Nintendo launched the Wii U in 2012 with a Mario game that looked backward as much as forward. New Super Mario Bros. U is the fourth and final entry in the New Super Mario Bros. series, following New Super Mario Bros. 2, and it is the first Super Mario game with high-definition graphics. It is also, at heart, a sequel to New Super Mario Bros. Wii — same cooperative mode, same side-scrolling 2.5D structure, same four-character cast. The new console got a very familiar game.
That familiarity is the whole argument about New Super Mario Bros. U, and it cuts both ways.
Trailer, via Nintendo of America.
Bowser Takes the Castle
The plot wastes no time. Mario, Luigi, Yellow Toad, and Blue Toad are at Princess Peach’s castle having a tea party when Bowser, Bowser Jr., and the Koopalings invade. A giant mechanical arm throws the four heroes far away, and Peach is held captive in her own castle.
The goal of the journey is Peach’s occupied castle. Mario and his friends cross a new land, and each of seven Koopalings controls their own world. Kamek, Nabbit, and Bowser Jr. show up along the way, plus the usual Goombas and Koopas.
Nabbit is a new non-playable character. He steals items from Red Toad, and when you catch him he rewards you with items. By the end, the castle has been transformed into an evil reflection of Bowser. Beat him and it returns to normal. Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings try to escape, leaving Bowser behind; he jumps onto the airship, his weight crashes it, and the gang flees on the Koopa Clown Car.
It is thin stuff, even by Mario standards. The tea party is a nice touch. The rest is a premise built to justify seven worlds.
The Super Acorn and Boost Mode
The mechanics are where New Super Mario Bros. U earns its place. The flying squirrel power-up comes from the Super Acorn and lets players glide across long distances, descend slowly down vertical paths, and cling to walls. Baby Yoshis can be carried, and each one’s ability depends on its color — inflating in midair, illuminating dark areas. Older power-ups like the Ice Flower return with new abilities.
Boost Mode is the Wii U-specific idea. A fifth player uses the GamePad to interact with the environment, putting down blocks that can be stepped on or stunning enemies by holding down on them. Four players take Mario, Luigi, Yellow Toad, and Blue Toad on Wii U Pro Controllers or Wii Remotes. Off-TV Play runs the whole game on the GamePad screen.
One Large Map, Multiple Exits
The map is one large world containing every world and level, similar to Super Mario World, and some levels have multiple exits leading to different areas. Challenge Mode adds restrictions and conditions. Boost Rush is the second new mode. Certain game modes also let players use their own custom Mii characters.
The objective of each level never changes: reach the goal flag at the end while avoiding enemies and hazards. That is the series contract, and this game keeps it.
What the Wii U GamePad Actually Does
Takashi Tezuka said he created the game to take advantage of the Wii U, introducing Boost Mode and Miiverse integration. Development started after New Super Mario Bros. Wii shipped, and the game was revealed at E3 2011.
Boost Mode is the honest version of that ambition. It gives the GamePad a real job, and it makes five-player sessions possible in a series built for four. It is also the feature most likely to sit unused. A fifth person has to want to place blocks for other people rather than play a level, and that is a hard sell in a game where everyone else gets to be Mario.
The rest of the GamePad support is Off-TV Play, which is convenience, not design. New Super Mario Bros. U does not need the Wii U. It runs on it.
Where It Stands
Reviews were generally positive. Critics praised the gameplay, the graphics, and the additions, and criticized the game for unoriginality compared to prior titles and for an atmosphere some found uninteresting. That split is fair, and it is the right way to read this game.
Here is what New Super Mario Bros. U gets right, ranked by how much it matters:
- The level design and the four-player cooperative mode, which remain the reason to play.
- Boost Mode, the one idea that could not exist on the previous console.
- The Super Acorn and the Baby Yoshis, which add movement options without breaking the game.
- Challenge Mode and Boost Rush, which extend the package past the campaign.
- The art and atmosphere, which are clean and high-definition and completely forgettable.
The game became the third best-selling Wii U game. It got an expansion pack, New Super Luigi U, as part of the “Year of Luigi” campaign. A Nintendo Switch port, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, came out worldwide on January 11, 2019, and in China on December 10, 2019. As of March 2025, both versions combined have sold over 24 million copies.
Those numbers say something the reviews did not. New Super Mario Bros. U was dismissed as a safe launch title, and it outlasted the console it launched on. The Switch port is the version most people have played, and it is the version that carried the sales.
The unoriginality complaint was always a complaint about timing. Nintendo had shipped New Super Mario Bros. Wii, then New Super Mario Bros. 2, then this, and the formula had not moved. But the formula is good. Four players on one screen, a flag at the end of every level, and a map with multiple exits is a design that has survived since the original Super Mario Bros.
What does not work is the atmosphere. The criticism that the game feels uninteresting is the one that holds up. The worlds are competent and interchangeable, and the new land the heroes cross never becomes a place. New Super Mario Bros. U is the best-playing game in its series and the least memorable.
The Super Acorn is the detail worth keeping. Gliding across a long gap or clinging to a wall changes how a level reads, and it does it without a new button or a tutorial. Boost Mode is the detail worth watching, because it is the only part of this game that could not have shipped on the Wii. Everything else is New Super Mario Bros. Wii with better lighting.
That is not a knock. It is a description of a very good platformer that arrived at the wrong moment and got judged for it. New Super Mario Bros. U is the fourth and final entry in its series.
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