Topic: New Super Mario Bros. U Impressions

[Halbred]

Two squirrels are better than one!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressions/30595

I think we all groaned, just a little, when we heard that New Super Mario Bros. U and New Super Mario Bros. 2 would be releasing pretty close to each other, and hey, didn't we just get finished with New Super Mario Bros. Wii? Lord knows that's what I thought, but after sinking some time into this Wii U entry in the series, I'm happy to say it brings a lot of interesting new content to the table. It might be the best NSMB game yet.

Playing with the Wii Remote felt great, of course, and differed little from New Super Bros. Wii. The best new addition is the Squirrel Suit, maybe more appropriately called the Flying Squirrel Suit, which is this game's answer to the old Super Cape: you hold down the 1 button in the air to glide slowly toward the ground, and a quick shake of the Remote makes Mario take a quick vertical uptick, at which point he unstoppably floats downward, a bit like his descent with the Helicopter Hat (from NSMBWii). The Squirrel Suit really opens up exploration options in the air, and I found a wealth of coins skyward of the main stage thanks to it.

The other addition I tried, the baby Yoshi, is held in front of Mario just like the baby Yoshis in Super Mario World's Special World. While they will eat any enemy they come across, they never grew into an adult Yoshi. However, jumping across a gap and shaking the Wii Remote caused the baby to balloon up to a comical size—this allowed Mario to float across gaps. If left by his lonesome, the baby Yoshi will toddle off on his own and, inevitably, off a cliff to his doom, so it's good to keep him around as long as you can!

The thing that really impressed me though, more than the Squirrel Suit or the inflatable baby Yoshi, is the fact that the level design seems far more deliberate this time around. Stages are bursting with hidden passages and alternate routes, though the prizes don't usually amount to much beyond a 1-Up or a Star Coin. I'm sure that, like in NSMBWii, some of these hidden paths will lead you to alternate map routes.

Unfortunately, the fellow playing with me (on the GamePad) didn't have much to do. I'm a Mario veteran and I'm fully capable of getting through these stages without assistance. The few times my accidental colleague tried placing some "boost blocks" on my route, they screwed me up more than anything else. One poorly-timed block placement resulted in me losing my Squirrel Suit. The GamePad player also has the ability to tap—and stun—enemies, but this is, again, something of a useless feature when playing with an experienced platforming player. Now, the tables were turned when we switched controllers. Clearly a newbie to the Mario experience, my partner often asked for me to place boost blocks in specific locations so he wouldn't have to deal with a pit full of Piranha Plants or so he could get to the top of the end flag. I can certainly see the appeal of Boost Mode given a Mario player's potential inexperience, but Rayman Legends does this same thing much better.

I was surprised how much I liked New Super Mario Bros. U, and I'll be excited to play it when it releases.

[Pixelated Pixies]

I just can't get excited for another NSMB. It'll probably be a fun platformer but new power-ups just aren't enough any more. This will probably be considered blasphemous by some, but at this point I'd like Nintendo to change the mechanics of the game, and make Mario feel different in the way he controls. I'd like them to experiment with Mario's momentum, gravity, traction etc. I'd also like to see Nintendo introduce genuine story elements. If Pixar can do silent protagonists like Wall-e than why can't Nintendo do the same with Mario? I guess what I really want is something different and new.

[bhurak]

I was sad to see a video preview that showed motion controls being used with the gamepad... I was hoping that was only part of wiimote.  It's my least favorite part of NSMBWii

[syn4aptik]

It'll probably be a fun platformer but new power-ups just aren't enough any more. This will probably be considered blasphemous by some, but at this point I'd like Nintendo to change the mechanics of the game, and make Mario feel different in the way he controls.

But that's sort of exactly what new powerups do...

[ShyGuy]

Why don't they bring back some Doki Doki Panic style gameplay?

[Sarail]

Why don't they bring back some Doki Doki Panic style gameplay?

YES. For freaking crying out loud, YES.

I want to see a new Mario Bros. game done in that style oh-so very badly.

[C-Olimar]

I just can't get excited for another NSMB. It'll probably be a fun platformer but new power-ups just aren't enough any more. This will probably be considered blasphemous by some, but at this point I'd like Nintendo to change the mechanics of the game, and make Mario feel different in the way he controls. I'd like them to experiment with Mario's momentum, gravity, traction etc. I'd also like to see Nintendo introduce genuine story elements. If Pixar can do silent protagonists like Wall-e than why can't Nintendo do the same with Mario? I guess what I really want is something different and new.

They tried changing the formula for Mario - we got the fantastic and tragically underrated Sunshine, which people just seemed to bitch and moan about. It also had a bit of a story - am I right in assuming you enjoyed this game?

[Sundoulos]

This one looks promising, actually.  I really like the backgrounds.  I encouraged by the potential of the world maps that have been mentioned as well as the reports on the level design looks a little more complex.

You probably couldn't hear it on the showroom floor, but does it still have the same awful NMSB soundtrack?

[Pixelated Pixies]

@syn4aptik - True, but usually in quite a predictable way. Without having played this upcoming NSMB it is of course hard for me to say, but the Squirel suit looks to be quite similar to the cape from SMW, and the baloon Yoshi looks to be a variation on the Propeller suit. I have never doubted Nintendo's ability to make subtle and meaningful changes to their Mario games, but for me at least it's a case of diminishing returns. As I say, for me different suits just aren't enough any more.
 
@C-Olimar - You would be right sir. I thought Sunshine was a great game. Not quite as good as the Galaxy games in my opinion, but great in it's own right.

[PogueSquadron]

It looks like it'll be a fun game, but it's hard for me to justify a purchase at launch, when dollars have to be allocated wisely. If NSMBU was the only game in town (like NSMBW was on the Wii when it launched), then I'd be all over it, but Rayman seems to be more up my alley for now, and NSMBU just looks too similar to its predecessor for me to pick up right away.

[NWR_insanolord]

That's the thing, the one thing this game does that the Wii version didn't, the helper mode on the gamepad, was done, in my opinion, far better by Rayman.

[Kairon]

Yeah, for me I think right up until launch it'll be a contest between NSMBU and Rayman Legends as to which game I'll pick up...

[Phil]

Level design and actual platforming alone, New Super Mario Bros. Wii was more enjoyable to me than Rayman Origins, so this game is a no-brainer.

[MegaByte]

You probably couldn't hear it on the showroom floor, but does it still have the same awful NMSB soundtrack?

No, this one sounds like it has a good soundtrack.

[Caterkiller]

Sunshine had voice acting which wasn't bad by any means, and more story than any Mario game before it or after. As I recall those portions of it were not popular. I loved it and could not wait for more. Listening to Bowser and everyone else talk was great.

To bad it wasn't received very well cause we could have had a bit more story and actual voice acting in the Galaxy games. I was actually surprised there was none when I first booted up Galaxy.

[Manthony Chopkins]

Having watched the trailer in HD I was surprised at how much better this looked compared to NSMBWii. It's definitely a full-on HD game.