The visuals may not be groundbreaking or surprising, but they're an effective way to push some great game design.
Enemies and platforms are exactly placed to encourage the speed-runner, while secret pipes reward exploration. Regardless, this release still delivers a rich vein of quality that courses through every level. The notion of this series using Super Mario Maker's instant tile-switching feature is tantalising - which let the player play a level, while also choosing style templates to mimic the NES original, Mario World, or current 3D offerings. Looking to Nintendo's past glories this way, it shows perhaps an opportunity to deliver something more on Switch is missed in U Deluxe. Here's our video breakdown of the Switch port of New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe. In fact many of the backgrounds use multiple layers, of clouds, jutting cliffs, and extra effects like snow, to build a sense of position in the foreground. Super Mario Bros U - both Deluxe and the Wii U release - go a little further with a gaussian depth of field effect, and even light shafts. A parallax scrolling effect is also used on 2D background layers, just like the 16-bit days - meaning different layers move at different speeds to create an illusion of depth as you run. It's never overplayed, but lets fireballs and lamps properly illuminate nearby geometry. The advantage here is it opens the gates to more modern lighting, and shader techniques for elements like water or lava. The 2D sprite-work of Mario World is, for all its charms, ditched in favour of conventional 3D character modeling. That's not to say it rests on its laurels.
This is Nintendo's line to a rich tradition of 2D-game design, even if it's through a medium of 3D rendering, that would otherwise be lost to time. Rather, it pays tribute to the mascot's legacy, going back to the template of Super Mario World on Super NES, in particular, with its map top-down layout.
Looking back, New Super Mario Bros has never really been Nintendo's most technically advanced series. Otherwise, this new release plays it relatively straight, but look under the hood, and there are a few more changes than you might at first expect. Two new characters join from the start - Nabbit and Toadette - offering easier ways to get involved. What's included? Well, the original game and its Luigi expansion are tied up into one package, and besides losing the Miiverse integration, everything else stays intact. As with so many highlights of Nintendo's last console, the original sadly got overlooked, despite being one of the series' best - and so it's great that Switch gets a conversion similar in scope to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. What better way to kick off the new year? New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe on Switch is a complete version of the Wii U release, with some content upgrades and a smattering of visual tweaks to boot.
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