Mario is ummm…busy
The first thing I noticed when I first started New Super Luigi U was that Mario was curiously absent. The new DLC opens with an almost identical cinematic to New Super Mario Bros. U In which the famous plumbers, Princess Peach and a couple of toads are all having lunch, except this time, Mario’s hat is the only thing at the table. Which leads me to believe that the entire game is set in some kind of alternate reality to the main game but the only difference is that in this dimension Mario is too busy taking a dump to save the princess.
The other theory I came up with is that it’s actually a prequel to Luigi’s mansion 2 as Luigi, sick and tired of his brother getting all the attention hands his brother over to King Boo so that he can be the star of the show for once. This would also explain the sign in the opening stage which would say Super Luigi Bros U, except the word Bros has been crossed out. Almost as if he knew, or there was no time to change it. So maybe Mario is just too busy pooping.
All theories about Mario’s disappearance aside what you no doubt really want to know is what makes Super Luigi different from NSMBU and more importantly if its worth your time and hard earned gold coins.
Luckily Nintendo have provided us with a handy, dandy video explaining the main difference between NSMBU and New Super Luigi U.
In short, Luigi handles differently, all of NSMBUs 82 levels have been rejiggered, you now only have 100 seconds to complete each stage, and you can now play as the thieving little bastard from NSMBU known as Nabbit in multiplayer.
What the trailer doesn’t tell you is that New Super Luigi U assumes you’ve completed NSMBU. As such the usual difficulty curve you get from your average Mario game is gone, instead you’re dropped straight in at the deep end, much like the Japanese version Super Mario Bros 2 on the NES AKA the Lost Levels.
The complexity and difficulty of the stages has been considerably ramped up with more flames, pits larva and swinging platforms every last level is a now a complete death trap. To top it off the mid level checkpoints have been removed as well as and the time limit taken down to 100 seconds per level. Despite these new restrictions NSLU feels tough but fair, the balance out the new restrictions and more hectic pace stages are not as lengthy as they were in NSMBU.
As well as being able to jump much higher than his brother Luigi can also perform a sort of minor gliding move similar to Yoshi’s by waggling his legs desperately in the air at the end of a jump, he’s also faster and slides about more. Which oddly makes trying to dash through stages the better option rather than the more considered, clinical approach you might take with Mario.
However successfully traversing the environment with Luigi does take a little getting used to, especially if you’ve just finished NSMBU because the same tactics that got you through with Mario just don’t work anymore. Not only because the gaps are bigger, but because the entire tempo of the game has changed.
In fact the best way to approach NSLU is as a sort of semi-sequel. The only parts of the game that remain the same are the over world map and the games bosses are mostly unchanged, only receiving slight tweaks to the speed and height of their attacks to accommodate Luigi’s higher jumping skills, You will be happy to hear though that you are gifted an extra 100 seconds to defeat them. But since there’s no mid level checkpoints if you die you have to play the entire level again. As I previously said; Tough, fair and occasionally anger making.
The other major addition to the game is the ability to play as Nabbit in Multiplayer, to be honest he feels like a bit of a cheat since he basically can’t die. Therefore anyone using him just storms through levels ignoring any obstacle or enemy they come across. He is useful for nabbing gold medal you may have missed, but at the same time he takes most of the skill out of the game.
So should you get New Super Luigi U, and which is the better version, The DLC available now for £17.99/$19.99 or should you wait a month and purchase the boxed copy for £29.99/$29.99.
If you like a challenge and you already own a copy of NSMBU I’d say download it. It basically doubles the length of the game, brings some fresh ideas to an already great game. It doesn’t take up that much hard drive space either coming in at just under 800mb.
But if you’re a collector I would recommend opting for the retail release as it’s only going to be on sale for this year so it might increase in value after it has gone out of print, much like Metroid Prime Trilogy did on the Wii.
Either way, if you’re fan of NSMB, especially if you’ve already finished NSMBU you should certainly give New Super Luigi U a try, The higher difficulty level may put off some but on the whole New Super Luigi U is a brilliant add on and a great example of DLC done properly.
