New Super Mario Bros.

New Super Mario Bros. pretty much resuscitated the idea of all-new side-scrolling Mario games. Not unlike its kinda-sorta-sequel, this game has a lot of unused stuff.

Mini Mario Physics
TOjtuKAsOts The player uses the otherwise unused animation zero_g_walk and he appears to use some sort of variation of the Mini player's physics no-matter which powerup (e.g., floating and leg kicking). But there seems to be some differences: he cannot wall jump and he flies huge distances when fired from a Pipe Cannon. When this mode is on while the player is Mini; they act like they are heavy. It is unknown where this would have been used.

Start As Mini Mario
Causes Mario to start as Mini Mario. It was probably used for testing, rather than for any real gameplay purpose.

Unused Music
BGM_CHIJO An early version of the Mario vs. Luigi track. It features a slower tempo and one of the instruments is a steelpan instead of computer generated noise. It is identical to the one heard in the E3 2005 trailer, apart from the wobble and ground-pound sounds that enemies dance to.

BGM_AMB_CHIKA A watery ambiance track, probably meant to be used in Cheepskipper's or Petey Piranha's boss room.

BGM_SAMPLE The file name indicates that this is a test track. It seems to be a shorter version of the credits theme with less instruments.

Crash Dump Screen
There is a hidden crash dump screen in the game. Some other DS games developed by Nintendo use similar screens. To access the crash dump screen, first crash the game (the easiest way to do this is by removing the game card during gameplay), then hold L + R + A + Left, let go, hold Down + B, let go, and finally hold Start + Select.

The top screen shows the contents of the file BUILDTIME and the reason for the crash, while the bottom screen shows a stack dump.

Build Date
Every version of the game has a plain-text file called BUILDTIME in the root of the ROM filesystem:

matoba_t refers to the game's Assistant Director, Taku Matoba, nitro is the DS's code name. mj is likely a codename for New Super Mario Bros. New Super Mario Bros. Wii uses this for part of its save-files name.

The only difference in the second version of the European demo is a slightly different header that causes DSi consoles to boot straight into the game when the console is switched on, skipping the System Menu. These were used for DSi XL demonstrations, to prevent users from accessing anything other than the game. The rest of the ROM is exactly the same.

Can't Save
You can't save here. Do you want to quit?

/script/game.bmg/msg 7

The game.bmg file is the world map text.

File Names

 * The internal name for the Underwater music is water3, which suggests that either there were once three different underwater themes or this is the third revision of the theme.
 * Strangely the Firebar's graphic file is named firebar1.nsbmd.
 * SE_PLY_FB_FROM_LUIGI and SE_PLY_FB_FROM_MARIO play when certain letters in the Staff Roll are touched. Unlike the other sounds effects, they are not used outside the credits. Judging from their file names, they would have been used in VS Mode when a player was hit by their opponent's fireballs. In the final game the "Mario and Luigi collision" sound is used.
 * Unlike all the other bosses, the Mega Goomba's sound directory (huge kuribo) does not have boss at the beginning or end of the name. In prerelease versions of the game, Mega Goombas appeared as an enemy as well as a boss.
 * The internal name for the Star Coins is DRAGON_COIN, a la Super Mario World.
 * The horned enemy in World 5 is called bully internally, possibly a reference to the similar "Bully" enemies of Super Mario 64'.

Empty Sound Files
There are also some empty or duplicate sound files with interesting filenames:
 * SE_PLY_WARP: Maybe related to the removed warp block, that warped the player's opponent to their current location, that appears in prerelease versions in VS Mode.
 * SE_EMY_FUWA_FUMU (Stomp Spindrift), SE_EMY_FUMA_FUWA_L (Luigi): This would play when the player stomped on a Spindrift, an enemy from Super Mario 64 that can only be seen in prerelease screenshots.
 * SE_SYS_VS_COUNT, SE_SYS_VS_COUNT_LAST: Likely a countdown.
 * SE_PLY_PLAYER_FUMU (Stomp) In early versions of the game, players could squish each other by jumping on them, like in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
 * SE_VOC_MA_GET_ITEM, SE_VOC_MA_GET_ITEM_2 Probably would have been used when Mario got a powerup. As in the Super Mario Advance series where Mario says "Just what I needed!" when getting a powerup.
 * SE_EMY_DOWN_BY_PUNCH, SE_OBJ_BLOCK_KICK, SE_PLY_KICK, SE_PLY_PUNCH - In the E3 floor demo version of the game the player could punch and kick in Super, Fire or Mega forms with R. In the final game, the L & R buttons scroll the camera left and right.
 * SE_OBJ_PUFF_MUSH In early versions of the game you had to push Mega Mushrooms out of ? blocks by hitting the block multiple times.
 * SE_PLY_LAND The game was more Super Mario 64-esque in early versions; the player would make a sound when landing.
 * SE_EMY_UTSUBO Small Unagis don't make a sound when swimming, big ones do.
 * SE_EMY_BUBBLE_IN Podoboos don't make a sound when they enter lava, but they do when they exit it.
 * SE_OBJ_UKISHIMA_S, SE_OBJ_UKISHIMA_L "UKISHIMA" means a floating mass or island mirage.
 * There are files with names suggesting that they were to be used when the camera zooms in and out of in the world map.

Unused Entrances
Each level has an entrance type setting which affects how Mario enters the area (exit from a pipe, jump from bottom of the screen, etc). There are several entrance types that are not used by any levels.


 * 2: The player spawns in the tile above where the entrance is placed.


 * 8: The player spawns in the tile above where the entrance is placed, then jumps.


 * 12: Like Entrance 2, the player spawns in the tile above where the entrance is placed.


 * 13: Like the used "Exit from door" entrance, the player spawns coming out of a 3D door which disappears to reveal whatever is behind it once it has closed. In this instance, though, the player and door spawn in the tile above where the entrance is placed.


 * 15: Like the entrance used when the player first spawns or re-spawns when dead in Mario vs. Luigi mode, the player comes out of a pipe which grows out of the ground and then fades away. But with this one, the player appears to be walking out of a door while coming out of the pipe. When the player spawns from this entrance after exiting from another area, the player looks like they are coming out of a doorway but without the door. An earlier version of this entrance can be seen in the E3 Floor Demo version. Entrance 16 is a duplicate of this.

Unused Behaviors

 * Most sprites can be killed by getting touched by Star Mario or getting the block they are standing on hit from below – even if there is no Star powerup in the level or the enemy does not appear on top of a block.


 * Pokeys can be defeated by performing a drill spin on them, by using a tornado or spin block. The only levels that actually contain both a Pokey and a tornado are Unused Levels 4 and 5, which have tornadoes.


 * Tight Rope: Sprites bounce if they are on a tight rope when the player lands on it.

Title Screen
The trademark wasn't registered quite yet in the international release. The Japanese, Korean, and Chinese versions have a subtitle (in their respective languages), and the Korean version has a copyright date of 2006-2007 instead of just 2006. The Chinese version has the 2006 copyright plus a 2009 iQue copyright as iQue released it in China.

Level Differences

 * World 6-Castle - in the US version, the tall room with the boss door is located within the main level file. The Japanese, European, and Korean versions moved the room into its own file, which is a bit odd since there's really no reason to do so and nothing was added or removed.