Late to the Party Video Game Review: New Super Mario Bros. U

                I would venture a guess that 95% of people that have ever played video games have played Super Mario Brothers in some iteration.  This is not a bad thing, the Mario Brothers games are awesome and were many child’s “gateway drug” to video games.  They are incredibly fun to play, with enough of a challenge to keep even a serious gamer busy (and frustrated at times).  The main problem is that once you play one Super Mario Bros. game, you’ve pretty much played them all.  Don’t let Nintendo try to tell you any different either, because their definition of a different Mario experience apparently consists of new suits that do the same things as before (seriously, a leaf, a feather, an acorn, they all make you float).

                I do understand Nintendo releasing a new Mario game with each new system, obviously you want to keep your flagship character relevant.  What I have an issue with is the fact that I have played this game before, and not just a game like this one, but this exact game.  Pretty much every side-scrolling Mario game is the exact same since the unheralded success of Super Mario Bros. 3, and while sticking to a formula is never a bad thing, making the exact same game with better graphics is.  This is not to take away from the fun of the game, it was a good time, but it offered nothing new at all. 

                The game starts off easy enough and gets progressively more difficult as the “worlds” progress.  The individual stages are what is difficult though, not the bosses, those are still incredibly easy, jump on their head three times and they’re dead.  It does seem like this version of the game took a page out of the book of New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS and made the acquisition of 1ups and extra lives that much easier (and boy do you need it in certain spots).  I was damn-near ready to give up at one point after dying multiple times in a row and getting stuck on a random stage for a good forty minutes.  My perseverance paid off though and I made it to the next tough stage before eventually beating Bowser and saving the princess (yet again). 

                The graphics in this game are downright beautiful, fully utilizing the HD capability of the WiiU.  The controls are still the same as they ever were, except the jump button and the “run” button have a strange configuration (to me at least) which led to a few painful deaths.  The controls are easy to get used to, especially if this isn’t your first Mario game, and do not really take away from the game at all.  The addition of Yoshi, even though it is few and far between, is nice as well.  The “worlds” you have to traverse are similar as well: traditional, desert, ice, water (ugh, water), giant, cloud, Koopa castle, etc., and while they are fun in their own right, are way too similar to anything else we’ve played over the past twenty years when it comes to this series. 

                In short, if this is your first Mario game, or your first in a while, you’ll be happily surprised that this franchise has stayed exactly the same.  If you are not new to the series, don’t waste your money (it’s still nearly $50) when you can just download Super Mario Bros. 3 from the Eshop for $10.