New Super Luigi U

New Super Luigi U
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Publisher: Nintendo
Original System: Wii U
System Played On: Wii U
Rating: 3 stars

On May 14, 2022, I beat Bowser, thus finishing New Super Luigi U on the Nintendo Wii U! In my playthrough, I did not collect all the star coins, not even for a single world, so I did not unlock any of the star road levels. I did find all the secret exits, so I at least unlocked all the secret levels. Between beating Bowser and playing every level (including the secret levels), I earned 2 stars on my profile. And I did it all in 7 1/3 gameplay hours over the span of about a month.

Way back when, I called New Super Luigi U an expansion pack to New super mario bros u, and after playing through the whole game, I still stand by it that. Nintendo would seem to agree with me, as New Super Luigi U would eventually come packaged with New Super Mario Bros U on the same disc, and they released the games together on the Nintendo Switch port. Therefore, going into this New Super Luigi U, I expected the same exact levels, except with the 100 second time limit for the extra challenge. While New Super Luigi U keeps the same worlds as New Super Mario Bros U, it did not keep the same levels. The developers of New Super Luigi U kept the 100 second time limit in the forefront of the brains when designing levels. The developers definitely shortened levels. They gave you plenty of time if the gamer merely wants to reach the flagpole at the end of the lee. If the player wants to fully complete the game by collecting all the star coins, he or she barely has enough time. Some of the levels probably need multiple playthroughs because the star coin needs all 100 seconds to reach, to grab and to make it to the flagpole at the end. This has its strengths and weaknesses. On one hand, it encourages multiple playthroughs of a level, giving the game replay value. On the other hand, this feels like padding, as the goal of every level should be to collect all 3 star coins and reach the flagpole. Then again, maybe I'm just a n00b who needs to "git gud."

As mentioned above, what separates New Super Luigi U from New Super Mario Bros U (or any New Super Mario Bros game or any Super Mario game, for that matter) is that every level has a 100 second time limit literally. If you ever paid close attention to a typical Super Mario game timer, you'll notice that the timer ticks fairly fast. That's because a tick off a Super Mario game timer last somewhere between 0.4 seconds and 0.7 seconds, depending on the game. In New Super Luigi U, a tick off the time literally takes 1 second. They are in perfect sync. I kind of like this better. Going into each level, I had a better sense of how much time I left if I needed to back track to attempt to get a star coin. I'm not saying all future 2D (2.5D?) Super Mario games need a 100 second time, but they should all keep the timer to real seconds, even if this means shorting the timer on average.

The only time the 100 second timer hurt the gameplay was with the Boo houses. In a traditional Boo house in a typical Super Mario game, the Boo house tries to get the gamer lost, and the gamer must find the way out of the Boo house. Since New Super Luigi U only gives the player 100 seconds to escape, the game really can't get the player lost. Therefore, Boo houses turn into just another level, just with a soft "horror" theme to it. Seriously, Boo houses feel just like another level, except the enemies are Boos instead of any other enemy. I guess it is technically harder because you can't jump on Boos, but that barely makes the level a bit harder to consider the Boo house a special level.

New Super Luigi U's worst weakness is the story. It's literally the exact same as New Super Mario Bros. U, except Mario is for some reason absent. I know so many people have already said it, but I will say it again. Why wasn't Luigi saving Daisy? Here, let me add a few more ideas, which are a bit more original. Perhaps Luigi could save Mario, like he does in the Luigi's Mansion trilogy. Maybe Bowser could have kidnapped both Mario and Peach at the same time, and Luigi has to rescue both of them. Either option would have been better than copy and paste from New Super Mario Bros U, except with Mario absent. Heck, New Super Luigi doesn't even provide a good answer for why Mario is absent!

Besides that, there is nothing much to say. Besides the 100 second timer and Luigi's loftier jumps, it's traditional Super Mario game, or more specifically, a typical New Super Mario Bros game. There are hidden 8-bit Luigi sprites in each level, but the game does not keep track of the ones you found, and it does not go towards completion. The one little thing I do appreciate is how Luigi responds to reaching the flagpole at the end of the level. Mario traditionally says, "Here we go!" or "I did it!" or "Let's Go!" When Luigi typically gets to the end of the level, he says, "Whew! Made it!" This little detail displays the less confident and more scaredy-cat nature of Luigi, as opposed to his brother Mario, who displays more confidence and less fear.