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New Super Mario Bros.
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North American boxart |
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| Developer(s) | Nintendo EAD |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Designer(s) | Takashi Tezuka, Shigeyuki Asuke, Masahiro Imaizumi, Taku Matoba, Shigeru Miyamoto (supervisor) |
| Series | Mario |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo DS |
| Release date(s) | NA May 15 2006[1] JP May 25, 2006[2] AUS June 8 2006[3] EU June 30 2006[4] |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E CERO: A OFLC: PG PEGI: 3+ |
| Media | 64 MB + 64 KB EEPROM |
New Super Mario Bros. (New スーパーマリオブラザーズ Nyū Sūpā Mario Burazāzu?) is a side-scrolling platform video game published and developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It was first released in North America on May 15 2006, and was released ten days later in Japan on May 25 2006, in Australia on June 8 2006, in Europe on June 30 2006, and in South Korea on March 8 2007. It is the first original side-scrolling platform game starring Mario since the 1992 release of Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins.[5]
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New Super Mario Bros. was inspired by the original Super Mario Bros. (SMB) with many elements from later Mario releases such as Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, and Super Mario 64. Two enemies originating in Super Mario Bros. 2 are also featured - Bob-ombs and Pokeys. While the main gameplay is 2D, most of the characters and objects are 3D polygonal renderings on 2-dimensional backgrounds, resulting in a 2.5D effect. As in past games, Mario can collect coins, stomp on enemies, and grab Super Mushrooms from blocks, causing him to grow into "Super Mario", as well as getting a Fire Flower to turn into "Fire Mario". Unlike other games in the series, such as Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario World, flying is not a critical aspect in this game, though Mario can still fly in a few levels if he captures a cloud from Lakitu. The design of the world map is also similar to Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World.
Many traditional moves from Mario's 3-D games reappear in this 2-D Mario adventure, including the ground pound, triple jump, and wall jump. Some enemies have also been carried over, such as Petey Piranha , and so have helpful characters such as Dorrie from Mario 64.
New Super Mario Bros. contains 80 levels divided between eight worlds. Navigation is aided by a separate map of each world, with alternate pathways and secrets throughout. The goal of each level, as in the original SMB, is to reach the black flag at the end of side-scrolling levels. In certain levels, there is also an alternate exit with a red flag, which is typically more challenging to reach; alternate exits can lead to shortcuts, Toad houses, or alternate levels (which are denoted by a letter instead of a number, as in world 3-A). A vertically scrolling tower level, where the mini-boss (Bowser, Jr.) must be defeated, appears once or twice in each world. At the end of each world a main boss must be defeated in a level that takes place within a castle. Not all the worlds have to be cleared to reach the ending, as special "Warp Cannons" and "Warp Pipes" can be discovered which allow the player to skip large segments of the game. Collecting and spending the golden Star Coins scattered throughout the stages will unlock certain helpful paths and bonuses as well. After defeating Bowser and completing the game, Mario can spend 20 Star Coins each on up to five new backgrounds for the touch screen, some of which must be unlocked before they can be purchased.
This game also rewards the player for completing additional tasks with stars on the file select screen. When the player finishes the game the first time, one star appears. If all stages are finished as well, the player receives two stars. To obtain the third and final star, the player must find every secret exit, use all of the Warp Cannons, as well as collect (and spend) all of the game's hidden Star Coins. While trying to complete the game, the player can only save their progress once they have defeated a Castle or a Tower for the first time, or after having spent 5 Star Coins on roadblocks which lead to Toad Houses or alternate levels. Once the game has been completed, however, the player earns the right to save the game at any time while outside a stage. The game also is credited with employing sounds from past Mario games of both the NES and SNES platforms. Mario and Luigi can both be played at any time, however, the secret code required to play as Luigi is only revealed after defeating Bowser. Luigi controls identically to Mario in this game, but uses a different model and voice acting.
The multiplayer mode supports two players (Mario and Luigi) as they duke it out over one of five stages, trying to lay claim to a set number of Big Stars before the other player. Both players can attack each other to try and steal the Stars the other player grabbed, and Ground-Pounding a player will make him or her lose three Big Stars instead of one. In addition, many of the minigames previously found in Super Mario 64 DS are brought back and now offer a multiplayer option for added replay value. Both modes can be played multiplayer with one DS game cartridge and two handhelds for the fight stages or up to four handhelds for the minigames, via the DS Download Play feature.
All of the power-ups from the original Super Mario Bros. return, and the game allows the player to store an extra power-up, a feature from Super Mario World. The first is a Super Mushroom, which allows the user to grow in size, and give him or her an additional hit point. The second is the Fire Flower, which allows the user to shoot fireballs. And finally, the Starman grants the user invincibility for a limited amount of time as well as the ability to defeat most enemies by touching them. There are also three new power-ups introduced for this game. The first is the Blue Koopa Shell, which allows the user to withdraw into it and do a dash technique. The next is the Mega Mushroom, which causes the user to grow to incredible sizes temporarily. In this form, the user can defeat most any enemy, and when he or she walks into most objects, such as the flag pole at the end of most levels, it will be destroyed. The final power-up is the Mini-Mushroom, which makes the user very small. This makes the user faster and lighter, but weaker as well.
New Super Mario Bros. contains 18 minigames for single play (some of which can be played in multiplayer mode as well) and ten multiplayer mini games exclusive for play over the DS Local Wireless. The minigames are split into the categories of "Action", "Puzzle", "Table" and "Variety". Many of the minigames originally appeared in Super Mario 64 DS, though some have been altered slightly. Yoshi and Wario, who do not appear in the main game, also make appearances alongside Mario and Luigi in these minigames. Some of the music in the minigames are from a few of the levels in Super Mario 64 DS.
New Super Mario Bros.'s plot is roughly the same as the original Super Mario Bros. and other sidescrolling Mario games — Bowser Jr. captures Princess Peach, and it is up to Mario to rescue her. At the beginning of the game, Princess Peach and Mario are out for a walk when lightning from Lakithunder, a large Lakitu riding in a thundercloud, strikes the castle. As Mario runs to help, Bowser Jr. pops out of the bushes and kidnaps the Princess. Realizing what has happened, Mario quickly rushes back and chases after Bowser Jr. Now, Mario must venture through eight worlds (plains, desert, tropical island, forest, glacier, mountains, sky, and the Koopa Kingdom) to rescue the Princess from Bowser Jr.
As the game starts, Mario chases Bowser Jr. (who drags the princess behind him) through the eight worlds, confronting him occasionally, but unable to save the princess from his clutches. At the end of the first world, Bowser Jr. retreats into a castle, where Bowser himself is waiting. Mario defeats Bowser by jumping over his head and activating a button at the other end. This causes the bridge under Bowser to collapse and he falls into the lava pit and one is left to assume he is dead. The technique is reminiscent of the original Super Mario Bros. game. Mario continues chasing Bowser Jr. through more worlds, and conquering more bosses, Mummipokey (a Pokey made of boulders which can spit rocks), Cheepskipper (a giant piranha like Cheep Cheep), Mega Goomba (an enormous Goomba which can only be injured by ground pounds), Petey Piranha, Monty Tank (a Monty Mole in a three turret tank) and Lakithunder until they reach a castle deep within the Koopa Kingdom. There, Bowser Jr. resurrects his father in skeletal form but once again Bowser is defeated, this time by being dropped into a pit. Bowser Jr. flees once more across a lava chasm to a larger castle, where he throws his father's bones into a cauldron and causes Bowser to be reincarnated into a more powerful form. They attack Mario in tandem, but Mario is able to once again drop the pair into the pit below.
In the end sequence, Princess Peach is rescued by Mario, and the scene circles on the two. Peach kisses him on the cheek, as she does in most Mario game endings. As the credits roll, various pictures from the game are reviewed, followed by a scene in which Bowser Jr. is seen dragging his unconscious father out of the castle, then screams at the player. Bowser tries to get up, but ends up falling. The scene then circles on the humiliated two, and the game is over. The player is also rewarded with a secret code (Hold L+R and press A when selecting file) that allows the game to be played as Mario's brother Luigi, however it is not necessary to beat the game first for this code to work. In fact, if the player uses this code on a new file, the beginning sequence will replace Mario with Luigi. Another code that activates Challenge Mode is also unlocked (L+R+L+R+X+X+Y+Y), and is only usable after the game is completed. This mode makes the player unable to backtrack, as in the original Super Mario Bros, which makes some levels impossible (or at least very difficult) to complete.
New Super Mario Bros. was first shown during the 2004 Electronic Entertainment Expo.[6]
It is the first original 2-D Mario game to use voice acting for its characters (though it has been used in many 2-D Mario remakes). Charles Martinet returned to voice Mario and Luigi, along with Nicole Mills as Princess Peach, Scott Burns as Bowser, and Dolores Rogers as Bowser Jr. According to early interviews however, the game was originally planned not to have voice acting, in order to stay to the spirit of the original Super Mario Bros.,[7] and a misunderstanding in a Nintendo Power interview with Takashi Tezuka caused some fans to believe that the Koopalings were going to return in the game.[8]
Early previews of New Super Mario Bros appeared to have a 2-player co-operative mode during the main game [9] (the 2-player battle and 4-player mini-game modes remained in the final version). It is unclear as to why this mode was removed.
The game features original music composed by Asuka Ohta and Hajime Wakai, under the direction of original Super Mario Bros. composer Koji Kondo. The game also features new arrangements of some of Kondo's themes from previous Mario games. Examples include the mushroom houses utilizing an updated version of the classic Super Mario Bros. theme, and boss battle scenes feature a remix of the Super Mario Bros. 3 boss music. A unique element in the game is that some characters perform a dance move in response to certain riffs in the score (a trill-like bell in the underwater theme and a "Wa" voice in the non-underwater themes in most other levels). For example, Goombas and power-ups hop, Koopa Troopas do the Twist, Cheep-Cheeps do a barrel roll, and Spinies do an about face. The background music of the towers, castles and ghost houses contain no special riffs.
Music from the game was performed in August 2007 in an arrangement by Yuzo Koshiro at the Fifth Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany.[10]
A remix of the one of the main overworld themes is used on the Delfino Plaza stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl[11].
During the credits, tapping any letter will result in a sound effect (each letter and symbol has its own sound) and tapping anywhere on the screen will result in the jumping noise.
| Publication | Score | |
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| 1UP | B+[12] | |
| VG Resource Center | 9.25 out of 10[13] | |
| GameDaily | 4.5 out of 5[14] | |
| IGN | 9.5 out of 10[15] | |
| GameSpot | 9 out of 10[16] | |
| GameSpy | 5 out of 5[5] | |
| GamePro | 4.5 out of 5[17] | |
| Total Gamer Zone | 9.6 out of 10[18] | |
| NintendoNow | 9.3 out of 10[19] | |
| Famitsu | 36 out of 40[20] | |
| EDGE | 8 out of 10[21] | |
| X-Play | 4 out of 5 | |
| Review compilations | ||
| Game Rankings | 89% (based on 80 reviews)[22] | |
| GameStats | 9.1 out of 10 (based on 34 reviews)[23] | |
New Super Mario Bros. met with great success upon launching in Japan, selling 480,000 units in its first day of availability, for a total of nearly 900,000 copies in its first four days.[24] At the time, it was the best debut for a Nintendo DS game,[24] but it has since lost the position to Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.[25]
The game reached the half a million mark in the United States in its first 35 days (selling at a rate of 20 copies every minute),[26] and the one million mark twelve weeks after release.[27]
In Japan, a total of 5,209,549 copies were sold as of the end of June 2008, according to Famitsu.[28] By March 31 2008, it was the best-selling DS game published by Nintendo that has only one version, as both Nintendogs and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl have two or more versions.[29] As of September 30, 2008, New Super Mario Bros. has sold 15.89 million copies worldwide, according to Nintendo.[30]
The game has generally received positive reviews. It was rated 9.5 by four reviewers in Nintendo Power, making it one of the highest rated games since the inception of their current rating system. Among other positive reviews, IGN also gave New Super Mario Bros. a 9.5/10, making it the highest rated Nintendo DS game on the site, along with Mario Kart DS and Elite Beat Agents.[31]
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