Mario Bros. Wii's Single Player

Ever since its unveiling at E3 2009, gamers have been, well, ambivalent in their response to New Super Mario Bros. Wii. From its initial trailers and videos, it looks like an incredibly fun platformer that can be enjoyed by four people. On the other hand, it admittedly does look like it's only marginally enhanced over its DS prequel. But that's not what this post is about. This post is about its single player (which you could undoubtedly gauge from the tile), which has worried people for how well it could play when you don't have any people around to grab the controller. Most people frequently don't, so it's definitely a legitimate concern.

Many of us put our faith in Nintendo EAD and Shigeru Miyamoto, and believed that they would design their levels so meticulously that it would be playable in both. But could they? That sounds like an incredibly tough job to achieve, and it's not like Nintendo hasn't had any missteps. Well, earlier this week, we received video proof that Nintendo might have actually achieved that goal.

This trailer (also available on the Nintendo channel) shows what's possible by more dedicated players in the game, and a good portion of it shows how potentially enjoyable the single player can be. Also, I think this might be a sign of things to come; with a plethora of super plays being available on Youtube probably not too long after the game releases. It also reassures my sentiment that it looks better than the way-too-rudimentary DS game. Portions of the demo at VGXPO felt pretty tough in a few spots (though that was sometimes because of the chaos with your partners), which is more than I can say for too many of the levels in the last game. That warms my heart.

Not too long after that video was posted, Wired uploaded contents of a round table session journalists had with Miyamoto, where he discussed, in detail, the vision of the final game. It really seems as if the game is really designed for everyone in mind. In other words, it doesn't feature any haphazard game design that's the developer's of catering to a more casual audience, something that marred the experience of the aforementioned New Super Mario Bros., along with Metroid Prime 3 and (pretty severely) The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. It's nice that Nintendo is seeing where to bridge the divide.

So yes, New Super Mario Bros. Wii will easily hold you off until Super Mario Galaxy 2 releases sometime next year.