Unlimited Reviews: New Super Mario Bros. U

…Yeah, I've got nothing.

Wasn't it just only recently when I reviewed a New Super Mario Bros. game? Nintendo really needs to learn how spread apart their Mario games. Anyway, not much to say for background on this game that I didn't already say in my New Super Mario Bros. 2 review: This latest entry for the 2D side-scrolling Mario games is one of the many launch titles for Nintendo's brand new system, the Wii U. What really makes this special is that this is the first Super Mario game to launch with a new Nintendo console since the revolutionary Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64. So does this title prove to deserve the honor?

Story:

The evil King Bowser and his Koopa Troop storm the Mushroom Kingdom in their airships during a dinner party for Princess Peach, the Mario brothers, and the Blue and Yellow Toads. Using a giant mechanical version of his hand, Bowser smashes the Marios and Toads and flings them far away. Now it's up to the four to return to Peach's castle and rescue her from the diabolical koopa and his Koopaling henchmen.

Speaking of the Koopalings, it still bugs me endlessly that Nintendo actually said that they aren't Bowser's children. What kind of retcon nonsense is this? I swear, what with Miyamoto having it out for story in Mario games, Nintendo is really testing my loyalty to their company…

Once again, it's a princess kidnapping plot. What a shock. Oddly enough, I kind of like the small spin on having the Marios and Toads rush to Mushroom Kingdom instead of Bowser's lair. It gives a mildly fresh take on the old cliché. It's not a kidnapping; it's a takeover! Once again though, I'm not going to be factoring story into the final score because it's Mario. You're not going to get anything particularly clever or special in the storytelling department.

…Unless this was Super Mario Galaxy. Seriously, Miyamoto, just let us have an actually decent story for Mario games! It absolutely broke my heart when you had the story elements removed from the latest Paper Mario game! Please get over your beliefs that Mario don't need a story! We saw that they can with the Paper Mario games and Galaxy!

Graphics/Design:

The Wii U has officially brought Nintendo into the high definition age, and thank goodness for it! Playing Mario in HD is absolutely beautiful. Thanks to the more powerful console, there are so much more elaborate backgrounds as Mario traverses though the many worlds and lands this game has to offer. What is easily the most creative and gorgeous level is the one that paid homage to Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night. The overworld is nothing to sneeze at either. Taking a page from the old SNES game Super Mario World, all the world maps are connected together into a single giant map that contain Toad Houses for collecting 1-Up Mushrooms and power-ups for your inventory. Speaking of which, I'm rather sad that every power-up in the inventory is counted in a separate slot rather than multiples of every power-up like in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. My inventory kept filling up with the same power-ups, and I had to keep ditching them!

While I do appreciate the reference, it doesn't feel like the worlds are all connected like SMW was. Every world had a theme to it, such as desert or ice, so every world reflected it. However, that results in a desert area suddenly transitioning to a snowy mountain area, and it just feels so disjointed. SMW probably only did it better thanks to limited graphics, but they probably could have done a better job at integrating the worlds together; such as having a little snow start showing up at the end of the final desert level or something.

Another small disappointment I have for the overworld is that even though this map was inspired by SMW's, they lacked that alternate coloring for levels that would alert players that those levels would have secret exits. Admittedly, each world only has one secret exit, but it would have been infinitely helpful if they kept that aspect intact for this new game.

However, the very big problem I have with the levels designs are that they're so damn uncreative. Don't get me wrong: The levels themselves are wonderfully made and are fun to run through. The problem is that they aren't anything special. Every level that I played I could have easily have seen done in other NSMB games. In fact, every level could have been done on the Wii with no issues whatsoever. I'm honestly rather flabbergasted by how this game doesn't try to do anything special for level design, outside of improved graphics and prettier backgrounds. Isn't the Wii U meant to promote a new style of play and set a new bar for gaming?

3 out of 5

Sound/Music:

Scratch that. I've found something even more horrifying to me than weak level design: Rehashed music. Once again, this "new" 2D Mario game has reused every single song from previous NSMB games, with only minor changes. The only really special thing I could mention is how if you're carrying a Baby Yoshi, they sing along to the beat. I am extremely disappointed, and I simply can't wrap my head around this. The Mario series has never been this shameless in music reuse. It's almost sickening to me. Every single Mario game I've played outside of the NSMB series had always featured unique tracks in them, so why not here? For shame, Nintendo. For shame.

2 out of 5

Gameplay:

You ever play New Super Mario Bros. Wii? Well, then you've already played this game.

Much like the level design, outside of improved graphical output and some new power-ups, the gameplay is exactly what one would find in previous NSMB titles. You run, jump, and platform through the levels and collect the three Star Coins scattered throughout them. The only new power-up that you get is the Super Acorn that transforms Mario into Flying Squirrel Mario. Flying Squirrel Mario is a lot of fun and reminds me a lot of the cape from Super Mario World, where you can glide horizontally through their air and get a single vertical boost before starting to descend back to the ground. In fact, if one is able to acquire the P-Acorn, it functions almost exactly like the cape with infinite vertical boosts one can do in the air. Flying Squirrel Mario can also cling to walls, which can really save you in a bind should you ever need it.

Another new addition is the return of the Baby Yoshi from SMW. Man, there are a lot of SMW throwbacks in this game. Mario and friends can either find them on the overworld or within certain levels, but they are unable to bring the Baby Yoshi with them if done with the latter. Unlike SMW, the Baby Yoshi do not grow into full grown Yoshi if it eats enough enemies. Instead, different colored Baby Yoshi had different abilities. Yellow ones glow in the dark and stun enemies briefly, blue ones spit out bubbles that kill enemies, and (the most useful) magenta ones inflate themselves like balloons and help slow decent. The Baby Yoshi are easily the most fun and charming addition to the game.

Sometimes, this rabbit thief called Nabbit (GEDDIT?!) shows up at various levels where the players has to chase him down and catch him. Doing so rewards you with the P-Acorn, the only way to get them. This was another great element that gives good reason to replay levels, and with an awesome reward to boot.

Unfortunately, much like most 2D Mario games, the bosses in this game are a joke. One could easily defeat them all by stomping on them immediately and do it again once they recover, giving them no chance whatsoever to attack. I would mark that as a problem, but Mario bosses have never been difficult. It was always the levels themselves that killed you.

There are also actually rather difficult challenges found out of the story mode that range from platforming challenges to seeing how many times one can jump on enemies to survival, which (much like Coin Rush in NSMB2) test the player's Mario skills. A definite plus and very much a lot of fun.

Despite how much the Wii U's GamePad was marketed, it doesn't really serve much use in single-player. All it displays while playing is the exact same screen as on the TV. The purpose for this is so that if someone wants to use the TV, one could continue their game on the GamePad. That's about it.

4 out of 5

Interactivity/Multiplayer/Online:

Like NSMBW, up to four people can play at the same time as Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad, and Yellow Toad using Wiimotes. However, a fifth player may join in on the GamePad in a Boost Mode where one taps on the GamePad to create platforms to either help or hinder the other players, and even stun enemies. This is also a pretty damn cool feature which is a lot of fun to get Star Coins and kill your partners with. A big part of the fun when playing NSMBW was how chaotic it would get when so many people were playing on the same screen, which could really screw each other over. Lots of laughs were to be held, and I'm glad Boost Mode continues with that.

If you've been following the news on Wii U, you'd know that it has a special feature called Miiverse where the Wii U owners throughout the world get their very own forum to talk about their games, which you can even do while playing. For NSMBU, one would randomly be asked to post about their experience after completing a level on Miiverse and that post would be shared with others. In fact, little balloons with other peoples' Miis would float over the levels and you can see what they say about them, which can sometimes be humorous and helpful depending on the post. I found that to be a really cool feature and helps create a better community for the Wii U players.

5 out of 5

Overall Thoughts:

You know, I held back on my annoyance with this in the NSMB2 review, but the gameplay truly is mediocre. I mean, yeah, it's still "fun" to play. The platforming is still tight and plays extremely well, but where is the innovation? For all of Nintendo's talk about bringing a new gaming experience with the Wii U, this game does almost nothing that the Wii couldn't already do. The only truly groundbreaking thing that NSMBU brings is the Miiverse features, but that's more praise for the system itself than the game.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that has said this, but for a game with the word "New" in its title, this game just too damn similar to its previous entries in the series. Would I say this game is worthy of being the definitive Mario Wii U launch title? No. I wouldn't. Would I say it's worth buying though? I'd say sure. Every new Nintendo system needs a good 2D Mario game on it. While it doesn't do enough new for solo play, it is wildly good fun in multiplayer.

For this Mario launch title, I give a:

4 out of 5

Positives:
– Mario looks great in HD
– Multiplayer is chaotically fun
– Baby Yoshi are helpful and charming
– Great use of Miiverse feature
– Classic 2D Mario fun

Negatives:
– Levels, while fun, aren't very creative
– Rehashed music
– Stagnant gameplay
– Weak usage of GamePad

Recommendation: Check It Out

New Super Mario Bros. U isn't the Mario launch title that the Wii U neither needed nor deserved. The Wii U has so much potential residing in it, and it's just so disappointing that Nintendo couldn't make their flagship series bring it out. However, if you just want some 2D Mario fun, this is worth a try.

New Super Mario Bros. U was developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo

It is available on the Wii U for retail and digital download at the Nintendo eShop and is rated E by ESRB.