Nintendo Details Four Special Modes in Upcoming New Super Mario Bros. U

The fatter, shorter Tom Selleck – who’s qualified in his trade – is back in New Super Mario Bros. U, which is coming to Nintendo Wii U on the same day that the console launches. As well as the main single player story, there are a few extra things that will hopefully make Mario fans happy. Challenge Mode, Coin Battle, World Map and Nabbit are all detailed by Nintendo, below.

·         Challenge Mode: Challenge Mode tasks players with completing specific objectives, such as clearing a course without obtaining a single coin or touching the ground. There are four single-player Challenge categories: Time Attack, Coin Collection, 1-Up Rally and Special (miscellaneous challenges). Boost Mode Challenges require two players. Once players complete a Challenge, the game saves a replay of the action so players can show off their accomplishments.

·         Coin Battle: Up to four players run through a course and compete to see who can collect the most coins. Another player can also use the Wii U GamePad in Boost Mode to place Boost Blocks to help grab hard-to-reach coins. Players can also use the GamePad to edit and customise the coin layout in dedicated courses. The coin layout can then be saved and played by the players using Wii Remote controllers.

·         World Map: New Super Mario Bros. U is the first side-scrolling Mario game since 1992’s Super Mario World that features a seamless world map with named worlds and courses. The map contains many secret exits, which might change the map and cause shortcuts to appear. The worlds are interconnected, so people can play through the game in a nonlinear fashion.

·         Nabbit: From time to time, a creature named Nabbit will appear on the world map. Players must enter the course and catch the speedy Nabbit to recover items stolen from Toad. If Nabbit is nabbed, players receive a powerful P-Acorn, which will allow them to fly continuously through an entire stage. The only way to obtain a P-Acorn is to catch Nabbit.

The last Mario title on the 3DS, New Super Mario Bros. 2, was a good game, but as Lee said in his review, “…for a series that has such high standards, Nintendo could have done more to differentiate this game from the DS & Wii titles that have come before…”. 

The plumber’s first outing on Nintendo’s next console looks rather similar to the rest of the New Super Mario Bros series which has been on-going since 2006. After a certain time, people will get disgruntled when you feed them the same thing over and over again. The addition of a World Map and Challenge Mode may differentiate this enough to grab the droves. Which it probably will anyway.

New Super Mario Bros. U is set to release on November 30 in Europe and November 18 in North America for Nintendo Wii U