New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is the most uninspired Nintendo gave I’ve ever played. Everything about it screams ‘level pack’. It plays like a game that was made by Nintendo turning loose a bunch of their young game designers in Super Mario Maker and then picking the best levels. It feels manufactured, not crafted. The gameplay is bland, the level design is bland, the visuals are bland, and the music is pretty much the same music they used in the previous three New Super Mario Bros. games. The lack of creativity is obvious.
The ‘Deluxe’ Switch port includes New Super Luigi U as well, which I had heard many good things about – supposedly a big improvement from Super Mario U. However, the only thing different is that it’s shorter. As in, all the levels are about half as long with a shorter time limit. Therefore, the game overall is shorter, but that doesn’t help the level design. Making a mediocre game shorter helps lessen the tedium for the player, but it doesn’t make the game better. That’s all Super Luigi U does. Otherwise, it’s the same bland visuals, music, and level design.
The tedium bothered me to the point that I could only play Luigi U in short spurts before I started getting bored and frustrated.
Remember when 2D Mario platformers used to be the talk of the video game industry? Those times are long gone.
Compare the six year span of 1985-1991 when Nintendo put out Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario World, four games brimming with new ideas and all very distinct from each other – compare that to 2006-2012 when Nintendo started the New Super Mario Bros. series and put out four games that play, feel, and sound like they’re all part of one giant game. Generic visuals, derivative soundtrack, and mediocre gameplay. It’s astonishing to me that Nintendo thought New Super Mario Bros. U would be a system-seller for Wii U. It’s astonishing to me that Nintendo would put out a game this creatively uninspired.
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe reminds me a lot of Donkey Kong Country 3. It feels like the leftovers from the previous games in the series. It’s content to rehash ideas from its prequels while not introducing many new ideas of its own. Which doesn’t make it a bad game, but it does make it an uninspired one.
If Nintendo ever decides to make a real effort with another 2D Super Mario platformer, they need to rethink everything about it. The whole series needs a makeover: a new visual style, better music, and fresh ideas. Their EAD Tokyo team doesn’t seem to have a problem with creativity in the 3D Mario games they’ve been making for over 15 years now. The 2D games are stale. The best idea that came out of the New Super Mario Bros. series was the Million Coin Challenge in New Super Mario Bros. 2. Make that the starting point and go from there.
I wanted Super Luigi U to be as big of an improvement over Super Mario U as I’d heard, but it wasn’t at all. I’ve put about 45 hours into New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe and I seriously doubt I’ll ever touch it again – but at least I got two blog posts out of my time with it.
The Gamer's Standard 