Good day VGCharterz, as the title says lets discuss the latest entry in the 2D Mario universe. I took the plunge this weekend and got the WiiU; NSMBU was a no brainer and I just completed it yesterday.

The first thing I noticed was how crisp the game looked on the gamepad. It looked almost as good as my HDTV! Colors, design, art style (dat boo level!) all looked great, and to be honest above my expectations. I cannot wait to see 3D Mario.

When I first laid eyes on the Gamepad I thought it was huge! However it becomes comfortable surprisingly fast and I actually prefered playing on the gamepad. My only issue with it was I self powned quite a few times by accidentially hitting down on the control pad while jumping (causing me to buttslam into hell) I'm sure my hands haven't gotten bigger. Controls and the gamepad were a pleasant experience for the most part.

Now, I am not a big fan for the first two NSMB games on the DS and Wii. I completed both of them twice and do not have anything memorable from them. However, NSMBU has definitely delivered that enjoyable "Mario magic" if you would call it that. Maybe it's the SMB3 and World fusion vibe; It felt like a proper Mario game that delivered and I can definitely see myself playing this again and again.

Another issue I had was that it didn't, at any point, pose a real challenge. Maybe it's that I love platformers so they tend to be easier for me, but this game is by no means "hard" in my opinion. (This is only for the story levels. I have not tried any of the challenge coin trials.)

8.5 / 10 Memorable

Finally, where do you see 2D Mario going from here? Will Nintendo release "New Super Mario Bros U 2" ? (I am not a fan of these "new..." names) Can Nintendo release acceptable DLC? Should they?

Discuss!

I don't think we'll see a new 2D Mario for a while. Nintendo tends to release one per console. One for Wii, one for DS, one for 3DS. The games continue to sell throughout the console's lifespan, so it seems silly to make more than one.

Anyway, I'm enjoying NSMBU so far. There are some really creative levels here, and the HD graphics help make make the somewhat bland NSMB really pop and look great. It's an enjoyable title I'm sure I'll come back to a few times.

It's a good game, from what I can tell. Unfortunately, I've spent very little time with it so far. My only impressions so far go through world 2.

1) It doesn't give a "wow" feeling of improved and upgraded. It doesn't do a good job of making the Wii U seem like a must buy or a new evolution of gaming.

2) It does seem a bit more challenging and the gameplay is solid. While it feels like more of the same, I definitely look forward to later levels.

As a side ntoe, some of my friends are convinced Nintendo will whore out another 2D Mario for the Wii U, but I'm not so convinced myself.

Definitely a huge fan. I was never a big 2d Mario fan only beating Super Mario world about 11 years ago and I have skipped all the other 2d Marios. My girlfriend isn't a gamer, but she said she used to play games like Rayman and Super mario when she was a kid. I ended up getting SMBU and a WiiU so we could game together. Since then we've had multiple nights up until 2 am playing SMBU and having a blast. It's honestly pretty difficult,but that might be because we keep messing each other up hah.

Nintendo earned a new 2d Mario fan here.

New Super Mario Bros Wii is my favourite Mario game so far along with Mario Land on gameboy. This looks really cool, no matter what the review is, I will pick it up one day.

Though I don't own a Wii U I have played a little bit of this game and seen gameplay and have used the game pad hands on and I agree you on the first impressions of its size and how comfortable it surprisingly is. The Screen is also surprisingly good and definitely not what i expected. As for 2D Mario I'm pretty sure Nintendo will release a part 2 of this game, they done it with all there other recent titles and its worked for them.

I beat it last saturday the first 5 worlds alone the last 3 with a friend and its pretty top notch. Though I do hope the dlc is not 10 min content like nsmb2.

I haven't played NSMBU, but I loved NSMBWii! Had a blast with my gf many nights ^^ And I'll get it for the WIi U as well. But I do think it's time for Nintendo to ditch the "New"-series; it's run its course. It ain't new any more. They need to freshen it up, add new things, change the art style. I never quite liked that NSMB2 AND NSMBU looked the same as the the previous entries.

I love it; my personal GOTY so far.

I think the visuals, while relatively simple, are incredibly impressive in HD due to the crisp look and the little details that are much more noticeable like the lighting from flames and Mario's fireballs. Also, the boss levels where you see the Bowser brats' airship fly into the background never ceases to amaze me. Moments like that make it hard to believe it's not native 1080p. The game just looks clean and smooth.

The level design is very impressive and the world map is even better than Super Mario World's. I smiled more than once when I would discover a secret exit in a level and watch as the map became interconnected in different ways.

Personally, I have little interest in the multiplayer aspects; I'm a one player Mario kind of guy, and in that respect this is quite easily my favorite 2D Mario since the SNES. WiiU launched with a AAA title in my opinion and I can't recommend it enough.

I agree with you. It looks and plays great. 1080p 2D mario is great. But I have the same issue with it's art design as I have with all previous versions of NSMB. I've never been fond of the "Photoshopy" look of the games. I'm still waithing for a nice HD 2D Mario with handrawn graphics like Rayman Origins.