New Super Mario Bros. U (Wii U) Review

 (Originally posted on April, 2014)

(Wii U, 2012)

Having really enjoyed the second entry to the New Super Mario Brothers series for the Wii, I always looked forward to eventually picking up the Wii U release. The game appears very similar to it’s 2008 predecessor, which is both a plus and a minus. Is this a quality platformer? Most definitely. Was my mind blown, which is something that Mario games usually manage to do? Not really…

At a glance, NSMBU could be viewed as a spiritual sequel to Super Mario World, as it brings back the giant world map and baby Yoshis of differing colors and abilities. The opening levels are a treat for the eyes. Using much brighter colors, the blues and greens of the vast hills contrast wonderfully. Impressive crystal formations tower in the background in yet another nod to SMW. The newest power up, the impressively nuanced flying squirrel suit, is introduced early on, spotted on a very peculiar acorn tree. The game continues to an underground stage with more huge, dazzling crystals, now shifting in the foreground. After a few more stages and new elements, the game expands beyond the first world.

Unfortunately, as the game continues, it begins to disappoint slightly. The world reveals itself as huge, but cluttered and pasted together. Playing through Super Mario World’s over world as a child, it was so well designed, I often fantasized about visiting it for real. If I was transported to the over world of this game, I would feel like I was trapped in a funhouse, after eating some bad mushrooms! The later worlds and levels lack the charm and attention to good design given to the Acorn Planes world. The inclusion of star coins once again successfully lengthens the game with some rewarding exploration and challenge. I happily collected each one, only a small portion of which I didn’t have the patience to figure out by myself. The Wii version brought some legitimate evolution to 2D Mario. However this game, while very solid, does little to further expand upon the series.

Of course, there are some flashes of brilliance:

-        Skyward Stalk: Reminding me of Super Mario 2/USA’s vertical stages, you must always keep on your toes while ascending a giant stalk of sprouting and withering leaves.

-        Painted Swampland: Known as the “Van Gogh stage,” here the team does a complete 180 from the usual bland art style.

-        Flight of the Para Beatles: At first, I thought Nintendo merely added vertical scrolling to the Wii version of this level, but wait until you see what starts happening…

-        Freezing Rain Tower: Not particularly special to trek up, but I enjoyed the unique sense of atmosphere that it had.

-        Boarding the Airship: On this level, you get to deal with the Bowser Jr’s air ship while still on land. Not only a new idea, there’s some really eerie lighting and weather effects.

This time, Nintendo added a very generous challenge mode. Ranging from simple ideas such as speed runs to trickier tasks like completing a stage without killing enemies, there’s a ton to do over the dozens of missions, many of which are set in their own unique stages. I quickly lost interest and got very frustrated when attempting to play each challenge one by one, but I think this mode is great to visit occasionally. Want an immediate, tough Mario experience without committing to an entire game? Stop by here to keep your skills sharp…getting a gold medal demands near perfection.

Boost mode is another interesting new idea. Adding auto-scrolling to levels you played in the main campaign, the object is beat a collection of stages in the quickest time possible. Collecting coins speeds up the level, however it becomes easier to die, delaying your completion time! Like the challenge mode, this is best visited briefly, but often, to scratch the Mario itch.

For a game partially meant to show the capabilities of the Wii U, many people have trouble immediately distinguishing between this one and the Wii/3DS versions. I was initially pleasantly surprised by graphics, but soon noticed the game had a desolate feel due to the lack of activity in the background. The clouds, lighting and subtle 3D effects look sharper, but little else is going in the background. In the early games, my imagination could fill in where technical limitations left off. On Nintendo’s first 2D HD Mario, shouldn’t there be more going on in general? Once again, the music is largely slight remixes of previous NSMB music, which never made a big hit in the first place

I may have complained and compared a bunch. This is actually a very high quality game. But, with SO MANY Mario games released around this time period, it’s hard to fully appreciate such a formulaic experience. I don’t doubt the development team’s desire or potential to create the best 2D Mario ever, but with many of them split between both this and New Super Mario Brothers 2, the brilliance one expects from the series isn’t quite there. This is well worth getting if you’ve already played the NES/SNES titles and still want more action, but know that besides some interesting new modes, very little is new.