New Super Mario Bros. is a series of platformers in the
Mario franchise. They are 2D platformers in the vein of the classic
8-bit and
16-bit Mario platformers, in which Mario and Luigi go through levels jumping from platform to platform and
on top of enemies to defeat them on their way to
Save the Princess, but updated with a few elements from the 3D games, primarily the
Wall Jump and
Ground Pound. The graphical style is also done with polygonal models, putting it line with the 3D games. Each of the games have the same gameplay, mainly changing in terms of the power-ups given in each of the games.
The sub-series itself can be sub-divided into handheld games and console games. The handheld games have more of a single-player focus, with multiplayer either being a side feature or more of an afterthought, and the levels being more compact and the camera focused on one player but fairly static. The console games all have co-op multiplayer, with the default playable characters being Mario, Luigi, a Yellow Toad and a Blue Toad (with
U adding the ability to play as Miis, and
New Super Luigi U replacing Mario with Nabbit). The levels are more expansive, and the camera zooms in and out freely depending on how far apart the players are or if there are certain sections that require a wider camera.
Yoshis are rideable in the console games, though they are only level-specific and unable to follow the playable character after completing a level with them, unlike
Super Mario World.
Games in the series:
HandheldConsole
Series-wide tropes include:
- Auto Scrolling Level
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Mega Mario in New Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros 2 (and Mega Goomba in the former), the final bosses of New Super Mario Bros Wii and New Super Mario Bros 2.
- The Bus Came Back: The Koopalings and Kamek in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Reznor in New Super Mario Bros. 2.
- The Chase: In New Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros. 2, the Worlds start out with Bowser Jr. or the Koopalings (New Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros. 2, respectively) running away into a Castle or Tower/Fortress. A lesser extent is in New Super Mario Bros. Wii where you chase the Airship that drops off the Koopalings to the Towers. New Super Mario Bros. U averts this, simply being a journey back to Peach's Castle.
- Excuse Plot: It just wouldn't be Mario if it didn't have it.
- Everything Dances: In the games, all enemies do some sort of action whenever the "bah!" noise plays. While some are harmless like Dry Bones' heads spinning around, some can be beneficial (Pokeys temporarily turn into oranges, which Yoshis can then eat all at once) and some can really mess up your timing (Goombas hop, Koopas pause their walk).
- Fragile Speedster: Mini Mario in every installment, which makes you a One Hit Wonder but increases speed, jump height and jump span.
- Genre Throwback: To Mario's original 2D platformers.
- Giant Mook
- Invincibility Power-Up: The Starman power-up in every installment, Mega Mario in New Super Mario Bros. 1 and 2, and the White Raccoon Suit in New Super Mario Bros. 2.
- Mickey Mousing: Inverted: The enemies and powerups (and Yoshi in the Wii game) hop and/or dance to the music.
- Also, Bowser Jr.'s footsteps have musical punctuation in the opening cutscene.
- The New Adventures
- Recycled Soundtrack: Both New Super Mario Bros. 2 and New Super Mario Bros. U have grown notorious in this regard, having reused New Super Mario Bros. Wii's soundtrack with little to no replacements or additions.
- Revisiting the Roots: After 10 years of collecting Stars and Shine Sprites, New Super Mario Bros and New Super Mario Bros Wii went back to the original Super Mario premise of having to reach the end of the stage, flagpole at the end and everything. This idea was so successful that Super Mario 3D Land wound up having the exact game design style transferred to 3-D.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Koopalings, who have appeared in every NSMB game after the first.
- Sprite Polygon Mix: Level terrain is made of sprites, but character and enemy models are polygonal. Background scenery can be either of the two.
- Super Title 64 Advance: Both console installments so far.
- Video Game Settings: The games seem to have a set pattern in which they appear:
- Villain Exit Stage Left: In the original and Wii, after defeating the tower boss, your character does the victory animation... then just stands there watching the boss get up and leap away.
- Walk on Water: When Mini Mario.
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