New Super Mario Bros. 2

Did You Know?

• A stage based on New Super Mario Bros. 2, called Golden Plains, appears in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros.
• Mario's Gold Flower transformation, Gold Mario, appears as an unlockable character in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Kart Tour.
• An Amiibo figure was released based on the Gold Mario transformation.

Gameplay

New Super Mario Bros. 2 is a 2D platformer that uses 3D polygonal renderings on 2D backgrounds, creating a 2.5D effect. Players control Mario or Luigi as they side-scroll through levels to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser and the Koopalings. Power-ups include the Mini Mushroom and Mega Mushroom from the first game, and the Super Leaf from Super Mario Bros. 3, which allows tail-whip attacks and flight. An Invincibility Leaf appears if the player loses at least five lives in non-cannon levels, granting both Super Leaf abilities and invincibility. The game supports two-player simultaneous play, each with their own Nintendo 3DS and copy. Three Star Coins are hidden in each level and can be spent to unlock new areas on the overworld map. The game heavily emphasizes coin collecting, with items such as Gold Flowers that turn blocks into coins, rings that temporarily turn enemies gold, and a mask-like block that produces coins as the player runs. All coins collected are totaled on the title screen and overworld map, and with SpotPass enabled, this total can be uploaded to the Nintendo Network to show the grand total of coins collected by all players worldwide.

Development

In 2010, Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that both 2D and 3D Mario games were being made for the Nintendo 3DS. After Super Mario 3D Land came out, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced an unnamed 2D Mario game at an investor meeting in late January 2012, calling it a brand-new side-scrolling action title and a key release for the system. Nintendo planned to launch it sometime between April 2012 and March 2013. The game was officially named New Super Mario Bros. 2 during a Nintendo Direct on April 21, 2012, with planned August 2012 launches in Japan, North America, Europe, and Australia. Nintendo described it as a pick-up-and-play game meant for players of any skill level. It was the first retail 3DS game available as a day-one download from the Nintendo eShop. The development team was not the same one that made the earlier New Super Mario Bros. games, since that group was working on New Super Mario Bros. U. Instead, a new team of mostly newer employees handled the project, with veteran Mario developer Takashi Tezuka serving as producer. The goal was to train these newer staff members in making Mario games. Multiple downloadable content packs for the Coin Rush mode were released, and a Gold Edition containing all the DLC pre-installed was sold exclusively at Walmart for Black Friday 2014.

Reception

New Super Mario Bros. 2 received generally positive reviews, holding an aggregated score of 78.40% on GameRankings and 78/100 on Metacritic, making it the lowest-rated mainline Mario game. Famitsu gave it a 36/40 with a 9 from each of four reviewers. Electronic Gaming Monthly gave it a 9/10, praising its platforming perfection, secrets, collectibles, and branching pathways. Nintendo Life gave it 9 out of 10 stars, calling it immense fun with brilliant level design and repeat play appeal. Official Nintendo Magazine gave it 90% but heavily criticized its 3D effects and lack of progression in the series, stating it was the best side-scrolling platformer on the 3DS by default but disappointing that the series had not progressed further than a 3D effect and Coin Rush mode. Tom Sykes of Nintendo Gamer gave it 80 out of 100, praising new features but criticizing it for being too similar to its predecessors, noting it lacked the creative spark to turn a great 2D platformer into a classic one. As of September 30, 2022, 13.41 million copies had been sold worldwide, making it the fifth best-selling game for the system. It was nominated for Best Handheld Game at Spike's 10th Annual Video Game Awards.