20 Years Since New Super Mario Bros. Became DS’s Best Seller

Nintendo released New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS in the United States in 2006. It was the first new side-scrolling Mario platformer since Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island.

The game returned Mario to two-dimensional platforming while adding mechanics from 3D entries. It kept traditional power-ups such as mushrooms and fire flowers and introduced items like the Mega Mushroom. Characters gained moves including double and triple jumps and could interact with ropes and wires in levels.

New Super Mario Bros. included single-player levels and local multiplayer options. Two players could play cooperatively over local wireless, and up to four players could compete in minigames. DS Download Play allowed multiplayer with only one game cartridge present.

Nintendo reported global shipments of 30.8 million copies of New Super Mario Bros. by March 31, 2016. That total exceeded the DS’s next best-selling title, Nintendogs, which had sold 23.96 million units by the same date.

The DS release was followed by a series of “New” Mario platformers on subsequent Nintendo systems. The original DS entry combined classic Mario design with new items, movement options, and features specific to the handheld hardware.