“Though [New Super Mario Bros. U] doesn’t necessarily redefine Nintendo’s iconic hero, it still manages to capture the sense of carefree adventure that many of us felt as kids. More importantly, the game contains a significant amount of challenge, both within its story mode and outside of it. This game has clearly been designed by a team that regards Super Mario World with as much affection as those of us who grew up with it. Were it not for the game’s weak graphics and audio, plus the return of the irritating chaotic, bouncy multiplayer mode, this game might rival some of Nintendo’s better 2D accomplishments.”
Read the full New Super Mario Bros. U review.
Similar to other Wii U releases such as Mario Kart 8, Nintendo has bundled New Super Mario Bros. U with its DLC, applied a few gameplay tweaks, and resurrected it on the Nintendo Switch in the form of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. While this new (New) game still retains a healthy amount of its Mario magic, it now finds itself on a console overflowing with high quality platformers, making it feel slightly less essential than it did seven years ago.
Toadette’s most powerful ability is activated by the new Super Crown pickup, which transforms her, somewhat bizarrely, into a pigtailed Peachette. Peachette handles like a more maneuverable version of the existing Flying Squirrel ability, and allows you to shake the controller or tap a button in midair to launch her upwards. Not only does this give you the chance for a last ditch leap up to safety when you’re about to plummet down a hole, but it also means you can access many secret areas much more easily than you can with the other playable characters. In some cases the more elaborate uses of hidden blocks or vines can be skipped entirely with one fell Peachette swoop, and hard to reach Star coins can also be more easily snared - which is handy when you're trying to mop them all up in order get a 100 per cent completion.
Yet in practice his inability to use pickups like Fire Flowers or Super Acorns gives him considerably less agency than the other characters, and since he’s still susceptible to falling down holes he’s neither particularly exciting to play nor completely infallible, which makes him a less than perfect option for youngsters than perhaps he could have been.
But despite the new characters, the inclusion of New Super Luigi U, and the return of the various extra challenge modes all making for a robust 2D platforming package with substantial replay value, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe still struggles to stand out among the crowd of its platforming peers on the Nintendo Switch in 2019. Rayman Legends is more fun with friends, Celeste and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze offer a fiercer challenge, and Super Mario Odyssey is a far more surprising and inventive Mario game. If you missed the Wii U original, then New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is still well worth a look, but it ultimately doesn’t bring enough major additions or improvements to elevate it above the pack and make it a must-have for returning players. (If you are one of those returning players who enjoyed the game's co-op multiplayer, it's worth pointing out that the touchscreen-based Boost Mode feature from the original release is absent here due to the differences in hardware setups between the Wii U and the Switch.)