New Super Luigi U

It’s probably best to start out by clarifying exactly what New Super Luigi U is. Put simply it is a downloadable expansion for the Wii U launch title New Super Mario Bros U. As you would expect you will need a copy of that game to play this as downloadable content. If you’re going to buy New Super Mario Bros U I’d recommend you play that before the DLC. Somewhat confusingly, though, it is also available at a slightly higher cost as a standalone disc-based retail release. I can’t really fathom the audience they are targeting with the disc release, other than those that have to ‘deal with’ not having an internet connection.

It would be easy to think of this as a simple remix of the game where you play primarily as Luigi but that would be doing it a disservice. While Luigi is often seen as a mere colour swap of his brother this is, depending on the game, historically inaccurate. Let’s just be vague and say that in some of his appearances Luigi has the ability to jump higher and further than Mario at the cost of losing some traction when his feet hit the ground. This is the Luigi that stars in New Super Luigi U. It’s a little confusing but you’d do well to bear it no further thought. This Luigi is harder to control but, in the right hands, able to perform some very impressive platforming maneuvers and move through a stage at great speed.

As a result of this change you’ll often feel better off if you don’t stop moving. Stopping on a platform will often lead to you sliding off and, while that can be mitigated to a degree, it is often easier to throw caution to the wind and simply go for another jump. The tension this builds will either end in an unbelievable acrobatic traversal of a whole stage or your brain locking and you dying a pathetic-looking death by sliding into a fairly harmless-looking penguin.

The expansion presents itself as a menu option that, in effect, switches game entirely. There is no crossover of save data or progress. The world map is identical to that of New Super Mario Bros U but all 82 stages have been either fully remade or have had considerable changes made to up the difficulty. In addition every stage has had its time limit shortened to just 100 seconds, which Mario aficionados will know is the standard ‘get a move on’ time limit.

Another addition to the standard formula is with the character Nabbit replacing Mario in multiplayer. Nabbit, and the generic Toads, control in the same way as Luigi but Nabbit will not get any of the effects normally gained from power-ups. On the plus side he cannot be harmed by any enemies making him the perfect choice for any player that finds it hard to keep up with game. It’s a slightly odd choice to pull the game in two directions at once but it works well if one of your group is a little “Hard-of-Mario”.