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, to be release as a launch title for the home console. The game uses new, more detailed background styles, many of them resembling paintings, and its theme is most likely flying squirrels. The game introduces the Flying Squirrel power-up, acquired by Mario and his friends by an acorn-shaped Mushroom called the Super Acorn.

Story
Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad and Yellow Toad are in Princess Peach's Castle to lunch together. Bowser suddenly arrives in his Airship, now with a giant mechanical fist, that smashes the brothers and the Toads towards the Acorn Plains. Mario and his friends crash into a tree, launching Super Acorns through the area. They see Bowser and the Koopalings kidnapping Princess Peach once again, and they go on a new adventure to save her one more time.

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 New Super Mario Bros. Wii. It features new power-ups such as the flying squirrel suits and the option to play as the player's Mii. It also features a cooperative multiplayer mode similar to its prequel. Baby Yoshis from Super Mario World are included in the game, each with different abilities similar to Yoshi's power-up abilities in Super Mario Galaxy 2: the blue Baby Yoshis can blow bubbles, the magenta ones can balloon up and the yellow ones can glow. A fifth player can also join in using the Wii U GamePad to assist the other players by putting in blocks, in a mode known as Boost Mode. There will also be a new mode called Boost Rush where any given level is transformed into an auto-scrolling level, speeding up and allowing the player a faster time as the player grabs coins, but also becoming more challenging. The map is styled similar to Super Mario World, with all of the worlds connected directly to each other, rather than being separated as in previous New Super Mario Bros. titles.

Playable Characters

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

Transformations

 * Small Mario
 * Super Mario
 * Fire Mario
 * Ice Mario
 * Flying Squirrel Mario
 * Mini Mario
 * Invincible Mario

Other Characters

 * Yoshi (Green)
 * Baby Yoshi (Magenta, blue, and yellow varieties)
 * Princess Peach
 * Toad

Enemies

 * Goombas
 * Paragoombas
 * Grand Goombas
 * Mega Goombas
 * Goombas that resemble acorns.
 * Koopa Troopas
 * Koopa Paratroopas
 * Gargantua Koopa Troopas
 * Dry Bones
 * Lakitus
 * Piranha Plants
 * Super Piranha Plants
 * Venus Fire Traps
 * Super Venus Fire Traps
 * Hammer Bros.
 * Fire Bros.
 * Wigglers
 * Boos
 * Big Boos
 * Circling Boo Buddies
 * Peepa
 * Fire Snakes
 * Munchers
 * Flying squirrel like enemies
 * White eel enemies
 * Urchins
 * Mega Urchins
 * Chain Chomps
 * Amps
 * Fire Chomps
 * Huckit Crabs
 * Pokeys
 * Bullet Bills
 * Banzai Bills
 * Flophoppers
 * Monty Moles
 * Rocket Engines
 * Coin Coffers
 * Torpedo Teds
 * Buzzy Beetles
 * Cheep-Cheeps
 * Deep-Cheeps
 * Cheep-Chomps
 * Bloopers
 * Blooper Nannies
 * Cooligans
 * Bony Beetles
 * Stone Spikes
 * Fishbones
 * Fuzzies
 * Golden Cheep-Cheeps
 * Thwimps

Bosses

 * Boom Boom
 * Koopalings
 * Lemmy Koopa (Acorn Plains)
 * Morton Koopa Jr.
 * Larry Koopa
 * Wendy O. Koopa (Frosted Glacier)
 * Iggy Koopa
 * Roy Koopa (Mountain World)
 * Ludwig Von Koopa
 * Bowser Jr.
 * Bowser

Items

 * Super Mushrooms
 * Mini Mushrooms
 * Fire Flowers
 * Ice Flowers
 * Super 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
 * Coins
 * Star Coins
 * Red Coins
 * Red Rings
 * Flying Question Blocks
 * Warp Pipe
 * Yoshi Egg
 * Beanstalk
 * Checkpoint Flag
 * Starman
 * Platforms created by the Wii U GamePad (Heart platforms, Club platforms, Spade platforms, Diamond platforms and Coin platforms)
 * Green Rings
 * Spinning Green Coins
 * P-Switches
 * Blue Coins
 * Goal Flagpole
 * Water Geysers
 * Berries

Levels

 * Course 1: A simple grassy level with squirrel enemies, Goombas, Koopa Troopas and Piranha Plants. A large Acorn Mushroom tree, slanted mountains, and Princess Peach's Castle can be seen in the background. It is the first stage of the Easy Pack.
 * An underground sub-level with coins and the first Star Coin.
 * A sub-level with colored wooden blocks and many flying squirrel enemies.
 * Course 2: A level in the sky with Mushroom platforms, acorn-like Goombas and magenta coloured Baby Yoshis. It is the first stage in the Acrobat Pack.
 * A sub-level with a large mountain the the background, mushroom platforms and blue-colored Baby Yoshis.
 * Course 3: A nightime snowy level with star platforms, Munchers, with mountains and trees in the background. It is the first stage of the Flying Squirrel Pack.
 * Acorn Plains Castle: A castle level with rocking platforms hung by chains and suspended over lava. The boss is Lemmy Koopa. It is the last stage of the Flying Squirrel Pack.
 * Frosted Glacier Castle: A castle with moving girders and many Thwomps. The level includes Thwimps and the boss is Wendy O. Koopa. It is the last stage in the Acrobat Pack.
 * A rainforest level with Mega Goombas, Goombas, a Gargantua Koopa Troopa and large Brick Blocks.
 * An underwater level with a white eel.
 * A haunted level with Poisonous Water, slanted Warp Pipes, Boos and Circling Boo Buddies. Its background resembles Vincent van Gogh's painting style (most especially "The Starry Night"), and a picture of Bowser in this art style can be seen in the background.
 * An underground desert level with Fire Bros. and Fire Snakes and yellow shiny Baby Yoshis.
 * A level with a waterfall in the background and an enourmous vine.
 * A level with Pokeys and shifting sand.
 * An ocean stage with water geysers and Huckit Crabs.
 * A Fortress.
 * An underground stage with crystal platforms.
 * A castle level with fences.
 * An underground level with tilted Pipes.
 * A mountain level with a Chain Chomp and tilted platforms.
 * A snow level with ice floors and starry background.
 * A Ghost House.
 * A desert level with Moai-like statues and large cakes in the background. It is the last stage of the Easy Pack.
 * A castle with bolt platforms and Bony Beetles.
 * A sky level with moving platforms, mushrooms and Stone Spikes. It is the second stage of the Acrobat Pack.

Worlds

 * Acorn Plains (World 1): A grassland setting with mountains.
 * Layer Cake Desert (World 2): A desert world with giant cakes and ice cream.
 * Frosted Glacier (World 3): A snow-themed area.
 * Sparkling Waters: A tropical world.
 * A forest world similar to the Forest of Illusion.
 * A world resembling The Sky with tall, pillar-like, mountains.
 * A world surrounded by a tornado.

Other

 * Toad Houses

Trivia

 * When the player's character is not moving, the character looks at the screen.
 * When the player is holding a Baby Yoshi, he sings the chorus of the background music. These vocals were to be in New Super Mario Bros. 2, but were replaced with the vocals heard in the final version. This also leads to the speculation that Baby Yoshis might've been planned to appear in New Super Mario Bros. 2, but the idea was moved to the Wii U game.
 * Unlike in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the first player is given the choice of what character he or she wants to play as (in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the first player has to play as Mario).
 * 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 playing Boost Rush Mode, Miis are in the background, supporting the players.