The first big reveal at Nintendo’s E3 press conference last night was New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Up to four players will be able to enjoy this new platformer when it lands on shelves this holiday season.

Mario, Luigi, Yellow Toad and Blue Toad are playable characters but also expect appearances from other famous Mushroom Kingdom characters throughout the game.

Players will be able to navigate the side-scrolling worlds alone or with up to three friends, who can join at any point in the game for either competitive or co-operative multiplayer fun. For example, players can pick each other up and either save another player or toss them into danger. Or jump on board different Yoshis, using their tongues to swallow enemies or fellow players. If you lose a life, you return inside a bubble which players can also choose to pop to help you…or not.

Some areas see players using the motion abilities of the Wii Remote, if you are the first player to reach a seesaw tilt it to help your character reach a higher platform, then tilt it incorrectly to hinder other players. There will also be the normal warp pipes, hidden areas, new items such as the propeller suit (shake the Wii remote for it to shoot you high into the sky), and Mario’s new ability to transform into Penguin Mario and lots and lots of coins to collect!

It will be possible for players to get wiped off screen if they are too far behind the first player. Once a player reaches the end of a level, you have about three seconds to complete it and score points. When each stage ends during a multiplayer mode, players will receive a ranking based on their score, coins collected and enemies defeated.

Check out the multiplayer mayhem in the debut trailer for the game. Two gameplay videos, one from the E3 press conference and one direct from the show floor, as well as other new screenshots follow after.

E3 Conference Gameplay Video

E3 Show Floor Gameplay Video