Beginning in June this year, Nintendo has presented us with two different New Super Mario Bros. Wii trailers: one for its debut at E3, and another at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX). For those who need refreshing, here is the original trailer:
Now, upon initially viewing them, the game you see in the two trailers may have seemed the same, but it appears that there are actually more differences apparent than one would realize, after seeing the newer trailer. Compare for yourself:
Notice anything different? Thanks to the NSider2 Forums and reader MatttheGameFreak, GoNintendo has been able to compile a list of the differences between the New Super Mario Bros. Wii of June and the New Super Mario Bros. Wii of September, and where in the video you’ll spot them:
1) This new build has a much more saturated/brighter look, washing out the background.
2) The overall graphical interface seems to be higher-resolution then its E3 counter-part.
3) NSMBW’s camera has been scaled back, allowing for a grander view of the stage.
4) Additional platforms, enemies, coins, item boxes have been added.
5) Life count, coins, time remaining, and score is no longer 50% transparent.-11 seconds: Unfortunately, the trees present in the E3 build are gone, replaced by random sprouts of grass and bushes in the background. Clouds have also changed from a fluffy, round shape to resemble skinny ovals.
-16 seconds: Ring/red coin challenges are now in place. ‘Road’ signs are now evident.
-19 seconds: Trees are now all the same color, as to where in the E3 version, some trees had a purplish tint. As stated before, new platforms, item boxes, flags, etc. are now present. Snow is not as noticeable due to the game’s overall brightness increase.
-24 seconds: More coins are present with more enemies, such as fish that follow you. This stage’s background has also changed artistically. Its underground lighting/beams seems to be more prevalent. Water ripples are less pronounced.
-33(Old trailer); 36(New trailer): The game’s pyramids are now further off, as well as the cactus’s. The older build had a green tint to the sky’s color, while the newer build is blue.
-40 seconds: Platforms now indicate as to which player has control over the platforms. As stated before, the clouds are more drawn out and no longer ‘vapor-like.’
-44 seconds: The level’s siding is more intricately detailed.
-58 seconds: This is the same exact area in both videos, obviously the newer build has added a few new dangerous twist.
-1 minute; 8 seconds: In the E3 build, the lava is very visible but in the newer build, it is practically hidden.
-1 minute; 13 seconds: The newer build has reverted its background to a background seen in NSMB for NDS. The acid has also changed in appearance as well as the pillars for this level.
-1 minute; 22 seconds: The very last rotating platform(yellow) in the new build is rotating to the left, as to the E3 build, it rotated to the right. Item boxes have been added to this platform.
I knew it looked a bit different, and even a bit better at PAX, but I had no idea just how much they had polished things up. It makes you wonder if there will be any more before the November shipping date.
Meanwhile, following the Super Guide exposition yesterday, Kotaku has brought us an even fuller, more detailed look at Nintendo’s big game of the Holiday Season.
The basics are all still in play: Mario has to run, jump, and fight his way through eight worlds in order to rescue the fair Princess Peach from the clutches of Bowser. But as we know by now, both side have called in some heavy reinforcements: Mario has big little bro Luigi, a blue Toad, and a yellow Toad taking up Fire Flowers and Propeller Suits against the Turtle Tribe, while Bowser not only has Junior in tow, but the whole cavalcade of calamitous Koopalings from years past.
Ten on four? Let’s-a do this.
Of course, one thing that hasn’t changed since E3 is the addition of online support– i.e., there is still none, with multiplayer running locally. Kotaku notes “Up to three other players can join locally… before entering a level.” Whether that means that people can easily drop in or out of the game between stages is unclear, though one can easily hope.
The world maps are laid out much like in New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS, which will no doubt disappoint the widespread worlds of exploration found in Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. For someone who missed that chapter, however, it simply means that the maps are laid out from left to right, with a series of branching paths which lead to the world’s final castle. And along the way, just as before, you will encounter Toad Houses for bonuses, and towering fortresses meant to obstruct your progress.
Yesterday’s talk of the Super Guide gameplay made note that with an easy-out for less experienced gamers, this allows Nintendo to increase the challenge a bit for veterans. This seems to become apparent as Kotaku describes riding a desert elevator with three other players, and barely surviving the trip due to an onslaught of eight to ten Koopa (Paratroopas, I’m assuming).
Fortunately, there are some tricks to help the players make it through, such as using Yoshi’s tongue to nail the Hammer Bros. with their own hammers.
Another challenge came in the form of the rafts seen in screens and trailers; some apparently have a number on it, indicating the load it can bear– and that includes enemies. When floating across a toxic river, a sinking raft is the last thing you want.
World 8, grim as ever, now seems to have a bit of darkened amusement to it– they describe riding what appeared to them as a roller coaster made of bones. “Hard as it was to ride the roller-coaster and still avoid enemies and jets of flame, not one of us was prepared for the roller-coaster to plunge into the lava. I guess we should have jumped. Or used Super Guide.”
Aside from the Super Guide, the game’s most touted feature has been the ability for players to either work together to proceed, or to work against one-another to ensure their demise. But there are apparently some kinks in that as well.
We’ve known since E3 that a fallen player will return to the scene inside a floating bubble that they can shake with the Wii Remote to move close enough to something to pop. However, if all four players should succumb to one of the game’s opposing forces at the same time, then they will all have to start the level over.
As long as one player remains active, however, the level will proceed as the survivor chooses whether or not to acknowledge the colleagues’ cries for help coming from the Wii Remote’s speaker.
By the way, for those wondering: power-ups seem ineffective against other players, such as fire and iceballs. Yoshi, on the other hand, can make lunch of his fellow heroes. Environmental objects can prove lethal as well, such as in the case of finding a barrel to throw at your entourage.
Super Mario Bros. has always had hidden passages filled with coins, but Kotaku makes it seem as though these are even more prevalent in NSMBWii, including the coins which appear from jumping through invisible outlines before being collected (seen in NSMB DS) and numbered red coins.
Another new twist looks back to the old school of Mario gameplay. For those who played the original title, you’ll remember that before rescuing Peach, you would find a number of “Mushroom Retainer” Toads that would inform you that the object of your affections lies elsewhere. Well, rescuing Toads is en vogue once more in the game’s campaign mode, where players will return to levels that have been cleared, find the marooned mushroom citizen, and carry them out of the level.
Beyond the regular game, there is more multiplayer fun to be had in challenge stages, which are mostly taken from regular stages within the game. The two variations are Free For All and Coin Battle; FFA sees players working together or against each other in the pursuit of life, liberty, and a higher score. Coin Battle, on the other hand, is pure capitalism in action: first you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women.
Except maybe replace “women” with “bragging rights.” Just don’t get carried away, lest one of your fellow players decides to belt you one.
One Coin Battle stage sounds interesting, as it takes place in a Ghost House where players can apparently manipulate the Boos within into taking out their opponents. “In single-player Mario games, turning your back on a ghost caused the ghost to creep up behind you and kill you. In multiplayer Mario, it’s a good way to get the ghost to fly right into the Luigi standing between you and the ghost, killing Luigi (temporarily!)”
I can just imagine telling other players to “Rest… in… PEACE!” in my best Undertaker impersonation.
Another Coin Battle stage seemed to be based on the original Mario Bros.
game (familiar to those who have the Super Mario Advance titles, no doubt). From there, the players seemed to be transported to one of the original Super Mario Bros.’ underground levels.
Kotaku notes that playing with others can be challenging, thanks to constant collision and death, though it doesn’t get frustrating. Furthermore, no doubt to the delight of many, the pause which occurred in earlier versions whenever someone would die is gone. Hopefully, the power-up pause will also have been removed, but they didn’t say.
November 15th is when the brothers Mario return, and with each passing day, the wait just gets a little harder to stand.
