Mario is everywhere in 2026. Mario Tennis Fever just dropped on Switch 2 with 38 playable characters and doubles matches that fill living rooms with competitive chaos.
Mario Wonder still feels fresh. Mario Kart 8 somehow continues ruling the multiplayer scene a decade after launch. The movie soundtrack lives on in TikTok videos. Theme parks are sold out months in advance.
If you own a Nintendo system, you own at least one Mario co-op game. That's just how it works now.
The character has always been iconic, but there was a moment in the mid-2000s that really put Mario back on the map. That game was New Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo DS.
Almost 20 years on from its release in May 2006, the game reignited the franchise and turned it into the superpower we see today.
Mario's gone supernova since then. Movies grossing billions, theme parks packed, even slots at online casinos spinning those familiar mustaches and power-ups.
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Long before Wonder's talking flowers and Fever's packed roster, New Super Mario Bros laid the groundwork for modern Mario co-op on a tiny dual-screen system. Two decades on, how did that DS platformer change handheld co-op, and does it still hold up?
The DS Era
Let's flash back to the year 2006.Your DS Lite's always in your backpack. PictoChat notes pass around class. Nintendogs barks from your pocket. Brain Training makes you feel productive on the bus. Nintendo had cracked the "play anywhere" formula before smartphones even entered the conversation.
Then New Super Mario Bros drops. First side-scrolling Mario in over a decade. Classic Mushroom Kingdom aesthetics with a new sheen that made the most of the DS hardware. It felt like an event because everyone treated it like one.
The release got critical acclaim this isnt just nostalgia talking. As well as a 9.5/10 rating from IGN, it won Best Handheld Game at the 2006 Spike Video Game Awards and Outstanding Action/Adventure Game at the Satellite Awards 2006.
The game was technically single-player in its main story mode, but DS download play, versus modes, and pass-the-DS sessions turned it into a social experience anyway. You didn't need two cartridges to get someone involved. One person could host minigames for a friend who just wanted to jump in for a quick session. That accessibility mattered.
New Super Mario Bros also served as a prototype for what would come later. The chaotic four-player platforming, bubbling mechanics, and shared lives systems that would define New Super Mario Bros Wii and U all had their roots here. It proved that 2D Mario could be social again, even on a handheld.
Smash a brick? Perfect. Nail that mid-air spin? Crisp. Then the Mega Mushroom hits, and suddenly you're a rampaging tank crushing everything in sight. The Mini Mushroom shrinks you down to access tiny pipes and float longer. These additions gave the game a fresh identity while keeping the fundamentals intact.
Classic power-ups like the Mushroom and Fire Flower returned, but the new toys changed how you moved and explored levels. The Mega Mushroom let you demolish obstacles like a wrecking ball. The Mini Mushroom opened up secret areas and changed the physics completely.
How people actually played it together was informal but effective. Siblings took turns on tricky levels. One player hunted for secrets while the other watched and offered advice. You'd pass the DS back and forth, arguing about the best route through a castle or whether to grab that third Star Coin.
Download Play opened up quick-fire competitive and co-op minigames. Race through obstacle courses, collect coins, compete in bite-sized challenges that felt perfect for a lunch break or a long car journey. You could rope someone in without them owning the cartridge.
Even when only one person held the DS, New Super Mario Bros was tuned to be watched, back-seat-driven, and shared. The level design was readable enough that spectators could follow along and shout warnings or encouragement. That became part of the game's DNA.
The level design is simpler than Wonder. The difficulty spikes are mild. There's no true four-player chaos on one screen like you get in the later entries.
But the fundamentals still feel great. The jump physics are responsive. Enemy patterns are readable. The secret design rewards curiosity without feeling obtuse. Playing it now feels like watching an old skate video. The tricks are simpler, the production is rougher, but you can see where everything started.
From a co-op angle, it's more of a museum piece now. Best enjoyed as a short nostalgia tour or a history lesson alongside Wonder or New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe rather than your primary multiplayer platformer. The experience is shorter, the mechanics are less refined, and the social elements feel quaint compared to what came after.
But as the blueprint? It absolutely stands up. You can trace a direct line from this game to every co-op Mario platformer released since.
The co-op DNA of New Super Mario Bros DS fed directly into newer releases, even with the characters reinventing themself in different worlds. Kart driver, soccer player, Olympian, and now tennis star.
Nintendo keeps finding new ways to put Mario in front of people. Cinema, theme park queues, merch drops, mobile spinoffs. Mario pops up everywhere now, and half the time you don't even realise you're looking at a game character.
The franchise became synonymous with accessible, joyful co-op that anyone could pick up and play, regardless of skill level. That promise started here.
Looking Back, Moving Forward
In a world where Mario can headline a blockbuster film and a packed sports spin-off like Mario Tennis Fever, it's easy to forget how modest New Super Mario Bros DS was. That DS cartridge quietly reintroduced 2D Mario to a new generation and reminded players that platformers could be social again, even on a single handheld.
Twenty years later, every new co-op Mario, from Wonder to Fever, is still building on the same simple promise New Super Mario Bros nailed in 2006. Give players a colourful world, tight controls, and at least one friend to share it with.
That formula hasn't changed because it doesn't need to. It still works, and it still brings people together.
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