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The 1,000,000 Coin Quest: Why New Super Mario Bros. 2 Is A 3DS Masterpiece Worth Replaying In 2025

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Released over a decade ago, New Super Mario Bros. 2 (NSMB2) remains one of the most polarizing yet commercially successful entries in the long-running 2D platforming franchise, and as of late 2025, it still sparks passionate debate among fans. The core intention behind this Nintendo 3DS title was simple yet audacious: to make the player a millionaire. Every level, power-up, and design choice was engineered around one singular, glittering goal—collecting a staggering one million coins. This focus transformed the traditional platforming experience into a frantic, gold-obsessed scavenger hunt, distinguishing it dramatically from its predecessors and successors in the *New Super Mario Bros.* series.

The game’s unique charm and mechanical obsession with currency, including the introduction of the legendary Golden Flower, cemented its status as a must-have for the Nintendo 3DS library, contributing to its impressive sales figures. Today, with the 3DS platform entering a new phase of its lifecycle, a retrospective look at NSMB2 reveals a game that perfectly captured the handheld's StreetPass functionality and offered a surprisingly deep challenge for completionists aiming for that ultimate, shiny milestone.

The Golden Profile: New Super Mario Bros. 2 Production Data

New Super Mario Bros. 2 holds a significant place in the series as the third installment in the *New Super Mario Bros.* line and the only one developed specifically for the Nintendo 3DS, showcasing the system's stereoscopic 3D capabilities.

  • Title: New Super Mario Bros. 2
  • Developer: Nintendo EAD Group No. 4
  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Platform: Nintendo 3DS
  • Genre: Side-scrolling 2.5D Platformer
  • Director: Yusuke Amano
  • Producers: Takashi Tezuka and Hiroyuki Kimura
  • Composer: Chad York and Darren Radtke (among others, adapting classic Mario themes)
  • Initial Release Date (Japan): July 28, 2012
  • Total Levels: 81 levels across multiple worlds
  • Sales Milestone: Over 10.60 million units sold worldwide, making it one of the top sellers on the 3DS platform.

The Coin Rush Phenomenon and the Race to 1,000,000

The single most defining feature of New Super Mario Bros. 2 is its relentless focus on coin collection. While previous *Mario* games treated coins as a means to gain extra lives, NSMB2 elevated them to the primary objective, setting a monumental goal for players: collecting one million coins. This wasn't just a cosmetic trophy; achieving this goal unlocks a special statue on the title screen, providing a tangible reward for the effort.

To facilitate this unprecedented coin-gathering, the developers introduced several mechanics designed to flood the screen with gold. The game features special blocks and enemy formations that generate massive coin showers, often requiring precise platforming to collect them all before they disappear.

The Golden Flower and Gold Block Power-Ups

Two new power-ups were central to the coin-centric design:

  • The Golden Flower: This is the most iconic addition. Similar to the Fire Flower, it allows Mario (or Luigi) to shoot golden fireballs. These fireballs turn enemies like Goombas and Koopa Troopas into coins, and they can even transform blocks into a shower of gold coins.
  • The Gold Block: A smaller, more personal coin machine, the Gold Block is a head-mounted block that generates coins with every step Mario takes while wearing it. Hitting enemies with the block also yields a high coin count, encouraging players to charge through levels rather than taking a cautious approach.

The return of the Tanooki Leaf from *Super Mario Bros. 3* was also a welcome sight, offering the classic P-Wing-like flight and tail-whip attack, proving essential for reaching hidden coin caches and Star Coins.

Coin Rush Mode: The Ultimate Challenge

Beyond the main campaign, NSMB2 introduced the highly replayable Coin Rush Mode. This mode challenges the player to complete three random levels from the main game with only one life, attempting to maximize their coin total.

This mode perfectly utilized the Nintendo 3DS's social features:

  • StreetPass Integration: Coin Rush runs could be shared via StreetPass, allowing other players to challenge your high score. This created a competitive, asynchronous multiplayer element, directly tying the game's core mechanic to the handheld's technology.
  • DLC Coin Packs: Nintendo later released several downloadable Coin Rush packs, offering new and increasingly difficult level combinations to keep the coin chase fresh long after the main game was completed.

A Retrospective Look in 2025: NSMB2’s Lasting Legacy

As we move through 2025, New Super Mario Bros. 2 is primarily viewed through a retrospective lens, often praised for its polished mechanics and criticized for its adherence to the *NSMB* aesthetic. The game’s success, however, is undeniable, with over ten million units sold, demonstrating the enduring appeal of 2D *Mario* on a handheld device.

The game's world structure is a classic template, featuring eight main worlds plus two special worlds, totaling 81 levels. The themes, while familiar, are beautifully rendered in 2.5D, including the standard Plains, the Desert (World 2), the Beach and Forest (World 3), and the icy Snow world (World 4). The final confrontation sees Mario battling the classic antagonist, Bowser, after navigating the challenges posed by his seven children, the Koopalings (Iggy, Larry, Morton, Wendy, Roy, Lemmy, and Ludwig), who serve as the mid-bosses of the game's various worlds.

For players returning to the game or experiencing it for the first time in the current era, the focus shifts from the original 2012 hype to the pure joy of mastery. The challenge of reaching the 1,000,000 coin mark is a true test of a player's knowledge of level design, power-up usage, and speed-running techniques. The game's emphasis on finding multiple exits in many of its levels—a staple of 2D *Mario*—also adds significant replayability, encouraging players to explore every secret pipe and hidden path.

Ultimately, New Super Mario Bros. 2 is a fascinating experiment in game design. It took a secondary mechanic—the coin—and placed it front and center, creating a unique, gold-plated platforming experience. While some critics found the coin focus distracting, millions of players embraced the challenge, making it a pivotal and highly successful entry in the Nintendo 3DS library that still holds up as a compelling, coin-hoarding adventure today.

The 1,000,000 Coin Quest: Why New Super Mario Bros. 2 is a 3DS Masterpiece Worth Replaying in 2025
mario new super mario bros 2
mario new super mario bros 2

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