Shame there is no online multiplayer

Was hoping for some online multiplayer for my mate to join in.

Bring it on! I was underwhelmed with New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but this looks like something special.

I hope there is some good miiverse functionality than just those things on the map,Some form of leaderboards and challenging your friends to battle with ghost data would be nice but seeing nintendo's anti online policy,I am going to set my hopes low

Check out the New Super Mario Bros. U launch commercial. Looks like they're using the same actors, sets, and music from the general Wii U launch trailer.

Now that Nintendo seems to be going the online route again, any modes or features that aren't added initially could be added in the future. Although to some that could be a bad thing if you have to pay for those features but if they are free then it should be a good thing. Who knows.

Then again Nintendo is generally known for releasing COMPLETE gaming experiences, so any missing or lack of a feature could mean that the feature really isn't needed in the first place.

No online? That's about weird. How does the WiiU online work? Is it still friend codes or can you have a user name and stuff?

Friend codes don't prevent you from having a username, in fact they let you have the username you really want ...

From the details that have been released (from what I remember), it is still friend codes based but it is friend code per user account (probably by Mii) and you can friend people you play games with.

who care if it has local drop in drop out multiplayer. I want some online co-op with the game.