It's totally lazy. Just like the omission of other mario characters.

Online multiplayer would make the game much better. Whether you want to play it online or not. There's no reason why it cant have both. Nintendo just simply did not want to put the effort into net code.

I would, except the game is a million times better and totally designed for multiplayer.

I work as an electrical engineer in a remote part of the world, I do not have access to friends to play with. I would love to play with my wife when I'm off work but I cannot.

It's like complaining that a console shooter can't be played with a mouse.

Firstly, it's not a matter of laziness, and saying that over and over is not going to make it so. The game was designed around local multiplayer and local multiplayer was its aim. Online multiplayer would have been nice to have, but that would have been an extra feature, by no means expected in Mario platformers, and the fact that they did not include it does not detract from the game as-is.

Other Mario characters? Like who? Who would you have wanted to play as, exactly? The kidnapped princess, or maybe the guy you're riding around in half the levels?

The game was not designed for multiplayer, it was designed to provide a compelling single-player experience and then the multiplayer aspect was built around that.

If NSMBWii was made purely as a single player game without any multiplayer whatsoever we would see 9.5 reviews...

Incorrect. The game is 100% designed around the multiplayer aspect. I've played most of the game, every level is much better multi player. In fact, playing this game alone it might not even be a 7/10.

Every media shot, every single time the game has been promoted, its ALWAYS multiplayer. this is a MULTIPLAYER game. without online, it's like a cripple.

it's not an extra, its an industry standard that Nintendo blew out of the game due to laziness.

i get that wii fanboy's argument that online is an extra feature, but a game is worth $49.99, and i wouldn't give nintendo a free pass just for their missed opportunity, since they're charging me full price, hence why i will pick this game up when its cheaper, or when theres a special deal

Your definition of industry stndard seems to be at odds with the definition of the words you are using. Ditto "laziness", I suppose.

ITS NOT TEH AAA!!!

I don't want to say what I think of some of the posters above to avoid being banned for the first time ever. All I will say is it is well and truly ridiculous to dock points for lack of online when if you were told there would be a 2D Mario platformer you would have assumed it was going to be single player. They give you the bonus of multiplayer on top and all of a sudden it is a worse game because they didn't also give you online.

It is like a relative unexpectedly giving you £10,000 when you were expecting a £1,000 and then a month later you are insulting him for not giving you £15,000.