A flagship Nintendo DS title, New Super Mario Bros., is celebrating its 20th birthday today.
The game debuted in North America on May 15th, 2006, before launching in other territories over the summer. It was re-released on the Wii U Virtual Console in 2015.
It is the DS’ bestselling game by a wide margin, with a whopping 30.8 million units sold. Next on the list is Nintendogs with 23.96 million, Mario Kart DS with 23.6 million, Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! with 19.01 million, and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl with 17.67 million.
New Super Mario Bros. is also the fourth bestselling Mario game ever, with Mario Kart 8 (79.54 units sold), the original Super Mario Bros. (40.24 units sold), and Mario Kart Wii (37.38) taking the top three spots.
It was the first side-scrolling Mario game since 1992’s Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, meaning fans had waited 14 years for another 2D title.
The DS classic is also the first 2D Mario game to feature 3D models, deforming terrain, and fully rotating environments, along with new abilities for Mario (and Luigi) including rope swinging, wall sidling, and wire walking.
Along with classic Mario power-ups, the DS title introduced the Mega Mushroom which turned the Mario brothers giant, and the Mini Mushroom which shrinks them. The Blue Shell also turned the brothers into Shell Mario or Shell Luigi, giving them the power to shell dash into foes.
The game began the New Super Mario Bros. subseries, with New Super Mario Bros. Wii launched in 2009, New Super Mario Bros. 2 (for the 3DS) in Summer 2012, and New Super Mario Bros. U in late 2012. A Deluxe version of U – which included the 2013 New Super Luigi U expansion – made its way to the Nintendo Switch in 2019.
The game’s soundtrack is available on Nintendo Music, with 60 tracks and a runtime of one hour and 20 minutes.
New Super Mario Bros. truly revitalized the 2D Mario series for a new generation, and its success paved the way for many more similarly styled adventures. Games like Super Mario Bros. Wonder in 2023 – which received an enhanced Switch 2 release earlier this year – owe a debt to the iconic DS title. Twenty years on, New Super Mario Bros. remains proof that sometimes a return to basics can be exactly what a series needs.
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Written by Reece Heather
A veteran Zelda Universe editor and First-class journalism graduate, Reece emerged with a Nintendo 64 and a lifelong obsession after a narrow escape from Santa’s Naughty List in 1998. Outside of games, he’s reading Punisher comics, being bossed around by his cocker spaniel, and cornering innocent bystanders to rant about the importance of game preservation.
