Last Wednesday, LAist headed over to Childrens Hospital to see the presentation of new Nintendo and Starlight Fun Centers featuring Wii and to meet Mario. Watching the patients swing around their new Wii remotes put a big smile on the face of everyone in the room.

Nintendo and Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation are sending hundreds of popular Fun Centers featuring Wii game systems to hospitals across the United States and Canada. The new Fun Centers feature a flat-screen television, a DVD player, a Wii system and a selection of family-friendly Wii games like Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Sports, and Mario Party 8. The Fun Centers were created specifically to offer children an entertaining respite during difficult hospital stays. Playing games helps combat anxiety and bring fun to hospitalized children. The game systems aim to help lift the spirits of seriously ill children and their families.

A patient explains the features of 'Super Mario Galaxy' to other kids at Childrens Hospital. (Nintendo, Bob Riha, Jr.)

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We met Allen Alvarado of the Discovery Kids show "Flight 29 Down". Allen may be the biggest Wii fan around. In November 2007, Allen was hit by a car, thrown 20 feet from the vehicle and hospitalized for several weeks at Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles. A brain injury rendered him unresponsive for several days. According to Allen’s father, Rick, it wasn’t until nurses brought a Fun Center into his hospital room that the young actor’s mood brightened and his communication level improved. With help from hospital staff, Allen soon became able to play games on his own and incorporate the Fun Center into his physical therapy. After he went home, he spent days playing Guitar Hero to gain the mobility in his left hand back. Allen hopes that the game systems will help sick and injured kids have fun and rehabilitate.

For 16 years, Nintendo and Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation have delivered more than 5,000 Fun Centers to more than 1,000 hospitals across the country. Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation has dedicated itself to helping seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation.

And of course the kids loved getting to meet Mario!