Video Game / New Super Mario Bros. U

An all new Mario adventure—only on Wii U...until it was ported to the Nintendo Switch (Toadette and Super Crown definitely included)!^note Does not actually work on Bowser.

New Super Mario Bros. U is the fourth and final game in the New Super Mario Bros. series and the direct sequel to New Super Mario Bros. Wii, following New Super Mario Bros. 2. It was originally released for the Wii U in 2012.

The plot is pretty barebones as per usual for the franchise's 2D games, but offers an interesting twist on the typical formula; rather than just kidnap Peach, Bowser has decided to straight up invade her castle and take over, and for good measure, literally throws Mario, Luigi and the Yellow and Blue Toads out several miles away. Our heroes must once again traverse across the lands to get back to Peach’s Castle and liberate it from Bowser.

The game is influenced by Super Mario World and features certain throwbacks to it. It adds Baby Yoshis with distinctive abilities, a new power-up called the Super Acorn that gives you a Flying Squirrel suit functioning similarly to the Super Cape, and an interconnected world map with branching paths. The game also features the ability to play the game as your Mii, and started as a tech demo for the Wii U using New Super Mario Bros. Wii as base with Miis and Off-TV Play. It also adds Single Player Challenges and a "Boost Rush" mode which consists in playing through autoscrolling levels to get best time with speed being increased by collecting coins and decreased by dying. There is also a "Boost mode" utilized by the Wii U GamePad that sets up Asymmetric Multiplayer by letting the person with the GamePad create platforms and assist in multiplayer sessions. Finally, there is (or was, as of November 8^th, 2017) Miiverse integration, with various players' comments on levels or deaths coming up when appropriate.

In 2013, Nintendo released New Super Luigi U as part of The Year of Luigi, a new adventure featuring 80 new (half-sized and generally more challenging) levels that is offered as both an expansion and a standalone game. As shown by the title, Luigi takes center stage, and Mario isn't a playable character at all. Taking his place will be the rabbit thief Nabbit, who is immune to enemies, and cashes in power-ups for 1-ups instead of using them.

In 2019, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, an Updated Re-release for the Nintendo Switch, was released. It bundles the original game and New Super Luigi U and adds Toadette as a playable character, giving her a new form called "Peachette", who plays similarly to Peach. It also removes the "Boost mode" from the game, due to the Nintendo Switch lacking a second screen like the Wii U.

Both Super Mario Maker and Super Mario Maker 2 feature New Super Mario Bros. U as one of their game styles, allowing players to create their own levels with this game's template.

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This game provides examples of:

• All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Instead of kidnapping Peach, Bowser attacks and takes over Peach's castle in the opening cutscene. Over time, it's gradually converted to Bowser's image to the point where it's the game's Lethal Lava Land when you finally reach it.
• Alliterative Title: Tilted Tunnel (Acorn Plains-2), Spike's Spouting Sands (Layer-Cake Desert-4), Seesaw Shrooms (Meringue Clouds-2)
• An Ice Person: The Ice Flower from New Super Mario Bros. Wii makes a comeback, allowing you to freeze enemies with ice balls. This is also, once again, the case with the Penguin Suit.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • As usual, beating a boss level at any time will allow you to save your progress. If you're in the middle of a world and don't feel like continuing today, you can go to a tower or castle you're good at, and save after completing the level again. That is, until you beat the game, after which you can save at any time.
  • Before beating the game you can do a quick save while on the world map, which will let you pick up where you left off, though it does delete the quick save as soon as you resume.
  • While holding a Blue Baby Yoshi, otherwise unsurmountable (without losing the Yoshi) required jumps have a block placed in to help.
• Arrange Mode: The Challenge Mode has challenges in 4 categories: Time Attack, Coin Collection, 1-Up Rally, and Special. Time Attack challenges have you race against the clock to get to the flagpole, Coin Collection challenges are either about collecting all or most of the coins in a stage, or making it through a stage without collecting too many coins. 1-Up Rally challenges feature bouncing on enemies repeatedly to get 1-Up bonuses, and Special challenges can range from dodging the attacks of 2 Fire Bros. on a single block surrounded by spikes, to making it through Pendulum Castle on Donut Blocks without dashing^note  There's another challenge just like this, except you can't collect more than 5 coins.
• Art Course: The Painted Swampland is located in the haunted sub-area of Soda Jungle. While the level counts as Big Boo's Haunt due to the vigorous amount of Boo enemies, the entire level was designed with Van Gogh's The Starry Night in-mind.
• Art Evolution: The backgrounds are much more variable, with some being literally pieces of art, and the detail on the ground and lighting have been improved a lot. It really helps that the game was made for the Wii U, the first Nintendo console to handle HD graphics.
• Artifact Title: The port to the Nintendo Switch retains the U in the name, despite the game no longer being on the Wii U.
• Art Shift: Painted Swampland uses the art style of Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night.
• Asymmetric Multiplayer: There's an option to use the GamePad to make platforms, amongst other stuff, for the other players who are using Wii Remotes or Wii U Pro Controllers to control Mario and his friends.
• Asteroids Monster: There are big Goombas that split into smaller ones when stepped upon once again.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Yet again, Bowser becomes gigantic in the second phase of the Final Boss. This time, instead of running away from him like the previous entries, you actually get to fight him on the castle rooftop.
• Auto-Scrolling Level: Boost Rush Mode, which seems to be the lovechild of Coin Rush and Boost Mode. It makes every level you play scroll automatically.
• Big Bad: Bowser, as per usual, kidnaps Peach by taking over her castle and your goal is to save her.
• Big Boo's Haunt: In addition to Ghost Houses, about half of Soda Jungle.
• Bonus Dungeon: Superstar Road is unlocked after beating the game, houses some of the hardest levels in the game, and requires collecting each star coin in each world to unlock every level.
• Boring, but Practical: Compared to everyone else, Roy's fight consists of him just pulling out a gun. A very big gun that shoots Bullet Bills, granted, but it's rather tame compared to summoning clones or defying friction and physics like his siblings do.
• Bouncy Bubbles: You can jump on the bubbles sprayed out by the blue baby Yoshis, Bubble Bobble style.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • When your player character is idle, they'll stare right at you.
  • Just like the previous games, the enemies will dance when the chorus sings (or "bah"s).
  • Plus, Baby Yoshis will hum along to the music when held. However, they don't sing when in a Bonus Level of Heaven or a Toad house.
• Brutal Bonus Level: The secret levels in each world are usually harder than the rest of the world’s levels. Every single level in Superstar Road is this as well.
• Bubble Gun: The blue Baby Yoshis act like this when shook. Enemies caught in the bubbles turn into coins or power-ups.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • After his absence from the previous game, Bowser Jr. is wreaking havoc alongside the Koopalings once again. Kamek also makes a comeback, working his magic to support the Tower bosses before eventually taking you on himself.
  • In terms of Bowser Minions, the Big Koopa Troopas, Thwimps, Bony Beetles, Torpedo Teds, their launchers, and Sumo Bros, ^note The actual Sumo Bros, of course. and even obscure wonders like the Big Amp and Frost/Ice Piranha Plants reappear, the latter returning from Super Paper Mario.
• Cartoon Bomb: Lemmy now tosses these, which are styled after his bouncing balls.
• Ceiling Cling: Iggy doesn't just do this, he flat out walks on the ceiling (not unlike Morton and Roy).
• Challenge Run: Challenge Mode has challenges in 4 categories: Time Attack, Coin Collection, 1-Up Rally, and Special. Time Attack challenges have you race against the clock to get to the flagpole, Coin Collection challenges are either about collecting all or most of the coins in a stage, or making it through a stage without collecting too many coins. 1-Up Rally challenges feature bouncing on enemies repeatedly to get 1-Up bonuses, and Special challenges can range from dodging the attacks of 2 Fire Bros. on a single block surrounded by spikes, to making it through Pendulum Castle on Donut Blocks without dashing^note  There's another challenge just like this, except you can't collect more than 5 coins.
• Checkpoint Starvation: There are zero checkpoints in any of the levels in Superstar Road.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience:
  • Miis have their overalls correspond with what player they are. Player 1 wears Mario's colors, Player 2 wears Luigi's colors, Players 3 and 4 wear Wario's and Waluigi's colors, though they aren't entirely accurate, rather having shades of Mario's color scheme from Mario Bros..
  • Averted with adult Yoshi. Every one of them is green, regardless of player characters.
  • The baby Yoshis are color-coded according to their different powers.
• Composite Character: Besides being a fusion of Toadette and Peach design wise, Peachette is a combination of Peach and Daisy moveset wise as she uses both the former’s float ability and the latter’s double jump ability from Super Mario Run.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Slanted pipes, slanted rocks, Munchers, Torpedo Teds, Monty Moles, Baby Yoshis, the style of the overworld, Sumo Bros., Spin Jumping, Flying Squirrel Mario's moves...
  • This isn't the first time Bowser has taken over Peach's Castle and kept her hostage inside there at the highest point. This is also not the first time that the castle has been taken over by a villain and remade in the villain's own image.
  • So, how about that dark magic Bowser's been said to have that some of the fanbase (and spinoff game titles) like to pretend doesn't exist? In Mario's first adventure, Bowser was said to use it to transform the land. Here, we finally see him using it progressively to transform Peach's castle into something he prefers. Well, now we know where he gets all the fire and lava!
  • There's also the Magenta Baby Yoshi's abilities, and the Yellow Baby Yoshi's abilities.
  • Mini Mario can run up walls.
  • This game is also the first since Super Mario Bros. 3 to have Boom-Boom and the Koopalings in the same game. Boom-Boom and the Koopalings are even the Fortress boss and the Castle bosses, respectively. Unlike in his previous appearance, Boom-Boom fights exactly how he did in his debut. His shell even has spikes again^note Although him pulling out his spikes is accidental this time, as it's now depicted as him falling over., and he also sprouts wings in his last fight. And like before, the Koopalings are fought in airships instead of the castles.
  • Like Super Mario World, many of the worlds follow Edible Theme Naming.
  • The story intro involves the new power-ups flying through the air. And said power-ups come from a giant tree.
  • Kamek's in, and powers up some bosses. He even supersizes a few enemies as well.
  • The switch at the other side of the bridge with Bowser does not set off said bridge's self-destruct mechanism on its own accord, but instead sets it off through use of an axe.
  • The level "Boarding the Airship" in Meringue Clouds has a mechanical Bowser hand (The same one that threw the Mario Bros and the two Toads out from Peach's castle) that acts an obstacle for the first part of the level. For the first few parts of it, the hand acts like the giant pillars from Super Mario World (As seen in Iggy's Castle, Forest Fortress, and Bowser's Castle) and later, it destroys the ground in a fist-shape manner exactly like the Incoming Chomps from Yoshi's Island.
  • Like in Super Mario World, one of the castles has a secret backdoor.
  • Follow that Shell!, the real final level, contains only things found in the first Super Mario Bros., as well as a P-Switch and Star Coins. Also, the entire Superstar Road looks like Star Road from Super Mario World, and Follow that Shell! is in the middle, much like Special World.
  • Freezing-Rain Tower's 2nd half is lifted directly from Castle Crush, which also made an appearance in Brutal Mario.
  • Just like in many previous Mario games, every Ghost House is guaranteed to have a secret exit.
  • Soda Jungle 4 and 5, where you are required to find the secret exit to open the path forward, and the regular exit will just loop back to the same level. These levels are found inside of a forest.
  • One underwater level has currents over bottomless pits that will suck you in and cost you a life if you get pulled under. Super Mario Bros. had this for its underwater levels as well, though without any visual cues.
  • For the fourth time, one of Bowser Jr's machines is destroyed by breaking the glass dome on top. Of the four fights, it's the third time bullet enemies are used to do so.
  • Peach's Castle looks exactly like the one from Brutal Mario. The Koopaling order is even the same as in that game, with Iggy and Larry's order switching depending on how the player completes the worlds.
  • Kamek is initially reluctant to supersize Bowser in the endgame again, presumably because the last time he did that, Bowser knocked him out of the sky. Bowser Jr. keeps him safe this time.
• Co-Op Multiplayer: It works exactly the same as its predecessor. Online is still a no-go.
• Creative Closing Credits: There's a competitive minigame during the credits. This time, you're trying to collect coins being spit out in bubbles by Baby Yoshis.
• Crown of Power: In Deluxe, Toadette has access to an exclusive Power-Up called the Super Crown, which transforms her into a Princess Peach lookalike named "Peachette" with a Double Jump, Floaty Jump, and Bottomless Pit Rescue Service.
• Cumulonemesis: The Foos, which return from New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Just as before, they blow white mist which cover the screen, blinding the player. They only appear in the Meringue Clouds level "Snaking above Mist Valley".
• Cutscene Incompetence: Zig-Zagged. When Bowser Jr. attacks with the giant claw after his fights, the characters simply get out of the way instead of just standing there. But in the opening cutscene, they just watched in alarm as it moved Peach to the side and beat them senseless.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Veterans of the Mario platformers are most likely used to being able to jump through the chains of the ball and chains that swing within dungeons. However, their chains have gotten a spiky upgrade in this game, so you can't jump through the chains anymore.
• Dark Reprise: Peach's Castle itself gets one after being transformed by the Koopa Troop.
• Day of the Jackboot: The plot revolves around Bowser successfully taking over Peach's Castle, ironically making it the new Bowser's Castle.
• Death from Above: Wendy's gold rings can knock the icicles off of the ceiling. One of Bowser's attacks in the final phase is to spew out a barrage of fireballs into the air which then rains down on the stage.
• Death Mountain: World 6: Rock-Candy Mines, the game’s mountain world. As a bonus its also one of the harder worlds due to its late game status
• Dem Bones: In addition to the ever familiar Dry Bones and their giant variants, we have the return of Bony Beetles.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • In the Deluxe version, normally Luigi will show up if you activate the Super Guide. If you activate the Super Guide while playing as Luigi himself, Mario will show up instead.
  • Also in the Deluxe version, Toadette loses her Peachette form during her boss fight with Bowser, putting her back in her normal form during the cutscene of her rescuing Princess Peach, presumably to avoid having Peach kiss a copy of herself. However, in the cutscene before her fight with Bowser, if she is still in her Peachette form, when Princess Peach sees her, she will be understandably confused seeing a copy of herself.
• Disc-One Final Dungeon: The first Castle level in World 8 for the main game, Pendulum Castle for Superstar Road.
• Divergent Character Evolution: The Koopalings have been given a bit more personality and different weapons. Lemmy has a circus theme going on in his airship, Wendy's has heart shaped windows and she ice skates across the arena, Roy has a double ended Bill Blaster which he uses like it's an exercise gadget...
• Doomy Dooms of Doom: Spinning Platforms of Doom (Superstar Road-5).
• Doppelgänger Attack: Ludwig creates magical clones of himself during the fight against him, all of whom fire tricky-to-avoid magical blasts at him.
• Double Jump: One of the features of the Squirrel Suit. And the Propeller Suit.
• Double Weapon: Roy's double-ended Bullet Bill Blaster.
• Downloadable Content: Like with the previous game, this installment received new levels, made after the game's release; a pack of 80+ new levels that are harder than the original game's, entitled New Super Luigi U, though the levels are a fair bit shorter.
• Dual Boss: The final boss is against giant Bowser, with Bowser Jr. aiding him by trying to attack him with his Koopa Clown Car.
• Dub Name Change: Giant Skewer Tower is named Giant Spike Pillar Tower in the British English version.
• Dungeon Bypass: Roy's castle has a back door entrance accessible after finding the secret exit in "Walking Piranha Plants!" This takes you not far away from the boss door, with only a little bit of platforming preceding it.
• Easter Egg:
  • Occasionally, during the title sequence, Luigi will trip instead of doing the simultaneous ground pound.
  • Stand around for about thirty seconds after defeating all the enemies in an Enemy Course, and Nabbit will steal the item from you.
• Easy-Mode Mockery: In the DX version, you can choose your character, even when going solo. As a result, stages cleared when playing as Nabbit in single-player mode are not considered "fully cleared", similar to if you had used the Super Guide to clear it (which also makes a return in the DX port)
• Edible Theme Naming: All of the worlds sans Superstar Road are named after food. Acorn Plains is named after the acorn, Layer-Cake Desert is named after the type of cake, Sparkling Waters is named after a type of carbonated water, Frosted Glacier could be a reference to frosting, Soda Jungle is named after, well, soda, Rock-Candy Mines is named after the type of candy, and Meringue Clouds is named after the French dessert. Peach's Castle seems like less of an actual example, at least until you remember that Princess Peach herself is named after a fruit.
• Egopolis: Peach's Castle which Bowser wastes no time converting into his own image..
• Evil Makeover: Bowser takes over Princess Peach's Castle and gradually turns it into a Lethal Lava Land.
• Excuse Plot: An interesting twist on the Mario series standard. Instead of Bowser taking Peach away to his castle, Bowser just throws the Mario Bros. (and Yellow and Blue Toad) halfway across the world, forcing them to travel all the way back to Peach's Castle. Meanwhile, with the heroes gone, Bowser takes over Peach's Castle, and subsequently, the Mushroom Kingdom.
• Face Ship: The Koopalings now have their own personalized airships, all with their faces on the helm. This is also the case for Bowser's airship as well.
• Fake Longevity: At least, if you're trying to get all the Star Coins. Some of them require a specific powerup, while others require that a level be played twice (in one case of the latter, you even have to enter one level from another direction to eventually get all three of them).
• Final Boss: Well of course it's Bowser again, but what makes it different is that unlike the last two games where you had to avoid him when he was supersized, this time you actually fight him while he's supersized.
• Fisher King: When Bowser takes over Peach's Castle, the surrounding area turns into the usual Lethal Lava Land associated with him.
• Floating Water: "A Quick Dip In the Sky", à la Super Mario Galaxy 2.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In "Flight of the Para-Beetles", about halfway through, a formation of coins in the shape of a King Bill appears. Guess what starts firing at you for the remainder of the level?
  • Boom-Boom or Kamek usually appear on top of the tower in the overworld prior to Mario and co. entering in and facing them. However, the second tower in Rocky-Candy Mines doesn't have a boss sitting on top, implying to Mario and co. they'll be fighting someone else. This eventually leads to inside the tower itself. There's an unusual amount of Sumo Bros. occupying the place. One might get the clue that Mario and co. will be fighting a Kamek-empowered Sumo Bro.
• Fragile Speedster: Mini Mario, as per usual, is a One-Hit-Point Wonder but can run faster and jump higher than Super Mario. This time, Mini Mario has the ability to run up and down any vertical surface, even water geysers.
• Frozen Foe Platform: The Ice Flower powerup allows its user to throw ice balls that can freeze some enemies into platforms.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: After you complete the game, Peach's Castle will look like it's back to normal. However, getting there changes it back to when it was in the tornado.
• Green Hill Zone: After being thrown out of the kingdom, Mario and the gang land in the first level, Acorn Plains, a grassy plain underneath the Acorn Tree. Many of the levels here feature the more basic enemies in the game, and there are plenty of opportunities to try out the new Super Acorn power up.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: It's entirely possible to defeat the final boss by stomping on Bowser Jr. before he returns to his Clown Car and throwing his shell at Bowser 30 times. Unlike regular Koopa shells, however, he doesn't slide very far, so you'll need to jump if you want some range.
• Guide Dang It!:
  • None of the secret exits are easy to find on your own, especially since most of them are hidden in secret areas behind seemingly-solid walls. The same goes for some of the Star Coins.
  • It's not exactly intuitive that the rubber platforms in Screwtop Tower can be used like blocks under enemies, especially if the ripple caused by jumping on one doesn't hit the enemy above.
• Hat of Flight: The Propeller Suit once again. You can only get it in Superstar Road, though, but it is also used in one of the Challenge Mode levels.
• Inflating Body Gag: The magenta Baby Yoshis, when shook, inflate like a balloon, and can be reinflated in the air a few times.
• Interface Spoiler: Unlike New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the Star Coin list in this game spoils the secret levels. (If you've got all the Star Coins in every available level in a world, but don't see the "You've got all the Star Coins in World X!" message, you know you're missing a secret exit.) And Miiverse posters don't help either.
• I Shall Taunt You: If you get hit by Bowser Jr.'s attack in the castle segment before fighting Bowser, he'll laugh at you after ascending.
• Jungle Japes: Soda Jungle is this combined with The Lost Woods and Bubblegloop Swamp.
• Kaizo Trap:
  • Pendulum Castle, the Disc-One Final Dungeon of Superstar Road, ends with the classic Mario-style staircase to the flagpole... made out of Donut Lifts. They appeared throughout the level so you wouldn't stand in one place for too long. They didn't say you couldn't walk through them and fall right down to your death, meaning that if you're trying to repeatedly jump to gain speed, you'll probably jump right through them.
  • It's possible to bounce off Morton Koopa into one of the pits, even after you've beaten him. (Thankfully, control isn't taken away from you until you touch the ground, so you can still Wall Jump out of the pit.)
  • You can die after delivering the final hit to Bowser Jr. (second fight) by jumping on his head and promptly falling through a gap in the floor created by one of his previous attacks.
• King Mook: The boss of Screwtop Tower is a Kamek-empowered Sumo Bro.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: The Deluxe trailer shows the Final Boss battle.
• Leitmotif: The fanfare for counting down to chase Nabbit uses the same melody as his Toad House on Secret Island.
• Lethal Lava Land: Peach's Castle. As the game progresses, it turns gradually into a zone of brimstone and lava. By the time Mario and his friends get there, it's no different from a standard volcanic biome. Lava flows and falling fireballs are the biggest threats.
• Level in the Clouds: Meringue Clouds is a world that takes place in the sky, including elements like bouncy cloud platforms and cloud enemies that blow fog.
• Light 'em Up: Like its adult counterpart, the Yellow Baby Yoshis light up dark rooms.
• Magical Mystery Doors: The game uses this for most of the Big Boo's Haunt stages. Either the doors are illusory, or you need to hit a switch so you can pass through a now fake wall to reach a hidden door.
• Make My Monster Grow: Done with Bowser, once again. This time, though, you actually fight him instead of having to run from him like the previous two games. Additionally, Kamek does this to Boom Boom for his fifth encounter.
• Mercy Mode: The Super Guide from New Super Mario Bros. Wii is back, but this time it appears when you lose in a level only five times instead of eight.
• Misbegotten Multiplayer Mode: On paper, there's nothing wrong about playing with friends, but things quickly take a downwards spiral when people start bumping into each other, blocking each other from jumps, throwing each other off cliffs, stealing powerups for points, and so on. The game also sports a few aversions. Other players make great "trampolines", you get extra powerups with more players, and best of all, if a player runs out of lives but the other(s) finish the level, they get another 5 lives and continue from that spot, instead of being dumped back at the last save point when continuing.
• Morphic Resonance: In Deluxe, Toadette's Peachette form retains her Girlish Pigtails, gray eyes, mushroom-like spots on her dress, and brown shoes despite otherwise looking just like Princess Peach. The artwork◊ showing the before and after of the transformation even gives her the exact same pose in both forms.
• Musical Nod:
  • The music for the initial encounter with Bowser bears a similarity to the final boss theme from Super Mario Bros. 3.
  • The Baby Yoshis singing when held is a reference to the title screen of Tetris Attack, where they also sing.
  • On the topic of singing Baby Yoshis, they partially sing the underwater theme from Super Mario Bros. in the underwater levels.
• No-Damage Run: Some of the challenges fit this, as they require the Super Acorn to use - getting hit means losing your gliding/flying powers, and almost immediately the game kills you for it.
• Not Quite Flight: The Flying Squirrel power up◊ acts like the Cape Powerup, can get an extra boost in height if you shake your controller, and it can also cling to walls. Additionally, the Propeller Suit from NSMB Wii can be found in the bonus world, and it has the same non-flight as before. The P-Acorn, however, averts this, as you can fly indefinitely with it.
• Painful Pointy Pufferfish: The Porcupuffer once again is a spiky threat looming at the bottom of the screen. Jump on him and you'll learn the hard way that his spikes are not made of rubber.
• Palmtree Panic: Sparkling Waters is half this and half Under the Sea.
• Patchwork Map: The World Map, which is made of interconnected video game settings with no gradual transition between them.
• Pokémon Speak: If you meet a Baby Yoshi in the World Map for the first time, its text box will say, "Yoshi!" followed by what it's actually saying in parentheses.
• Power Gives You Wings: The final battle with Boom Boom has Kamek give him wings just like in Super Mario Bros. 3.
• Power Up Mount: Yoshi is ride-able once again.
• Pun: The second world is a dessert desert.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: The challenge Don't. Touch. Anything.
• Punny Name: Nabbit is a rabbit who likes to nab things.
• Random Encounter: Bowser Jr., in his father's airship, who will ambush you on the world map. (Not quite a random encounter since the locations are predetermined, but it can still catch you off-guard.)
• Recurring Riff:
  • Like in Super Mario World, this applies to the title screen, main menu, ground, athletic, and snow themes. The other level themes, however, do not have this treatment, though Baby Yoshis add choruses to the recycled music as well.
  • The world map themes also do this, with each of them being a specific remix of Acorn Plains' music (for example, Sparkling Waters has a tropical remix, and Frosted Glacier has a Christmas remix).
• Recycled Soundtrack: All of the level themes, with the exception of the ground, athletic, snow, and final level themes, have been recycled from New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
• Red Boxing Gloves: Bowser Jr.'s Koopa Clown Car now sports them.◊
• Remilitarized Zone: Of course a few airships appear. Each Koopaling is fought on their personal ship while two airships appear as standalone levels between World 3/4 and World 5 and World 7 and World 8.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: The Waddlewings are little flying squirrels that often carry useful Super Acorns. Just look at them!◊
• Save the Princess: In a twist similar to Super Mario 64 and Paper Mario, Princess Peach is apparently held as a prisoner within her own castle again. Only this time, Bowser took over by literally throwing the Mario Bros. and two Toads all the way out of the Mushroom Kingdom.
• Scenery Porn: You have to be crazy◊ to say it doesn't◊ look better than◊ New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
• Secret Level: Much less frequent than in previous games. While those tended to have secret goals (some leading to secret levels, others just being shortcuts) everywhere, here each world generally has just one or two secret goals hidden in it, leading to one hidden level, and completing that often lets you skip entire worlds (a shortcut from Acorn Plains-2 leads all the way to Soda Jungle, skipping four worlds). To make up for that, the hidden goals are also much more difficult to find this time around and the hidden level spots don't appear until they're actually unlocked.
• Shifting Sand Land: Layer-Cake Desert, with a few touches of Level Ate.
• Ship Level:
  • In addition to the returning airship levels, which sometimes interrupt your progress between worlds, every Koopaling has their own airship in this game, and the castle stages all end with Mario and company using a cannon to launch themselves on board to confront the Koopaling for their boss fight.
  • One course can be found aboard a haunted shipwreck out in Sparkling Waters. It's considered a Ghost House and as such is inhabited by ghostly enemies, but is also partially submerged underwater.
• Shout-Out:
  • Painted Swampland and Spinning Platforms of Doom are inspired by Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night.
  • The Flying Squirrel suit turns Mario's clothes the same color they were in Super Mario Bros..
  • Soda Jungle-2: Bridge over Poisoned Waters.
  • An icy level in the desert-themed second world? Where have we seen that one before?^note (The referenced Spyro level in question is Ice Cavern, seen in the second world — the Peace Keepers' desert. Bonus points for both stages being set during nighttime.)
  • The Baby Yoshi choir is a reference to the singing Baby Yoshis on the title screen for Tetris Attack. Interestingly, the Baby Yoshis in Tetris Attack were also blue, magenta, and yellow.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Frosted Glacier.
• Snowy Sleigh Bells: Frosted Glacier's map and ground themes both make heavy use of sleigh bells to enhance their wintery feel.
• The Spiny: The original Spinies appear, but Pricky Goombas and Sumo Bros. also fill this role. The former must have their shell burned away, and the latter must be struck from underneath with the platforms they stand on.
• Spot the Thread: There are some minor differences between the real Ludwig and the clones he summons in his fight, but it's honestly easier to just jump on them until you hit the right one. The real Ludwig will always land on the ground last, though, which is the most useful thing to know.
• Super Title 64 Advance: The game is named after its console, the Wii U. This follows the trend of New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
• Tele-Frag: Kamek can do this to you in his boss fight if you're not careful. At least he has the decency of pointing out where he's going to appear next with sparkles, but if you don't realise in time...
• Theme Music Abandonment: The game uses the classic Super Mario Bros. music often enough, but completely abandons the New Super Mario Bros. theme song used in the previous three games.
• Thief Bag: Nabbit carries a large bag on his back at all times, which contains the items that he stole from the Toads.
• Throw Down the Bomblet: Lemmy switches up his usual ball-summoning tricks by throwing bombs at Mario. After two hits, they become larger. Bowser Jr. also throws down Bob-Ombs during the final fight with Bowser.
• Underground Level: Or it wouldn't be a Mario game.
• Under the Sea: Sparkling Waters. Of course the occasional underwater stage is found elsewhere.
• Unique Enemy: There is one, and only one Flame Chomp in the entire game, and you won't even find it unless you're going out of your way to search for the Star Coins.
• Variable Mix: Like with other games with Yoshis in them, the music changes in a way when you grab a Baby Yoshi. They add a sort of choir part to the current music.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The Final Battle, the true castle level for the final world. Pendulum Castle seems this way, but it is only the penultimate level.
• Video Game Caring Potential: Players on a GamePad can spawn blocks in midair to help players over bottomless pits...
• Video Game Cruelty Potential:
  • ...or can use the blocks to obstruct players while they jump, knocking them into enemies or pits.
  • In the final boss battle, you have to hit Bowser Jr. to take control of his Koopa Clown Car. Besides Bowser's attacks and the fact that Bowser Jr. could retreat into his shell, there's nothing stopping you from repeatedly stomping him before he gets back in his Clown Car... You can even hurt him WITH the Clown Car.
  • It is entirely possible to defeat Bowser by throwing his son at him.
• Wintry Auroral Sky: Most levels in the Frosted Glacier feature exquisite, multicolored northern lights in their nighty skies. Granted, the Frosted Glacier is one of the northernmost locations on the map, but it is on the same longitude than Layer-Cake Desert and Peach's Castle, and therefore most certainly not polar. Videogame geography at its best.

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