Why New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a can't-miss Wii title: A Review

I love having old material to resurrect on my blog, simultaneously saving me a little bit of time! Like this Samba de Amigo review before it, please enjoy this article I wrote for the March 10, 2010 issue of the Lariat, my old high school newspaper:

I am highly aware that many MHS students now own a Wii. So I no longer feel like I'm writing to myself when I review Wii games. For this review, I wish to write about one game that I consider a must-have for all Wii owners. This game is called New Super Mario Bros. Wii (NSMBW), which was developed by Nintendo and released for Wii on November 15, 2009.

NSMBW takes the structure of the oldest Mario games and adds new play options and power-ups, better graphics, and more. The player traverses a total of eight themed worlds, each with a collection of courses, which showcase an enormous variety of different plat-forming concepts. The variety increases as new power-ups are acquired, or even when more players join in. Yes, you heard me right. NSMBW takes the Mario series to the next level by adding a super-fun, multi-player option to the classic formula. Work co-operatively or competitively by jumping on each other's heads, picking each other up, and eating each other with Yoshi. Picking up a comrade can be the key to a secret area, but it can also be a way to throw a teammate into a lava pit or an enemy. The interaction among players is active and fun.

If there's one fault I can find in NSMBW, it's the difficulty of the game. Though I do not have much of a problem with this, I can see the possibility of frustration as some play through the game. Despite that, however, NSMBW is easily one of the best games I've ever played. Whether you want to have a good time with friends or tackle the game solo, NSMBW has you covered. If that doesn't convince you to get this game, think about this: how can you even go wrong with a new Mario game that simply resurrects and improves upon all the great game-play concepts that eventually defined Nintendo as the best game developer in the world?

Not my proudest achievement on any scale, but then you could also say that my whole senior year in high school wasn't a great achievement either. Eventually I'll probably follow this up with a decent review. Cheers!