New Super Luigi U started life as downloadable content for New Super Mario Bros. U helping
to celebrate the Year of Luigi.
However, it was successful enough to launch as a stand-alone game, complete with a green
case, matching our green hat wearing hero.
On the surface, New Super Luigi U is simply a re-skinning of New Super Mario Bros. U.
This isn’t a bad thing mind you, as the U entry into the New Super Mario Bros. series
is perhaps the most polished video game I’ve ever played.
Starting with the obvious, New Super Luigi U is a breathtaking game.
Everything I love about 16-bit platformers is present here, but amplified 10 fold.
I can’t even remember the last time I played a modern title with parallax scrolling, but
Luigi U features plenty of multi-layered backgrounds and they are fantastic.
Next is the use of color.
Again, this isn’t a trendy new game with retro-inspired pixel art, but a full high
definition adventure, yet the colors still leap off the screen.
New Super Mario Bros. U, and Luigi U also blend 2D and 3D elements together in a way
I’ve really never experienced before.
It is the perfect blend of vector-like sprites, hand drawn art, and 3D polygons all mixed
together to create a visually stunning experience.
The animation deserves particular attention, with each enemy moving with an unmatched fluidity.
While Luigi swims around Bowser Jr., note how Luigi’s head is always facing his nemesis.
The game is littered with little touches like this, and the quality throughout is over the
top.
Equalling the breathtaking graphics is the amazing music.
Nintendo managed to capture just about everything making Mario such an iconic game for over
3 decades now.
There are remixes of most iconic tunes from the original 8-bit adventures, to all new
compositions, and everything in between.
Despite such a diverse soundtrack, each and every tune fits the level it plays on perfectly,
and they all compliment each other, without anything sounding out of place.
Same goes for the sound effects.
Each one is deliberate, playful, crisp and clear representing each action, again, perfectly.
I also sense a hint of reverb, a nod back the Super Nintendo days.
Finally, New Super Luigi U shares the same 8 diverse worlds as the Mario version, right
down to the final boss fight.
The opening Acorn Plains are taken straight out of the North American plains, with whimsical
grasslands and rolling hills.
More important are the flying squirrels, which drop the super acorn, which allow Luigi to
glide.
After traversing the desert we arrive in Sparkling Waters.
The pastel colors leap off the screen, and the transparent water somehow looks both next
gen, and classic, all at the same time.
It is absolutely gorgeous.
Skipping past the Soda Jungle, complete with it’s own forest of illusion, is the Rock
Candy Mines.
Here we find a plethora of moving platforms, both vertical and horizontal, harkening back
to a bygone era of platforming bliss.
The Meringue Clouds feature the penguin suit, which is perhaps the most charming power-up
ever found in a game, period.
The adventure ends in Peach’s Castle, complete with a Super Mario Bros. inspired boss fight
against Bowser.
In fact, the entire adventure is littered with references to the classic games, like
the battleship levels from Super Mario Bros. 3.
It is a fantastic nod to the past, while still being a completely new game.
However, while New Super Luigi U shares the high degree of polish with the Mario original,
the game is so much more.
As expected, Luigi can jump incredibly high with a floaty jump arc, and is significantly
more slippery than Mario, making it tougher to stop or change directions.
Even better, the levels are completely reimagined to compensate for Luigi’s specific characteristics.
This means platforms are higher and more spaced apart.
Even reaching the top of the flag-pole requires a bit more finesse.
Because each level is different, Nintendo even renamed them all.
The next change comes with the timer.
You start each level with just 100 seconds, which of course immediately ticks down to
99, starting the the infamous “you’re about to run out of time” jingle.
The music then plays quickly for a majority of the game, adding some tension to the normally
laid back gameplay.
Level are shortened to compensate for the reduced time, but you really cannot be putzy.
New Super Luigi U offers a significantly more challenging experience over the original game.
Even though I have beat New Super Mario Bros. U a few times over the past of couple years,
and am quite familiar with all of the enemy patterns and level gimmicks, I die a lot when
playing New Super Luigi U.
Playing Luigi U is like trying to speedrun a classic game.
You take chances you wouldn’t normally take, and are punished with misplaced jumps.
You find yourself running into enemies which wouldn’t normally give you issues.
You start missing jumps and falling into pits you wouldn’t normally fall into.
But with a 100 second timer, and a floaty Luigi, these occurrences became quite frequent.
This is not to say the game is hard or frustrating, because it’s neither.
Instead, it is just a fun challenging game requiring a bit of patience and skill, along
with acceptance of trial and error as a gameplay mechanic.
It is a bit like the Mega Man series in a way.
The Mega Man games are not hard, but do offer a nice challenge, if that makes sense.
And of course, if you find yourself running low on lives, you can revisit past levels
and stock up, if you’re like me and refuse to accept a game over screen.
Like the Mario game, New Super Luigi U is an insanely fun experience.
The eight worlds are all diverse, and each offers new specific stage gimmicks to keep
the adventure fun and fresh.
Some levels are constantly moving, meaning walls turn into floors, and then back again.
Others are a gauntlet through rotating gears and flames.
Some areas have moving spotlights, so you can’t quite see where you are going, or
where you have been.
There are a few water stages, which I’m not a big fan of, but they aren't too offensive
and their frequency never becomes an issue.
I know some folks don’t mind these, but I really dislike them in general.
Chalk it up to personal preference.
Painted Pipeworks deserves a special mention, with nearly every pipe on the screen moving,
testing your dexterity while a Van Gogh painting literally comes to life in the background.
It doesn’t end there, with this level requiring you to bounce off giant caterpillars and another
level requiring you to wrap your brain around moving platforms while avoiding waves of lava.
The sheer amount of creativity found in New Super Luigi U is astounding.
Granted most of these things are found in New Super Mario Bros. U, it is immensely satisfying
to revisit all of these wonderful areas redone with tougher platforming elements.
Some have long grown tired of the New Super Mario Bros. formula and the Wii U launch game
did not exactly help units fly off the shelf.
Myself however, I’m not sure I will ever grow tired of well crafted side scrolling
platformers.
Call it nostalgia, call it personal preference, but I find New Super Luigi U to be an expertly
crafted game.
I try not use the word game design too often, as I don’t want to sound pretentious or
elitist, as if I have some amazing ability to dissect a game at a deeper level than most.
But New Super Luigi U is a brilliantly designed game.
Levels are constructed wonderfully from start to finish, without a single brick, platform,
coin, motion, or enemy out of place.
There are a ton of secret exits, hidden coins, and shortcuts scattered throughout, making
this the perfect game for explorers mindful of the time limit, and speed runners alike.
My only complaint is the bosses are still far too easy, but this has been a Mario tradition
since the beginning so it really should as no surprise.
While New Super Luigi U could have just been a simple DLC adding Luigi into Mario’s game,
Nintendo made it so much more.
While the game is similar on the surface, the changes really are much much deeper.
The laser focus on tough platforming really elevates New Super Luigi U and I appreciate
the great challenge.
I really can’t help but love New Super Luigi U.
It encompasses everything I love about video games.
The fantasy worlds are creative, the levels are fun to travel through, the soundtrack
is awesome, and the controls are tricky but precise.
Most important, New Super Luigi U captures the magical feeling of joy and discovery while
still being challenging and featuring an insanely high level of polish.
The game is a masterpiece; a must-own for veterans as well as the new generation of
gamers.
Five out of five.