Give it to Hideki Kamiya.  Normally I'm against giving people things they ask for, hah.  I just feel if he wants it so bad he must have some good ideas bouncing around in his head.  And if his campaigning means we get Star Fox sooner the guy's a saint.

 For having such a convoluted name New Super Mario Bros. U is a very streamlined game. It is a return to the classic side scrolling action we all know and love and there are elements in the game from the many iterations of Mario over the years.  If you’ve been away from the series for a while it will absolutely be a nostalgic experience from level design, to enemies to musical scores and more. The 3D overworld, parts of which are dynamic, is a pretty straightforward evolution and if I had my way it would have been fleshed out more so.  The gameplay is exactly what you remember; complete several stages in a themed zone before battling one of Bowser’s lieutenants along your way to defeat Bowser himself.  Now, however, there are multiple ways to reach the final goal, e.g. you can travel through the water zone instead of the ice zone, including secret paths (which I won’t spoil for you.)  The plot has not changed. The big mean yellow and green baddie has invaded in an airship and taken over Princess Peach’s castle.  It’s new but it’s classic and the name of the game is saving the Mushroom Kingdom from Bowser like its predecessors.

 The pace of the game was just about right.  The difficulty of the typical stages was not very high if you had nothing in mind but hitting the flag at the end of the map, but it amped up if your goals included getting the three stars every level contains, collecting every single coin you could find or just looking in every nook and cranny for hidden treasure/secrets. The thing that really stuck out for me negatively was the similarity and ease of all the boss battles. I think the series should have progressed to the point that fights with Bowser’s lieutenants were heavily influenced by the zone they were in as far as defining their look as well as the stage design and the means necessary to defeat them.  It wasn’t until the final Bowser showdown that I felt any of that was addressed to a significant degree.

Surprisingly, one of the most fun aspects of the game for me was the challenge mode.  When I first saw it I scoffed at the idea of it actually being enjoyable and looked at it as more of a time sink.  Then the completionist in me forced me to give it a chance and it quickly became more addictive than the main game even.  It brought to mind a quote from Miyamoto about how he felt the challenge mode gave you a new perspective on the main game.  I found this to be evident very quickly when I returned to the main game to look for the large star coins.  After having the experience of the challenge mode it became very intuitive as to how I was supposed to reach formerly difficult to reach areas/coins.

Also, the challenge mode was full of suits and different forms of Mario! Something I felt was lacking in the main game.  I thought it would have been a beautiful thing if each zone had a suit that was effective within it as well as one that was ineffective in it. Or, if they weren’t going to include a large number of suits at least make it so the suits they did include had more opportunity to interact with the world. Fireballs should have inanimate objects to light on fire, reintroduce the tail swipe in squirrel form, enemies placed so iceballs could freeze them and turn them into additional platforms etc.  I didn’t like that I had to wait until Superstar Road to experience the penguin suit when there was an entire water world that could have had a level or two designed to require it’s usage if you wanted to investigate all of its secrets.  I will say the inclusion of Yoshis offset the lack of suits in the main game a little.

The graphics of the game are quite beautiful.  The only time I had any issue is when I inspected the screen very closely in some areas in the overworld when I was playing on my TV.  The look when you’re running around a stage itself is crisp and vibrant and it makes you look forward to the first fully 3D HD Mario adventure.  The sound is definitely Mario music, but it’s nothing that grabs your attention, it’s not music that will be stuck in your head 20 years from now like the original Mario games can boast.  The musical pieces are more like bland covers of a legendary rock band.

The integration of additional gamepad features was non-existent for me.  I didn’t really touch on the multiplayer.  But, I felt that for a game like this the ability of off screen play was perfect and more than enough.  This is exactly the kind of game you can play rolled up in bed or lying off the side of your couch when you have a bit of time on your hands.  

 New Super Mario Bros. U is an entertaining game worth the purchase price. I think it should be part of any Wii U owner’s collection of games. You’ll be the one to determine how and how much fun you extract from the game, there’s a lot of content for you to plunge into but you won’t get to see it all in a single play through where you rush to kill Bowser and see the credits.

New Super Mario Bros. U is a solid piece of software that I am glad I purchased and will be playing quite a bit until I finish all the challenges and unlock all the secrets. It’s a polished game where controls are responsive, bugs are non-existent and you can immerse yourself in the world.  On the other hand it’s not a game I expect to be the highlight of my Wii U library once the system matures. Bear with me, I know typically in rating publications a 7 is a major bust but I need somewhere to go when a game really knocks me off my feet. 

RATING: 7/10 

I really want to get this one since the last SMB game I played on a home console was on the NES times... But I've heard this is basically the same as the DS version (which I own and love) and the Wii version (don't own but I've played it as well). I could get it for around $40/$45... Do you think it's worth the price? I doubt it'll ever go down to budget price, since I still see the Wii version priced as much as $50.

 It's worth $40.  Do you like Luigi at all? You could also wait for the retail version of New Super Luigi U that's only $30.  You seem to be playing a few games at the moment though. If I were you I would play what you're playing now, wait for Pikmin to come out, decide if you're going to get that (I bet you will) and then use NSMBU/NSLU as a bridge when there's a gap in games you don't like.

 Haha I know that feel.  Every time I'm at Superstore or Best Buy I have to force myself not to pick up ZombiU and Lego City because I know they'll just sit there being unplayed.  I already have a backlog of games but that doesn't stop me from wanting them in my collection so badly.   What's better than bringing home a new Wii U game? Bringing home two Wii U games.  If you have enough points definitely do it.

Yes, innovating with a hair cut . LOL. 

 Hahahah.

 For the most part no.   I feel slightly bad for anyone who bought a Wii U about a month ago and can't return it to stores and wait for the price drop/bundles if that's what they want to do.  Even in my case though having bought it in June I feel like I got well worth the $50 out of it since then and would rather keep mine than sell it/rebuy it at a lower price in a month even if I could recoup the entire cost.  I am a huge Zelda fan and the design on the gamepad is nice but something about a solid sleek system where everything matches is more appealing to me.

I heard that her magic comes from her hair and her outfit is made out of it so when she uses her magic she attacks with her hair so her outfit comes apart...or something. I haven't played the first game either.

 lol'd for real. That's the most amazing explanation for gratuitous boobage in a game I've ever heard.  Thumbs up Nintendo.

In the first game yes, and I do believe that had made it over in some form to Bayo 2, but this time with short hair 

 Hahah what the. I guess Nintendo is always innovating.

You mean Platinum because that was in the first game. Actually I think in the first game her long hair actually merged into her outfit. Now it's short so it doesn't merge but it's still made out of her hair.

 I'd be kind of choked if I was a girl. Or maybe I'm just being oversensitive.  Whatevs.  Still going to try it out most likely.  It makes my head spin a bit, hoping that's just because the trailers are full of only the most action packed sequences.

 Um.  I haven't played the first one.  And just yesterday saw my first trailer for the game.  Does Bayonetta periodically lose her clothes when she does special moves?

 This year into next the dominos are Pikmin, 101, Windwaker, Tropical Freeze, Super Mario, Mario Kart, SSB, X...

 Imagine next year being Zelda, Metroid, 1 creative new IP, 1 mega hit multiplatform (e.g. if we got KH3 this year), announcement of Starfox in development as headliners among a slew of other releases... very hopeful but not out of the realm of possibility.

 I think Starfox utilizing the gamepad as the control for your ship would be incredibly fun.  Being able to divert power into weapons, defense, engines etc. on the fly, rotating weapons, leaving smoke trails, rear view mode so you can simultaneously see what's in front of and behind you and so on. Multiplayer Starfox where instead of the usual cast the camera puts your face into the avatars. Flying with your squadron of friends in HD. Got damn. For the love of cooters give us a new Starfox already.

  I guess what I'm really trying to say is next year Nintendo should give us Starfox.

 I for one haven't had a chance to become disenchanted with Iwata yet. I believe in you Iwata san!

 (On the other hand, I find it hard to believe they wouldn't have games that are projected to be released a year and a half from now. So not like he's saying a whole lot.)

 You're very good.  I always get a bit jelly of people who are good at graphic design/editting while I sit there Microsoft Painting my way through life.

 In America first you get the RAM. Then you get the power.  Then you get the women.

"Many"? It's barely sold like 5 million.
360's up to like 400 million ps3 close to that.
 

Curious if you made a mistake or where you got that figure from:

http://en.wikipedia....Sales_standings

 That's an Xbox in every American home.

Yeah, because stating obviously overly exaggerated numbers completely makes my point invalid.

 Glad you see things my way. 

 I'm so torn over buying this or not.  I would love to get Lego City Undercover but the load times would drive me insane for sure.

 I need to spend some time on the demo.

 Ugh. Please be something that's badass to a Nintendo degree.

It is really fun to replay it using Luigi physics. It is either dumb luck that you pass through a course the first time, or, the Luigi 'on ice' mechanics make some of those courses almost impossible on you first try. 

 

My only criticism is that I wish they gave all four characters a revamp. Nabbit is cool and all, but when you play with your kids, one of them has to be the Toad, which is essentially the same Toad that they were before (I could be the Toad I guess, but I bought the damn thing, LOL). 

 Hah. Best post ever.

 I wish I could remember which article it was and even so it was nothing concrete but it was mentioned their Zelda U will make full of use of the gamepad and be fully integrated in every part of the game.  Nothing but talk at this point but it's possible they're not showing off the gamepad until they have a flagship game (or two) with which to show it off.  I'm also of the opinion unless there's a meaningful, fun and intuitive way to incorporate the gamepad into the software just let it function as a second screen/helpful utility.  Not every game needs to use it for the sake of using it.  Let it build up some momentum and show off it's functionality so developers are tempted to use it rather than feel forced to use it as an afterthought just because it's part of the system.

 Just tried the demo.  This game might be a little too action packed for me to love it.  But, I will likely end up getting it just because I'm a collector whore and want all the Wii U exclusives.

  Can you post a link for me to the details of what we're missing? (anyone)

I think it would be cool to have a mini-game(s) for off-TV use....just kind of a bonus-doesn't have to be anything major.

 I think a feature like that would be good in instances like crafting in an MMO where usually it's a horribly boring time sink watching progress bars while you're stuck at a crafting station.

 If I really like a single player game I will obsessively play it until I complete at least the main quest line.  If I am playing a multiplayer game at the time though I bounce between both depending on my mood.  I find if I start switching it up between games too often it means I'm not enjoying it and I won't start enjoying it more later on and never end up completing it.  So I actively try to limit myself to one single player game at a time hoping it'll capture my full attention at some point, like a lot of books that start off slow.