New Super Mario Bros. 2 wants one thing from you: coins. One million of them, to be exact, and the Nintendo 3DS game built its whole identity around that number when it launched in 2012. Nintendo developed and published it, and it is the third entry in the New Super Mario Bros. line — a direct sequel to the 2006 Nintendo DS original and the follow-up to 2009’s New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
Trailer, via Nintendo of America.
Mario and Luigi at Peach’s Castle
The setup is familiar by design. Mario and Luigi visit Princess Peach’s Castle, chat with her about their adventures, and use tail transformations to snag coins from the sky. Then a black shadow passes overhead, Bowser’s minions slam down in an aircraft, and Peach is kidnapped again. The heroes give chase.
That is the whole story, and the game knows it. This is a 2.5D side-scroller: 3D polygonal characters and objects on 2D backgrounds, the same trick the first New Super Mario Bros. used. You run right as Mario or Luigi, bound for Bowser and the Koopalings.
Gold Flowers and Coin Rings
The coin obsession is not a side attraction. It is the spine. Gold Flowers turn blocks into coins. Rings briefly turn enemies gold. A mask-esque block spits out coins as Mario or Luigi runs past it. Every coin you collect is totaled on the title screen and the overworld map.
The returning power-ups are the Mini Mushroom and Mega Mushroom from the DS game, plus the Super Leaf from Super Mario Bros. 3, which lets you tail-whip enemies or fly. Lose at least five lives on any non-cannon level and an Invincibility Leaf appears, granting the Super Leaf’s abilities plus invincibility until the stage ends.
Nine Worlds, 81 Levels
The structure is generous. New Super Mario Bros. 2 packs nine worlds — six main, three special — totaling 81 levels. Many have multiple exits, which unlock more areas on the overworld map. Three Star Coins hide in each level, and spending them opens up new ground to explore.
| Feature | New Super Mario Bros. (2006) | New Super Mario Bros. 2 (2012) |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | Nintendo DS | Nintendo 3DS |
| Central hook | Standard platforming | Collect one million coins |
| New coin items | None | Gold Flower, gold rings, coin block |
| Special mode | None | Coin Rush |
| Downloadable content | None | Additional Coin Rush stages |
Two players can run it together, each with a Nintendo 3DS and a copy of the game, playing simultaneously as Mario and Luigi.
Coin Rush Trims the Fat
Coin Rush is the sharpest idea here. It strips the game to a single demand: finish a series of stages fast while grabbing as many coins as possible. Additional Coin Rush stages arrived as paid downloadable content shortly after release.
That mode matters because it gives the coin gimmick a shape. In the main campaign, the million-coin goal is a long haul through levels you have largely seen before. In Coin Rush, the collection becomes the point rather than a running tally in the corner.
The Reuse Problem
Here is where the game stumbles. New Super Mario Bros. 2 leans hard on assets from earlier entries in the series, and it shows. The level design is clean and the controls are tight, but the difficulty stays low, and the game rarely surprises anyone who played the 2006 original or New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
The graphics hold up as a 2.5D presentation. The problem is not craft. It is familiarity. Nintendo built a competent sequel and then asked players to care about a coin counter instead of a new idea.
A Million Coins, One Familiar Road
The downloadable and physical release deserves a note: New Super Mario Bros. 2 was the first Nintendo-published game to arrive simultaneously in both forms. That is a genuine milestone, and it says something about where the company saw its future.
It does not fix the game.
What the Coin Counter Is Worth
New Super Mario Bros. 2 is a good platformer with a gimmick that occasionally justifies itself. Coin Rush is the best argument for the whole package — a mode that takes the million-coin premise seriously and turns it into pressure. The main campaign is where the idea thins out, stretched across 81 levels of familiar ground.
The low difficulty is the real cost. A game about hoarding coins should make you sweat for them, and this one mostly does not. The Invincibility Leaf, handed over after five lost lives, underlines the point: Nintendo would rather you keep moving than struggle.
Buy it for Coin Rush and the clean side-scrolling. Do not buy it expecting the series to move forward. It is a sequel that counts coins instead of taking risks, and it counts them well enough to be worth your time.
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