Editor's note: Chris absolutely nails why I named New Super Mario Bros. Wii my game of the year last year: It provides simple, unadulterated fun. Does that mean we need more simplicity in our video games? -Brett
A funny thing happened to me as I played through New Super Mario Bros. Wii: I realized that I wanted to beat it simply for the sake of beating it. No narrative, achievement system, or buzz on the Internet motivated me to complete it. Nothing but the gameplay itself compelled me to finish it, or play through it a second time in search of all the Star coins and secret paths.
But even though I knew I was having fun, I didn't understand the uniqueness of New Super Mario Bros. Wii until I thought about why I enjoyed it so much.
If someone asked you why you played a given game, you might cite the typical reasons: you wanted to see how the story ends; the upgrading system addicted you; you played it together with friends; or you found it just plain fun. These are all viable reasons, but only the last answer indicates the appeal of the simplicity of certain games.
To me, New Super Mario Bros. Wii is one of those games — an intrinsically entertaining and unabashedly simple experience.
The plot is negligible to the degree that it need not exist. The music and art are good but not great. You can't earn Achievements or Trophies to show the world how much time and effort you put into the game. Furthermore, the discussion about the game in late 2009 had an uninspired matter-of-fact tone: "Here is the new Mario game. It is like the old ones. There are few surprises. Oh, and it's good."
New Super Mario Bros. Wii does not develop or expand the platforming genre with new ideas. It's deliberately derivative — cribbing from its own history. What you learn about the game, how you feel about it, and how you spend your time with it are all contained within it. The only thing that can be said about it is that little can be said about it.
So why do I love the game so much? Because playing it makes me want to play it more. Completing the second castle in World 1 is the only way to get to level 2-1, which leads to 2-2, which leads to 2-3, and so on, until I've beat the game and the credits roll.
You could make a case that the fun of New Super Mario Bros. Wii comes not from the gameplay in general, but from its controls. The physics of running and jumping with Mario have, to me, been perfect ever since Super Mario Bros. 2. (Luigi is a different story.) In other words, I play Mario games simply to control Mario.
I find it fascinating that such simplicity still sells millions of units around the world — and what my enjoyment of that simplicity reveals about my tastes is equally exciting to think about.
Whereas games like Mass Effect, BioShock, and Heavy Rain generate buzz by pushing video game storytelling in new, more thoughtful directions — expanding the terms of game design in the process — New Super Mario Bros. Wii does the opposite. It recoils, contracts in on itself.
I don't mind that. Despite my affection for complex, envelope-pushing games, I cannot get enough of Mario and its simple, one-dimensional, old-school fun.