Home > New Super Mario Bros. U Impressions
New Super Mario Bros. U was one of the main games that Nintendo showed off at E3 2012. They had several different demo modes that showed off two new game play features: Tiny Balloon Yoshi and Flying Squirrel Mario. The first, which can be viewed in the video below, allows the player to shake the Wii remote to cause Yoshi to inflate lifting the player into the air instead of potentially falling to a sudden death.
Hands-on this feature plays similar to the floating technique used by Kirby in Super Smash Brothers. It gives the player new ways to navigate areas and collect coins. The feature is implemented nicely and was a nice addition to the New Super Mario Bros line of games.
Another addition to New Super Mario Bros. U was the use of the Wii U GamePad to allow a player to place blocks on screen to help the others to navigate through the courses easier and get to secret or hard to reach spots, which can be seen in the video below. This feature is actually a part of the new Boost Mode.
The Wii U GamePad allows for the user to strategically place blocks. This single addition can change the way the other players interact with the levels and allow for great co-op play. One use of this could be speed runs. The player with the Wii U GamePad can place blocks quickly while the other uses them to navigate quickly around all obstacles on the course.
I, for one, am a huge fan of doing speed runs once I have 100% a game. This feature works as advertised and holds a lot of potential for those who like to provide or do speed runs. One could also use this feature to just play around on map and pull off crazy jumps or navigation techniques.
Overall, New Super Mario Bros. U at E3 2012 felt a lot like New Super Mario Bros. Wii in many ways. This is a good thing because a lot of people liked that game play. With the new additions to the game, such as Boost Mode, the newest Mario venture looks to be a hit and one that I am really anticipating. The controls worked great and the co-op possibilities created a wholesome experience for groups.
About the Author:
Austin Dickson
Austin Dickson has been around the Zelda fandom for years. He started Link's Hideaway as a small personal project, which later turned into something of which he never thought possible. He enjoys writing articles, guides, walkthroughs, and developing the different Concealed Gaming network sites.
