New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe | Controls Walkthrough Video

In this video we’re going to have a look at new Super Mario Brothers’ U Deluxe. It’s a 2D platforming game on the Nintendo Switch which can be quite tricky to play but does have a few features which might make it a little bit more accessible.

As a 2D platformer the game does require quite specific timing. The general mechanics revolve around jumping over holes, jumping onto enemies or trying to avoid certain obstacles, either by jumping or using power-ups.

In this video I’m going to use a Nintendo Switch Pro controller but there are a range of other controls that you can use if using one of these is difficult. For example there are a range of adapters available that will get PlayStation or Xbox controllers working on your Switch. You could also use an Xbox Adaptive Controller with a range of different joysticks and accessibility switches if that’s helpful for you.

Now we’ll have a look at the controls for the game. Most of the controls are mapped to multiple inputs. For example you can use the D-pad to make Mario move or you can use the Left Stick. To make Mario sprint you can either use Y or X. So first of all hold down Y whilst moving and you’ll make Mario run faster and we can do the same with X. These buttons will also activate certain power-ups which we’ll have a look at a little bit later on.

You’ve got B or A for Jump.

There is also another type of jump so if you use either R or ZR you’ll do this type of jump here.

If you press Jump and then press Jump again in the air you make Mario stay in the air for a little bit longer to give you a bit more time if you’re trying to reach something.

If you press Jump and then hold down on either the D-pad or the Left Stick Mario will slam down onto the floor. So if there’s an enemy below you or in certain situations where you might be above one of the power-up boxes you can jump down onto it and you’ll make the power-up come out the bottom instead. You can also use this if there are secret areas that you are trying to access.

If at any point in the game you need to crouch or you want to go down into one of the pipes then you can either press down on the Left Stick or down on the D-pad to make Mario crouch down.

There are certain points in the game where you’ll come across doors and you press up either on the Left Stick or up on the D-pad to open the door.

If you come across an enemy with a shell there’s a chance that you could jump on them to make them lose their shell and then you can either kick it by walking into it, or you can pick the shell up. To pick the shell up hold down either X or Y and to throw the shell just let go of either X or Y and you can use it to take down other enemies.

So the controls on the World Map might be slightly different. You only really need to use either left stick or D-pad for the most part so if you want to you just run from level to level. Sometimes you can collect power-ups when you’re on the World Map as well and so it is worth having a look round. There are certain points where you might need to use just different D-pad directions but for the most part, really, you’re just going to use left and right to run around. To go into a level you’d press A, but first of all we’ll have a quick look at items. So when you collect power-ups in game some of them you’ll find on the World Map but mostly you’ll find them in levels. You press one of the R buttons and you can now look at all your power-ups. So if you’re finding a particular level difficult, for example, you might find it’s best to come and have a look at what power-ups you have and select one and that might then make that level that little bit easier.

Now we’re going to have a look at power-ups and how these can to some extent affect some of the controls as well. So to get power-ups you just need to get them from these boxes. So this first one, it makes Mario bigger but it also means that, as well, you can take an extra hit basically. So normally Mario would lose a life if an enemy touches him but now he can take two hits before he loses a life.

So at the moment we have a power-up which means as well as X and Y acting as Sprint they’d also act as a Shoot button. So here it’s a way to throw the fireballs. But if I hold it down it would still act as Sprint as well. Another thing that it does is with your ZR or R jumps it will fire at the same time as jumping.

Another power-up that we’ll have a look at now is the Ice Flower power-up. So it’s very similar to the standard Flower but instead of firing fireballs you’re going to shoot balls of ice. So, again, the controls are very similar to the previous power-up but the main difference here is that it’s ice which will temporarily freeze enemies. So when you’ve frozen an enemy you hold down Y and then press R to pick him up. And then you can just let go of Y to throw him. So there are some enemies that you can freeze but they’re actually too big for you to pick up. So you wouldn’t be able to pick him up to throw at the other ones.

This one, when Mario jumps, if you hold Jump down you can glide so if there are certain areas that are hard to get to you can potentially glide to them. The other thing you can do is jump, jump again and glide from there. So if you want to glide from a certain point you can do. If I jump and then press the trigger then it’s essentially just a much higher jump and a slower landing. The other thing that you can do with this power-up is grab onto walls, so if I jump, hold down Jump when I get to the wall, Mario will grab it. He’ll only hold it for a certain amount of time, but you could jump and then jump off and then glide and that’s quite a good way to to get quite a far distance.

Sometimes in the game you’ll come across other characters that can be helpful and they might have their own power-ups. So this is Baby Yoshi. This one if I hold down Y or X to pick him up and then if I press the R button I can use it to push other enemies away. You do have to hold down either Y or X to keep hold of him. Each Baby Yoshi that you meet in the game has his own skills so the controls are the same if I grab him with either Y or X and then I can use one of the right-hand bump or trigger buttons to use his skill and can make it easier to get across the level, but it does eventually start to run out. So you will have to keep tapping either ZR or R to keep using the skill.

You will also find Yoshi in this game. You can just jump on his back and then you can ride him and you can do things like collect apples. If you collect enough apples then Yoshi will lay an egg and then inside that egg there’ll be a power-up that you can collect. If an enemy touches him he will run away so he effectively acts as giving you an extra bit of health because you can take an extra hit and you can grab the enemies and then spin them out. He does a standard jump but if you hold Jump down he can briefly hover. You can also let go of Jump and then tap it to make him hover again. If Yoshi gets hit by an enemy he will run off and you can catch him and jump back on him. Alternatively you can quite often find other eggs in the levels so if he does fall into a hole in the ground you should be able to get him back later on.

The game has multiple characters that you can play as, one or two of which can make the game slightly more accessible and a little bit easier to control. You can select your character at the very beginning of the game but you can also select a different character here from the World Map. So if I just pause the game at this point I can go to Change Character. In the main game Luigi and Mario control in a very similar way as does Toad so you won’t notice huge differences by playing by those three characters.

Toadette is a slightly easier character to control. She’s a little bit less slippery, so you’ll notice when you’re running around she’s got a bit more traction. So if I’m sprinting here with Toadette the stopping distance is a lot shorter than if you’re playing as Mario. This here is the the main power-up that Toadette can use which turns her into Peachette. She can jump and glide and can also do a double jump there. If I need to do the double jump I can just tap ZR or R when I’m in the air. It can just be really useful if you’re finding the platform elements difficult. So to use the glide you can either just press Jump and then keep the button held down or you can tap Jump and then hold afterwards if there’s a particular time that you want to start gliding.

Playing as Nabbit, the main difference really is that you don’t take any damage from enemies. So with Nabbit you do still need to do the platforming but you just don’t have to worry about enemies. So Nabbit can’t use power-ups. He can pick them up and he will get points for doing so and at the end of the round the power-ups will get turned into extra lives. Nabbit can still lose a life if he falls into lava or falls into a hole. Any environmental hazards that are in the game are still going to be dangerous for Nabbit as well but the main thing is that the enemies won’t hurt you.

When playing as Mario, Luigi or Toad, when you fall into water you need to keep pressing the Jump button to swim. If you stop pressing Jump you will sink to the bottom and you will lose a life. If you’re playing as either Nabbit or Toadette you can just swim using the left joystick or the D-pad so you don’t need to keep pressing the Jump button.

There’s also a feature in the game called Super Guide Mode. This basically means that if you die five times on one level then you have the option for the game to play through that level for you as Luigi. If Luigi is playing the level and he gets past the point that you were stuck on you then have the option just to take over and just carry on from that point. Or you can allow Luigi to play the whole level for you.

Some people find that being able to access the Spin Jump by pressing Jump twice is actually really frustrating so there is a way at the Main Menu screen to be able to switch this off, so we’ll have a quick look at that now. So when you’re back at the Main Menu you just need to hold down left stick so you’re just doing the stick click in. After about three seconds hold down ZL and ZR. Once you’ve done this you’ll hear the game start to load up but you’ll hear Nabbit make her high-pitched squeaking sound. This means that you’ve now switched off the Spin Jump. If I want to use Spin Jump now I would jump and then press ZR so I can still use the Spin Jump if I need it for any reason but I won’t be able to activate it by accidentally pressing the button twice.

If you change your mind at any point and want to activate Spin Jump by pressing the Jump button twice again all you need to do is go back to the Main Menu and repeat the process.

In the main game you have 400 seconds to complete a level if you’re playing as either Mario, Luigi or Toad. If you play as either Toadette or Nabbit you’ll have 600 seconds to do each level. There’s another mode in this game called New Super Luigi U. In this mode you have a hundred seconds to do each level if you’re playing as Luigi or Toad. Mario isn’t a playable character in this mode. If you play as either Toadette or Nabbit you’ll actually have 200 seconds to do each level. The characters generally feel more slippery to control with less traction and they also have a much higher jump. This is the more challenging of the two games.

Thank you for watching this video. If there’s anything that we can do to help make gaming more accessible for you then please do get in touch.