New Super Mario Bros. U Screenshots Look Lonely

One of the most highly touted features for New Super Mario Bros. U is the co-op for five players. However, the latest screenshots from Nintendo show Mario facing the world all by himself.

In co-op, players control Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad and Yellow Toad. They can also use any Miis they've saved on their Wii U. The game can be played with Wii Remotes or the Wii U GamePad.

You might notice that the game supports five-player co-op but there are only four playable characters. The fifth player doesn't actually appear in the game. Instead, they use the GamePad's touchscreen to help out the others. For example, they can tap enemies on the touchscreen to stun them or spawn item boxes out of thin air.

New Super Mario Bros. U will launch alongside the Wii U. Both the game and console are currently undated.