After having gotten our hands on New Super Mario Bros. U at Eurogamer Expo – or more precisely our writer Vaughn did – we were left feeling that not an awful lot had been added to the package. It turns out Nintendo were just holding back.

Nintendo have now announced that a raft of new modes and features will be appearing in New Super Mario Bros. U to change gameplay and create a deeper experience for all.

A Challenge Mode is included that tasks you with completing specific objectives to pass a stage. There are four categories within Challenge Mode and each one offers a different slant on gameplay. You’ll be able to play in Time Attack, Coin Collection, 1-Up Rally and Special (a collection of miscellaneous challenges). You can also take part in Boost Mode Challenges that require two players – one on GamePad another on Wii Remote. Once you finish a challenge it saves a replay of the action for you to flaunt.

Coin Battle is an out-and-out batte for the most gold onscreen. One person uses the GamePad in this five-player mode and helps or hinders the other players. You can also create and customise coin layouts for use later.

We’ve already seen that a world map will feature this time around, and we all know it’s integrated with Miiverse features too, but this time it also contains lots of secret exits that change the map and cause shortcuts to appear – thus changing the pace of play.

Finally, a creature called Nabbit will appear on the world map. Entering a course with a Nabbit on means you’ll be chasing after it trying to recover all the items stolen from Toad. Grabbing the pesky bugger rewards you with a poweful P-Acorn that allows you to fly continuously through the entire stage. It’s also the only way you’ll nab one of these lovely acorns.

No doubt there’s even more hidden away inside NSMBU that Nintendo aren’t letting us see, but until then all we can do is speculate.