New Super Mario Bros. 2

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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 (just as 3D Land did the same for Tanooki Mario) as well as the classic P-Charge Bar featured in Bros. 3.

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 you can without losing a life. Further Coin Rush stages would be added as DLC, which would make this the first 3DS game to make use of DLC in general.

Tropes used in New Super Mario Bros. 2 include:

• 2½D: Just like its predecessors.
• 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 player, but only through Local Connection.
• Development Gag: In a sense. "New Super Mario Bros. 2" was the Working Title for New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
• Dinosaurs Are Dragons: The fire-breathing, Ceratopian Reznors make their first appearance in almost two decades.
• 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, 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.
• 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.
• 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.
  • Jungle Japes: World 3, which is a stock NSMB poisonous jungle/forest.
  • Slippy-Slidey Ice World: World 4, which is a typical glacial 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.