New Super Mario Bros. U (2012)

This title takes the classic 2D Mario platforming formula and gives it a fresh coat of HD polish. It’s the first side-scrolling Mario game rendered in full high definition, and the visuals are clean, colorful, and packed with charming background details that make the game world feel more alive than ever. The level design is smart and varied, mixing traditional platforming challenges with inventive twists that reward both newcomers and veterans who enjoy hunting for secret exits and Star Coins.

The new Flying Squirrel Suit is a highlight, offering both a fun sense of mobility and skill-based control that enhances vertical level exploration. Yoshi also returns in several forms, including baby Yoshis with unique abilities, adding extra variety to the gameplay. The difficulty curve feels perfectly tuned, accessible enough for casual play, yet with hidden challenges that push experienced players.

Though it doesn’t drastically innovate beyond New Super Mario Bros. Wii, this entry stands out as the most polished and complete version of the formula, a confident, joyful platformer that celebrates everything great about 2D Mario design. This is definitely a must-play if you like platformers to any extent, and a highly praised Mario entry for fans of the franchise. I recommend going 100% on this one, it has some very nice hidden secrets, levels and extra-content to ramp up the game's playtime a little, since it is a not a long one to begin with.

New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe isn't a terrible 2D platformer, but WOW was I bored all throughout every single level* I played. I think I might just hate the style of the "New" Super Mario games. The physics never feels quite right to me. The art style and presentation is as boring as can be. And the general design of the levels always felt so... rote and perfunctory. The thing I hated most of all though was the music. I absolutely can't stand the soundtrack for this one -- it felt even more preschool-style grating than Yoshi's Crafted World. Every track is bwah-bweh-bwuh bwuh-bwuh-bwuh BA! BA! bweh-bweh-bwuh... BA-BA BA! Just kill me.

I also think the co-op gameplay is bad since the characters bounce off each other. Rayman Origins/Legends was much smarter by avoiding this, so co-op is actually fun to play in those. But still, it's not like NSMBU is an unplayable mess, and there is a rather good deal of content. I also thought the "catch the psychotic rabbit creature" challenges were a nice change of pace (literally, ha ha). What is it with psychotic rabbit creatures in Mario games this past decade by the way? There's the one in this, and those hideous Rabbids+Mario games, and also there's those very similar-looking evil rabbits in Odyssey.

(*There was actually one level I liked a bit, and that's the one that looked like Van Gogh's Starry Night painting. The stage lasted a good 40 seconds and was extremely basic in design, but at least it looked different from every other stage in the game.)

Movement feels really odd in this game. There’s just something that feels off. Like Mario weighs the wrong amount or he slides just a bit too much. I haven’t quite put my finger on it but it feels wrong. I suppose it’s partially because every expectation I have, built upon years of playing Mario games, seems to be thwarted by this game. The game throws visual elements and level design at me that is reminiscent of older Mario games but the way everything works contradicts things that made sense in previous games. Why does Yoshi not leave the level with me? Why is the wing suit such a finicky useless thing and why can’t I use it to attack enemies? How many enemies must baby Yoshi eat?

I also really don’t enjoy the art style and dislike the fact that the game feels like an amalgam of several better Mario games yet never excels in the ways those previous games did. This game feel absolutely soulless.

Realizing I should mark this guy as played because there is a separate entry for New Super Luigi U. We've moved on to that game as a family and are still having fun.

I enjoyed Mario U, but it definitely felt a little bland a lot of the time. I wish they did more with the baby Yoshi mechanic. It's so very cool but they are so rare and when you get them, so easy to lose.

"Yay!" - Super Mario

From the minds at Nintendo comes the biggest 2D Mario yet: Filled with over 80 courses of non-stop jumping and dodging as well as 4 player multiplayer support, you'll have the best time of your life since... Wait nevermind this game was released in 2012 and I totally missed it until now.

NSMBU (Deluxe in my experience) is the final and ultimate game in the New series that involves Super Mario. Somewhat of a spiritual sequel to the Wii game, they went all out with new features like funny little baby Yoshis, an interconnected map, and dazzling new level themes like uh... Rock. The game plays pretty much exactly like Wii with tight controls, and that's not a problem because if it's not broken, why fix it?

U's level design is that of which has been seen many times before in Mario games following Super Mario Galaxy 2: Each level has some sort of main mechanic that is frequently reiterated throughout the level in new and varied ways, whether it be climbing up a growing beanstalk, balancing on seesaw platforms, or riding a terrifying skeleton roller coaster. These are some of the more memorable examples of levels in the game. It's very rare you'll find a level that you'd consider bad, but an exceptionally good level is also rare, the level of quality remains consistent to a predictable degree.

NSMBU takes a lot of pages from Super Mario World itself as well, including funny one-off enemies that only get one level designed around them as well as various secret exits within the map that take you to later worlds. However unlike SMW it's not marked which levels have secret exits and it's a bit frustrating trying to find them only based on context clues from the world map. Most elements of this game are in fact bits and pieces from previous Mario games, and most of the time you'll know what to expect the first few seconds after entering a level. It doesn't make for insanely engaging gameplay but it's fun to pick it up and play a few levels at a time, especially on something as easily portable as Switch.

In terms of new abilities U contains the flying squirrel suit, which works a bit like the propeller in Wii but it can be a little difficult to control where you fly. There's also the baby Yoshis which can be found all over the world map and in levels, carrying these around lets you do many fun and helpful things such as fly or shoot bubbles. They're closer to the SMW equivalent of Yoshi himself, since in this game adult Yoshi can not be taken out of levels he's already in. Having to hold the run button to carry the babies all the time gets a little annoying though.

Graphically this game kind of sucks in comparison to any other Mario game that came after it but it was Nintendo's first HD outing even if it really just looks like an upscaled version of Wii. Fortunately having such a simple style allows the game to use many assets quickly and easily such as various one-level gimmicks described above. Music-wise it's alright and if you're holding a baby Yoshi they will sing along to any background music in a level and it's funny.

The Switch version of this game contains a couple of new features: One being that Toadette is now playable, who can get a powerup to become a Peachy version of herself who can float through the air. She's got style, but she's effectively an easy mode despite the game already letting you play as Nabbit, who is an even easier mode. So I guess she's like a middle ground or something??? Needless to say I didn't use it because while the game can get fairly challenging towards the end, it's not the hardest platformer you'll play in your life.

Overall NSMBU solidifies itself as possibly the best entry in the NSMB series. Everything is a tried and true part of the Mario formula but it all comes together cohesively as part of a good package. Yes there aren't too many surprises but with all due respect I think people do dunk on NSMB too much simply for not being the best ever like Super Mario Galaxy or something. If you don't mind a platformer that's easy to jump into then hop on the flagpole and yell THREAT NEUTRALIZED except he doesn't say that in this game.

I rated this game four stars when I originally played it on Wii U. I liked it a lot, but I couldn't see myself replaying it. I ended up selling it for that reason.

Playing it again on Switch, I'm struck by how much better it feels to me on a handheld. While I'm usually tempted to play AAA games on a TV from time to time, I beat this one entirely on the go. The straightforwardness that made it seem somewhat forgettable to me as a home console release makes it a wonderful title to pull from your work or travel bag when you have 10 or 15 minutes to spare.

New Super Mario Bros. U is a good game. It's fun. It's difficult, at the end. There's Mario and Peach and Bowser (and Bowser Jr and the Koopalings in the same game, oh my!). To be fair, I can't really identify anything wrong with this game. To a newcomer in the series, I'm sure it would be a blast. I just think 2D platformers have been killed for me by Super Mario Bros 3 and Super Mario World. They can't go up from there, so they inevitably go down.

I was trying to identify exactly what it is about Super Mario World that I love so much, but I can't. Maybe it really is nostalgia, or maybe somehow they just made the perfect game. New U even takes the same overworld design from World that worked so well. Being able to choose your path to both the mini-boss and the main castle works really well.

I do think New U is easier than those classic games. Is that it? Is 3 more satisfying because of how much of a challenge it is to overcome it? Again, I really don't know. I thought the level design was pretty clever in New U. There were a lot of cool platforming sections, and even some of the bosses were pretty creative. But overall, it just felt like more of the same. They didn't do enough to revolutionize the genre, and to be honest, maybe there's nothing left to revolutionize.

I recently played Super Mario 3D World, and I loved it. I was actually motivated to play every world, and then I actually went back and got every single green star and made it to the to of every flag, whereas with New U I just played to the credits and moved on. I think part of the reason I was more motivated with 3D World was because of how different it was from its predecessors, the same way World felt when it came out.

Still, New U is a solid game, and I do recommend it to 2D platform lovers, or any Mario lover for that matter. Just don't expect to get your mind blown, and don't expect to fall in love.

Mario and Luigi make their Wii U debue. Released during the holiday of 2012 New Super Mario Bros Wii U aimed to capture the fanbase of the original Wii title from 2009. As we now know the Wii U title didn't go on to sell nearly as many copies as the Wii title and didn't do much to boost sales of the system. While the title is a solid platformer, what went wrong?

In New Super Mario Bros. Wii U you are once again tasked with saving Princess Peach from Bowser by completing several platforming worlds. This iterations new powerup is an acorn that turns you into a flying squirrel. Even before purchasing the game you'll start to notice the similarities between Wii U Mario and Wii Mario; probably since they reused the cover art. When you boot up the game the similarities grow. In fact, if you want to play with a friend you'll all have to use Wii motes and the gamepad is no longer a controller option. There is a small graphical bump between the Wii and Wii U games but overall it doesn't do much to impress you.

The biggest change comes from the overworld. This iteration of Mario uses the Super Mario World design where you can choose different paths and stop at locations for powerups. There are even mini-bosses in the overworld that will challenge you before you are allowed to pass. The return of the overworld map is a welcome change as it helps to create an atmosphere that would be otherwise repetitive. The mini-bosses are a welcome break from the platforming challenges and help create both a whimsical environment and a more varied gameplay experience.

Each level in New Super Mario Bros. Wii U tries to challenge you with some new game mechanic. One stage you'll be dealing with flying squirrel enemies and another you'll be shaking the Wii mote to operate screws. Each section of the overworld has its own theme and levels within the section try to somehow connect to that theme. Some themes are more original and provide more interesting levels than others - but overall none of them are real losers. You'll fight the Bowser kids at the end of each section. The battles themselves aren't a real challenge - it's more of a challenge getting through the castle to meet the boss. With each level only having one checkpoint it would be very frustrating if the bosses were very difficult due to the lack of checkpoints. No one wants to replay the same section of a game over and over just to lose to a boss at the end. The ease of the boss fights can be a bit of a letdown after completing a castle. Beating a boss never really feels like an accomplishment.

Fans of 2D Mario games will undoubtedly love this game. It delivers on everything you expect from a 2D Mario. Unfortunately, that is also the problem. By sticking to their guns and formula Nintendo has created a game that doesn't stand out or differentiate itself from the rest of their catalog. If you are in the mood to play a solid 2D Mario this is a good choice. If you want something exciting and new look to Rayman Legends and Tropical Freeze.