New Super Mario Bros. Wii to Wii U Video Comparision

By Jorge Ba-oh 06.01.2013 13

New Super Mario Bros. Wii to Wii U Video Comparision on Nintendo gaming news, videos and discussion

Digital Foundry have explored Nintendo's debut efforts with Mario on the Wii U, contrasting New Super Mario Bros. U with the previous console incarnation on the Wii: has much changed from a visual and a performance standpoint?

Despite a new and more open world to explore, GamePad additions and Miiverse connectivity, the new Wii U game relies heavily on a tried and practically perfected formula. But with the shift into high definition, has Nintendo truly embraced a greater resolution? The short answer is that the Wii U edition perhaps doesn't push the console's capabilities to it's absolute limits, fair given the nature of the title, but offers visual tweaks to refine the presentation - improved lighting, backgrounds and shadows.

We see Mario and most of his adversaries making the jump practically as-is from the Wii edition released three years ago, with no noticeable rejig in detail. An effort has clearly been made to push the series forward technically, with dynamic shadows, higher resolution alpha, and lighting making an appearance to subtle effect.

The report also compares both games by emulating the Wii edition, increasing the resolution to match the Wii U version.


 

What do you think of Mario's leap to high-definition? Have Nintendo improved the visuals in New Super Mario Bros. U on the Wii U?

Box art for New Super Mario Bros. U
Developer

Nintendo

Publisher

Nintendo

Genre

2D Platformer

Players

5

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  9/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  8/10 (12 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now    Also on Also on Nintendo eShop

Comment on this article

You can comment as a guest or join the Cubed3 community below: Sign Up for Free Account Login

Preview PostPreview Post Your Name:
Validate your comment
  Enter the letters in the image to validate your comment.
Submit Post

Comments

Raleigh from fb! (guest) 06.01.2013#1

nsmb u!!

jesusraz is offline. jesusraz 06.01.2013#2

Looks shockingly similar in that video! Smilie

Adam Riley [ Director :: Cubed3 ]

UNITE714: Weekly Prayers | Bible Verses
 
Canyarion is offline. Canyarion 06.01.2013#3

I hope Rayman Legends will sell so well that Nintendo will be forced to reconsider their take on graphics.

 
JayUK is offline. JayUK 07.01.2013#4

does anyone else really dislike the art style used in the new super mario bros series. You look at all the other 2D platformers out there and the one that sells the most is the series with the most generic art style.

 
Azuardo is online! Azuardo 07.01.2013#5

JayUK said:
does anyone else really dislike the art style used in the new super mario bros series. You look at all the other 2D platformers out there and the one that sells the most is the series with the most generic art style.
Yeah, you're not alone there. I don't mind the fact they've attempted this art style. It's more the fact it's the fourth damn 2D Mario in a row that uses it. Let's be honest, they all look near enough the same. Other 2D games try something new - even Nintendo ones. Kirby's Epic Yarn, Wario Land Shake Dimension, the obvious Rayman Origins. But Mario isn't changing. As noted in the Digital Foundry article, they don't use the lovely Van Gogh level style that often through the rest of the game, too. Really hope they try something different in the next one, but really wouldn't be surprised if it stays the same. Perhaps they'll go with a new hand drawn colouring book Yoshi's Island instead of churning out yet another NSMB on Wii U or 3DS, but I do hope whenever the next 2D Mario comes along that it's in a new style.

 
Artsy (guest) 07.01.2013#6

Raman Legends looks like its art was created by a creative and brilliant artist, full of imaginative ideas.

NSMB U looks like it was created be a uncreative graphic artist.

JoshSL is offline. JoshSL 07.01.2013#7

Agreed totally with Jay and Az.

Just by watching this video you can see how little 2D Mario has changed, and it's depressing. Sure it's a tried and tested formula that works, but even a little more variation than this in style and theme would be nice. The visuals as Adam pointed out look near extremely similar when Mario Bros Wii is upscaled.

Thankfully I don't think there's going to be another 2D Mario for a really long time, maybe by then we'll see something different. Didn't Nintendo say there would only be on 2D Mario per system? That means.. don't expect another 2D Mario (at least in this format) for the next 5-6 years. I'm hoping the future of the WiiU and 3DS can be used to do some actually interesting things with the poor stagnant plumber.

( Edited 07.01.2013 14:27 by SuperLink )

Twitter | C3 Writer/Moderator | Backloggery
 
Azuardo is online! Azuardo 07.01.2013#8

I think I've sort "grown out of" Mario in many respects, but I think a good part of the reason I have no interest in playing 2D Mario any more is because of this same art style. Each time a new NSMB is revealed it's like "Ugh, another one?" My interest definitely perked up when I saw its Mario World elements, and I'm sure I'd have a bit of fun with the game, but the more they use the NSMB style, the more I look away. And that's probably quite the opposite for the casuals they draw in to play the games - stick with the tried and tested that gets you the most players/money, ofc. But until I start seeing some originality again in 2D Mario, I doubt I'll ever be interested very much again.

 
JoshSL is offline. JoshSL 07.01.2013#9

It's the exact same feeling for me - while I can see the business reasons for sticking to this very plastic, dull, but child-friendly and ultimately universally "accepted" style (let's be honest, as beautiful as Epic Yarn and Wario Land may be, are they universally accepted? No, they're "babyish" or "cartoony" to many of the people who likely think Mario Bros is fine.)

Mario Bros U is definitely good, I haven't had much time with it but the stage design and such feels better than most NSMB games and the World layout is a plus, it's still no Mario World though (at least so far, where are the bountiful secrets?? Why can't Yoshi fly off the screen to a secret part of the stage with keys n shit?? Etc)

Still.. I'm a little more optimistic about Mario now, if it's true that there will be no more 2D ones this gen. I just hope 3D Mario is more experimental and less like the extremely bland and soulless Mario 3D Land (basically a NSMB game in 3D).

Twitter | C3 Writer/Moderator | Backloggery
 
SirLink is offline. SirLink 07.01.2013#10

One of the types games has to sell extremely well and the 3D games just proved to be much less popular than the NSMB series. If this lets Nintendo make another 3D Mario full of creative gameplay ideas like Galaxy 1 and 2 then I'm all for it. It's likely that we won't see another NSMB until Nintendo's next hardware since they'll just keep selling like crazy at full price for years to come and there's no need to put resources towards additional instalments. I'm expecting a few batches of DLC for NSMBU but that should be it then.

I know all you people hate the artstyle and music, but do we really need to act like they release one each year like Call of Duty? We've had four games in the span of 6 years on four different systems and two of them just happened to be released in the same year to get an evergreen title out for each platform.

Twitter | Backloggery
 
JoshSL is offline. JoshSL 07.01.2013#11

SirLink said:
I know all you people hate the artstyle and music, but do we really need to act like they release one each year like Call of Duty? We've had four games in the span of 6 years on four different systems and two of them just happened to be released in the same year to get an evergreen title out for each platform.

Fair points, I think the bitterness comes from the fact that we're all people who once adored 2D Mario games and now we can't even get excited for them anymore - because they're all the same. People who love CoD know what to expect, but for Mario we're still waiting for a game that'll beat Mario World.

Twitter | C3 Writer/Moderator | Backloggery
 
Azuardo is online! Azuardo 07.01.2013#12

Not complaining how many 2D Marios they release. Complaining that the style is the same. In six years they choose to go with the same style. How long do I have to wait for them to give me a new one? If I have to wait another 5 years until the next one and it turns out to be another NSMB clone... That's not gonna be fun. Whatevs. Like I say, I'm kinda done with Mario now. Have been for a while.

 
JayUK is offline. JayUK 07.01.2013#13


SirLink said:
One of the types games has to sell extremely well and the 3D games just proved to be much less popular than the NSMB series. If this lets Nintendo make another 3D Mario full of creative gameplay ideas like Galaxy 1 and 2 then I'm all for it. It's likely that we won't see another NSMB until Nintendo's next hardware since they'll just keep selling like crazy at full price for years to come and there's no need to put resources towards additional instalments. I'm expecting a few batches of DLC for NSMBU but that should be it then.

I know all you people hate the artstyle and music, but do we really need to act like they release one each year like Call of Duty? We've had four games in the span of 6 years on four different systems and two of them just happened to be released in the same year to get an evergreen title out for each platform.

I was complaining about how similar they are and how uninspired the artwork is, the soundtrack has also wandered from catchy to annoying. They could release one every two months as long as they were significantly different experiences. I'd actually like them to do something weird like Mario Bros 2, just to change things up. 

 

Subscribe to this topic Subscribe to this topic

If you are a registered member and logged in, you can also subscribe to topics by email.
Sign up today for blogs, games collections, reader reviews and much more
Site Feed
Who's Online?
Azuardo, lukezeppo

There are 2 members online at the moment.