Replaying New Super Mario Bros. U

[balder the brave]

Anyone else replaying this in advance of Super Mario Wonder?

I am about halfway through and here are some thoughts.

- On the Switch, the way that jump spin is executed has been changed. You can now press B while in the air to jump spin. This is bad! It will execute when you're trying to hold B to high jump on an enemy. Or otherwise accidentally. I learned you can disable it this way. Press in the left stick for 3 seconds on the menu screen before pressing L+R to enter the save game select menu. You hear a sound upon success. The jump spin now can only be executed with R.

- My original issue with this game was that there's too much time after dying before gameplay resumes. The game kicks you out to the world map. Therefore, it has to load the world map then load the level again. I still feel like this is a huge mistake.

- Getting through the levels is fun, but the interesting level design is mostly reserved for the Star Coins. Combined with the previous issue and the difficulty obtaining some Star Coins, I can't see myself ever going for all the Star Coins. I go for the Star Coins and I die, and this is a normal loop for a platformer, but the loading time is too much. I can still enjoy going through the levels, but this is a sore point for me because it closes you off from the most interesting level design.

- The connected world map is kind of neat, but not a huge selling point for me. Are there any secrets on the world map?

- I realize it wouldn't make sense to the game's plot, but I would prefer to have Peach as a playable character.

- The impressionist (Monet?) painting level background that's often commented on online is actually only one level! I expected to see it for a whole world.

- Overall, this game is a 6/10 for me. Still fun, but I have higher expectations for Wonder!

- I never played NSMB 2, but I did enjoy NSMB for the DS, perhaps partly for the novelty, so I have to rate this one pretty low or possibly even at the bottom for 2D Mario games. Regardless, I think I will try to clear it without Star Coins and enjoy. I just may never revisit it again.

 

[madhair60]

it's a straight 10

 

[Kiyone]

It's really good, and I think New Super Luigi U is even better.

 

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

I think the strongest points in NSMB are the first and the last games, with NSLU getting kind of a special aside, since that just has a whole different dynamic going on (that I really enjoyed).

 

[balder the brave]

Cleared! Fun game. The most memorable element for me that I will take away from this game is the different color baby Yoshis adorably following you from level-to-level.

The credits sequence

Spoiler: credits

has blue baby Yoshis blowing bubbles with the letters that spell out the staff names

Has anyone gotten all the Star Coins? Worth it?

Part of me wants to play more and part of me knows that it will make me tear my hair out. Kind of like how I spent days fulfilling the requirements for Champion's Road in SM3DW only to eventually hang up my hat in defeat when I discovered that level is friggin impossible.

 

[MetManMas]

Try playing the Luigi U side, since you got the game on Switch. Condensing the levels down to be cleared in 100 seconds or less does a lot to make for some really tight stages.

And if you don't want things to be too tense, playing as Toadette or Nabbit adds more time to the timer.

 

[muteKi]

Has anyone gotten all the Star Coins? Worth it?

I suppose! I found the extra levels to be pretty enjoyable if not as mind-bogglingly evil as some of the ones in NSMB Wii

 

[Exposition Owl]

Has anyone gotten all the Star Coins? Worth it?

I found it fun, but then, I’m an obsessive completionist.

 

[Bongo]

I've been chipping away at it for a couple months now. The biggest problem with NSMB U is the slow UI. Load times, long animations every time you get kicked back to the world map - the seconds add up. Excellent level design throughout, but the surrounding menuing just saps my momentum, so I never do more than a couple in a sitting.

 

[Bongo]

Oh right, there was one other thing. I was a huge proponent of the Super Guide feature back in the day on the basis of it offering a memorable way to skip a level rather than simply be stuck on it. But having come out the other side of that era, I can now say that being offered the Super Guide block feels like an insult every time it appears. They should instead have made it an option that the player must proactively seek from a menu.

 

[madhair60]

these issues can be mitigated by simply being an expert-level pro player and never even coming close to "losing a life"

 

[Purple]

I think possibly the worst implementation of that sort of thing was Cooking Mama where failing to do a thing resulted in a resigned sigh and "let me just do it for you." Like, damn Mama! Let them learn! It's the whole reason we're here!

 

[balder the brave]

Maybe instead of collecting all the Star Coins. I will start working on a doujinshi manga focused on Toadette’s ability to turn into an exact copy of Peach upon collecting a crown power-up.

The hilarious confused identity hijinx that ensue, Toadette’s implied romantic feelings towards Mario explored through her shape shifting as Mario’s partner, the national security concerns of the Mushroom kingdom about their monarch and military leader possibly usurped by an imposter, and the darker depth’s of Peach’s emotions about a mushroom girl who can take her exact physical form, challenging her fundamental sense of self.

 

[muteKi]

these issues can be mitigated by simply being an expert-level pro player and never even coming close to "losing a life"

In all seriousness -- having played the game on the WiiU primarily, admittedly -- I didn't much remember the game being particularly slow to go from one stage to the next, not particularly more so than other games in the series at least.

As I thought about that, though, I realized that I do remember nearly ever level wanting me to post on Miiverse because the game thought I played particularly well, such as either beating a level in a short amount of time or having gotten all three star coins in one go. And I must say I loved the way in which this literal game for children, by encouraging me to brag about my accomplishments, fellated my ego strongly enough that I did not care about the way in which it slowed down my progress.