I was thoroughly impressed when I first played NSMB Wii at launch. However, this was definitely not an AAA game of the year title. No, not all was perfect in Mushroom Kingdom.

For those of you expecting it to be just like the DS version, prepare to be a little disappointed. I would say it’s a bit clunky. Things just don’t seem to respond the way I’m used to. Maybe it’s just me, but the wall jump seems very different.

The multi-player is kind of cool, but you run into issues with people jumping on top of you, and running into you. It won’t necessarily kill you, but it can make things fairly frustrating. This game can cause relationship issues if you play with the wrong people. Choose your cooperative partner wisely.

The levels are a bit more trickier. Due to the Wii’s superior capabilities in comparison to the DS, they’ve added a number of new elements to the gameplay. I’m sure you’ve all seen videos of the levels where parts of the floor are spinning. Yeah, that’s right, it’s more than just spinning cogs in boss levels now! There’s a variety of other new additions such as floating blocks, Yoshi, and flying manta rays.

The power-ups seem kinda gimped. There’s a penguin suit, which is mostly used for ice levels, a propeller hat that can help with flying briefly, a fire suit, and an ice suit. (Which are basically the same thing, one just freezes enemies instead of killing them outright, but there’s a certain strategy there you’ll notice once you play it. Like freezing fish and having them rise to the top and act as platforms). There’s also the invincible star, and a shrinking mushroom. As far as I know, there’s no mushroom to turn you into a big fella. That’s a shame, it was my favorite one.

In regards to power-ups, Yoshi feels gimped as well. Not necessarily in purpose, but in action. I’m midway through World Five, and I can count the number of times I’ve used Yoshi on my left hand. The worst part is that you can’t take him with you to new levels! Why even put Yoshi on the cover if you’re going to underutilize him.

Nintendo loves waggle, but in NSMB you use the waggle for only a select amount of things. It’s definitely not waggle-dependent like some games. All it does is spin-jump your character, and the effects are different for each power-up you have. For heavier objects propeller blocks or toadstools, one must spin while holding Button 1. I’ve seen many claim that the game is too sensitive, and has too much undesired spin-jumping. However, I have not yet had any bad experiences with this.

It’s addicting, I’ll give it that much. It stands on its own fairly well, but analogous to Mario Kart there’s just some things between the DS and Wii versions that you’ll miss.

I’ve heard a number of people asking about the difficulty of the game. I’d probably place it a notch above the original. It’s not too terribly hard, but then sometimes it’s pretty frustrating. If you’re playing with even two people, sometimes you’ll just think to yourself, “Damn, this would be easier if it was just me.”

I’ve only reached World Five, but I’d say that’s far enough along to give a fair assessment of what works and what doesn’t. Then again, with games like these, I doubt much will change by the time I get to World Nine.

If you’re looking for a good multiplayer game on the Wii, I wouldn’t rush out and buy this. This game is excellent; however, I feel like it’s an odd mix between Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World that still maintains the aesthetic of New Super Mario Bros. DS.

This is definitely a nice addition the franchise, but it’s definitely different. I was expecting this to be spiritual sequel to the DS rendition, but the final product was something much more.