Introduction

There are moments in the life of a console when a familiar face returns with a new haircut and a sharper resolution and everybody pretends that this constitutes a revolution. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is precisely that sort of occasion: an HD port of Nintendo's late Wii U platformer, bolstered with the New Super Luigi U expansion and a handful of playable roster additions. If you remember the era when magazines smelled faintly of hot ink and a scowling editor's column could make or break a game's perceived honor, this Deluxe edition reads like a respectable reprint - good paper, the same well-written levels, a new cover sticker and the obligatory afterword. For those who never played the Wii U original, this is an excellent 2D Mario in 1080p with the Switch's portability as a persuasive selling point. If you owned the older copy, Deluxe is a comfortable, if not startling, reminder that Nintendo does platforming with surgical confidence.

Gameplay

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe wears its lineage like a proud badge. The core objective remains as prosaic and as satisfying as ever: reach the goal flag, avoid hazards, collect coins and star coins, and knock Bowser back a few paces on the overworld map. Levels follow the by-the-book Super Mario rhythm - a measured mix of platforming puzzles, enemy choreography and a series of secret exits that reward the curious. The Deluxe package brings Luigi's faster flutter jumps (prominently showcased in the New Super Luigi U content), allows any character to be chosen in single player, and introduces Toadette and Nabbit as selectable protagonists. Toadette's Super Crown is the cheeky mechanical tweak players still talk about; it offers a power-up that changes her playstyle and, for better or worse, nudges conversations about 'what a power-up should be' into pop-culture territory. The game's design philosophy is unapologetically conservative. Levels were created primarily for single-player flow and later adapted for multiplayer, a fact that shows in the pacing: stages are often built for a single competent set of hands but suffer only occasionally when four players share the screen. Boost Mode, a Wii U-specific gimmick that let a fifth player place blocks from the GamePad, has been excised for the Switch release - an understandable omission given the platform's control scheme, but one that removes a distinct asymmetric multiplayer experiment. Boost Rush and Challenge Mode remain in spirit; Challenge Mode tightens parameters, and Boost Rush still presses the pedal on coin-driven speed. The Super Guide persists as a safety net for the less patient: if you fail repeatedly, an automatic playthrough will demonstrate the required path. Critics in the old print days would have called this "smart design" - a level that teaches without talking down, and a difficulty curve that rewards prudence. Multiplayer plays exactly as you'd expect from a New Super Mario sequel: chaotic, occasionally brilliant, and sometimes public-television-level farce when four players catapult each other into pits on the last jump. Nabbit's inclusion as a playable option is a neat accessibility nod; he is practically the game's training wheels, allowing newcomers or younger players to enjoy progress without grinding. Veteran players will gravitate toward the Luigi-heavy sections in the Luigi U expansion, where levels are purposefully more aggressive and compact, the sort of trials that would have made the old magazine joystick-makers proud. The level design, while not aggressively innovative, contains enough neat set pieces - flying-squirrel suit glides, Yoshi travel, Baby Yoshi abilities - to keep momentum through the dozen-odd worlds.

Graphics

From a purely technical vantage the move to the Switch is mostly cosmetic but effective. The original Wii U release marked Mario's first leap into high-definition, and Deluxe pushes that modestly further: sharper sprites, cleaner edges and a crisp 1080p image when docked. The art direction is resolutely Nintendo - everything is lit with a soft, cartographic clarity that makes hazard telegraphing pleasingly obvious. The maps recall Super Mario World's comfortable sense of geography with a single-screen overworld that invites route planning and exploration. There is, however, a certain aesthetic conservatism. The game does not attempt to be a visual showpiece; backgrounds are charming but often safe, music congenial but rarely memorable. Where 1990s reviewers might have lavished adjectives about palette and parallax, the honest appraisal is that Deluxe's presentation is refined rather than revelatory. The animation of the characters remains excellent - jump arcs feel weighty, Yoshi's reactions are perfectly expressive, and enemy cues are unambiguous. In portable mode the game retains that same fidelity, and the Switch's HD Rumble offers a tactile whisper of feedback in place of the GamePad theatrics. For players who value clarity and mechanical readability over pyrotechnic rendering, the visual package is near-perfect.

Conclusion

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is a textbook example of Nintendo polishing rather than reinventing. It is not the sort of remake that demands column inches for its inventiveness; rather, it deserves space for its craft. The Deluxe offers a generous slice of platforming: the original Wii U campaign, the Luigi U expansion with its heightened bite, and a roster of accessible character options that broaden the audience. Removal of Boost Mode is a mild disappointment for those who enjoyed the asymmetric experiments of the Wii U era, but for most players the trade-off is irrelevant: the game functions superbly on the Switch and gains the portability the original could never offer. If this review were being printed in a thick-gloss magazine from 1995, I'd recommend placing your purchase decision between two honest headings: if you've never played the Wii U release, buy it; if you already own it on Wii U, consider whether portability and the Luigi expansion are worth the repeat. On merit and execution, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe earns a solid 8 out of 10. It is a carefully made platformer with the sort of polish that ages like a familiar tune rather than a shocking new riff. In short: timeless, tidy and still very good at making you want to beat the next boss and collect the next elusive star coin.

See Latest Prices for New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe on Switch on Amazon

See Prices for New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe on Switch on Ebay