Nintendo just announced a brand new 2D Super Mario game called Super Mario Bros. Wonder. The return to the traditional side-scrolling gameplay of Mario’s original adventures will feature new and interesting twists and turns in Wonder, with new objectives and collectibles, along with a strange new flower that changes the entire world from a peaceful landscape to a strange and weird dimension.
In the past 17 years, Mario fans have been given both 2D and 3D Mario games: large, unique, and interesting 3D games with lots of charm and creative levels and stories with games like Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy, plus flat and uninspiring 2D titles that take the gameplay of the groundbreaking NES and SNES Mario games but replace everything with a lack of any creativity or intriguing level design with the New Super Mario Bros. series. And the worst part is that even though Mario and Nintendo fans have been hating on these “New” games since 2006 and have clammered for a fresh and interesting 2D side-scrolling Mario title like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, the games in this “New” series have been being huge hits financially. But with the critical success dwindling game by game, would the financial success eventually follow suit, ending the traditional and classic 2D gameplay that made Mario a household name, with Nintendo only focusing on 3D Mario from then on? Well, it looks like this won’t happen, because Nintendo just did something they’ve never done before: they listened to their fanbase.
On November 21st, 2004, Nintendo introduced the world to a brand new handheld gaming system called the DS. The game launched with Super Mario 64 DS, which if you count it as a separate Mario game, made it the third consecutive 3D Mario game without a 2D Mario released in between. However, this 2D drought ended on May 15th, 2006 when Nintendo released a little game called New Super Mario Bros. on the handheld. The game was pretty much what it said – a new take on the original Super Mario Bros. 2D levels, the world map reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. 3, and of course, the new features. The game wasn’t amazing, especially compared to Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World, and even more especially compared to the 3D titles at the time, but it was still neat. It looked like it would start a new age for 2D Mario, just like in the 80s and 90s where each new 2D Mario game revolutionized the concepts in the series game by game. However, things took a different turn. New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS sold an astonishing 30+ million copies.
Instead of Nintendo expanding on the concepts of 2D Mario after New Super Mario Bros. to revolutionize the series with each release, Nintendo decided to take the game they sold millions and millions of copies of and pretty much turn it into a Wii disc and release it on the Wii in 2009. This actually worked, and somehow, New Super Mario Bros. Wii sold 30+ million copies. While New Super Mario Bros. is the #1 best-selling DS game, the Wii version is #4, behind the critically-acclaimed Wii Sports, Mario Kart Wii, and Wii Sports Resort. It literally sold more than Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl combined. Then came 2012, which is seen as, in recent years, one of Nintendo’s worst years critically and financially with the release of the Wii U and two New Super Mario Bros. games. Yes, two. New Super Mario Bros. 2 on the 3DS and New Super Mario Bros. U on the Wii U, which the latter was a launch title for the system.
New Super Mario Bros. 2 sold 13+ million copies, making it number 5 on the list of best-selling 3DS games, while New Super Mario Bros. U sold 5+ million copies and is number 3 in best-selling Wii U games. Then, something interesting happened. In 2017, Nintendo came out with a brand new system called the Switch. It was seen as a console that was finally about to end Nintendo family-focused game systems that started with the DS and Wii in the mid-2000s. The Switch looked to be for both families and gamers, with a perfect blend of Nintendo’s typical first-party offerings, along with a fantastic third-party lineup which the Wii and Wii U’s shovelware came nowhere close to matching. Nintendo also released a little game known as Super Mario Odyssey, which after Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World finally returned to the sandbox 3D Mario gameplay introduced in Super Mario 64. Though Nintendo never talked about 2D Mario, the new console and Mario game seemed to move on from Nintendo’s philosophies between 2004 and 2016. So, did this mean 2D Mario would also be moving on, or did the success and critical-acclaim of Odyssey mark the end of the traditional side-scrolling Mario games? Well, like they usually do, Nintendo shocked everyone with a very unexpected announcement in 2018:
The rumors were true: New Super Mario Bros. U was coming to Switch as New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. The game was pretty much just a port of the Wii U version, and the deluxe was a huge overstatement. Not only did it only add Toadette (who became Peachette with a very strange new power-up) and New Super Luigi U (which was a bundle that already existed on Wii U), but it also got rid of Boost Mode and all of the challenges from the Wii U version. The Nintendo Switch has currently sold more units than the Wii but is a bit short of the DS (which is the 2nd best-selling video game system of all time); however, the game itself sold half the number of units compared to both the Wii and DS games, while Super Mario Odyssey has now sold 25+ million copies, making the Switch the second console in a row in which the main 3D Mario sold more than the New Super Mario Bros. game, which wasn’t true with the DS, Wii, and 3DS versions. With Super Mario Odyssey‘s larger and more open levels, as well as Bowser’s Fury being the first open-world Super Mario game, 3D Mario is expanding quickly, and it’s exciting to see. However, does this mean 2D Mario will keep going?
Ever since the original New Super Mario Bros. on the DS, almost every 2D Mario since has been decreasing in sales. If we take a look at the percentage of copies the 2D Mario games on each system sold compared to the system’s total software units sold, New Super Mario Bros. sold about 3.27% of the DS’s total software units, New Super Mario Bros Wii sold about 3.25% of the Wii’s total software units, New Super Mario Bros. 2 sold about 3.32% of the 3DS’s total software units, New Super Mario Bros. U sold about 4.85% of the Wii U’s total software units, and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (so far) has sold about 1.45% of the Switch’s total software units. Plus, even though the Wii U has the highest percentage with New Super Mario Bros. U, the system only sold about 13 million units. Even though newcomers to Mario are enjoying these games and bringing in most of the sales (which is why these games are selling so well), how long will that last?
Well, that question won’t have to be answered as Nintendo is finally, after 17 years, ending the drab New Super Mario Bros. series as on June 21st, 2023, a brand new 2D Mario called Super Mario Bros. Wonder was announced. The game looks to have more interesting things, new and unique abilities, creative level design and graphics, and so much more that seems to be hidden from the single trailer we have. Nintendo also seems to be embracing the fact that Wonder is more creative and unique than the “New” games ever hoped to achieve. So, it seems like 2D Mario is returning to the interesting, intriguing, and boundary-pushing that made the NES and SNES games so great; and it looks like Super Mario Bros. Wonder is indeed saving the traditional 2D side-scrolling Mario we all know and love. Wa-hoo!