is a

2D side-scrolling '' A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller), is a game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling graphi ...

platform video game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

in the ''New Super Mario Bros.'' series developed by Nintendo EAD Group No. 4 and published by

Nintendo is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards ...

for its

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generati ...

handheld video game console, being released first in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

on July 28, 2012. It is the first Nintendo-published game to be released simultaneously in both downloadable and

physical Physical may refer to: * Physical examination, a regular overall check-up with a doctor * ''Physical'' (Olivia Newton-John album), 1981 ** "Physical" (Olivia Newton-John song) * ''Physical'' (Gabe Gurnsey album) * "Physical" (Alcazar song) (2004) * ...

forms. ''New Super Mario Bros. 2''s plot is similar to its predecessors, focusing on Mario and Luigi's efforts to rescue

Princess Peach is a fictional character in Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, created by Shigeru Miyamoto and introduced in the 1985 original '' Super Mario Bros.'' installment. She is the princess regnant and ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, where she resides ...

from

Bowser , or King Koopa, is a fictional character, the primary antagonist in Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, and the arch-nemesis of Mario. In Japan, the character bears the title of . Bowser is the leader of the turtle-like Koopa race. Despite the ...

and the

Koopalings The (also known as in Japan and Europe or in Japan) are a fictional group of seven childlike characters in the ''Mario'' video game franchise by Nintendo. Their individual names are Larry Koopa, Morton Koopa Jr., Wendy O. Koopa, Iggy Koopa, ...

. It has a heavier emphasis on

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order ...

collecting The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining items that are of interest to an individual ''collector''. Collections differ in a wide variety of respects, most obvi ...

than other ''

Super Mario (also known as and ) is a platform game series created by Nintendo starring their mascot, Mario. It is the central series of the greater ''Mario'' franchise. At least one ''Super Mario'' game has been released for every major Nintendo vide ...

'' games, with multiple unique items dedicated to producing large numbers of coins. The game features a specialized

mode Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine * ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...

called "Coin Rush", which focuses exclusively on quickly completing a series of stages while collecting as many coins as possible. Additional Coin Rush stages were made available for purchase as

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enabli ...

shortly after the game's release. ''New Super Mario Bros. 2'' features nine worlds that consist of six main worlds and three special worlds. Those worlds total 81 complete levels, many of which have multiple exits to unlock more areas in the game to play and explore. ''New Super Mario Bros. 2'' received generally positive reviews. Critics generally praised its

level design In video games, a level (also referred to as a map, stage, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively-increasing difficulty t ...

, gameplay, and graphics, but criticized its low difficulty and similarity to the earlier ''New Super Mario Bros.'' games. ''New Super Mario Bros. 2'' is the fifth best-selling game for the Nintendo 3DS, with 13.41 million copies sold worldwide as of September 30, 2022. A follow-up to the game and a sequel to ''

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii. A follow-up to '' New Super Mario Bros.'', it was first released in Australia, North America, and Europe in November 2009, followed by Japan a month later. A high-defi ...

'', titled '' New Super Mario Bros. U'', was released as a launch title for the

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. ...

on November 18, 2012.

Gameplay

Like the previous games in the ''New Super Mario Bros.'' series, '' New Super Mario Bros.'' and ''

'', ''New Super Mario Bros. 2'' is a 2D platformer, and some of the characters and objects in the game are 3D polygonal renderings on 2D backgrounds. This results in a 2.5D effect (also seen in the first ''New Super Mario Bros.'' game) that visually simulates

3D computer graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...

. ''New Super Mario Bros. 2'' continues the style of gameplay from the first ''New Super Mario Bros.'' game, featuring side-scrolling platform action as

Mario is a character (arts), character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in ...

Luigi is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...

attempt to rescue

from

and the

. Power-ups include the Mini Mushroom and Mega Mushroom returning from the first game, and the Super Leaf from ''

Super Mario Bros. 3 ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was released for home consoles in Japan on October 23, 1988, in North America on February 12, 1990 and in Europe on ...

'', which allows the player to tail-whip enemies or to fly. Similarly to '' Super Mario 3D Land'', an Invincibility Leaf will appear if the player loses at least five lives during any non-cannon levels. The Invincibility Leaf grants both raccoon abilities and invincibility until the end of the stage. The story has both

single-player A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usually ...

and

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

options: two players, each with their own Nintendo 3DS and copy of the game, play together simultaneously as Mario and Luigi. Like the previous games, players can collect Star Coins hidden throughout each level, which can be spent to unlock new areas on the overworld map. ''New Super Mario Bros. 2'' has a strong emphasis on collecting gold coins, which features various new items that are dedicated for producing large numbers of coins. These include Gold Flowers that can turn blocks into coins, rings that can temporarily turn enemies gold, and a block mask that produces coins as Mario (or Luigi) runs. All coins collected are totaled on the title screen and on the

overworld An overworld (sometimes referred to as a hub world) is, in a broad sense, commonly an area within a video game that interconnects all its levels or locations. They are mostly common in role-playing games, though this does not exclude other vide ...

map. If the player has

SpotPass SpotPass and StreetPass are communication systems first introduced in the Nintendo 3DS. SpotPass was later incorporated into the Nintendo 2DS, models of the New 3DS and New 2DS, and Wii U game consoles. SpotPass delivers content from the Inter ...

enabled in the game, this total can be uploaded to

Nintendo Network The Nintendo Network is Nintendo's online service which provides online functionality for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U systems and their compatible games. Announced on January 26, 2012 at an investors' conference, it is Nintendo's second online s ...

and the player will be updated with the grand total of all coins collected by all players worldwide. In addition to the main game, ''New Super Mario Bros. 2'' features a Coin Rush mode, made accessible after the player completes the first world in the game. In Coin Rush, the player must play through three randomly-chosen levels collecting as many coins as possible. Star and Moon Coins add several coins to the player's running total in this mode. However, the player is given only one life and each level gives a time limit of 50 or 100 seconds. The 1-up Mushrooms are replaced by Gold Mushrooms in this mode. If checkpoint flags have been passed or timers have been collected, the time limit will be extended. Getting to the top of the ending flag causes the number of coins gained in a level to double. If the player completes the run, the accumulated total of coins that are collected can be saved as the player's high score, which can be transmitted to and challenged by other players via StreetPass. Additional course packs can be purchased as

Release

In 2010,

Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japanese video game designer, producer and game director at Nintendo, where he serves as one of its representative directors. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential designers in the history of video games, he ...

stated that both side-scrolling and 3D ''Mario'' games were in development for the Nintendo 3DS. Following the release of '' Super Mario 3D Land'', the untitled 2D ''Super Mario'' game was announced during a meeting of investors by the president of

Satoru Iwata was a Japanese businessman, video game programmer, video game designer, and producer. He was the fourth president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Nintendo from 2002 until his death in 2015. He was a major contributor in broadening the app ...

, in late January 2012. He described it as a "totally new side-scrolling action ''Super Mario'' in 2D as a key title for the Nintendo 3DS". Nintendo planned to release the game "in the next fiscal year", which started in April 2012 and ended in March 2013. It was subsequently announced to be released on August 17, 2012 in Europe, and August 19, 2012 in North America. The game was announced as ''New Super Mario Bros. 2'', a direct sequel to 2006's ''New Super Mario Bros.'', during a Nintendo Direct conference on April 21, 2012, with tentative release dates for

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

in August 2012. Nintendo stated ''New Super Mario Bros. 2'' was created "specifically as a pick-up-and-play experience", accommodating players of all skill levels. It was the first retail 3DS game to also be released as a

download In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote ...

on the

Nintendo eShop The Nintendo eShop is a digital distribution service powered by the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, and by a dedicated online infrastructure for the Nintendo Switch. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the eShop was e ...

on the day of its release. The first three packs of courses for Coin Rush mode was released as

in Japan and Europe on October 2, 2012, followed by North America on October 4, 2012. Six more packs were released. The second and third set of two packs was released worldwide on October 25, 2012 and December 5, 2012 respectively and the last set of two was released on December 20, 2012 in North America and Europe and on December 21, 2012 in Japan. The final "Gold Classics Pack" was released on November 27, 2012 to celebrate the 300 billion coins milestone and was available to download for free until the end of January 2013. In 2014, an updated version featuring all the DLC pre-installed was released, the ''New Super Mario Bros. 2: Gold Edition''. This version was available exclusively at

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

for Black Friday 2014 as part of a limited edition Nintendo 3DS XL bundle. The game's

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

was composed by ''

Mario Kart is a series of racing games developed and published by Nintendo. Players compete in go-kart races while using various power-up items. It features characters and courses from the ''Mario'' series as well as other gaming franchises such as ...

'' veteran Kenta Nagata, though most of soundtrack is based on ''

'', which was composed by Shiho Fujii, Ryo Nagamatsu, and Kenta Nagata.

Reception

''New Super Mario Bros. 2'' has received generally positive reviews. It holds an aggregated score of 78.40% on

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

and 78/100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. The game was given a 36/40 by ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...

'' with a 9 from each of the four reviewers. ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The ...

'' gave the game a 9/10, stating "This platforming perfection is what makes ''Mario'' games so fun, and in that regard, ''New Super Mario Bros. 2'' definitely succeeds with its own share of secrets, collectibles, and branching pathways that can be unlocked depending on how you should advance through the game." ''NintendoLife'' gave the game 9 out of 10 stars, saying "It's immense fun, boasts brilliant level design and offers enough repeat play appeal to keep you glued to your 3DS system for weeks." ''

Official Nintendo Magazine ''Official Nintendo Magazine'', or ''ONM'', was a British video game magazine that ran from 2006 to 2014 that covered the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, and Wii U video game consoles released by Nintendo. Originally published by EMAP as '' ...

'' gave the game 90% out of 100, heavily criticizing the game for its 3D effects and lack of progression in the ''

'' series, summarizing that "''New Super Mario Bros. 2'' is the very definition of bitter-sweet, giving with one hand and then taking away with the other. By default it's the best side-scrolling platformer on the 3DS and yes, it's even better than the original ''New Super Mario Bros.'' But that came out six years ago now, and in that time we'd really expected the series to have progressed a little further than just a 3D effect and Coin Rush mode." Tom Sykes of ''

Nintendo Gamer ''Nintendo Gamer'' was a magazine published in the United Kingdom which mainly covered Nintendo video game consoles and software. It was the successor publication to ''N64 Magazine'', later renamed NGC Magazine (1997–2006), and ''Super Play'' ( ...

'' gave the game 80 out of 100, praising the new features, but criticizing it for being too similar to its predecessors. "This is a great 2D platformer, but it's lacking the vital creative spark that turns a great 2D platformer into a classic one. We've come to expect more than straight sequels from mainline ''Mario'' games, and until this generation we hadn't truly been offered one. That's a definite disappointment, but on the upside, more ''NSMB'' is hardly a bad thing. With its obsessive focus on coin collecting, ''NSMB2'' does a few things differently to its predecessor, but not enough to stand tall as its own game. It's a fine companion piece to the original DS game, however, and one that's likely to reside in your 3DS for quite some time." , 13.41 million copies of ''New Super Mario Bros. 2'' have been sold worldwide. ''New Super Mario Bros. 2'' was nominated for "Best Handheld Game" at Spike's 10th Annual Video Game Awards.

Legacy

A stage based on ''New Super Mario Bros. 2'' appears in ''

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and (colloquially and collectively referred to as ''Super Smash Bros. 4'' or ''Smash 4'') is a group of two 2014 crossover fighting video games developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS ...

'' and '' Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', titled "Golden Plains". If a player collects 100 coins, the character will turn golden and gain both increased attack power and flinch resistance. Mario's transformation when he touches a Gold Flower, Gold Mario, appears in '' Mario Kart 8 Deluxe'' and ''

Mario Kart Tour is a 2019 kart racing mobile game, the fourteenth in the franchise in the ''Mario Kart'' series, developed by Nintendo EPD and published by Nintendo for iOS and Android devices. The game was announced in January 2018 and was released on Sept ...

'' as an unlockable character. An

Amiibo (, ; officially stylized as amiibo; plural: ''Amiibo'') is a toys-to-life platform by Nintendo, which was launched in November 2014. It consists of a wireless communications and storage protocol for connecting figurines to the Wii U, Ninte ...

figure was released based on this transformation.

Notes

References

External links

*
Official Japanese website
{{Authority control 2012 video games Cooperative video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo 3DS games Nintendo 3DS eShop games Nintendo 3DS-only games Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development games Nintendo Network games Side-scrolling video games Super Mario Video game sequels Video games developed in Japan Video games with 2.5D graphics Video games with downloadable content Video games about size change Video games produced by Takashi Tezuka