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New Super Mario Bros. Dated
Written by Modojo Staff on Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Nintendo has finally revealed when gamers can get their 2D Mario on...
Nintendo of America announced today that New Super Mario Bros. will finally be released on May 7th. Oddly, the game was given this official release date before its official name. Perhaps NoA recognizes that this is the first "core" 2D Mario game to be released in over 10 years (the last was Yoshi's Island on the SNES for those keeping track), and wants to ensure that the chosen name carries the proper weight.
The game has been a long time coming, first shown in video form at E3 2004 before the DS was even released. At that time gamers first learned that despite Mario and objects in the environment being made of 3D polygons, the gameplay was 2D, a full retro throwback.
At E3 2005 the game was playable, and impressions were almost universally positive. One of the game's largest additions is a two-player competition mode, where gamers race through a level to get to the finish line as fast as possible. A variety of Mario Kart-esque powers are available to hunder your opponent's progress.
We'll have more on New Super Mario Bros. during the lead-up to its May release (and E3 2006).
