New Super Mario Bros. U

New Super Mario Bros. U is an upcoming side-scrolling 2.5D platform game for the Wii U. It will be the fourteenth title in the main Super Mario series, the ninth installment in the Super Mario Bros. series, and the fourth installment in the New Super Mario Bros. series. It is based off the New Super Mario Bros. Mii tech demo shown at E3 2011. It will be the first Mario platformer game since Super Mario 64, as well as the first 2D platformer since Super Mario World, to be released as a launch title for a home console. The game uses new, more detailed background styles. The game introduces the Flying Squirrel power-up, acquired by Mario and his friends by a mushroom-like acorn called the Super Acorn.

Story
Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad and Yellow Toad are in Princess Peach's Castle having dinner together. Bowser suddenly arrives in his Airship, now with a giant mechanical fist, that smashes and launches the brothers and the Toads towards the Acorn Plains. Mario and his friends crash into the Acorn Tree, launching Super Acorns through the area. Mario an co. then tumble out of the tree, passing a Bubble Baby Yoshi, while they're at it, and look into the horizon to see Bowser beginning a seige on Princess Peach's Castle, setting the Mario Bros. and the Toads to go on a new adventure and save Princess Peach.

Gameplay Features
The gameplay of New Super Mario Bros. U is very similar to that of past New Super Mario Bros. games, mostly similar to Super Mario World, with similar features and designs, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, with the return of the 4-player multiplayer. Though this time, players can play as their Miis, including the first player, who can also choose whoever to play as. A fifth player can join as well, though he/she will use the Wii U GamePad to assist the players, in a mode known as Boost Mode. This mode allows the fifth player to create temporarily blocks to either assist or annoy the other players, simply by touching the GamePad screen. The player operating Boost Mode can also stun enemies.

Power-ups, like the Fire Flower, Ice Flower, Penguin Suit and the Mini Mushroom, are returning. The game also features a new power-up, the Super Acorn, which gives Mario and co a Flying Squirrel Suit, which lets them glide and grab on to walls.

World Map Sections
Unlike previous New Super Mario Bros. titles, where the worlds were separated like in the NES and SNES versions of Super Mario Bros. 3, New Super Mario Bros. U has a seamless world map, similar to Super Mario World and to a lesser extent the GBA remake of Super Mario Bros. 3. Though, like the previous games, there are Fortresses, Castles and the occasional Ghost House within each part of the world, as well as different themes for each section of the map:


 * Acorn Plains: A grassland setting with lots of shrubs, slanted mountains, like in Super Mario World, and the game's main feature, the Acorn Tree.
 * Layer-Cake Desert: A desert world with various desserts, such as melting ice creams, giant cakes, and a sea of sand with Moai statues.
 * Frosted Glacier: A snowy world that takes place at night filled with constellations.
 * Sparkling Waters: A tropical world with multiple islands, bubbling water geysers, and even a sunken ship.
 * Soda Jungle: A rainforest-esque world similar to the Forest of Illusion, with giant enemies and blocks, similar to Big Island.
 * Rock-Candy Mines: A mountainous world with tall, pillar like mountains. A cloud train seems to separate this world from the next.
 * Meringue Clouds: A sky world resembling the foreground of levels in World 7
 * Peach's Castle: A grassland area containing mushroom hills and Peach's Castle, its only level. It has been taken over by the Koopa Troop and is surrounded by a tornado.

Interestingly, most of the world map sections' names are food-related.

Yoshis
Green Yoshis make a return, acting much the same as in New Super Mario Bros Wii. Baby Yoshis also return, which haven't been seen in a Mario platformer since their Super Mario World debut. Green is the only color available for Yoshis that the players ride on, unlike New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Yoshi now has a meter that tracks how many berries he eats. As usual, eating 5 makes him lay an egg containing an item.

Baby Yoshis

 * Bubble Baby Yoshi: Blue Baby Yoshis that release bubbles from their mouths. Enemies caught in these bubbles will turn into 3 Coins. They appear on the Frosted Glacier map area.
 * Balloon Baby Yoshi: Magneta Baby Yoshis that expand like a balloon and gently float in the air. These Baby Yoshis are similar to the Blimp Yoshi power-up, found in Super Mario Galaxy 2. They appear on the Acorn Plains map area.
 * Bulb Baby Yoshi: Yellow Baby Yoshis that light up dark areas and can stun emenies. These Baby Yoshis act similar to the Glow Blocks, found in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and also Bulb Yoshi from Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Options
As well as the main adventure, their are other options to choose from. There is Challenge Mode, where players have to complete a objective, with some having a time limit. Another mode is Boost Rush Mode, where players have to reach the end of two to three selected stages, much like the Coin Rush feature in New Super Mario Bros. 2. Unlike Coin Rush, the stages are auto-scrolling, meaning the player has to keep up with the stage, which speeds up every time the player collects coins. Coin Battle from New Super Mario Bros. Wii will be returning.

Controls

 * /: Move
 * /: Jump
 * /: Running and shooting fire/iceballs, carrying items

Playable Characters

 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * Yellow Toad
 * Blue Toad
 * Mii

Transformations

 * Small Mario
 * Super Mario
 * Fire Mario
 * Ice Mario
 * Penguin Mario (only in challenge mode)
 * Flying Squirrel Mario
 * Mini Mario
 * Invincible Mario
 * P-Acorn (special item obtained via a Nabbit)

Other Characters

 * Yoshis
 * Green Yoshis
 * Baby Yoshis
 * Balloon Baby Yoshis
 * Bubble Baby Yoshis
 * Bulb Baby Yoshis
 * Princess Peach
 * Toad
 * Nabbit

Enemies

 * Goombas
 * Paragoombas
 * Grand Goombas
 * Mega Goombas
 * Goomb-Acorns
 * Koopa Troopas
 * Koopa Paratroopas
 * Gargantua Koopa Troopas
 * Dry Bones
 * Piranha Plants
 * Super Piranha Plants
 * Venus Fire Traps
 * Stalking Piranha Plants
 * Hammer Bros.
 * Fire Bros.
 * Ice Bros.
 * Boos
 * Circling Boo Buddies
 * Fire Snakes
 * Munchers
 * Flying Squirrels
 * Dragoneels
 * Urchins
 * Mega Urchins
 * Chain Chomps
 * Huckit Crabs
 * Pokeys
 * Bill Blasters
 * Bullet Bills
 * Banzai Bills
 * Monty Moles
 * Rocket Engines
 * Torpedo Teds
 * Heat-seeking Torpedo Teds
 * Skull Boxes
 * Buzzy Beetles
 * Cheep-Cheeps
 * Golden Cheep-Cheeps
 * Deep-Cheeps
 * Mechanical Cheep-Cheep
 * Spiny Cheep-Cheeps
 * River Piranha Plants
 * Bloopers
 * Blooper Nanniess
 * Baby Bloopers
 * Porcu-Puffers
 * Cooligans
 * Bony Beetles
 * Spikes
 * Stone Spikes
 * Fishbones
 * Fuzzies
 * Thwomps
 * Thwimps
 * Sumo Bros.
 * Bob-ombs
 * Para-bombs
 * Podoboos
 * Cannons
 * Foos
 * Magmaarghs

Bosses

 * Boom Boom and/or Kamek (Fortress)
 * Koopalings
 * Lemmy Koopa (Acorn Plains)
 * Morton Koopa Jr. (Layer Cake Desert)
 * Wendy O. Koopa (Frosted Glacier)
 * Iggy Koopa (Soda Jungle)
 * Larry Koopa (Sparkling Waters)
 * Roy Koopa (Rock-Candy Mines)
 * Ludwig von Koopa (Meringue Clouds)
 * Bowser Jr.
 * Bowser

Items

 * Super Mushrooms
 * Mini Mushrooms
 * Fire Flowers
 * Ice Flowers
 * Super Acorns
 * P-Acorns
 * 1-Up Mushrooms
 * 3-Up Moons
 * 3-Up Moon Blocks
 * Question Blocks
 * Giant Question Blocks
 * Brick Blocks
 * Coin Blocks
 * Giant Brick Blocks
 * Note Blocks
 * POW Blocks
 * Super Guide Blocks
 * Coins
 * Star Coins
 * Red Coins
 * Red Rings
 * Flying Question Blocks
 * Warp Pipe
 * Yoshi Egg
 * Beanstalk
 * Checkpoint Flag
 * Starman
 * Purple Starman
 * Boost Blocks (Boost Mode only)
 * Green Rings
 * Spinning Green Coins
 * P-Switches
 * Blue Coins
 * Goal Flagpole
 * Water Geysers
 * Berries
 * ! Switch

Other

 * Toad Houses
 * Enemy Courses

Trivia

 * If the Miis are selected as P1, they will be colored like Mario. If P2, they will be colored like Luigi. If P3, they will be colored like Wario. If P4, they will be colored like Luigi's light-blue palette swap in the Super Smash Bros. series and Player 4 in the remakes of Mario Bros..
 * When the player grabs a Baby Yoshi, an additional choir is added to the music. Additionally, the Baby Yoshi will mouth to the choir.
 * When the Mario Bros., Toads, or Miis are not moving, they stop and stare at the screen until the player starts moving them again.