And there's a lot more where that came from, courtesy of the scanning prowess of Zelda Power, which looks to have each and every Nintendo designed card, from Animal Crossing to Pokemon to Professor Layton and beyond. A few other Japanese developers from Capcom, Konami, Square Enix and elsewhere also took part, which can be seen in the gallery at Zelda Power.

Nintendo Dream: Developer New Years Cards 2010 [Zelda Power]

As of December 13, the Wii has sold 9,048,012 units since it went on sale in Japan, while the PS3 has sold 4,020,563. The PS3 experienced a significant spike in sales this year. In December 2008, Enterbrain tallied 2.6 million PS3 units sold in Japan. The Wii sold 7.5 million.

Wii title New Super Mario Bros. Wii continues to give a 1up to software sales, moving 1.4 million copies in its first 11 days on sale. As previously posted, the game is the fastest selling Wii title to date.

販売台数Wiiは900万台、PS3は400万台を突破！ 気になるアレは大台達成！ - ファミ通.com [Famitsu]

Nintendo's follow-up to yesterday's sales figures says that the Wii game has racked up at least another 610,000 sales in the days following the NPD Group's tracking period. That would be from November 29 to December 10, more or less, about 50,000 copies a day on average.

We'd expect to see New Super Mario Bros. Wii on the NPD charts for a long time, as we did with New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS and Mario Kart Wii.

Settling for third, behind the two versions of Modern Warfare 2, was Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which managed 1.39 million copies. Nintendo's latest Mario adventure for the Wii did so with five fewer days on U.S. store shelves.

Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed II came closest to reaching New Super Mario Bros. Wii, with 794,700 units on the 360, 448,400 on the PS3. Combined, Assassin's Creed II came even closer, with 1,243,100 copies sold across both platforms.

The Xbox 360 and Wii tied for the number of top ten games appearing on each platform. The Xbox 360 scored top showings with Left 4 Dead 2 and Dragon Age: Origins, with Wii bestsellers Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort continuing to score big figures.

The full top ten, according to the NPD Group is as follows.

01. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) - 4,200,000
02. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3) - 1,870,000
03. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii) - 1,390,000
04. Assassin's Creed II (Xbox 360) - 794,700
05. Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360) - 744,000
06. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) - 720,200
07. Wii Fit Plus (Wii) - 679,000
08. Assassin's Creed II (PS3) - 448,400
09. Dragon Age: Origins (Xbox 360) - 362,100
10. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) - 315,000

Total software sales were a relatively healthy $1.406B, down just 3.1% from the November prior. Thanks, Modern Warfare 2.

"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has achieved the top spot for first-month sales of any game at the title level," says Anita Frazier, NPD analyst. "Halo 3 previously held the spot when it sold 3.3 million units in September '07 in 12 days at retail. MW2 bested Halo 3's daily sales rate by 16% in its 19 days at retail in November.""

"While this year's top-selling item bested last year's by 283%, it couldn't make up for softness elsewhere. The top 50 games this year sold 5% less units than did the top 50 last year."

I didn't. That's why after playing through the entire game, even before it came out, I decided to bug Nintendo with a list of questions and together we prepared a Super Guide guide of sorts.

Many thanks to Nintendo of America's senior manager of product marketing Bill Trinen for these answers.

Can the Super Guide be used in multiplayer matches?
No, it can only be used in the single-player mode.

How many deaths does it take to activate the Super Guide? Do they have to be in a row and on the same level?

The Super Guide is activated after eight deaths. They don't have to be in a row, but they do have to be on the same level. Super Guide only activates for the level on which you die eight times.

If you switch from multiplayer to single-player or vice versa, how does that impact the guide counter?

Super Guide only appears in the single-player campaign. So only single-player deaths count toward the Super Guide tally.

If you take over play for Luigi during a play-through, do you start collecting stars and coins?

You can collect power-ups while playing as Luigi, but overall progress is not counted toward your main save. You have to replay the level as Mario for that progress to count.

Is there anything that records and shows how often you've used the Super Guide?

The game tracks whether or not you've used Super Guide and there is a reward for completing the game without using it.

If you use the Super Guide on a level and then go back and play through the level, will you ever be able to activate the guide again on that level? If so, how?

Yes. Once you die eight times on a level, the green Super Guide block will always appear at the beginning of the level. You can activate it as many times as you want.

Are the Super Guide demos the recorded play of one person or multiple people?

The Super Guide and Hint Movies were recorded by multiple people.

This is the biggest debut for a Wii title.

Between December 3 and December 6, the game sold 936,734 copies, posting higher first week sales than the previous top first week Wii title Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which sold 816,000 titles.

ミリオン目前、『New スーパーマリオブラザーズ Wii』の初週販売本数が発表 - ファミ通.com [Famitsu]

Japanese retail blog Sinobi's estimates put New Super Mario Bros. Wii's first day sales ahead of that of Super Mario Galaxy's, which managed 256,000 units sold in its first week on Japanese store shelves. But the Wii follow-up to New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS will likely fall short of its portable predecessor. New Super Mario Bros. DS racked up some 900,000 units sold during week one.

Some of Mario's other Wii games started a little stronger out of the gate, including Super Smash Bros. Brawl (816,000 units sold) and Mario Kart Wii (608,00 units sold). Expect more solid numbers to arrive mid-week.

「ニュー・スーパーマリオブラザーズ・Wii」初日で42万本を販売、他｜忍之閻魔帳 [Sinobi via AndriaSang]

The following are average playing times, per Wii user, since the launch of the game through December 1, 2009.

The data is collected only from users who volunteered to share their data with the Wii's Nintendo Channel. In the case of Call of Duty, for example, that appears to cover a little over 3,700 consoles' playing history. The Mario number is from the stats collected in just under 29,000 consoles. (For more on the methodology I use in these Wii stats posts, check yesterday's article).

The Beatles Rock Band (Released Sept. 9) - 14 hours, 50 minutes

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex Edition (Released Nov. 10) - 14 hours, 56 minutes 17 hours, 22 minutes [Figure updated. Original one was an error.]

Madden NFL10 (Released August 14) - 15 hours, 45 minutes

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Released Oct. 13) - 10 hours, 50 minutes

Metroid Prime Anthology (Released Aug. 24) - 22 hours, 53 minutes

Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Released Sept. 8) - 12 hours, 48 minutes

New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Released Nov, 15) - 9 hours, 47 minutes

Wii Fit Plus (Released Oct. 4) - 9 hours, 50 minutes

Wii Sports Resort (Released July 26) - 18 hours, 39 minutes

(No data available yet for Lego Indiana Jones 2, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, EA Sports Active More Workouts, Dead Space Extraction and WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010)

Bear in mind that these numbers do not represent sales or popularity. Many more people bought New Super Mario Bros. Wii than did Muramasa. But how much time did people who got these games spend with that? That's what is measured here. Consider it a satisfaction index, a measure of pleasure.

While the YouTube HD video runs at a snail's pace, the creator of the above video says the Wii game ran at a smooth 60 frames per second on his rig and copy of Dolphin. Place blame on video capture tool Fraps, which makes for a Mario as slow as molasses and the occasional audio-visual glitch.

Wii HD theories may be nothing more than that, but if Nintendo engineers are considering some sort of higher-definition option for future iterations of the console, we sure hope it's backwards compatible with at least this particular game.

New Super Mario Bros Wii Dolphin [YouTube via Joystick Division]

While the list below isn't a rundown of all of the reviews that ran this year on Kotaku, it is a fairly strong sampling. Use it to help you decide what you should and shouldn't get.

Which games make your list for wishlist or gift list?

A Boy and His Blob

Price: $39.99
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Platformer
Subject Matter:A Boy and His Blob is a platform game in which the titular duo use their wits and the Blob's transformative powers to overcome obstacles as they try to save the planet from an evil alien overlord.
Value: Moderately lengthy for a platformer, A Boy and His Blob's main draw is it's combination of platforming and puzzle-solving, using the unique morphing blob mechanic to create ladders, holes, trampolines and more to help traverse increasingly hostile environments. The graphics are gorgeous and the presentation is charmingly bare. It's almost artistic.
Buy it for: fans of the original game and people with a strong bond to their pets
Read the Full Review

Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Price: $49.99
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Marble-shooting, creature-battling action game.
Subject Matter: Based on the wildly popular collectible toy game and cartoon series, Bakugan follows in the footsteps of Pokemon but adds transforming marbles to the mix. The game does a good job of capturing the essence of the franchise.
Value: With a relatively robust single-player campaign and ability to battle up to three friends on one television in a slew of interactive arenas, this game is a pretty good deal.
Buy it for:fans of Bakugan and maybe even curious fans of Pokemon.
Read the Full Review

The Beatles: Rock Band
Price: The stand-alone game sells for $59.99, the Limited Edition Premium Bundle sell for $249.99, the Rickenbacker 325 Standalone Guitar and the Gretsch Duo Jet Standalone Guitar sells for $99.99.
Rating: Teen
Genre: Rhythm music game
Subject Matter: The Beatles: Rock Band is a musical journey through the history of one of the world's most popular bands.
Value: For those new to the Rock Band phenomenon and fans of The Beatles, this 45-track game is well worth a purchase because this is the only way you'll play The Beatles music in a Rock Band game. If you're not into the band, give this a pass.
Buy it for: huge Beatles fans.
Read the Full Review

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex
Price: $49.99
Rating: M
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Subject Matter: The Call of Duty series jumps from old school wars to modern combat in an edgy politically-charged tale of nuclear warfare.
Value: With Wii shooters few and far between, this is a must-have for FPS fans.
Buy it for: FPS fans who also happen to be Wii owners. Or your grandma, if you're trying to get un-invited to the family reunion.
Read the Full Review

Contra ReBirth

Price: $10.00 (WiiWare)
Rating: Teen
Genre: Action
Subject Matter: A new entry in the Contra series in glorious, Super Nintendo-era 2D.
Value: It's short and hard, like a body-building elf. ReBirth takes the classic 2D run-and-gun gameplay of the Contra series and...doesn't do all that much with it. It's a new game with an old look.
Read the Full Review

Dead Space Extraction
Price: $49.99
Rating: M
Genre: Dynamic on-rails first-person shooter.
Subject Matter: Sci-fi horror prequel to 2008's Dead Space, featuring survivors on the run from alien horrors.
Value: A short Wii game, but one of the best-looking and most exciting ones in recent memory.
Buy it for: Fans of the Dead Space series and Wii gamers looking for a game targeted to an older crowd; this one's too profane for kids.
Read the Full Review

DJ Hero
Price: $119.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Rhythm
Subject Matter: DJ Hero is a rhythm game featuring a replica DJ turntable so players can mix and scratch to the beat of original music mash-ups.
Value: DJ Hero features upwards fo 100 different DJ-driven mash-ups featuring songs from the 70's on up to present-day hits. Unlike the latest Guitar Hero or Rock Band games, however, it's only good for one or two players, so the party element just isn't there. The innovative turntable-based gameplay makes it a breath of fresh air in the currently band-centric music genre, but it certainly isn't as social.
Buy it for: Fans of eclectic music mixes and lonely Guitar Hero fans.
Read the Full Review

Excitebike: World Rally

Price: $10 (download only)
Genre: Arcade racer
Subject Matter: An update to the classic Nintendo racer Excitebike, with a few minor gameplay tweaks and a revised link.
Value: A touch pricey for what is essentially a modern day port of a classic racer, but I suppose nostalgia has no price.
Buy it for: fans of classic Nintendo games and pick up and play gaming.
Read the Full Review

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A Darklord

Price: $10 (download only)
Rating: E10+
Genre: Tower Defense
Subject Matter: In an twist on the genre, evil princess gets to stack one tower against invaders.
Value: Lots of levels, but the creators charge extra for a lot of the cooler items and features.
Buy it for: Tower defense fans who want a major change to the traditional formula
Read the Full Review

Ju-on: The Grudge

Price: $29.99
Rating: M
Genre: Horror, Action
Subject Matter: Relive the eeriness of the Japanese horror sensation in this "haunted house simulator."
Value: With a second Wii Remote, you can randomly inflict scary "haunting" moments on the person playing the game by mashing A.
Buy it for: Japanese horror film fans and anybody you secretly hate but don't dare give lumps of coal to.
Read the Full Review

LEGO Rock Band

Price: $49.99
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Rhythm
Subject Matter: It's the family version of Rock Band, with adorable LEGO characters.
Value:The value in LEGO Rock Band comes mainly from knowing your children won't be exposed to any suggestive lyrics or imagery, so if you're the type of parent/aunt/uncle that actually worries about such things, then there you are. Otherwise, you get somewhere around 44 songs that will just be released as downloadable content for the main game anyway.
Buy it for: Younger fans of good music who already have access to Rock Band instruments.
Read the Full Review

Little King's Story

Price: $49.99
Rating: T
Genre: Role-playing game mixed with empire-building
Subject Matter: A fairy-tale-style king at odds with increasingly clever and culturally-interesting enemies tribes and kings.
Value: High. Lengthy, imaginative single-player quest.
Buy it for: Wii owners who want a game that will last; fans of quirky, more artsy video games.
Read the Full Review

LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias

Price: 1000 Wii Points
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Platform
Subject Matter: It's the sequel to 2008's LostWinds with the new ability to switch between seasons (winter and summer).
Value: Small touches, like the character being realistically refracted when standing behind ice, made us forget this is not a packaged retail release. The graphics and music are both deliver — as does the Wii Remote gameplay.
Buy it for: Gamers looking for a breezy and cute platformer.
Read the Full Review

Marvel Super Hero Squad
Price: $39.99
Rating: Everyone 10+
Genre: Beat-em Up
Subject Matter: A standard tale of good versus evil told with tiny, superdeformed Marvel characters
Value: While the adventure mode will only last a couple of hours, Marvel Super Hero Squad features a Battle Mode that lets your kids fight against each other using iconic Marvel Comics characters, so there is some lasting value there, if only for the youngins'.
Buy it for: kids old enough to enjoy Marvel Characters but not old enough to handle Captain America getting shot and killed
Read the Full Review

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Price: $49.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Action RPG
Subject Matter: A highly Japanese hack and slash RPG with very striking 2D visuals.
Value:A gorgeous single-player action RPG, Muramasa has a great deal of gameplay but very little in the way of story development. Lots of over-the-top action and some very impressive boss fights make up for the overall lack of depth.
Buy it for: Japanese RPG and anime fans.
Read the Full Review

MySims Agents

Price: $49.99
Rating: E
Genre: Action/Adventure
Subject Matter: Make your MySim into the ultimate secret agent by unraveling a huge mystery.
Value: Lots of customizable costumes and outfits, plus a secret alternate ending and bonus puzzles lend the game replay value.
Buy it for: Your kids and play it when they aren't looking.
Read the Full Review

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Price: $49.99
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Side-scrolling, nostalgia-tugging platformer
Subject Matter: New Super Mario Bros. Wii doesn't explore any new narratives, you're still Mario who is still trying to save the princess, but this time around you can play with three friends, and the game is there to help you when you get stuck.
Value: New Super Mario Bros. Wii feels like two games in one, and there are several mulitplayer modes to add to the fun after you've beaten the game.
Buy it for: Anyone with a Wii, anyone considering a Wii.
Read the Full Review

Rabbids Go Home
Price: $49.99
Rating: E10+
Genre: Comedy platformer
Subject Matter: Three manic rabbit-like creatures and their shopping cart put to task to rob humanity of its junk in order to build a pile and pathway to the moon. Plus, the Rabbids can and must yell the clothes off ridiculous people.
Value: A pleasant and funny adventure that will last a weekend, but longer for those who want to collect 100%.
Buy it for: Gamers who want a game that makes them laugh out loud; fans of platforming looking for a Mario alternative; people looking for the Rabbids to finally star in something that isn't a mini-game compilation.
Read the Full Review

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles
Price: $49.99
Rating: M
Genre: On-rails shooter, Resident Evil retrospective
Subject Matter: Single-player or co-op light gun shooter takes on Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil Code: Veronica, wrapped up in a short, new pre-Resident-Evil-4 campaign, all presented with RE's mix of horror and cheese (though this one isn't scary).
Value: Light gun games are usually very short, but this one has three campaigns and enough unlockables to offer at least nine hours of first-time play.
Buy it for: Resident Evil fans; people looking for a less innovative Wii light gun game than Dead Space Extraction and a less outrageous one than House of the Dead: Overkill, but, of the three, the one with the most content. A solid game.
Read the Full Review

Spyborgs

Price: $19.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Beat-em Up
Subject Matter: Spyborgs is a simple arcade-style beat-em up with cartoon tendencies.
Buy it for: Young children and early teens who've yet to develop discerning tastes.
Value: $19.99 could very well translate into keeping your kids quiet (or at least only yelling at each other) for a few hours, or some quality parent-child bonding time. It's not particularly exciting, but it'll do in a pinch.
Read the Full Review

Sword & Soldiers

Price: $10 (download only)
Rating: E10+
Genre: Side-scrolling real-time-strategy game.
Subject Matter: Vikings vs. ninjas vs. Aztecs
Value: High, given the amount of levels, the gleefully violent cartoon visuals and the creative campaign.
Buy it for: Fans looking for cartoon violence on the Wii and fans of Patapon the only game remotely like this.
Read the Full Review

Wii Energizer 4X Charging Station

Price: $49.99
Rating: N/A
Genre: N/A
Subject Matter:An induction panel that charges up to four remotes at a time.
Value: With four rechargeable battery packs included with the induction panel, this seems like a fairly good deal.
Buy it for:Wii owners sick of burning through batteries and people who have their console set up in a place where space is at a premium.
Read the Full Review

Wii Fit Plus

Price: $19.99 (game only), $99.99 (with Balance Board)
Rating: E
Genre: Fitness, Sports
Subject Matter: A slew of next mini-games and a handful of new exercises round out Nintendo's home fitness tool.
Value: With a new multiplayer function and the ability to weigh your cat, baby or dog, Wii Fit Plus pushes its fun on the whole family.
Buy it for: Yourself because you're too lazy to go to the gym, your grandparents who need help getting over last year's hip surgery, or your brother-in-law who should really be watching his weight.
Read the Full Review

Wii Sports Resort

Price: $49.99
Rating: Everyone
Genre: Casual sports
Subject Matter: Wii Sports Resort drops you on an island with a dozen sports to attempt using the Wii's new, more accurate MotionPlus device.
Value: Packed with a MotionPlus remote add-on and a hefty collection of sports, this is a must have for Wii owners.
Buy it for: Fans of Wii Sports, casual gamers, anyone looking for some family time on their Wii.
Read the Full Review

The publication has stated that just moving Mario around is amusing, co-op play is fun and single player is a good time as well.

Critics score games on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best score. The four scores are then tallied, and 40 is perfecto.
Today, only eleven, well, now twelve games have been awarded the perfect score. The latest is multi-platform title Bayonetta. Multi-platform Bayonetta is the first game to appear on the Xbox 360 to receive this score.

To review, here are the previous 40/40 games:
1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)

2. Soulcalibur (1999)

3. Vagrant Story (2000)

4. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2003)

5. Nintendogs (2005)

6. Final Fantasy XII (2006)

7. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)

8. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008)

9. 428 (2008)

10. Dragon Quest IX (2009)

11. Monster Hunter Tri (2009)
12. Bayonetta (2009)

To recap: No games in 2001, 2002, 2004 or 2007 got a 40/40, but three games in 2008 and four games in 2009 have been awarded the magic number. What's next, five 40/40 games in 2010? Six in 2011?

OH WAIT. Final Fantasy XIII comes out this year in Japan — whatever will Famitsu do?

Fresno Bee writer Mike Osegueda reports that he and his wife initially were having a frustrating time playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii together.

And then, without the cost of a therapist, Osegueda had a revelation:

I realized the way I play "Mario" is like a bachelor lives — running through each level as quickly as possible, daring crazy jumps and sometimes paying the price.

She's more slow and careful, watching how situations develop before making a move.

I'd see her glaring at me when I ran too far ahead. But she was there to slow me down when I was about to do something that would probably kill Mario and end our game.

As we continued to play, we started handling the game the way we handle chores — picking tasks that fit us best individually. It's why she washes the dishes and I put them away.

Soon, I saw "marriage" in Mario's every move. When our characters gather coins, they all go into one pot. Hello, joint bank account. Picking which level to play next is sort of like picking what to have for dinner. You should talk about it before pressing a button.

Over the weekend I played New Super Mario Bros. Wii with a few other people. Not being a polygamist, I can't liken that weekend session to any marriage I've ever been part of. The rotating trio of us had all the coordination and cooperation of a group of people running after a hundred dollar bill.

'New Super Mario Bros. Wii' is a lesson in marriage [Fresno Bee]

"Being granted the opportunity to be friends or adversaries, games allow us to act out the worst of human pathologies and encourage behaviors that would get us yelled at, arrested, or killed in the real world," writes Jamin Brophy-Warren for Slate. This is hardly a news flash. But it's depressing to consider that, in a Mario's return to a 2D platformer after 20 years, we still haven't progressed much further than adolescent brothers taking advantage of the game to antagonize each other.

I'd argue that the reason he had a bad experience with it is because he didn't know his co-player. That made the guy completely unaccountable, and his provocations would stand unless and until the writer called him on his bullshit, which would be more uncomfortable to do face-to-face to a stranger in a "fun" environment than just walking away.

Brophy-Warren ponders why multiplayer is an inherently brutish or uncouth pursuit, and I think he answers it in his last paragraph: When you game with people you know and respect, you're more likely to actually cooperate. Otherwise, "Most cooperative games lie in a vast middle ground, however, a no man's land between altruism and gaming Darwinism that offers up a host of ways to misbehave."

Et Tu, Mario? [Slate, Nov. 13]

Jesper Juul, a video-game researcher and professor at NYU's newly minted Game Center, argues that multiplayer games give us three things to balance. Players want to win and they want the game to be fair, but they also need to navigate whatever relationships they have outside the game-that is, if you shoot your friend in the head in Call of Duty, you'll have to answer for that in the offline world. My brother and the jerk from E3 were solely concerned with winning. I mostly cared about the game being fair. None of us, though, sat down and talked about the third factor-what we were planning to do during our journey as in-game teammates.

This planning comes up most frequently in massively multiplayer games like World of Warcraft. In that game, players create guilds and go on quests in pursuit of gold and weaponry. Defeating an enemy yields goodies that guilds must choose how to distribute. In a perfect world, everyone would work together to give the appropriate items to the most deserving players. There is a breed of WoW player, however, known as the "loot ninja" or "greeder," a scoundrel who steals items from fallen comrades or takes more than his share after a battle. (There are also more flagrant modes of sabotage. In the infamous Leeeroy Jenkins video, an overexcitable player decides to take on a difficult boss single-handedly, sabotaging his guild's meticulous plan. The results are predictably surreal.)

This type of stuff was happening long before World of Warcraft. In side-scrolling brawlers such as the early-1990s title Streets of Rage, power-ups appeared along the way that could heal your wounded party or give players special abilities. Bleeding-heart video-game liberals like myself would argue that health packs should always go to the weakest member of the party. This would often lead to discussions about who "deserved" the triage, which begot a lot of petty bickering, which begot fistfights. This Photoshopped box art for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II-which includes the tagline "It's My Turn to Get the Pizza You Asshole I Need it More!"-is a perfect encapsulation of the phenomenon.

Part of the problem (and the joy) of playing games is that such behavior isn't explicitly condoned or condemned. Looting and friendly fire aren't forbidden by most games, which leaves us to figure out our own rules. This is the right decision: Good game designers allow players to be whoever they want and trust they'll come to their own consensus about what constitutes "fair play." That's why the New Super Mario Bros. Wii was more enjoyable when I played it as God intended-with a good friend and copious amounts of beer. There was no back-stabbing, and no one's feelings were hurt.

- Jamin Brophy-Warren

Weekend Reader is Kotaku's look at the critical thinking in, and of video games. It appears Saturdays at noon. Please take the time to read the full article cited before getting involved in the debate here.

That's how Nintendo is selling the game in Japan — roping in Japanese celebrities to play the game. Not the most exciting ads, but they'll probably do the trick. Oh, and here's the Ponyo music video!

This might be played through a Wii/GameCube emulator, not on the console itself. There are a few flaws in the re-creation - how many can you spot? Mario doesn't go into the subterranean coin chamber, but that doesn't mean it exists, so let's say that one doesn't count.

Fan Recreates SMB World 1-1 in NSMBW [The Tanooki]

Old-school charm can only get you so far, or can it? New Super Mario Bros. Wii puts that notion to the test, upgrading classic Mario gameplay with support for four players at once, throwing in a few new power-ups, and letting gamers and their friends go to town on an all-new adventure that seems amazingly familiar.

Is this a whole new experience? Is it old, but in a good way? The assembled video game critics help us figure that out.

Games Radar
Startling fact: this is the first traditional Mario game to appear on a console since 1991's Super Mario World. That's a huge burden to bear, as this is the exact type of game that transformed Nintendo into the worldwide juggernaut it is today. With such a grand legacy to live up to, we expected New Super Mario Bros Wii to exemplify Nintendo's creativity and unrivaled skill, but despite "New" being right there in the title, we honestly feel this is the least inspired entry to date.

Giant Bomb
With this product, Nintendo is simply reselling your childhood to you in a way that's playable on its latest hardware. Or, if you're still a child, it's doing the Disney thing by repacking its history in ways that are still palatable. By modernizing some bits around the edges, this doesn't feel like some kind of cheap rehash or shameless cash-in. By giving you more control over the characters via the additional jumping moves and power-ups like the ice flower, which lets you freeze enemies into blocks of ice that you can then stand on, the game provides a path for players who want to play with reckless abandon, holding down the run button at all times and just doing everything they can to stay alive during a mad break for the finish line.

GameSpot
You'll need to dig deep and mine whatever experience you have with previous Mario offerings because New Super Mario Bros. Wii is by far the most challenging game in the series for many years (certainly more so than New Super Mario Bros. on the DS or Super Mario Galaxy). It starts off innocuously enough, but by the start of the second world, things get noticeably more difficult. It doesn't let up as you make your way through to the fiery eighth world and a particularly epic Bowser boss battle. It's a welcome challenge because despite the fact that you'll no doubt lose plenty of lives and at times be tempted to throw the Wii Remote in frustration, the game never feels cheap, thanks to its consistently outstanding level design.

Destructoid
While the entire game can be played as solo Mario, this is the first Mario game that will allow you to play cooperatively with up to four players. Whether or not this is a blast or completely frustrating is mostly up to the player and his or her partners. In some cases, four players on the screen makes the game slightly more difficult. The camera will pan back, and it's easy to lose yourself, or accidentally bump a player on the head and knock him or her into a bottomless pit or an enemy. Of course, this can be done intentionally (which can lend to a lot of laughs), but more often than not it's simply a product of too many cooks in the kitchen at once.

Nintendo Life
Heck, there's even a help system in place that will have Luigi play the level for you showing you the best way to beat any of the regular levels in the game. Couple the game's amazingly challenging level designs with a wide range of pattern-based bosses and you have one of the most solid and impressive gameplay systems available on the Wii console and a testament to just how viable and creative 2D gaming can still be when in the right developer's hands.

Kotaku
I haven't had this much goodhearted, simple fun on a video game console since my days playing the original Super Mario Bros. snowed in at my house in Maryland. Sure, a lot of what makes a game like New Super Mario Bros. Wii so much fun for someone like me to play is the nostalgia factor. But there's more to it than that. This is a delightful game, one that delivers a lasting and challenging experience without making you feel like you need to learn how to walk again. If Nintendo still needed a reason for people to buy a Wii, this is the ultimate argument winner.

Looks like Wii have a winner

Last Friday, Reggie Fils-Aime sat with Kotaku and got to discuss the unusual: Releases, within a month of each other, of new games in his company's two star series (no offense, Pokemon).

The Mario hype train was already trundling along by the time we spoke, charging through a Sunday release of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a game Nintendo is marketing heavily as a four-player twist to the most classic of its video game franchises.

Fils-Aime, who chatted with me in his suite at New York's Waldorf Astoria, was ebullient. "I really do believe that New Super Mario Bros. Wii will satisfy even your most jaded, even your most competitive player," he said. "I'll tell you, there's nothing like playing New Super Mario Bros. with three of your friends. You're picking each other up and throwing each other into the lava pits and the crevasse. This game is the most fun."

The biggest concerns I had seen from Kotaku readers prior to the game's release has been among those who believe their lives don't allow for co-op shared-couch Mario adventuring. They'd either have to play the game alone or lament its lack of online play.

Fils-Aime maintained that the game is "superb" for single-players, but he admitted desire for online options. Nintendo's multiplayer racing and fighting series, Mario Kart and Smash Bros., did have online on the Wii. New Super Mario is the odd one out.

"This was a decision made purely by the developers," he said. "They believe this experience, in the same room, to be elbowing your friends and family members as you're playing the game [is ideal]. It was really their decision. I personally would have loved for it to be online capable as well, but having played the game, I really can't fault it for not being online multiplayer."

In just a few weeks Nintendo will release a Zelda game as well: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Fils-Aime refers to it as the game he is "personally looking forward to most this holiday season." Despite that enthusiasm it's among the Zelda games Nintendo has kept most quiet about. The company announced it in March, showed it at E3 in early June but offered little news about the game since, before publicizing in recent weeks that hero Link would spend this adventure alongside an active Princess Zelda this time.

Why keep so quiet about this game for so long?

"We believe that to tease fans over an extended period of time really doesn't do the gamer just service," he said. "So, we have always been mindful of: When's the launch date? When's the right time to share information? How do we break information? In particular, with this game, given the Zelda dynamic — which you find out about right at the start of the game — we really wanted to keep that secret and have it be a big reveal. That is something very new and very different in a Zelda game, [having] Princess Zelda essentially playing along with you. That's essentially what drove the strategy for how we reveal the information, when do we reveal the information and the fact that it had to be fairly late."

I related to Fils-Aime the discussion that the blog Press The Buttons started regarding the different box art for Spirit Tracks in Europe, Japan and America. For the American gamer, the box is darker and Link looks a bit tougher than he does on the package being sold in other regions.

"We just thought the package art we developed with [Nintendo's Japanese headquarters office] NCL that highlights the train and highlights the Phantom… was a great representation of the game," he said. Does it show that Americans want a tougher, more aggressive Link? "Not at all," he replied. But he did note that he was proud that Zelda sells more copies these days in the U.S. than in other regions, meaning Japan and Europe.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is in stores for the Wii now. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will be released in North America on December 7 for the Nintendo DS. (And if Pokemon fans are feeling left out, a new downloadable Pokemon game is out today.)

Click each image to enlarge, captions on the right

I shot this picture inside the Nintendo World Store. It's a nice first image, right? But I actually wanted to order these with the museum first. It was right outside the store. Take a look...
This was the rear of the museum. Inside were TVs running footage from Mario game commercials, drawings and paintings of Mario, and lots of assorted Mario stuff.
In the museum we have the Mario baking pan...
And some Mario clothes...
and more clothes...
...and more.
We have a Mario Bros. costume, with an inflatable belly.
This is the Luigi costume, along with a sweater even Bill Cosby might not wear.
The stands here displayed Mario lunchboxes, shampoo and other items.
Here's that Mario lunchbox.
And outside the museum, here I am at what would be the DJ station for the outdoor part of the event.
These pillows weren't protected from the downpour that arrived minutes after I snapped these photos.
Adjacent to the museum and DJ areas was the Nintendo World Store itself, decked out for the New Super Mario Bros. launch.
A second look at the windows. Shoppers inside could buy the new Wii game early.
Upstairs in the store, people could pose for photographs with these pillows.
People could also play older Mario games.
Various Mario designs marked the walls.
More wall art.
And still more.
Here's a rare Donkey Kong sighting on Mario day.
The store sells a lot of Nintendo-themed items. I photographed a few Mario-related items, though not all are tied to the new game.
More merchandise.
And still more Mario-themed merchandise.
You could also buy Mario-themed stuffed figures.
More of the stuffed stuff.
And here's Peach, fittingly captured, yet again!
Spot the non-Mario figure here.
Bowser gets an extreme close-up.
People were dressed as Mario (and Luigi).
Looks just like the real thing?
Mario playing Mario.
That's more like it. It's Mario.
My favorite sign in the store.
And one more look at those coins, hanging just a little too high for me to grab from the bottom floor.