New Super Mario Bros. Wii

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a Wii game planned to be released in November of 2009. A sequel to New Super Mario Bros., the Wii game has a four player cooperative mode and is the first game to feature Super Guide. Nintendo EAD4, the same team behind the original game, developed New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Gameplay
The game plays in the same fashion as its portable counterpart. It's a 2.5D sidescroller with the key difference being that there is a heavy emphasis on cooperative modes. Up to four players can play at once, the characters being Mario, Luigi, a Blue Toad and a Yellow Toad. New powerups are found within the game including a penguin suit that lets a character slide around on the ice and a propeller that acts as a new flying powerup. There are roughly 80 levels in the game. Critics have noted that the game emits a Super Mario World vibe whereas the original was more akin to Super Mario Bros. 3. Various aspects from Super Mario World, such as the spin jump and the addition of Yoshi, are contained in this title that weren't present in the Nintendo DS incarnation. The spin jump is performed by shaking the Wii Remote. As the game is a traditional sidescroller, most of the game is played by using the Wii Remote sideways like an NES controller.

Suits and Yoshi
The typical Super Mushroom and Fire Flower upgrades appear in this game as they have in most Mario platformers, and two brand new suits have also been added, those being the Propeller Suit and the Penguin suit. With the Propeller Suit, the character sports an outfit with a helicopter-like propeller attached. By shaking the Wii Remote, the character will be sent soaring upwards. After he stats to drop, the player can shake the Wii Remote again so that he floats down, possibly granting access to far away platforms. The Penguin Suit is fairly similar to the Tanooki Suit, Bee Suit and Frog Suit from previous Mario games in that it causes the character to dawn an animal inspired suit, this time a penguin. With the Penguin suit, the player can slide around on platforms, swim in water faster, and shoot ice balls that freeze opponents, consequently turning them into platforms.

There are four different Yoshi colors in the game including green, yellow, pink, and light blue (red and blue were initially going to be in the game but were removed for unknown reasons). Yoshis are found in Yoshi Eggs that exist within ? Blocks. After mounting a Yoshi, the player can gobble up enemies with Yoshi's tongue. His flutter jump move from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is in the game as well (whereas in Super Mario World it wasn't). When attacked, the player will automatically be forced off of Yoshi who will frantically run in the direction that he's facing. If Yoshi touches a wall, he'll turn around and run in the opposite direction. If the player manages to jump back on the Yoshi, then he'll stop running, but otherwise Yoshi will continue to run until his death. All this reflects directly from Super Mario World. The extra jump feature from Super Mario World also returns in the game, which can save a player at the last moment if they happen to fall into a pit or face some other dangerous obstacle. Contrary to past games, Yoshi will be given his Super Mario World sound effects in favor of his voice from Yoshi's Story onward. Yoshi hardly appears in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, only being found in levels in which his addition constitutes as appropriate. This may have been done so as to make his appearance special. Miyamoto has stated that he wanted to make finding a Yoshi Egg in Super Mario World rare so as to excite the player when it happened. The same point of view may have been considered when developing New Super Mario Bros. Wii, as various special items, such as the Propeller Suit, Penguin Suit, Mini Mushroom and Yoshi, don't appear very frequently.

Development
New Super Mario Bros. Wii was revealed at E3 2009 by Cammie Dunaway. The game's creation is due to the overwhelming success of New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS, which sold over 20 million copies worldwide. The game was made by the same team, Nintendo EAD4, as the original title. This team also created the Super Mario Advance games on the Game Boy Advance and Yoshi Touch & Go for the Nintendo DS, suggesting that they are familiar with creating platformers. Series veterans Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, who together made the original Super Mario Bros. games on the Nintendo Entertainment System, were also heavily involved with the game.

Regarding the red Wii case, Reggie Fils-Aime stated that the idea came from NCL in Japan, who stated that they wished to make the packaging special, and thought that making the box Mario red would be the appropriate thing to do. They wanted to satisfy the long-time Nintendo fans and the newcomers who had just started enjoying Nintendo video games. In America, Nintendo also changed the white Wii logo silver with metallic ink on it to make it "pop more". Reggie later went on to state that changing the color of the Wii box was a one time affair, claiming that there wouldn't be any yellow or gold boxes for future games (which led some fans to think he was referring to The Legend of Zelda for Wii).

Launch
The game first launched in Australia on November 11. Nintendo and EB Games held a launch event at the Nintendo Experience in Melbourne, which brought in fans from all over the area to play New Super Mario Bros. Wii before it launched. Fans who attended the event could pose with a costumed Mario, participate in a competition, and win prizes. A costume contest took place that had fans dress up as Mario characters, with people making elaborate costumes of Mario, Princess Peach, Lakitu, Piranha Plant, and Raccoon Mario in Kuribo's Shoe. Other contests included doing performances, with people acting like Mario characters such as Yoshi and Goomba, quiz shows, and a New Super Mario Bros. Wii contest were players competed for the highest score. Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario and various other characters from the series, left a recorded message for the people who came to the event, explaining that he hoped people would love the game as he did. At the end of the event, players could purchase the game, and along with it received a Mario cap and a bag (with Mario or Yoshi plastered on the cover) with Mario merchandise inside. When leaving the store players were given cupcakes with the Mario "M" on them.

In America, Nintendo held an official launch at the Nintendo World Store in New York City, New York on November 14th. At the event, players could purchase the game before anyone else in America and participate in various other events pertaining to New Super Mario Bros. Wii. At the event was a Mario museum, various tournaments, and costumed characters. Nintendo of America and GameStop co-sponsored the NASCAR No. 20 GameStop Toyota, which featured artwork from New Super Mario Bros. Wii including Mario with a propeller suit, Yellow Toad with a propeller suit carrying Luigi, and a Blue Toad ontop of a pink Yoshi, as well as various enemies. Unfortunately most of the pink Yoshi was covered up by advertisements.When it raced on November 14 it came in twelfth position. Nintendo of America also produced two television commercials that focused primarily on the multiplayer aspect of Mario, and the fact that it can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

Reception
New Super Mario Bros. Wii has received favorable reviews. Official Nintendo Magazine in the United Kingdom was granted the exclusive first review for the game, giving it a 96% positive rating, stating that it contains "timeless Mario magic" and is "tough as nails" by the end of the game, despite starting off easy. The graphics and sounds were also complimented. One disappointment they mentioned was how little Yoshi was used in the game, wishing that the species was in more of the stages.