Mason's Blog

Eurogamer Expo Adventures Part Two: Nintendo

On day two of my adventures in the capital, I woke up with a sore throat. Superb. Undeterred, I sped over to the Odeon at Covent Garden join Nintendo for the final of their competition to find Britain's Best Nintendo Gamer. The tournament has been going on for a few months around the UK, with entrants challenged on the likes of Wii Fit, Mario Kart DS, Wii Sports Resort and New Super Mario Bros DS. After eight heats, 16 finalists were here to do battle for the ultimate prize of a trip to Kyoto, Japan for them and four others. Plus, a limited edition black Wii...

The queue to get into the event, for which Nintendo had taken over the Odeon for the day, stretched down the street and was filled with supporters for the finalists, costumed gamers and press. A truly bizarre sight for those walking past, I'm sure, to see teenagers dressed as Kameks (complete with robe, rod, hat and facepaint), Marios (cardboard mask, dungarees, hat, plush mushroom) and a lone Bullet Bill (black jumpsuit). Not helping were Nintendo's own people dressed as Luigi and Mario, the former wandering up and down the line, shaking hands, slapping high fives, dancing, hugging and casually harassing passers-by with his sheer enthusiasm.



Upon being allowed entry I met long lost C3er dojo, AKA Ben, working for Nintendo handing out Wii bags filled with plushes. Cheers Ben! Mario and Donkey Kong were the lucky fellows to come home with me. After a while of bobbing aimlessly about the cinema lobby, which acted as the central hub to the event and featured grabber machines set to free play mode and some locked up Wii demo pods, we were ushered into the cinema screen to witness some dreams come true. Into the press section I went to watch the show...

The event was hosted by comedian and Absolute Radio DJ Iain Lee, who seemed equally as bemused and amused as the rest of us to see the rows of costumed fans, including a man in a delightful Princess Peach outfit and two of the finalists, a Dr. Mario and a helicopter-helmet Mario. To kick things off, after goading the costumed ones for a bit, a 'Super Skills' video was shown off of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the game that would be used to test out the finalists. In it players charged through levels at an alarming rate, likely putting to shame anybody's future efforts on the title before it's even released. It's interesting to note that players were punching each others' characters through the air, too, something we haven't seen in our playtests...



Iain went on to introduce "the most bonkers person I've ever met in my life"...the voice of Mario himself, Charles Martinet! And what better way for Charles to make his presence known than by going through an alarming vocal medley of all his characters' voices - that's Mario, Luigi, Wario, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi and Waluigi. The best way to describe this display would be 'hilariously terrifying'. Mr. Martinet shared that he never intended Mario to sound as he does when he went to the audition, but once he got there it just tipped out and became the voice we all know and love. Which is probably for the best, given that his other Italian impression was gruff, unfriendly and sampled with "hey, it's a-me, I'm a-under your sink, don't bother me". Bonkers, but absolutely lovely.

Our host and voice actor went head-to-head on New Super Mario Bros. Wii on the cinema screen to give us a taste of things to come, but not before we'd been 'treated' to some bizarre music that was almost like a happy hardcore version of the Mario theme with vocals yelling out "Super Mario Wooooorld!" repeatedly. Even that couldn't quite prepare us for the shambolic gaming about to unfold though - both Iain and Charles died miserably within the first 20 seconds, whereas poor Iain couldn't quite jump up pipes properly later on. Things went better when they restarted, with Martinet carrying out a hysterical running commentary in character throughout the entire run - confusing, but very, very entertaining.

The true event that we were all here to see began shortly afterwards; four semi-finals to be followed by the grand final, highest scoring in each set of four moved forward. Everybody was on an even playing field, seeing as New Super Mario Bros. Wii is not out yet, and so their true skills were put to the test. The level used was 1-3, and the rounds went by fast and furiously; some died within seconds, some were slightly cocky, most were humble. Players leapt on each others' bonces to reach the highest coins, left others to float around forever in bubbles after they had respawned from death and the contestants were cheered and applauded at every turn. It almost became like a sporting event, with the crowd roaring as the larger points were scored. Fun appeared to be had by all.



Taking a short break in competition, a winner for best costume was announced. It was the Mario with the cardboard eye mask mentioned earlier, and it turned out he also had stuffing for a stomach - nice touch. He scuttled off back to his seat with the promise of being given a black Wii. To build the fever up for the final, Iain Lee asked the finalists - who all also received a black Wii - to give him a rousing "yeah!". Only one quiet voice came back, the nerves clearly showing by this point. They all took their places for the final showdown on level 1-6...

After a round that received even huger audience reaction before, Berkshire's Josh Stevens emerged the victor and recipient of the trip to Japan. Congratulations, Josh! He was taken on stage and literally crowned and robed before being given a giant ticket and a Peach crown trophy. Unsurprisingly, his sole comment at that point was "I can't quite believe it".

Everybody filed back out to the lobby to get their hands on New Super Mario Bros. Wii for the first time. It appeared to be the same build as the one at the post-E3 show a few months back, but that didn't stop me playing it all over again, so look out for some new impressions soon. Also, guess what I got for being a person of the media...



What's it like, you ask? Well, it's pretty much the same as a white Wii, but black and very shiny, the difference between the shiny bits and the matte bits on the nunchuk being far more obvious on this model. Inside the box are copies of Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort (both in cardboard sleeves), a black nunchuk, the usual cables, stand and sensor bar, a black Wii remote with black Motion Plus (attached together and slotted into a rubber protector as standard, but separable; there's a smaller, remote-only rubber protector also packed in) and, of course, the sparkly system itself. Get 'em fast when they release on Friday 6th November, folks, they're limited edition...

I finished up the day by meeting up with a couple of the guys from Nintendo Life at a surprisingly cheap pub, and got some shut-eye in preparation for the Eurogamer Expo, where I would be joined by Karn and Adam. Stay tuned...

- Part One: EA