New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe

For those who already own New Super Mario Bros U, this upgrade is really not worth full price. However, it does not take away the fact that it's still one of the absolute best experiences for four players.

Yet another port with New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe which is a straight port from the Wii u to the Switch with a resolution going from 720p to 1080p and a bit more content like the Luigi spin off and the addition of Peachette and Nabbit. As usual with re-releases, check it if you haven't yet.

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is a huge amount of great 2D Mario (and Luigi) platforming and it’s at its easiest to pick up and play on Switch, but even with the sheer volume of content this doesn’t really feel like a ‘Deluxe’ game. Toadette’s easier gameplay comes at the cost of a regular difficulty fourth character, and makes for a token appearance of Peach as a playable character, while the best all round multiplayer fun has been left behind with the Wii U’s GamePad.

Compared to the classic 2D Super Mario games this is disappointingly anodyne, but it’s still competently made platform fun that can be enjoyed by everyone.

Despite the exclusion of online features and fresh content, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is a sizeable collection that offers one of the most solid platforming experiences of the current decade. If you’re a newcomer, it could provide numerous hours of excitement for you and your local friends. It’s a fun game for sure, but for someone who spent a good amount of time exploring every nook and cranny of the original a few years ago, it will most likely feel all too familiar.

I have to say, overall, I found New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe to be a bit of a disappointment. It isn’t that it’s a bad game, far from it in fact. However, it is one of the weaker Mario games. There’s a lot of fun to be had, but not much by way of wow factor. The visuals are bright and appealing but lack depth and interest. The music is great, but it’s nearly all stuff that we have heard before. Of course, the platforming is spot on, but again, it doesn’t add anything new. If you can only afford to pick up one Nintendo 2D platformer, then you should get Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. However, if you want even more Mario in your life, then New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is still worth your time.

Despite its aging formula, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is still a great entry in the series, with its typically tight platforming and both accessibility and depth to spare. While it can feel a bit stale for those who have been round the Mushroom Kingdom one too many times before, Deluxe is well worth playing, especially if you didn't get a chance to play NSMBU on Wii U.

There are better Mario games out there than New Super Mario Bros. U. Super Mario Odyssey is far more impressive and the 2D Mario games that inspired New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe are far more satisfying to complete. There's also not a whole lot of new things to explore for anyone who did play the game in its original form on Wii U. But for newcomers or those looking for any solid platformer, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is worth the investment if you can get over the full retail price for a game that's six years old.

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is a game that would have benefited from being released in a vacuum. As it stands, this package is one that can neither live up to Nintendo’s own suite of contemporary 2D platformers or the Deluxe moniker it is tagged with. Even beyond this point, the game is little more than a window into a bygone era of Nintendo. Offering simple, polished platforming action, this title is suited only for those who have exhausted the genre’s other options on Nintendo’s hybrid system.