shoot koopa shells at other cars and drop banana peels on the track. It becomes a huge hit, spawning sequel after sequel.

* Mario gets artsy in 1992 with the release of the popular Mario Paint.

* Mario goes 3-D in 1996 with the launch of Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64.

* In what’s to become one of the series’ biggest spinoffs, Mario Party is released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64. It’s now up to Mario Party 8.

* In 2002, Mario ushers in another generation Nintendo console with Sunshine Mario for the GameCube. It was the worst-received game in the eight main console adventures.

* A side-scrolling Mario adventure launches in 2006 with New Super Mario Bros. for the portable Nintendo DS system.

* Mario goes to space in 2007 in Super Mario Galaxy, the first Mario title on the Nintendo Wii.

* Nintendo takes Mario back to his side-scrolling roots in 2009 with New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

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