Mario games were plentiful at E3 this year and first on the block was New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Nintendo took the proven DS game and made some tweaks to drop the game on their uber successful home console. This time around, you get four player co-op as you progress through any level. I spent some time with the game at Nintendo’s booth and had mixed emotions.

The same graphical style from the DS edition is employed here on the Wii with somewhat sloppy results. The game doesn’t look nearly as crisp as it could. It seems as if the developers took the DS version and upscaled the graphics and textures. Sounds are done a bit better with your typical Mario stylings.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is only played in the classic configuration with the Wii Remote. You can dash and jump with the 1 and 2 buttons or grab and throw enemies and other players. This ability gives a very minimal Smash Bros. feel to the game as you can compete for who gets the most points in any given stage. You get nothing for coming in first place, so it’s just about mocking your other friends on the couch. The game is whole heap more fun with four players than going at it alone, but if you don’t have friends around, you’re up a creek. There is no online component to the game.

There are a few new power-ups in the game, such as the propeller suit and penguin suit, but nothing mind blowing and those shown off at E3 weren’t even as cool as the bee suit in Super Mario Galaxy. All in all, this game will sell a ton, without question. It’s geared much more towards the casual player than the core gamer, but it’ll be fun if you have some friends who want to come over and play.