New Super Mario Bros. 2



New Super Mario Bros. 2 is the second sequel to New Super Mario Bros., following New Super Mario Bros. Wii in that regard. The first NSMB was the side-scrolling Mario title for the Nintendo DS, just as NSMBWii was for the Wii, and now NSMB2 fills the same role for the Nintendo 3DS.

Most notably, the game's existence was leaked in early 2012 among various (typically Nintendo-like) sales charts, as well as through a registered -- and vague -- domain name/HTML address as soon as in April in the same year. Later in the same month, Nintendo confirmed the game's actual title, as well as a worldwide near-simultaneous release date for August 2012. Despite the unlikeliness of such a quick development cycle, this stunt is still impressive.

The game has plenty of throwbacks to Super Mario Bros. 3 (akin to Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7) -- namely, Raccoon Mario's first polygonal appearance as well as the classic P-Charge Bar.

But the big change in this game is the focus on coin collection. Mario is tasked with collecting a million coins during his adventure - an otherwise by-the-book kidnapping of Princess Peach by Bowser and his minions - and new ways to earn money are everywhere, from golden enemies to Gold Fire Flowers that turn whatever the fireballs hit into coins. There's also a dedicated Coin Rush mode, which has Mario run through three levels back to back, with the goal being to collect as many coins as possible without losing a life. Further Coin Rush stages would be added as DLC, which would make this the first 3DS game to utilize DLC in general.


 * 2½D: Just like its predecessors.
 * Absentee Actor: After being the main recurring threat in the first game and a major presence in Wii, Bowser Jr.'s sitting this one out.
 * Advancing Boss of Doom:
 * Anti-Frustration Features: If you keep dying in the same level, you'll be offered a ? block with a White Raccoon suit that will make you invincible so you can brute force your way through and keep going. To some, though, it feels more like the game's mocking you for sucking.
 * Background Boss: stays in the back of the room, but his claws will poke into the foreground when he takes a swipe at you.
 * Big Bad: Who else but Bowser?
 * Big Boo's Haunt: In true Mario fashion, Ghost Houses can be found in just about every world.
 * Bonus Boss: Lemmy and Larry Koopa are very technically this, since they're fought in Worlds Mushroom and Flower, which are decently tricky to get to without a guide (as detailed below). There's also the final boss of World Star,
 * Bonus Dungeon: Worlds Mushroom, Flower, and Star are all optional worlds, with the former two only being accessible if you can find the entrances to the hidden cannon levels in certain stages, while the latter is unlocked upon beating the game.
 * Bridal Carry:
 * The Bus Came Back: The fire-breathing, rhino-ceratopsin Reznors make their first appearance in almost two decades.
 * Continuity Nod: As seen in the Iwata Asks video, Luigi's Raccoon form still has Kitsune ears and tail.
 * Co-Op Multiplayer: It can be played with two players, but only through Local Connection.
 * Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Players used to the ability to extend your airtime with midair twirls in Wii might find themselves uselessly trying to do so here, where the move isn't available.
 * Dem Bones: Along with Dry Bones making yet another appearance, we now have Bone Goombas and Bone Piranha Plants (let's not try to think too hard about how that's possible)..
 * Development Gag: In a sense. "New Super Mario Bros. 2" was the Working Title for New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
 * Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Once again, the Reznors are triceratops-looking dinosaurs that attack by breathing fire at you.
 * Downloadable Content: Various unique Coin Rush stages are available as DLC, which would be the first seen in any 3DS game.
 * Final Boss: Take a wild guess. Hint: It starts with "Bow", and ends with "ser".
 * Flanderization: Weirdly enough, the soundtrack falls victim to this. The New Super Mario Bros and the omnipresent "BAH BAH" sound effects in their OST's are often made fun of, but are usually used fairly sparcely in each song. In this game, they go absolutely nuts with the "BAH"s, with several "BAH"-less songs gaining them, while ones that already had them become absolutely flooded with them. The Athletic Theme in particular almost feels like a parody of a New Super Mario Bros. song instead of an actual track.
 * Funny Background Event: During the credits, you can see the Koopalings and Bowser scattered everywhere, with the Koopa King himself planted upside down in the ground!
 * Gold Fever: In some places, you'll have to risk dangerous enemies in order to get coins, or your pursuit of coins might screw you out of getting a special item or something. With the goal being a whole million coins, Mario may not get Gold Fever, but the player might.
 * Gold Makes Everything Shiny: Sparkly golden variations of regular enemies appear, which reward you with coins upon defeating them.
 * Also, golden Fire Flowers that turn Mario gold and allow him to shoot fireballs that turn blocks and enemies into coins. 1-Up Mushrooms are also replaced with Gold Mushrooms in Coin Rush, and they'll give the player 50 coins when they find one.
 * Guide Dang It: Just like in New Super Mario Bros., you can play as Luigi if you press the right buttons when starting up your save file. However, unlike the first game you're given no indication that it's even a thing, and you have to rely on your knowledge of the first game's Luigi code to play as him here. And even then, you can only use Luigi after beating Bowser unlike in the first game, meaning that if you think to input the code, you'll likely think that they simply didn't add it to this game.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard:
 * Infinity+1 Sword: The Golden Flower. It's rarely seen through the main game, and you're bound to only use it a handful of times before you defeat Bowser and the credits roll. You don't even get to keep it between levels, but that's because it's hilariously overpowered. Aside from looking cool, it's essentially a Fire Flower on steroids: gold balls are far bigger than fireballs, and do impressive splash damage that can kill several enemies at once if they're grouped closely enough to each other. You also get several coins at once with each Golden Flower kill, and they multiply with each enemy caught in a Gold Ball blast. Once you've beaten the game, you can use them as much as you want. Have fun!
 * Kori Kombat: Continued as a theme from 3D Land. While Mario gets a racoon tail and ears when he touches a Super Leaf, Luigi gains the tail and ears of a fox.
 * Meaningless Lives: Post-DS Mario games are notorious for being lousy with extra lives, but this game goes to ludicrous extremes. And by ludicrous, we mean that it's easy to have around 300 lives by the end of the game without even trying. You can blame the focus on coin-collection for that.
 * Mission Pack Sequel: It's a New Super Mario Bros. game, so it comes with the territory.
 * Palette Swap: Luigi's equivalent to Gold Mario is Silver Luigi. It plays the same, but he and his projectiles are a shimmering silver instead of a glittering gold.
 * Save The Princess: What else would you expect from a Mario game?
 * Sequel Difficulty Drop: While the original game and New Super Mario Bros. Wii aren't exactly up to snuff with, say, The Lost Levels in terms of difficulty, they still get tough later in the game. Between the insane amount of extra lives you'll collect and the simplistic, non-threatening levels, the eventual Difficulty Spike just... never really happens.
 * Shout-Out: The Reznors make a roar that sounds very similar to Godzilla's.
 * Third Is 3D: While it's not titled "New Super Mario Bros. 3", it is the third game to use the NSMB name, and it has 3D functionality.
 * Video Game Settings:
 * Green Hill Zone: World 1, which is a pleasant meadow like in the other NSMB games.
 * Shifting Sand Land: World 2's a desert, as it is in literally every other NSMB game.
 * Jungle Japes: World 3, which is a stock NSMB poisonous jungle/forest.
 * Slippy-Slidey Ice World: World 4, which is a typical glacial environment.
 * Bubbly Clouds: World 5, which takes place high in the clouds.
 * Lethal Lava Land: World 6, which is your typical Mario finale set in a volcanic environment.
 * X Meets Y: The presence of the P-Charge bar and Racoon Leaf alone is enough to declare this game the love child of New Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros 3.