New Super Mario Bros. U

New Super Mario Bros. U is the fourth game bearing the New Super Mario Bros. name, following New Super Mario Bros. Wii and New Super Mario Bros. 2. It features Baby Yoshis with distinctive abilities, a Super Acorn power-up that gives you a "Flying Squirrel" form, and the ability to play the game as your Mii. There is also a "Boost mode" utilized by the Wii U GamePad that will create platforms and assist in multiplayer sessions. At random, a rabbit thief named Nabbit can show up in certain levels that require you to chase him down. Catch him, and the item that he stole is yours for the taking. And finally, there are (or as of 2017, there was) Miiverse integration, with various players' comments on levels or deaths coming up when appropriate.

While the plot isn't anything special (Bowser kidnapped Peach! Again! Go save her!), there's a twist to the usual formula: you're not chasing Bowser back to his castle in order to rescue Peach: he's taken over her castle, and had his personal Airship throw Mario and friends far off into the wilderness! And the large, interconnected map leading back to Peach's Castle, along with the presence of Baby Yoshis as well as the Super Acorn inheriting many of the Super Feather's abilities leads to an experience that feels like a Spiritual Successor to Super Mario World.

Much like New Super Mario Bros. 2, U would end up getting extensive DLC in the form of New Super Luigi U, a tribute to the green-clad plumber as part of 2013's "Year of Luigi" celebration. While the plot and world map are recycled from the main game, New Super Luigi U still differs in significant ways. For one, Luigi is the star of the show, and Mario is nowhere to be seen! Instead, Nabbit joins in on the adventure with his own unique mechanics (he's immune to damage from enemies and converts any powerups he grabs into extra lives) while the two playable Toads from the main game are also carried over. Secondly, New Super Luigi U has its own unique set of levels that are much tougher than those in the main game while being way shorter as well. Every character also has physics similar to Luigi's playable appearances in other Mario platformers, and jump higher while being somewhat slippery while grounded.

And finally, New Super Mario Bros. U would get ported to the Nintendo Switch in 2019 with a new character in tow: Toadette. While she plays closer to Mario, Luigi, and the Toads, she has her own unique quirks such as being a stronger swimmer than them, while also getting access to a unique powerup: The Super Crown. When she grabs one, she turns into a Peach lookalike named Peachette who plays a lot like the princess did in Super Mario Bros 2.


 * Action Girl: Toadette, who joins the playable cast in the Deluxe re-release.
 * Adorable Evil Minions: Most of the Koopa Troop as usual, but even among them, the newly-added Waddlewings stand out. They're chubby, adorable flying squirrels who do somersaults in time to the "bahs" in the background music! Even when they put on their Game Face while flying, they look adorably grumpy instead of intimidating. Aww...
 * Ambiguous Situation: The Super Crown and its relationship with Toadette potentially sheds some interesting light on Princess Peach. Is she human like the Mario Bros, or is she too a transformed Toad(ette)?
 * And Your Reward Is Clothes: The Propeller and Penguin Suits from New Super Mario Bros. Wii are in the game... but you won't be seeing them until after you've beaten it, and are taking on the postgame. It seems that they're intended to be rewards for coming so far, but the Deluxe re-release would make them a lot more readily available well before the endgame.
 * Asteroids Monster: Carried over from Wii, there are big Goombas that split into smaller ones when stepped upon.
 * Balloon Belly: The magenta Baby Yoshis, who inflate their bellies in order to give the Mario Bros, Toads, and Nabbit a boost while jumping. It's an ability that might bring certain space-faring Yoshis to mind...
 * The Beast Master: Iggy, though instead of Chain Chomps like in past games, he sics Magmaarghs on you during his boss fight.
 * The Berserker: Broozers, as usual. They mindlessly rush forward while throwing flurries of punches that are strong enough to break certain blocks. Naturally, one Star Coin requires you to take advantage of this by baiting a Broozer into destroying an otherwise indestructable wall.
 * Big Bad: Bowser. Duh.
 * Big Creepy-Crawlies: Wigglers (though as usual, they aren't creepy so much as they are cute).
 * Boring But Practical: Larry's fighting style isn't as flashy as his siblings, since he fights with basic wand blasts and jumps like he did in NSMBW and SMB3 as opposed to weaponizing things such as Giant Pokeys, ice skates, or Bill Blaster bazookas. But because he has jets of water messing with the elevation of his boss arena, his basic fighting style becomes a lot more dangerous when there's a risk of him suddenly getting launched into you from below, or you being dropped right onto his wand beams from above.
 * Bubble Gun: The blue Baby Yoshis act like this. All enemies trapped in their bubbles are transformed into coins, and you can jump on the bubbles themselves in order to get a boost.
 * Ceiling Cling: Iggy pulls this off by walking and even running on the ceiling, just like Morton and Roy did in Super Mario World.
 * Co-Dragons: Bowser Jr. and Kamek seem to be playing this role once again. Kamek is the one giving the bosses their magical boosts before fighting Mario himself late in the game, while Bowser Jr. comes after Mario with Bowser's personal airship several times and.
 * Color Coded for Your Convenience: The Baby Yoshis' have different colors that correspond with their abilities: Magenta Yoshis allow you to float, Blue Yoshis spew streams of deadly bubbles, and Gold Yoshis light up dark areas (and serve as a flashbang when activated near enemies).
 * Composite Character: Toadette plays like a mix between the main playable characters and Peach in her platforming outings... but not at the same time. Her playstyle changes depending on if she's currently using a Super Crown or not.
 * Continuity Nod: Slanted pipes, slanted rocks, Munchers, Baby Yoshis, the style of the overworld, Spin jumping and the Flying Squirrel's moves...
 * There's also Magenta Baby Yoshi's abilities, and the Gold Baby Yoshi's abilities.
 * Co-Op Multiplayer: It works almost exactly like it's predecessor, though a fifth player can put down special platforms for players to take advantage of in Boost Mode. That is, unless they're feeling a bit mischievous...
 * Dem Bones: Dry Bones as usual, but we also have Bony Beetles finally ending their long post-Super Mario World Bus Trip.
 * Demoted to Extra: Mario in New Super Luigi U. While the DLC's story is mostly unchanged from that of the main game, Mario himself is nowhere to be found and his hat is inexplicably left at his spot at Peach's dining room table while Luigi and the Toads (or Toadette in Deluxe) visit the princess. Instead, Nabbit gets Promoted to Playable instead.
 * Downplayed with Blue Toad in Deluxe. While pre-release materials showed that he was replaced with Toadette while Yellow Toad is the main playable male Toad, you can still play as him. However, he and Yellow share a singular "Toad" slot meaning that you can't play as both of them in multiplayer sessions.
 * Easy Mode Mockery: The Super Guide feature returns from New Super Mario Bros. Wii, complete with its mocking doorbell chime and the fact that you don't actually beat levels that you clear with it since they remain red on the world map. Also, merely making the Super Guide block appear at all will lock you out of getting the completion stars on your file to sparkle.
 * Clearing a stage as solo Nabbit in Deluxe also doesn't truly count towards 100% Completion until you beat it with another character (as indicated by the level icon turning an ugly eggplant purple instead of blue), but unlike Super Guide it doesn't lock you out of getting sparkling completion stars.
 * Edible Theme Naming: Not unlike Super Mario World, most of the game's worlds are named after food. The sole exception is the very first world, Acorn Plains. But even then, acorns do count as food for squirrels and other such animals...
 * Evil Makeover: Bowser turns Peach's castle and the surrounding grasslands into a fiery, desolate Mordor-type wasteland. It gets better after he's defeated.
 * Evil Sorcerer: Kamek plays this role as usual by casting spells that empower the bosses you fight throughout the game, before taking you on himself near the end. However, he also converts Peach's Castle into an imposing fortress surrounded by lava, making it more of a traditional "Bowser's Castle" sort of level.
 * Final Boss:
 * Hair-Raising Hare: Nabbit, a notorious thief who looks like a purple bunny. While he isn't outright dangerous, he's shown robbing a Toad House, and encounters with him involve you chasing him down and forcing him to give up his stolen goods.
 * As of New Super Luigi U you can play as him, making him something of an Anti-Hero who's willing to team up with the good guys. This trope can, however, still be in effect during multiplayer, where the player controlling Nabbit can Troll their friends by stealing powerups they could use in order to give themself extra lives.
 * Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: Dragoneels, which are intimidating draconic sea serpents that viciously chase you down in a few underwater levels. While they're far from the most threatening foes you'll encounter, they're no less awesome.
 * King Mook: Boss Sumo Bro, a special Sumo Bro that Kamek transforms with his magic. He's one of the Rock-Candy Mines' minibosses, and fights like a sturdier, tougher version of his brethren.
 * Light'Em Up: Like its adult counterpart, the Gold Baby Yoshis light up dark rooms.
 * Not Quite Flight: The Flying Squirrel power up acts like the Cape Powerup in that it allows you to glide across large distances, but you never truly fly with it. While the P-Acorn does allow you to achieve infinite hangtime, it doesn't let you fly so much as it lets you pull off an infinite amount of height-boosting jumps.
 * Powerup Mount: Yoshi is rideable again. Much like in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, however, you can only use him in certain levels.
 * Scenery Porn: You have to be crazy to say it doesn't look better than New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
 * Shout-Out: The Painted Swampland has a background inspired by Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night.
 * Spiritual Successor: As mentioned above, the main game feels like Super Mario World if it was given a New Super Mario Bros. style coat of paint. The Super Luigi U DLC however draws some interesting parallels with The Lost Levels. It's a Mission Pack Sequel (or rather, Mission Pack DLC) that looks and plays the same as the game serving as its base, but is a lot tougher to beat. Every character also controls the way Luigi did in that game, and jump high at the cost of being rather slippery to control.
 * Super Title 64 Advance
 * Unique Enemy: Remember how rare Flame Chomps were in previous games? Well, now Flame Chomps are truly unique in this game because they... or rather, one appears in a single level. And that's it. New Super Luigi U has more, but even they only appear in one level. Likewise, Boomerang Bros, Sledge Bros, Sumo Bros, Dragoneels, Cheep Chomps, Flipruses, and Foos only appear in one level during both the main and DLC campaigns each.
 * Video Game Settings:
 * Big Boo's Haunt: Seen in the Ghost Houses, but part of Soda Jungle's map also takes place in a haunted swamp.
 * Bubbly Clouds: Meringue Clouds, Ludwig's stomping grounds.
 * Death Mountain: The Rock-Candy Mines, the sixth world and yet another late-game mountain biome in a New Super Mario Bros. game.
 * Green Hill Zone: Acorn Plains, the lush grasslands you start off in.
 * Lethal Lava Land: Peach's Castle is steadily turned into one over the course of the game thanks to Kamek's magic.
 * The Lost Woods + Macro Zone: Soda Jungle, which is the poisonous jungle world typical for New Super Mario Bros. games, but with gigantic enemies from SMB3's Giant Land.
 * Palmtree Panic: Sparkling Waters. If a level there isn't set underwater, it takes place on a pristine beach.
 * Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Frosted Glacier, which can potentially be your third world if you don't visit Sparkling Waters first.
 * Underground Level: Plenty, and just about all of them can be accessed from Warp Pipes.
 * Under the Sea: While underwater levels can be found all over, Sparkling Waters is home to the highest concentration of them.
 * Warmup Boss: Lemmy, oddly enough. Despite usually being a mid-to-late game boss, here he's the very first Koopaling that you fight.