NSMBU is an excellent game, and if you can't tell the visual difference between it and NSMBWii you are blind. Or playing both on a SD television or playing Wii on Dolphin. NSMBU is in high def so the difference is dramatic. Beyond the resolution increase, the graphics are signifcantly better, with more visually impressive worlds, cool lighting effects and so on.

That said, the style is similar. Nintendo went with NSMB as the big Wii U launch title because the series is insanely popular and it is also cheep and easy to make. This gave them a full extra year to work on more complicated big titles such as Mario U, X, MarioKart and Retro's game. But personally I think they could have done much more to make it a better title and a true landmark title. The NSMB series has lost a lot of its impact. Mario3 or World were high-end, massive titles. NSMB for DS was landmark in its own way, bringing back 2D gaming and dramatically updating the series visuals with polygons. NSMBWii added 4-player, which was a huge, fun addition. NSMBU adds HD and some cool new level themes, but still feels a bit like the Japanese SMB2, which as Nintendo said at the time, really didn't differentiate itself from the original enough.

NSMBU should have added much more in terms of content, visuals and gameplay. It should have been longer. Add some more worlds. It should have more varied themes with some really crazy levels. It should have some more really different levels with puzzles or other tricks. The visual style should be majorly updated. The game could learn a lot from 2-D games like LBP or Trine2 and really push visual boundaries even though its in 2D. And with some simple additions fans would be excited: Add 3 or 4 more unique powerups. Make Peach playable. Easy to do.

I think Nintendo is scared to push boundaries on its bread and butter classic title.

It often sounds patronising when I people bring up points like this but I've witnessed some pretty outlandish feats in a game store. 

Kids who picked up little planet and said, "eww, this looks gay"

A mum who pick up 2 DS games at random ands said to her friend "You think Jimmy would like this?"

Having said that i don't these people are really responsible for the failure of success of anything really.

Good grief, I forgot about that stuff, how can NSMB have such crappy music when games like Mario Galaxy have soundtracks to die for?

reported.

Hate is a strong word, i think they just feel they took the series as far as it could go creatively, and from what i played, IMHO i would agree with them. Unless they are not trying hard enough

2D Mario... where graphics have always been the selling point.


btw, WiiU Mario looks a lot better. I think you're eyes are broken.

Yeah, just see (or better, hear) the difference:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T35rvw9D1eQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ_mM06vkdE

At the very least, NSMBU should have had a different OST from its predecessors, like the NES versions did.That´s really lazy coming from them.

Yeah, the visuals on the  Wii U game are much better, Spurge.

I do kind of get your point about it being the same game with style and music, but visually there is a big difference. 

That´s it.Look at how the original Mario Bros is very different from Mario 2, which in turn is very different from Mario 3, and Mario World too....completely new music, new worlds, etc..

Really, there´s so much more they could do, for starters ditch the desert and water worlds that reuse the same frickin music for once, and come up with something entirely new.They came up with a world map, airships and Bowser´s sons in Mario 3, came up with a very different world (Dinosaur Land), the introduction of Yoshi and ghost houses in Mario World.

Compared to the NES iterations, the NSMB series is Nintendo taking the lazy way out.

And HD changes everything!

Now I'm thinking of an opinion piece years ago on how Assassin's Creed could never possibly work on the Wii because the little collectable feathers would be too hard to spot. Hilarious.