Like all the games in the New series, it's a game made to be familiar and easy to recognize, but I think as this is the "big" launch game for the Wii U something a little more ambitious and elaborate was required.

What to say... in terms of presentation, it feels like an HD version of New Super Mario Bros. Wii (remembering that the Wii one already felt like an HD version of the DS game), the worlds follow the same themes and it's broadly speaking exactly the same art style, but a bit more refined. I won't deny that the game looks good and has a nice, colorful art style (my favorite parts being the cloud worlds). It's the most polished of all the "New" Super Mario titles in fact, but still, there are some things that look dated, like how stiff and expressionless the character models are, or the fact that most of the assets in this game like for example the backgrounds of the stages are PNGs and not real 3D models. In that sense, although the game complies and looks good, it leaves a little to be desired, because being the Wii U comparable in power to a PS3, it's a little sad that this game looks like a remastered Wii title. It also doesn't help that almost all the soundtrack is reused from previous games, which is a bit tiring considering that New Super Mario Bros. 2 did exactly the same, and this really bothers me a lot, because completely new songs was something to be expected, but unfortunately only the main theme is new.

I guess at least it's a good Mario game, in fact maybe the one I've enjoyed the most from the "New" series. The level design is good and the highlight of this game, you can tell that inspiration was taken from the level design philosophy of Super Mario 3D Land for some of the stages, as some of these are designed around a theme. For example, one level may be entirely about swinging platforms, another may be about going on water spheres, and so on. In itself, this game doesn't present anything we haven't seen before to tell you the truth, but in terms of levels it's pretty solid, not to mention that getting all the star coins is still a lot of fun and my favorite part of these titles.

As news, we have very few, but I'll talk about them anyway. New Super Mario Bros for DS was entirely inspired by the first SMB, the Wii title took inspiration from SMB3, so naturally, this game takes inspiration from Super Mario World. The new Power Up in this release is the super acorn, which although it doesn't allow you to fly like the cape, it does give you the ability to glide through the air at high speed, allows you to stick to walls and also gives you a kind of double jump, and although it's not the most impressive power up, it's certainly the best of all those introduced so far since Super Mario World. There are also some levels that are themed around carrying a baby Yoshi that has special powers, such as spitting bubbles that we can jump on or lighting the way in dark levels, although the amount of these types of levels isn't that great, I guess I appreciate the attempt to want to bring back the colored Yoshis, even if it's only as a momentary gimmick for a few levels. The level selection map is now a large map that interconnects all the zones similar to Mario World, it certainly doesn't have the same charm, but I like that this style of map has been brought back.

Conclusion
Needless to say, it's a Mario game, it's good. However, as a game to start a new generation of consoles it falls quite short, because when it comes down to it, this game feels like a product that was cheap and easy to produce. And truth be told, this is a bit embarrassing, as Mario is Nintendo's most important character and their games should have a bit more ambition and love in them, even though I like this game, I completely understand where the hatred towards it comes from. I think that, if Nintendo had put a little more effort in renewing the presentation of this game, we would be in front of one of the most memorable Mario games, because in terms of level design is quite solid, but the fact that it feels, looks and plays the same as the previous 3 games really end up hurting this game.

And having said that... I admit I enjoyed it a ton haha, I don't love the "New" series to death, but they are games I enjoy quite a bit, and this one has possibly become my favorite of the bunch.