Mario creator and EAD General Manager Shigeru Miyamoto has made it known that for years, he has wanted to allow more than one player to be able to take part in the main quest of a Mario title, but says that until now, it was only a dream. "After that [Mario Bros.], on every Mario project we have discussed the possibility of having two players play together simultaneously," he said during the recent Nintendo Japan Q&A session.

Prior to New Super Mario Bros. Wii, players at best would take turns clearing away levels in Super Mario Bros. 3 and opening new paths in Super Mario World. Years later, Super Mario Galaxy would feature a sort of co-op mode which would allow a second player to manipulate the environment the first player, Mario, traversed by using the Wii Remote to control a cursor and fire Star Bits.

But now, New Super Mario Bros. Wii will allow Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad, and Yellow Toad to tackle the turtle tribe together triumphantly as a team. And it's all thanks to the graphical prowess of the Wii.

Said Miyamoto, via Siliconera:

It was all thanks to the graphical capacity of Wii console. If two players or more are simultaneously controlling Mario and Luigi in the same screen on a platformer game, the slower player will be left behind by the faster player, beyond the game screen. This time the screen zooms in and out accordingly, thanks to the capacity of the Wii console. The camera can zoom out as far as three times wider where you can see a very small Mario running around, and zoom in to show huge Mario and Luigi. The camera will work automatically and simultaneously, according to the position of four players. That's how we realized a Mario game which can be played by up to four players at the same time.

In addition to the teamwork and competitive aspects that four players introduces, Miyamoto believes strongly that this will work well as an exercise in helping to balance the difficulty for newer players: "If there is one veteran player among four players, he or she can lead the other three and they don't have to do much. People can enjoy a kind of play like peeking inside Bowser's castle to see how scary it is," he notes.

I could definitely see some families getting into this, perhaps some children new to video games following the experienced father (or possibly mother) along as they travel together through Koopa country.

---

As one might expect, Nintendo's hopes for this title are quite high, following the success of New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS, and that includes Nintendo of Europe. "This is a triple-A Mario launch, and we hope it will perform strongly, and surprise and delight Wii owners this Christmas – and then into 2010 and beyond," said Senior Product Manager Rob Lowe to
"The four-player mode is definitely key," Lowe continued. "I'm sure anyone who played the E3 version knows how much fun it is jumping on other players' heads, competing for points and racing until the end of the level. It's like a cross between Super Mario World and Mario Kart. Doesn't that sound amazing?"

"We've just got the game into the office and it's even better than we hoped it would be – in fact, the Official Nintendo Magazine has given it 96 per cent," Lowe says.
"It's a game that's been designed with real Mario fans in mind, whilst the multiplayer mode opens it up to the broader Wii audience.

"We think it could be a contender from Christmas No.1, and will certainly be around the top of the charts this festive period."

To help ensure its success, they are setting it up to be the "the biggest Mario launch we've done on Wii yet." To that end, it will not only be on hand during the Nintendo House Sampling Tour, but also have a dedicated TV campaign of ten-second teaser ads over the two weeks leading up to the game's release.

From there, November and December will have "additional ads that feature both CGI Mario animation and footage of genuine Mario fans trying out NSMB Wii for the first time." The ads will mainly be targeted at families, "while children will be targeted with a huge takeover of kids' media on the game's launch weekend. This will include ads on children's TV channels, site takeovers on key gaming and kids' websites, and cover-wraps and gatefolds on all major kids' magazines."

Hmm, CGI Mario? I hope Nintendo of America has something similar in store.

---

But speaking of Nintendo of America, they do have the official New Super Mario Bros. Wii website up and operational. Not everything is running yet, but there is quite a bit to check out there now, including numerous videos.

Hopefully it will be filled with even more leading up to the game's launch.