New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1-4 Co-Op / Competitive (Local)

The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

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Review:

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is an enhanced port of a family-friendly Platformer that was originally released on the Wii U in 2012 (along with its standalone expansion, New Super Luigi U, released a year later). This marks the most recent entry in Nintendo’s New Super Mario Bros. Series that returns the series to its 2D Platformer roots, and its release on the Switch gives an opportunity to play the game to players who never owned a Wii U.

Of course, the elephant in the room for any review on New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe written after the release of Super Mario Maker 2 is of course the question, “is there a point to this game if you already have Mario Maker?”, to which I can say, “Absolutely… depending on what you’re looking for.”

In terms of presentation, NSMBUD (wow, even the acronym is absurdly long) is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, I can’t deny that this game is about as polished as a 2D Platformer gets (well, short of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, anyway). The visuals look good, clean, colorful and welcoming, the music is nice and energetic (albeit mostly not very memorable), and the sound effects and little voice clips for the characters are all… well, iconic Mario.

On the other hand, I can’t ignore the extreme lack of originality here. Stylistically, this game looks so similar to earlier games in the series that you could easily be fooled into watching footage of New Super Mario Bros. Wii and thinking it’s from this game. That’s not to say this is a simple copy-paste job – the graphics in NSMBUD are a significant improvement over NSMBW, with far more background detail and animation… but how much does that matter if the entire experience feels like a complete retread?

The same goes for the core gameplay here. Make no mistake, this is a Mario game, and that means you’re looking at an absolute quality product, but in terms of the way this game feels, it doesn’t seem to have changed much from the same quality product we’ve been playing in this series over and over and over again. The new additions to this game, like the acorn power-up and the Yoshi balloon, hardly feel like they’re even worth mention, their impact on the overall experience is so minimal. In fact, the acorn’s flying squirrel suit honestly just feels like a worse version of Super Mario Bros. 3’s tanooki leaf and Super Mario World’s feather cape.

Plus, and I have to bring it back to this – while this package contains a whopping 164 levels across both the NSMBU and NSLU game modes, that massive number looks really weak when it’s sitting next to Super Mario Maker 2’s 100 pre-made levels plus a potentially infinite wealth of online content. So the question becomes, just who is this game for, exactly?

Okay, now that I’ve gotten the obvious out of the way, I’ll go ahead and answer that question. New Super Mario Maker U Deluxe is perfect for players who just want to jump in and play a good old-fashioned 2D Mario game, plain and simple. While Super Mario Maker 2 absolutely wins out on content, variety, and originality, NSMBUD absolutely takes the prize when it comes to simplicity and accessibility, especially for younger or casual players who don’t want to try to figure out the intricacies of Mario Maker’s various game styles, or how to navigate an absurd amount of online content to find the good stuff. To that end, this version of the game comes with some additional enhancements aimed specifically at younger players, including new “Easy Mode” characters Nabbit and Toadette.

One other area where this game excels is in its local multiplayer gameplay, with up to four players helping or hindering each other as they try to complete the game’s courses. And to this end, there have also been a new Coin Battle mode, where players can compete to earn the most coins on a series of specially-designed levels, and players can even edit the coin placement in these levels if they choose (Mario Maker-lite?).

This version of the game also has a few extra modes added for solo play for those looking to challenge themselves, with the game’s Challenge and Boost Rush modes that give the player specific goals to beat, or a timer to try to shave seconds off of.

However, while this version of the game touts multiple improvements over the Wii U version of the game, there are a few areas where it falls short of the original version. Firstly, and understandably, gone is the original game’s assist mode, which made use of the Wii U’s touchscreen to add platforms and stun enemies while another player plays the game in the traditional fashion. Less forgivable is the absurd $60 price tag on a game that’s both a generation old and nearing a decade since its original release. Oh, and then there’s also the changes to the controls here.

Nintendo apparently couldn’t decide whether to continue to have Mario do a momentum-halting mid-air spin when shaking the controller, or to swap it to a button, and opted to add in both, which is fine… but then they also inexplicably made an extra tap of the jump button do the same thing. This cannot be turned off in any options menu, and it is sure to make players miss jumps when they go to hold down a jump button to vault off of an enemy and end up doing a spin instead. Very frustrating.

Overall, in the end, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is still a 2D Mario game, and while it certainly has its faults, that in and of itself means that this is a top-notch quality game that absolutely deserves a spot in your library. It’s a shame it’s so absurdly overpriced, and those who want something deeper and more original will absolutely be better off with Super Mario Maker 2, but if you’re just looking for a simple 2D Mario game, this game is going to be everything you’re looking for.

tl;dr – New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is a port of a family-friendly 2012 Wii U Platformer, along with its standalone sequel. This game is absurdly overpriced and horribly unoriginal, and many players will be better off getting Super Mario Maker 2. Having said that, there’s no denying that the gameplay here is still excellent, and the presentation is absolutely polished. If you’re a fan of Platformers or just looking for a simple, straightforward Mario game, you should be more than satisfied with this game.

Grade: B

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The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1-4 Co-Op / Competitive (Local)

.

Review:

One of the initial batch of games to receive free updates on Nintendo Switch 2 when it launched in 2025, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe isn’t exactly a game I would think many people were demanding for a performance update. The original game looks fine on a technical level – it’s clean, with smooth framerates and an overall good performance. It’s problem is that it’s stylistically bland, and style isn’t something a performance update will fix.

Supposedly, this update improves the resolution on Nintendo Switch 2, and… maybe I see it? Honestly, I’m not so sure. The game looks crisp and clean, and I have no complaints about performance… but then, I didn’t have complaints before either.

What I will complain about is something that is still lacking from the game that adding GameShare would have fixed – there’s still no online multiplayer, in a game that places an emphasis on multiplayer. What a disappointment.

So there you go. Not sure that this update really adds anything profound. But it looks good (on a technical level, in any case).

tl;dr – New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is a port of a family-friendly 2012 Wii U Platformer, along with its standalone sequel. This game is absurdly overpriced and horribly unoriginal, and many players will be better off getting Super Mario Maker 2. Having said that, there’s no denying that the gameplay here is still excellent, and the presentation is absolutely polished. If you’re a fan of Platformers or just looking for a simple, straightforward Mario game, you should be more than satisfied with this game.

Grade: B

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