This article is about the mode from New Super Mario Bros. U. For other uses, see Challenge Mode.
A Time Attack stage in Challenge Mode
Challenge Mode is a mode introduced in New Super Mario Bros. U. It is a collection of various challenges of varied difficulty divided into specific categories, including Special and 1-Up Rally. While some challenges take place in a specific part of a course from the main game, there are some challenges that take place in a course exclusive to Challenge Mode, such as Penguin Bowling and Bubble Up. Each challenge has a specific objective and will award the player with medals (gold, silver, and bronze) depending on how they completed the challenge. For example, the Time Attack challenges have three medals, the Gold being achieved by completing the challenge in a set amount of time. However, some Special and Boost Mode challenges do not record scores and will always award the player with a gold medal for completing the challenge.
Every challenge has a difficulty rating, with one star being the easiest, and five stars being the most difficult.
The screen upon completing all Challenges
There are five categories of challenges: Time Attack (denoted by a clock), where the player must complete the course in the allotted time; Coin Collection (denoted by a Coin), where the player must collect a specific amount of coins or collect as few coins as possible; 1-Up Rally (denoted by a 1-Up Mushroom), where the player must finish the course while collecting a certain amount of 1-Ups; Special (denoted by a ? Block), a category with challenges whose objectives vary; and a category denoted by the , which has challenges where the player must use Boost Mode.
In New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Boost Mode challenges are not included due to control limitations on the Nintendo Switch system. Toadette and Nabbit cannot be selected within the mode, due to having different control attributes from Mario, Luigi, and the Toads. The menu screen has a slightly different UI from the Wii U version, with the icons for each category receiving simple, gray-colored designs that change color when selected. The ? Block icon for the Special category is also changed to a three-dimensional one.
