Stopped at 2-4 for the night...great first day. I am already enjoying this quite a bit more than NSMBWii...the levels in that game really didn't start to impress me until close to the midway point, but that's not the case here. Agreed with @Hinph, you can tell this is a stronger effort.

Also, sadly, I have to agree with @ploot on the music. It didn't really start making me sad until I got to 2-1 and heard that same Desert music again.

ploot said:

Edit- I am SUPER-TIRED of hearing the exact same music from NSMB to NSMB.
Just got to the first fortress and the music makes me sad.

Then you're not going to like the audio experience in the desert, jungle, underground, ghost house, castle, underwater, beach, bonus area, airship, or boss rooms!

Horribly lazy music decisions aside, this game has definitely impressed me more than I expected. It's surprisingly good-looking, and my wife loves boost mode even more than I do. And I'm liking the challenges, even if I wish it was tougher to get a gold!

@TriforceBun
Oh yeah, Boost Mode!
Our friends came over (another couple) and while they played as Maro and Luigi I poked around on the game pad. It was fun! I helped out my buddy's wife while messing with his progress. It was loads of fun, and I was not excited about Boost Mode in the least.

As I said in another thread, I was able to play up until the first fortress at a buddy's house.

Fun game, but this is clearly less impressive than NEW Super Mario Bros. 2 on 3DS. There are barely any coins!

Got to Soda Jungle last night playing 5 player. God this game is hectic. Had tons of fun but really some levels are just way too difficult with 4 players + platforms crowding the screen.

Fantastic game. This is the game I've always wanted for the return of 2D Mario. NSMB was a fun novelty because it was new, but it still paled to the SNES and NES titles. NSMBWii was a fun novelty because of the co-op, but it still lacked something that made the others very special. I skipped NSMB2 all together because it didn't look like an improvement at all (and I don't like coin collecting), but NSMBU is the one I've been waiting for. Not sure what it is exactly. A lot of it is the graphics I'm sure, the level design is also fantastic and the seemless world and different yoshi's. It all just adds up to a great experience.

Bahaha, this one part seriously made me laugh! Spoiler maybe? Though very minor. I had encountered an enemy on the map and after taking it out, I was just staying there listening to the kickass SMB3 song. But then that thief came in and stole my treasure because I waited too long! Hahah!

@VofEscaflowne
I would never have experienced that. Now I'm going to make it happen!

As I said in the other thread, I find the time limit really short. Constantly find myself booking it to the end like, pre-halfway through a level.

I really like everything else though. It looks surprisingly gorgeous and it's tantalizing to think what Nintendo could do if they put more effort in.
3D Mario is destined to drop jaws. Even Nintendo Land had me blown away.

The level design really shines. Seems like they're really hitting their stride.

Even the music quality sounds a ton better. And I don't even have 5.1 working.

Which reminds me, does this game have 5.1?? How about the Home Screen?

Having a lot of fun with it, as always. I do sincerely hope that this is the last New Super Mario Bros game, though. I'm so ready for a polished 2D Mario platformer that tries some bold new things.

If there's one thing I hate as a Nintendo fan, it's how they are so lazy with some of their biggest selling franchises. You have these games selling tens of millions of copies yet recycling content over and over again. It's a testament to how fun they are that we keep buying them, but I feel sad whenever I think of what they could potentially be if Nintendo gave them an appropriate budget.

Sorry. I know I'm preaching to the choir here... so is it too early to be drooling for some information on EAD Tokyo's progress with the real Wii U Mario masterpiece? Haha.

@carlosrox

Nope, just 2-channel. I thought my Wii U wasn't working with my setup, but Zombi U was in 5.1. Then I read online that Mario wasn't in surround.

I'm on the Ice World right now. Really enjoying this game...I found the hidden exit in 2-4 or 2-5, I forget which one, and the hidden stage (Piranha Plants on Ice) was pretty awesome as well. Really neat.

I just cleared the first world this morning. Pretty ho-hum in terms of difficulty, but a lot of fun regardless!

So I'm stuck on a level and have no clue how to beat it. I ran out of time twice and it has 500 on the timer

@Hinph
I would like to see EAD Tokyo do something outside of Mario, but I'm pretty sure that's what they're working on now. Hopefully they get a chance to do a second Wii U game that's not Mario though.

Iwata did mention that the plan is basically one New Super Mario Bros. game per system, which has basically been what's happening so far. So basically if they follow that philosophy we won't be seeing another New Super Mario Bros. game in quite some time. I do hope that next time they run with it they will push the 2D Mario gameplay forward further.

I'm waiting for Best Buy to sell the eShop cards, so I can buy some and download NSMBU. I'm not gonna pass up the opportunity to get some more rewards zone points out of it.

@anon_mastermind

Don't they sell 3DS eShop cards? Those work. I redeemed a 20$ 3DS card on my Wii U the other day just fine.

DAMN. I thought I would wait for these. Well, I'm off to Best Buy after work then. Thanks!

@TheBigG753
Lame. What about Nintendo Land??

Left off at 3-4 (I went with Glacier World first). This game is really freaking good. Everything is just...better than NSMBWii. Level design is more creative, finding hidden areas is as much fun as it is a nice challenge. It just feels like this game is going places in the first couple of worlds that the Wii game didn't get to until the 5th or 6th world. Overall, I'm just having a lot more fun with this after feeling like I was slogging through a lot of NSMBWii.

@CPA Wei

EAD Tokyo and Retro have run circles around the rest of NOJ the last 5-10 years. Give them Zelda. I'm tired of Aonuma's team making them, and they'll never give it to Retro. They're the A-team of all of the A-teams right now, they should get a crack at Nintendo's best franchise.

@carlosrox

Not sure. *Is possibly the only person who hasn't played NL yet*

@TheBigG753

I really have to agree with this being better than NSMBWii. The levels get so much better as you progress and finding secret exits is so fun when it leaves to new levels Though not really a big negative, I really wish it had more varied music. The reused tunes hurts it.