What's (nearly) New, Pussycat? - Super Mario Allstars - Wii (Nintendo)

Originally released for the SNES in 1993, SMA collected together the first 3 of Mario's adventures, plus the unseen (at the time) The Lost Levels, the TRUE sequel to Super Mario Bros. that was only released in Japan on the Famicom Disk System. It was a compilation that took the graphics of the NES originals, threw them out the window, and replaced them with updated visuals and music. The result? Quite awesome. So, roll forward 17 years to Mario's 25th anniversary, and Nintendo decided now would be a good time to re-release this great compilation for a new generation of Mario fans on Nintendo's Wii. Does it disappoint? Well.....

Yes and no. No because this is classic Mario as it would have appeared if was originally released back in 1993 for the very first time. Plus, it still plays very well to this day. Well, all four games still play well. The downside? It's the SAME release as what appeared in 1993, with those same graphical whistles and bells. And thats it. It plays the same, looks the same, and feels the same. There are NO added games, or video or art extras on the disc, which is a shame. So, on a Wii optical disc (which is roughly 6gb in size say), only roughly 15mb is used. Yes, you read that right. 15MB ONLY. Mind you, to sweeten the deal, Nintendo have bundled a booklet containing a brief history of Mario's main Nintendo console adventures, and a music cd which contains a smattering of Mario music. Oh, and it comes in a smart looking red box. To be honest, as a Mario collectable, its not a bad one, but the lack of extra games, and the fact it's just the SNES cartridge ROM dumped on a disc with no different menus and the aforementioned lack of extras is just shameful. It would have been good to include SM64, SM-RPG, Paper Mario (N64) and even Super Mario Kart (either the SNES or N64 version), but it seems cheap and somewhat of a rip off.

So, lets break this down (prices are rough):
Music CD - £10
Booklet - £5
Game - £5 for the cart (if bought on the Wii, and just the disc was released, say £15-20)
Those prices are if you bought them separately (if you could, and if they didn't bundle the rest of the bits with it). Saying that, if you haven't got a SNES, then this is worthwhile. Just take on board, that there's no extra games on the disc and is just the rom dump. If you do have a SNES and you do have this, there's no point in buying it, unless you want the CD and booklet (which could have been a bit bigger in content it must be said).
Still, that £20-25 quid could be spent on Porn.

(EDITORS NOTE: The person doing this review has just been sacked)

Still, it could be worse. You could get bitten by a Moose. Which can be quite nasty.

(EDITORS SECOND NOTE: The person carrying on this review after the other persons sacking wishes you to know that he has been sacked as well)

Or being bitten by a Lion

(EDITORS THIRD NOTE: The third person carrying on where the other two have been sacked, has also been sacked. I will now continue this instead)

.....erm........Lovely weather. And what a smashing blouse you have on

(EDITORS FINAL NOTE: Even though I carried on where the other three have been sacked, I myself have now been sacked. This review will now end. And with no smashing blouses in sight.)