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Kirby Super Star

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Kirby Super Star , released as Kirby's Fun Pak in PAL regions, is a 1996 anthology action - platform game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System . It is part of the Kirby series of video games by HAL Laboratory. The game was advertised as a compilation featuring eight games: seven short subsections with the same basic gameplay, and two minigames .

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179-861: The game was later released for the Wii and Wii U Virtual Consoles . Nintendo re-released Kirby Super Star in Japan, the United States and Europe in September 2017 as part of the company's Super NES Classic Edition . The game was released on the Nintendo Switch Online service on December 12, 2019. An enhanced remake titled Kirby Super Star Ultra was released for the Nintendo DS in 2008 and 2009 to commercial and critical success, selling just under 3 million copies. Kirby Super Star

358-577: A Bluetooth antenna that communicates with its controllers. A USB-based LAN adapter can connect the Wii to a wired Ethernet network. The Wii reads games from an optical media drive located in the front of the device. The drive is capable of reading Nintendo's proprietary discs, the 12 cm Wii discs and 8 cm GameCube discs , but cannot read other common optical media—namely, DVD-Video , DVD-Audio or compact discs . Although Nintendo had planned on incorporating this feature into later revisions of

537-459: A Mario game for the rest of the world as Super Mario Bros. 2 , before being released in Japan as Super Mario USA as part of Super Mario All-Stars . One of the game's most defining aspects is the four player characters: not only Mario, but Luigi, Princess Peach and Toad are available for single-player gameplay, each with defined character movements: Luigi jumps higher, the Princess can hover in

716-883: A composite A/V cable with RCA connectors , and in appropriate regions such as in Europe, a SCART adapter was also included. A copy of the game Wii Sports was included in most regional bundles. Although Nintendo showed the console and the Wii Remote in white, black, silver, lime-green and red before it was released, it was only available in white for its first two-and-a-half years of sales. Black consoles were available in Japan in August 2009, in Europe in November 2009 and in North America in May 2010. A red Wii system bundle

895-434: A directional pad (d-pad), three face action buttons and a shoulder trigger, and four system-related buttons include a power switch. The Wii Remote connects to the Wii through Bluetooth with an approximate 30 feet (9.1 m) range, communicating the sensor and control information to the console unit. The Wii Remote includes an internal speaker and a rumble pack that can be triggered by a game to provide feedback directly to

1074-436: A game over . Kirby Super Star is split into seven smaller games, six primary and one supplemental, in addition to two minigames . While most retain the same game mechanics , they have different stories and objectives. Some games must be unlocked by playing others, and all must be finished to complete the game. Kirby Super Star was developed in Japan by HAL Laboratory and directed by Kirby creator Masahiro Sakurai . It

1253-403: A proprietary port at the base of the controller. The Wii shipped with the bundled Nunchuk —a handheld unit with an accelerometer, analog stick , and two trigger buttons—which connected to this port on the Wii Remote via a 4 feet (1.2 m) cable. Players hold both the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in separate hands to control supported games. The Wii MotionPlus accessory plugs into the port at

1432-462: A silicon -based Wii Remote Jacket to shipments of the Wii and Wii Remote, as well as a free offering for existing users. The Jacket wraps around the bulk of the remote but leaves access to the various buttons and connectors, providing a stickier surface in the user's grip to further reduce the chance of the Remote falling out of the player's hand. Accessories can be connected to a Wii Remote through

1611-543: A 32-bit IBM PowerPC -based processor named Broadway , with a clock frequency of 729 MHz. The reduced size of Broadway—based on a 90 nm process compared to the 180 nm process used in the GameCube's CPU —resulted in 20% lowered power consumption. The Wii's GPU is a system on a chip produced by ATI and named Hollywood ; the core processor runs at 243 MHz, 3 MB of texture memory, digital signal processors , and input/output functions. Additionally,

1790-433: A Power Star. In Galaxy 2 , they can also be used to feed some hungry "Luma" characters that can turn into either an item or another planet. The games often feature other tokens found in levels to progress in the overworld, most frequently with the visual motif of a star. They are typically situated in locations that are not readily found or reached, or awarded for completing stunts, or objectives given by NPCs . They include

1969-534: A Super Leaf) and the Tanooki Suit each provide the character with a tail that enables flight. In addition, the Tanooki Suit lets the character spontaneously change into an invincible statue for about five seconds. Super Mario Bros. 3 includes a Hammer Bros. suit, which allows Mario and Luigi to throw hammers as projectiles to defeat enemies at a distance. Other suits in later games in the series include

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2148-566: A Wii or for those who wanted a second Wii in a different location. Ryan stated that while removing the online functionality would prevent some games from being played, most Wii games could still be played without it. The Wii Mini is styled in matte black with a red border, and includes a red Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk. According to Ryan, the red coloring was indicative of the planned exclusive release in Canada . A composite A/V cable, wired Sensor Bar and power adapter are also included. The Wii Mini

2327-401: A black Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk, along with New Super Mario Bros. Wii and a limited-edition soundtrack for Super Mario Galaxy . It was released in Europe on November 4, 2011, in a white finish, bundled with a white Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk, along with Wii Party and Wii Sports . A special bundle featuring a blue version of the revised Wii model and Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk with

2506-419: A cooperative game in his Super Mario franchise for many years, but was unable to until New Super Mario Bros. Wii in 2009 because of how fast the series' gameplay is. Kirby , on the other hand, is slower-paced, so Miyamoto figured it would be possible. Sakurai thought about it and came up with the idea to have a main player and an assisting one; this led to the conception of Helpers, which he thought opened

2685-611: A few new pre-installed levels, but no online level sharing. Super Mario Maker 2 is a new version of Super Mario Maker with many new items, themes, and enemies, a world-builder, as well as online multiplayer. The game was released on June 28, 2019, for the Nintendo Switch. Super Mario Run is a side-scrolling and auto-scrolling video game released in December 2016 on the iOS platform, then in March 2017 on Android . It

2864-447: A firm that had developed several patents related to motion detection , to prototype future controllers using their licensed patents. Over the next two years, sales of the GameCube languished behind its competitors—Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox . Satoru Iwata , who had been promoted to Nintendo's president in May 2002 following Hiroshi Yamauchi 's retirement, recognized that Nintendo had not been keeping up with trends in

3043-488: A fruit that transforms the player into an elephant and a flower that allows the player to create bubbles that capture enemies. When touching a Wonder Flower, the player character experiences strange effects that involve the character and the world being altered. It is the first game to feature Kevin Afghani as the new voice of Mario and Luigi, following the announcement of previous actor Charles Martinet 's departure from

3222-796: A helicopter, train, and mole tank in Yoshi's Island , cars in Yoshi's Island and Maker 2 , and the Koopa Clown Car aircraft in the Maker games. Most items in the Super Mario series appear from item blocks when hit, which originated in Super Mario Bros. and have persisted throughout the series, where the character hits a block to receive either coins or power-ups. Variations include those that are invisible until hit, advice dispensers, produce another block, move, frozen, contingent on

3401-732: A lesser extent, the Nintendo Switch . Each player on a Wii console was encouraged to create their own Mii via the Mii Channel to be used in games like Wii Sports and some of the system software like the Mii Channel. For example, players would select their Mii in Wii Sports , creating their in-game avatar for the game. Miis could be shared with other players through the Mii Channel. Super Mario Super Mario (also known as Super Mario Bros. and Mario )

3580-629: A level results in a Power Star or Shine Sprite respectively. There are also stages in that game reward a Power Star for collecting eight red coins in a level, worth two normal coins each. In 64 , a blue coin is worth five normal coins. In Sunshine , blue coins act as a side quest when brought to the Delfino Bank and for every ten blue coins deposited, Mario will earn a Shine Sprite. In the Galaxy series, after finishing each game once, stages unlock where Mario or Luigi can collect 100 purple coins to earn

3759-454: A level. 64 DS contains over 30 minigames that can be accessed independently of the original mode of play. 3D World contains Luigi Bros. , a version of Mario Bros. with two Luigis, and the Switch version of 3D World includes Bowser's Fury , a 3D platformer of smaller size in one enclosed environment. Much of the original Super Mario Bros. music and sound effects have become iconic to

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3938-572: A limited time. Its story was continued in Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 , which retroactively became the first of a spin-off series, Wario Land . Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was released for the SNES in 1995. To reunite baby Mario with his brother Luigi, who has been kidnapped by Kamek , the player controls Yoshi as the primary character through 48 levels while carrying Baby Mario. Yoshi runs and jumps to reach

4117-487: A lot of content without causing players to grow tired of any one style. As for including fighting game-like moves, Sakurai made enemies stronger. He did this because "[t]he main player would simply hurl blades and lay waste to opponents while the Helper just watched." Additionally, he expanded copy abilities' possibilities so players could perform multiple actions by pressing the same button, similar to fighting games. The game

4296-465: A mapped overworld . These locations are not necessarily in a linear order, and the player is occasionally permitted to skip levels or play the game out of order. Completed levels cannot be replayed. The penultimate boss stage in each world is a side-scrolling level atop an airship ("Doom Ship") with a fight against one of Bowser's seven Koopalings . The game introduced a diverse array of new power-ups, including flight as Raccoon Mario and Raccoon Luigi or

4475-489: A new way to play". The ads began in November 2006 and had a budget of over $ 200 million for the year. The ads targeted a wider demographic compared to ads for other consoles, inviting parents and grandparents to play on the Wii. Nintendo hoped that its console would appeal to a wider demographic than that of others in the seventh generation. In December 2006, Satoru Iwata said that Nintendo did not think of themselves as "fighting Sony", but were focused on how they could expand

4654-479: A predetermined path to a single goal. The series often features the option to play as characters other than Mario, usually Luigi. Earlier games have offered an alternating multiplayer mode in which the second player controls Luigi on their turn. Luigi is often only playable by player one in a second, more challenging iteration of the base game, such as in The Lost Levels , Galaxy 2 , New Super Luigi U and

4833-537: A remake of Kirby's Dream Land , was designed for beginners and is thus Super Star 's first mode. The title is a quote from the Dream Land manual that "describe[s] Kirby as a youth who came with the spring breeze," and was chosen to signify its simplicity. Originally, Sakurai was going to remove copy abilities to remain faithful to the original game while teaching beginners how to play, but ultimately did not. Development lasted three years, longer than usual for

5012-542: A resting position, translating that motion into gesture recognition for a game. For example, the pack-in game Wii Sports includes a ten-pin bowling game that had the player hold the Wii Remote and perform a delivery of a ball; the Wii Remote could account for the player's position relative to the Sensor Bar, and their arm and wrist rotation to apply speed and spin to the virtual ball's delivery on screen. The infrared detectors are used to track emissions from LEDs in

5191-464: A series of cameos, spin-offs, and sequels. Sources have debated on whether Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island , where the player primarily controls a Yoshi carrying Baby Mario, should count as a Super Mario game, with some sources considering it strictly a Yoshi game . Miyamoto responded affirmatively when asked if Yoshi's Island is a Super Mario game, with Tezuka later adding: "When that game debuted, I wanted people to understand that Yoshi

5370-532: A single entry. In 1999, Next Generation listed the Mario series as number 3 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that, "The depth of the game design was never matched in 2D and has yet to be equaled by a 3D action performer. The gameplay is simply genius – Shigeru Miyamoto wrote the book on platformers." Electronic Gaming Monthly attributed the series' excellence to the developers' tireless creativity and innovation, pointing out that " Sega 's Sonic

5549-590: A switch, bouncy, etc. The propeller block lets the character spin up into the air and slowly descend, and the Gold Block generates coins through running. A single block is the unit of measurement in the design of Super Mario levels. Player characters can gain extra lives in most of the games. The 1-Up mushroom was introduced in Super Mario Bros. , with the term 1-up subsequently being used generically in other video game series to refer to extra lives. In

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5728-529: A top-loading disc drive. In addition to the lack of GameCube support, the Wii Mini removes Wi-Fi support and online connectivity, along with the removal of the SD card slot. It also removed support for 480p and component video output. According to Nintendo of Canada's Matt Ryan, they stripped these features to bring down the price of the console further as to make it an option for those consumers that had not yet gotten

5907-440: A weak puff of air. By eating certain enemies, Kirby can gain copy abilities, power-ups allowing him to take on the properties the enemy possessed. In Kirby Super Star , Kirby gains the ability to guard so he can defend himself from weak attacks. If Kirby uses a copy ability, he can produce a Helper, a character that can be controlled automatically or by another player . Like Kirby, Helpers can float continuously, but can only use

6086-449: A world map. It is a direct successor to the Super Mario Bros. games, bearing the subtitle Super Mario Bros. 4 in Japan. Unlike Super Mario Bros. 3 , however, where each world map is separate, the world map here covers the whole game. Some of the levels have hidden alternate exits leading to different areas. New abilities include a spin jump and the rideable Yoshi , who can eat enemies and either swallow or spit them out. Power-ups include

6265-507: Is Kirby's Fun Pak . The Japanese packaging was designed to resemble a Paulownia wooden box, an idea that originated from Itoi. In Japan, expensive sake and silverware is often sold in Paulownia boxes; the team thought the packaging would convey that the game was special. While noting that it seems unrelated to the game, Sakurai commented that this cover illustrated the heart of Kirby Super Star and praised Itoi's idea. Kirby Super Star

6444-442: Is a platform game series created by Nintendo starring their mascot, Mario . It is the central series of the greater Mario franchise . At least one Super Mario game has been released for every major Nintendo video game console . However, there have also been a number of Super Mario video games released on non-Nintendo gaming platforms. There are more than 20 games in the series. The Super Mario games are set primarily in

6623-503: Is a side-scrolling platform game . Similar to previous entries in the Kirby series, the player controls the titular character Kirby to complete various levels while avoiding obstacles and enemies. Kirby can walk or run, jump, swim, crouch, slide, and inhale enemies or objects to spit them out as bullets. He can fly for a limited time by inflating himself; while flying, Kirby cannot attack or use his other abilities, though he can release

6802-559: Is one of the best-selling video games of all time. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (known as Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan) is the first sequel to the original Super Mario Bros. It uses the Super Mario Bros. engine, with additions such as weather, character movements, and more complex levels, altogether yielding a much higher difficulty. The game follows the same style of level progression as Super Mario Bros. , with eight initial worlds of four levels each. At that time, this sequel

6981-418: Is playable in and the first to feature a music track with vocals. After having fallen out of favor by the mid-2000s, open-world "collectathon" 3D platformers such as Super Mario 64 , Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64 had become less common. For example, the 3D adventure game Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (2008) explicitly mocked the perceived tedium of collecting large quantities of tokens. By

7160-523: Is similar in appearance to the Amanita muscaria , with an ivory stalk below a most commonly red and white (originally red and orange) spotted cap. Created by chance, Shigeru Miyamoto stated in an interview that beta tests of Super Mario Bros. proved Mario too tall, so the development team implemented mushrooms to grow and shrink Mario. Different variants of mushroom power-ups appear in the series. For example, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels introduces

7339-586: Is similar to the original Super Mario Bros. , Super Mario Land 2 has more in common with Super Mario World , featuring a world map and the ability to move back to the left within levels. There are 32 levels, divided into several themed worlds that each have their own boss. Three power-ups return: the Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, and Super Star. The game also introduces the Carrot power-up, which gives Mario large rabbit ears that let him glide when falling for

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7518-550: Is the Super Mushroom . The Super Mushroom increases the character's size, turning them into a "Super" variant, and allows them to break certain blocks. When hit by an enemy, the character reverts to their smaller size instead of losing a life. When the character is in their "Super" form, most blocks that would contain a Super Mushroom instead offer a more powerful power-up such as the Fire Flower. The Super Mushroom

7697-661: Is the first 3D Super Mario game to have the Fire Flower. In Land and Maker 2 , the Superball is a bouncing ball obtained from a Super Flower, which the character can use to defeat enemies and collect coins. The Ice Flower transforms the character into an Ice variant who can shoot balls of ice as projectiles similar to those of the Fire Flower; they freeze enemies in blocks of ice that can be used as platforms or thrown as projectiles, as seen in New Super Mario Bros. Wii and New Super Mario Bros. U . In Galaxy ,

7876-399: Is the first official Super Mario game developed for mobile devices . As such, it features simplified controls that allow it to be played with only one hand. In this game, the character runs automatically, with the player controlling the jumping action to avoid hazards. This is achieved by touching the tactile screens these devices are built with. The longer the player touches the jump button,

8055-579: Is the second 3D Super Mario game. It was released in 2002 for the GameCube . In it, Mario and Peach travel to Isle Delfino for a vacation when a Mario doppelgänger , going by the name of Shadow Mario , appears and vandalizes the entire island. Mario is sentenced to clean the island with a water-squirting accessory called F.L.U.D.D. Super Mario Sunshine shares many similar gameplay elements with its predecessor Super Mario 64 , yet introduces moves, like spinning while jumping, and several other actions through

8234-590: The Super NES Classic Edition . Nintendo released the game on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System app via its Nintendo Switch Online subscription service on December 12, 2019. A special version with the secret modes unlocked was later released on June 9, 2022. Kirby Super Star was both a critical and commercial success, selling over one million copies in Japan. It received "favorable" reviews according to

8413-407: The 2D games, the player character (usually Mario) jumps on platforms and enemies while avoiding their attacks and moving to the right of the scrolling screen. 2D Super Mario game levels have single-exit objectives, which must be reached within a time limit and lead to the next sequential level. Super Mario Bros. 3 introduced the overworld , a map of nonlinear levels that branches according to

8592-413: The GameCube , and is a seventh-generation console alongside Microsoft 's Xbox 360 and Sony 's PlayStation 3 . In developing the Wii, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata directed the company to avoid competing with Microsoft and Sony on computational graphics and power and instead to target a broader demographic of players through novel gameplay. Game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda led

8771-577: The Internet Channel , a modified version of the Opera web browser for the Wii which supports USB keyboard input and Adobe Flash Player . The Wii Menu channels feature music composed by video game composer Kazumi Totaka . The Wii introduced the use of player-customized avatars called Miis, which have been continued to be used by Nintendo in the Wii U, the Nintendo 3DS family, and, to

8950-676: The New Super Mario Bros. games contain Toad Houses that host skill- and luck-based activities such as shell games . The Land games feature end-of-level minigames for acquiring extra lives. The Battle Mode in the All-Stars version of Super Mario Bros. 3 and the Advance series of remakes all feature versions of Mario Bros. as a minigame. Yoshi's Island enables a minigame when certain conditions are met when completing

9129-425: The Nintendo Switch . It implements 3D open-world "free-roaming" gameplay in a similar fashion to Odyssey , from which it includes many elements. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a 2D sidescrolling Super Mario game announced on June 21, 2023 and released on October 20 of the same year. Playable characters include Mario, Luigi, Toad, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Yoshi, Nabbit and Toadette. New power-ups include

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9308-655: The Poison Mushroom , which causes damage when collected; and New Super Mario Bros. introduces the Mini Mushroom, which shrinks the character to miniature size; and the Mega Mushroom, grows the character into a towering, invulnerable giant who destroys enemies and the environment by running through them. Super Mario Bros. 3 introduces suits to the Super Mario series, many of which are based on animals or Mario enemies. The Raccoon Suit (provisioned by

9487-556: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) game Star Fox (1993). He considered using the Super FX chip to develop a SNES game, Super Mario FX , with gameplay based on "an entire world in miniature, like miniature trains". He eventually reformulated the idea for the Nintendo 64, not for its substantially greater power, but because its controller has more buttons for gameplay. Super Mario 64

9666-492: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System , with a d-pad, four face buttons, Start and Select buttons alongside the Wii connection button, and two shoulder buttons. Additionally, Nintendo included inputs present in modern controllers, like 2 analog sticks and pressure sensitive shoulder buttons. Players can use it with older games from the Virtual Console in addition to games designed for the Wii. In 2009, Nintendo released

9845-553: The Wii Remote Plus , first released in October 2010. A number of third-party controller manufacturers developed their own lower-cost versions of the Wii Remote, though these generally were less accurate or lacked the sensitivity that Nintendo's unit had. The Classic Controller is an extension for the Wii Remote, released alongside the Wii in November 2006. Its form factor is similar to classic gamepads such as that for

10024-498: The Wii Shop Channel . The Wii also supports wireless connectivity with the Nintendo DS handheld console for selected games. Initial Wii models included full backward compatibility support for GameCube games and most of the console's accessories . Later in its lifecycle, two lower-cost Wii models were produced: a revised model with the same design as the original Wii but without the GameCube compatibility features, and

10203-475: The fifth-bestselling video game series , behind the larger Mario franchise, the puzzle series Tetris , the Pokémon video games, and Grand Theft Auto . The objective of the game is to progress through levels by defeating enemies, collecting items and solving puzzles without dying. Power-up use is integral to the series. The series has installments featuring both two and three-dimensional gameplay. In

10382-507: The review aggregation website GameRankings , and is widely regarded as one of the best games of the franchise. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly applauded the large amount of content, simultaneous two-player mode, graphics, and Kirby's power-absorbing ability. Captain Cameron of GamePro gave it a perfect 5 out of 5 in sound, control, and FunFactor, and a 4.5 out of 5 in graphics. He commented that "The perfect execution of

10561-506: The "Super Star" in the two Super Mario World games as well as the New Super Mario Bros. games and the "Rainbow Star" in the two Super Mario Galaxy games. Picking up the star makes the character temporarily invincible , able to resist any harm. Use of the item is accompanied by a distinctive music track that appears consistently across most of the games. The player character flickers a variety of colors – and in some games, moves with increased speed and enhanced jumping ability – while under

10740-500: The 3D games in the series starting with Super Mario 64 . The character uses the cannon by jumping into the barrel, aiming themself and being fired at a distant target. This allows the character to progress through a level or reach otherwise inaccessible areas. Many games in the series feature minigames supplemental to the platforming gameplay, usually offering the chance to win extra lives or power-ups. Super Mario Bros. 2 and 3D World feature slot machines . Super Mario Bros. 3 and

10919-598: The 3D games through including more linear levels. It is the first original 3D Super Mario game on a handheld console, since all previous handheld games were either 2D or a port of a previous game. It also brought back several older gameplay features, including the Super Leaf power-up last seen in Super Mario Bros. 3 . New Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in July and August 2012 for the Nintendo 3DS. The player, as Mario or Luigi, tries to save Princess Peach from Bowser and

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11098-530: The Frog Suit, Penguin Suit, Cat Suit, Boomerang Suit, and Bee Suit. Super Mario Maker includes costume power-ups that depict many more characters ( Super Mario Maker 2 includes only a Link power-up). The flower power-ups let the player character shoot projectiles. The Fire Flower, introduced in Super Mario Bros. , transforms the character into a Fire variant who can throw bouncing fireballs at enemies. Galaxy

11277-465: The GPU included an additional 24 MB of 1T-SRAM and an additional 64 MB of 1T-SRAM on the motherboard, totaling to 88 MB of memory for the console. The Wii's computational power was roughly 1.5 to 2 times as powerful as the GameCube, but was the least powerful of the major home consoles of its generation. The Wii's motherboard has a WiFi adapter which supports IEEE 802.11 b/g modes, and

11456-523: The GameCube controller ports, and memory card slots found on the original model. This means that this model is incompatible with GameCube games alongside the GameCube Controller for Wii games that support it. This model is sometimes referred to as the "Wii Family Edition", the name given to the bundle in which it was first sold in Europe. Additionally, it does not include a stand, as it is intended to be positioned horizontally. Nintendo announced

11635-549: The Hedgehog series changed very little in its four installments on the Genesis . The Mario series has changed significantly with each new game." The original Super Mario Bros. was awarded the top spot on Electronic Gaming Monthly ' s greatest 200 games of their time list and IGN ' s top 100 games of all-time list twice (in 2005 and 2007). Super Mario Bros. popularized side-scrolling video games and provided

11814-492: The Ice Flower turns Mario or Luigi into ice and lets him walk on lava or water for a limited time by freezing the surface. Lastly, New Super Mario Bros. 2 ' s Gold Flower lets Mario or Luigi turn bricks into coins and earn bonus coins for defeating enemies. Koopa Shells serve as a major projectile in the series, featuring since the original game. The character can throw them to defeat enemies, collect coins, and activate

11993-523: The Koopalings, with the game's secondary goal to collect one million coins. Several gameplay elements were introduced to help achieve this goal, such as the Gold Flower, a rarer variant of the Fire Flower that turns items into coins. New Super Mario Bros. U , the Wii U follow-up to New Super Mario Bros. Wii , was released in November 2012. It introduces both a Flying Squirrel suit that lets

12172-432: The Mega Mushroom, Blue Shell, and Mini Mushroom. Miyamoto explained that when he was developing Super Mario 64 with Yoshiaki Koizumi , they realized that the title would be more directed towards the "core gamer", rather than the casual, "pick-up-and-go" gamer. After Sunshine , their focus shifted to more accessible, casual games, leading them to develop Super Mario Galaxy with more progression-oriented paths. Galaxy

12351-692: The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection were discontinued in May 2014, while the Wii Shop was closed in January 2019, effectively ending all online services for the console. The Wii Mini continued to be manufactured for some time after. Despite the Wii's discontinuation, some developers continued to produce Wii games well beyond 2013. Ubisoft released Just Dance games for the Wii up to Just Dance 2020 (2019). Vblank Entertainment's Shakedown: Hawaii along with Retro City Rampage DX are

12530-740: The Photo Channel which could be used to view and edit photos stored on an SD card; the Wii Shop Channel to purchase new games and applications; the Forecast Channel and the News Channel. In addition to default channels that came with the Wii, new channels could be added through system updates, downloaded applications from the Wii Shop Channel, or added by games themselves. Shortly after launch, other free channels created by Nintendo were made available to users, including

12709-807: The Power Stars in Super Mario 64 and the Super Mario Galaxy games, Shine Sprites in Super Mario Sunshine , Cat Shines in Bowser's Fury , Star Coins in the New Super Mario Bros. series, Star Medals in Super Mario 3D Land , Green Stars in the Galaxy games and Super Mario 3D World , and Power Moons in Super Mario Odyssey . In Super Mario Land 2 , there are six Golden Coin tokens that must be collected to finish

12888-668: The Propeller Mushroom, the Ice Flower, and the Penguin Suit. All characters can ride Yoshi. Super Mario Galaxy 2 , released on May 23, 2010, was initially developed as an expansion pack to Galaxy , but was eventually developed into its own game. It retains the basic premise of its predecessor and includes its items and power-ups besides the Ice Flower and Red Star. New power-ups include the Cloud Flower, which allows Mario or Luigi to create platforms in mid-air and

13067-556: The Revolution controller at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2005. At this stage, the controller unit resembled the final Wii Remote device along with the separate Nunchuk attachment. Iwata demonstrated its motion sensing gameplay capabilities, and incorporated commentary from developers, such as Hideo Kojima and Yuji Horii , who had tested the controller and believed people would be drawn in by it. The console's name

13246-538: The Rock Mushroom, which turns the character into a rolling boulder. The character can also ride Yoshi. The game was released to widespread critical acclaim, getting better reviews than its predecessor. Super Mario 3D Land was released for the Nintendo 3DS in November and December 2011. It was the first attempt to translate the gameplay of the 2D games into a 3D environment, and simplify the control scheme of

13425-663: The Star's influence. While invincible, the character defeats any enemy upon contact with it. In Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island , the star gives the normally immobile baby Mario the ability to run as well as become invincible. In Super Mario 64 and 64 DS , invincibility is provided when the character becomes metal or intangible. The Mega Mushroom provides temporary invincibility with the addition of giant size and environment destruction (see Power-ups and transformations ). Super Mario level design traditionally incorporates many distributed coins as puzzles, rewards, and guidance through

13604-440: The Super Mushroom, Super Flower, which allows Mario to shoot projectiles, Super Star, and hearts, which give Mario an extra life . The game consists of twelve levels split across four worlds. Reaching the higher of two exits at each level's end activates a minigame where the player can try to get extra lives. Super Mario World was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and consists of nine worlds displayed via

13783-499: The Vitality Sensor had been shelved, as internal testing found that the device did not work with all users, and its use cases were too narrow. Despite this, Nintendo has continued Iwata's quality of life program with further products on later consoles and games. A number of first- and third-party accessories were developed that the Wii Remote could be slotted into and then used in a more physical manner that took advantage of

13962-558: The Wii Classic Controller Pro, which was modelled after the GameCube and PlayStation 2 controllers form factor and amongst other additions, adds grips on the bottom of the controller and rearranges the placement of the shoulder buttons. However, unlike the GameCube and original Classic Controller, the Classic Controller Pro does not have pressure sensitive shoulder buttons. The Wii Balance Board

14141-562: The Wii Menu, the main user interface for the Wii, was led by Takashi Aoyama of Nintendo's Integrated Research & Development Division. The project, named the "Console Feature Realization Project", was to figure out what the Wii interface could show running in a low-power mode on an around-the-clock schedule that would be of interest for people to look at if they were not playing games. The idea of having continually updated weather and news reports made logical sense from testing, and this led to

14320-410: The Wii Mini for a few years afterwards, and offered a subset of the Wii's online services through 2019. Shortly after the release of the GameCube , Nintendo began conceptualizing their next console. The company's game designer Shigeru Miyamoto said that, in the early stages, they decided they would not aim to compete on hardware power, and would instead prioritize new gameplay concepts. The console

14499-463: The Wii Mini's release. The Wii Mini was never released in countries outside of Canada, Europe and the United States. The console has many internal features made available from its hardware and firmware components. The hardware allows for extendability (via expansion ports), while the firmware (and some software) could receive periodic updates via the WiiConnect24 service. The development of

14678-414: The Wii Mini, a compact, budget redesign of the Wii which further removed several features, including online connectivity and SD card storage. Because of Nintendo's reduced focus on computational power, the Wii and its games were less expensive to produce than its competitors. The Wii was extremely popular at launch, causing the system to be in short supply in some markets. A bundled game, Wii Sports ,

14857-445: The Wii channels. Users could expand their storage for downloaded games and saved games, as well as provide photos and music that could be used with some games and Wii channels, through SD cards (and later SDHC cards ) inserted into an external slot on the console located under a front panel. A later system update added the ability to launch Wii channels and play Virtual Console and WiiWare games directly from SD cards. The rear of

15036-399: The Wii from commercial off-the-shelf hardware rather than seek out customized components. This helped to reduce the cost of the Wii system to consumers. Miyamoto said "Originally, I wanted a machine that would cost $ 100. My idea was to spend nothing on the console technology so all the money could be spent on improving the interface and software." The console's central processing unit is

15215-417: The Wii had broadened the demographics that they wanted, the core gamer audience had shunned the Wii. The Wii's successor, the Wii U , sought to recapture the core gamer market with additional features atop the Wii. The Wii U was released in 2012, and Nintendo continued to sell both units through the following year. The Wii was formally discontinued in October 2013, though Nintendo continued to produce and market

15394-511: The Wii in China in 2008, but failed to meet the requirements to circumvent the ban on foreign-made consoles the Chinese government had put in place. Nintendo announced the successor to the Wii, the Wii U, at E3 2011 . Nintendo had recognized that the Wii had generally been shunned by the core gaming audience as it was perceived more as a casual gaming experience. The Wii U was aimed to draw

15573-427: The Wii served part of this, but Nintendo developed additional accessories to give awareness of one's health as a lead-in for the company to break into the health care field. At E3 2009 , Nintendo had presented a " Vitality Sensor " accessory that would be used to measure a player's pulse as a lead-in to a larger quality of life initiative, but this product was never released. In a 2013 Q&A, Satoru Iwata revealed that

15752-453: The Wii's design, as the company found that the DS's novel two-screen interface had drawn in non-traditional players and wanted to replicate that on the new console. Designer Ken'ichiro Ashida noted, "We had the DS on our minds as we worked on the Wii. We thought about copying the DS's touch-panel interface and even came up with a prototype." The idea was eventually rejected because of the notion that

15931-501: The Wii, the demand for the console meant a delay in their schedule, until the feature lost interest. The slot of the optical drive is backed by LED lights which show the system's status. For example, it will pulse blue when the system is communicating with the WiiConnect24 service or when reading a disc after being inserted. The Wii includes 512 MB of internal flash memory for storing saved games and downloaded content from

16110-604: The Wing Cap, allowing Mario to fly; the Metal Cap, turning him into metal; and the Vanish Cap, allowing him to walk through obstacles. Super Mario 64 is considered seminal to 3D video games. A remake of the game called Super Mario 64 DS was released for Nintendo DS in 2004 and 2005, adding Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario as playable characters, new abilities, new objectives, multiplayer, and minigames. Super Mario Sunshine

16289-473: The accelerometer and gyroscopic functions of the controller. Some copies of Mario Kart Wii shipped with the Wii Wheel , a plastic steering wheel frame with the Wii Remote could be inserted into, so that players could steer more effectively in game. Rhythm games that used plastic instruments, such as Guitar Hero III , shipped with instruments that the Wii Remote could be slotted into; the remote powered

16468-516: The air (most commonly seen in the New Super Mario Bros. series). In early Mario games such as Super Mario Bros. , special, well-hidden areas known as Warp Zones contain pipes that allow players to skip several worlds (handfuls of levels) at once. In the New Super Mario Bros. series, pipe-shaped Warp Cannons work similarly to the Warp Zones of the earlier games and are unlocked by finding secret exits in levels. Cannons appear in most of

16647-403: The air for a short amount of time, and Toad is the fastest. Characters here also can pluck items from the ground to throw at enemies. This is also the first Super Mario game to use a life meter, which allows the characters to be hit up to four times before dying. Super Mario Bros. 3 is divided into eight themed worlds, each with 6–10 levels and several bonus stages displayed as locations on

16826-465: The base of the Wii Remote and augments the existing sensors with gyroscopes to allow for finer motion detection. The MotionPlus accessory was released in June 2009 with a number of new games directly supporting this new functionality, including Wii Sports Resort which included the accessory as part of a bundle. The MotionPlus functionality was later incorporated into a revision of the controller called

17005-463: The basic concept and mechanics that persisted throughout the rest of the series. Super Mario Bros. sold 40.24 million copies, making it the bestselling video game of the whole series. Various other video games of the series were ranked as the best within the series. Games included are Super Mario Bros. 3 , Super Mario World and Super Mario 64 to name a few. Before Super Mario Odyssey , Super Mario Galaxy has been for 10 years

17184-496: The character circumnavigate rounded or irregular planetoids by walking sideways or upside down. The character is usually able to jump from one independent object and fall towards another close object. Though the main gameplay and physics are in 3D , there are several points in the game where the character's movements are restricted into a 2D axis. Several new power-ups appear following the new game mechanics. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009) features 4-player co-op and new power-ups:

17363-570: The characters glide through the air, and asymmetric gameplay that allows the player holding the GamePad to influence the environment. In June 2013, New Super Luigi U was released as a downloadable content (DLC) package for the game, featuring shorter, but more difficult levels, starring Luigi as the main protagonist instead of his brother. Subsequently, it was released as a standalone retail game on August 25 in North America. The Nintendo Switch port New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe includes both

17542-442: The characters. Like Super Mario Bros. 2 , it features Princess Peach and Toad as playable characters in addition to Mario and Luigi. Rosalina from Super Mario Galaxy is also unlocked later in the game. Miyamoto said that "even though that's a 3D game, it's a little more accessible to everybody." Super Mario Maker is a creation tool released for the Wii U in September 2015 which allows players to create their own levels based on

17721-419: The choice. President of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aimé justified the new name over Revolution by saying that they wanted something short, distinctive, and easily pronounceable for all cultures. The Wii was made available for a press demonstration at E3 2006. Planned launch titles were announced at a press conference alongside the unveiling. At the same conference, Nintendo confirmed its plans to release

17900-459: The compilation game Super Mario All-Stars for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). In Super Mario Bros. 2 (known as Super Mario USA in Japan), Mario and his companions seek to defeat the evil frog Wart in the Subcon dreamland. Based on a discarded prototype, the game was instead originally released as Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic in Japan, and was ultimately converted into

18079-489: The console by the end of 2006. Nintendo announced the launch plans and prices for the Wii in September 2006. The console was first launched in the United States on November 19, 2006, for US$ 249.99 . Other regional release dates and prices included Japan on December 2 for ¥25,000 , followed by Australasia on December 7 for A$ 399.95 , and was later launched on December 8 in the United Kingdom for £179.99 and for

18258-791: The console features the unit's video output and power connections along with two USB ports. The top of the console, when placed vertically, includes a panel that includes four ports for GameCube controllers and two GameCube memory cards. The Wii was Nintendo's smallest home console at the time (the current smallest is hybrid home-portable console Nintendo Switch, when in portable mode); it measures 44  mm (1.73  in ) wide, 157 mm (6.18 in) tall and 215.4 mm (8.48 in) deep in its vertical orientation, slightly larger than three DVD cases stacked together. The included stand measures 55.4 mm (2.18 in) wide, 44 mm (1.73 in) tall and 225.6 mm (8.88 in) deep. The system weighs 1.2  kg (2.7  lb ), making it

18437-534: The console's development under the codename Revolution . The primary controller for the Wii is the Wii Remote , a wireless controller with both motion sensing and traditional controls which can be used as a pointing device towards the television screen or for gesture recognition . The Wii was Nintendo's first home console to directly support Internet connectivity, supporting both online games and for digital distribution of games and media applications through

18616-490: The copy ability they were based on. The player can also grant the Helper a different form or revert them into a power-up in an emergency. The player characters lose health if they are hit by enemies or hazards. If the Helper loses all their health, there is a short time for Kirby to grant it a new power before it disappears. If Kirby loses all of his health, the player will lose a life . Health can be replenished by eating food scattered across levels. Losing all lives results in

18795-496: The core audience back in with more advanced features atop the basic Wii technology. The Wii U features the Wii U GamePad , a controller with an embedded touchscreen and output 1080p high-definition graphics that serves as a secondary screen alongside the television. The Wii U is fully backward-compatible with Wii games and peripherals for the Wii, including the Wii Remote, Nunchuk controller and Wii Balance Board, and select Wii U games including support for these devices. The Wii U

18974-411: The door for inexperienced players. As for why I made it an "omnibus," I did it because I thought we were seeing too many games that took too long to beat. At the time, more and more massive games kept hitting the market. And they all took a long time to finish. By creating an "omnibus" collection of quick-to-beat individual scenarios, each complete with their own unique gameplay, I thought I could provide

19153-474: The end of the level while solving puzzles and collecting items. In a style new to the series, the game has a hand-drawn aesthetic. The game introduces his signature abilities to flutter jump and produce eggs from swallowed enemies. Yoshi's Island received "instant" and "universal acclaim", according to IGN and review aggregator Metacritic , and sold over four million copies. Yoshi's signature characteristics established in Yoshi's Island would carry throughout

19332-400: The era. This was partially due to the influence of Rare 's Donkey Kong Country (1994), a game that incorporated computer-generated (CG) graphics . Sakurai was certain using CG would be beneficial, so the team redid the artwork about halfway through development. HAL's development schedule also lengthened development. Sakurai planned to include an additional game mode, Kagero Mansion , which

19511-409: The fictional Mushroom Kingdom, typically with Mario as the main player character . He is usually joined by his brother, Luigi , and often other members of the Mario cast. As platform games, they involve the player character running and jumping across platforms and atop enemies in themed levels . The games have simple plots, typically with Mario and Luigi rescuing the kidnapped Princess Peach from

19690-429: The final game. The prototype was used to test out ideas before implementing them in the final product; Sakurai said having the game operating on an internal build made it easier to develop ideas. HAL president Satoru Iwata had little involvement with the game, and left development under Sakurai's supervision. For Kirby Super Star , Sakurai "had three pillars in mind. One was two-player cooperative gameplay and another

19869-510: The final title, which Sakurai said "convey[s] how rich it is in content". Kirby Super Star was one of the last SNES games, released just three months before the launch of the system's successor, the Nintendo 64 . Publisher Nintendo released the game in Japan on March 21, 1996, in North America on September 20, 1996, and in Europe on January 23, 1997. In Japan, the title is Kirby of the Stars: Super Deluxe , while in Europe, it

20048-578: The first side-scrolling 2D platform game to feature Mario, was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985. It was derived through collaboration by Nintendo 's Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka as a successor to the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros. , which starred two characters: Mario, the titular character that first appeared in Donkey Kong as the original player character and its sequel where he

20227-554: The first major steps Iwata had made based on the company's research was directing the development of the Nintendo DS , a handheld incorporating dual screens including a touchscreen , to revitalize their handheld console line. In 2003, Iwata met with Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda to discuss their market research. Iwata instructed Takeda "to go off the tech roadmap" for this console, but said it had to be appealing to mothers. Iwata wanted their next console to be capable of playing past Nintendo games, eliminating clutter in houses. Takeda led

20406-582: The functions of blocks. Power-ups are available for Yoshi to breathe fire in World , Yoshi's Island , and 64 DS , breathe freezing air and spit seeds in Yoshi's Island , spit out enemies in the World games, and spit juice in Sunshine . Other power-ups let the character throw bombs, boomerangs, and baseballs and shoot cannonballs. In Odyssey , Mario can possess characters, some of which can launch various projectiles. Flying shoot 'em up gameplay also appears in

20585-500: The game calling it an incredible game and having incredible value. Kirby Super Star was given an enhanced remake in the form of Kirby Super Star Ultra to celebrate the series' 15th anniversary. The remake features four new modes, three new minigames, and multiple additions to the base game including new sub-bosses and enemies. The remake was released in North America on September 22, 2008, to critical and commercial success, selling just under three million copies worldwide. Many of

20764-400: The game. The Warp Pipe is a common method of transportation used in many of the Mario series games. Warp Pipes are most often green but also appear in other colors (early games included silver pipes, newer games have introduced red, green, blue and yellow pipes), and have many uses in the series. Warp Pipes can also contain enemies, usually Piranha Plants, and sometimes launch the player into

20943-437: The gameplay and style of Super Mario Bros. , Super Mario Bros. 3 , Super Mario World , and New Super Mario Bros. U , as well as to share their creations online. Based on existing games, several gameplay mechanics were introduced for the game, with existing ones also available to be used together in new ways. A Nintendo 3DS version of the game called Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS , was released in December 2016. It features

21122-503: The gaming demographic. This proved to be a success as the Wii would become a social phenomenon globally throughout 2007. It took several years for the Wii to launch in other regions. It was released in South Africa on September 30, 2007, South Korea on April 26, 2008, Taiwan on July 12, 2008, India on September 30, 2008, and Hong Kong on December 12, 2009. Nintendo had planned work with its localization partner iQue to release

21301-632: The gaming industry. BBC News ' technology editor Alfred Hermida wrote that Nintendo's struggle to match Sony and Microsoft in the home console market made success crucial. The console, still named "Revolution", was formally presented to the public at E3 2005 . The motion controller interface had not yet been completed and was omitted from the unveiling. Iwata held the console above him with one hand to emphasize its size relative to its rivals. A smaller device meant it would draw on less power as to not overheat, and thus appealed to parents who were willing to have an attractive, small, power-efficient device in

21480-496: The higher the character jumps. This game also includes a "Toad Rally" mode, similar to the "VS Boo" mode of Super Mario Bros Deluxe , in which players have to complete a level faster than a computer-controlled Toad. Success in this mode earns the player access to in-game money to spend on customizing the Mushroom Kingdom map, using mechanics similar to FarmVille . This is the first Super Mario game that Princess Daisy

21659-405: The idea of presenting these similar to a row of televisions each set to a different television channel as if in an electronics shop, creating the "channels" concept. A user can navigate to any channel window to bring that to the forefront, whether to launch the game or application or to get more information that was being displayed. For example, the Forecast Channel would display a brief summary of

21838-430: The included Sensor Bar , which is placed just above or below the television display, as to track the relative orientation of the Wii Remote towards the screen. This gives the Wii Remote the ability to act as a pointing device like a computer mouse on the television screen, with an approximate 15 feet (4.6 m) range for accurate detection. In addition, the Wii Remote features traditional controller inputs, including

22017-522: The inclusion of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games was released in Europe on November 18, 2011, in collaboration with Sega . Nintendo later revised the North American bundle by replacing the prior pack-in game and soundtrack with the original Wii Sports duology; the new bundle was released on October 28, 2012. The Wii Mini (model RVL-201) is a smaller, redesigned Wii with

22196-527: The level-long P-Wing allowing flight through a whole level. Bowser is again the final boss. Super Mario Land is the first handheld Super Mario game apart from the Game & Watch conversion of Super Mario Bros. , and was released for the Game Boy in 1989. Like the Super Mario Bros. games, it is a sidescrolling platformer. Mario sets out to save Princess Daisy from the spaceman Tatanga. Items include

22375-440: The level. Coins are often found floating in the air in groups. Most Super Mario games award the player an extra life once a certain amount of gold coins are collected, commonly 50 or 100. Several coin variants exist, such as silver coins, dragon coins, star coins, and more. In 64 , Sunshine , Galaxy , and Galaxy 2 , coins replenish health (and air, when the character is underwater). In 64 and Sunshine , collecting 100 coins in

22554-414: The lightest of the three major seventh-generation consoles. The Wii may stand horizontally or vertically. The Wii Remote is the primary controller for the console. The remote contains a MEMS-based three-dimension accelerometer , along with infrared detection sensors located at the far end of the controller. The accelerometers allow the Wii Remote to recognize its orientation after being moved from

22733-425: The living room. Iwata reportedly used a stack of three DVD cases as a size guide. The prototype held by Iwata was black, but at release the following year, the console was only available in white. In their book on the console, two Loyola University Chicago professors suggested that Nintendo was inviting comparisons with Apple 's first iPod line. Iwata later unveiled and demonstrated their current prototype of

22912-515: The local area's temperature and short-term weather forecast, while clicking on the channel brought up an interactive globe that the user could manipulate with the Wii Remote to explore real-time weather conditions across the Earth. The Wii launched with six channels: the Disc Channel which was used to launch Wii and GameCube titles from an optical disc; the Mii Channel to create Mii avatars;

23091-472: The main game and New Super Luigi U , and new playable characters Nabbit and Toadette . Super Mario 3D World , the sequel to 3D Land , was released for the Wii U on November 22, 2013, in North America, and used the same gameplay mechanics as its predecessor. Co-operative multiplayer is available for up to four players. The game introduced the ability to turn the characters into cats able to attack and scale walls to reach new areas, and to create clones of

23270-449: The majority of Europe for €249.99 . Nintendo planned to have around 30 Wii games available by the end of 2006, and anticipated shipping over 4 million consoles before the end of the year. As part of its launch campaign, Nintendo promoted the Wii in North America through a series of television advertisements (directed by Academy Award winner Stephen Gaghan ); its Internet ads used the slogans "Wii would like to play" and "Experience

23449-496: The mid-2010s, however, 3D platformers were aiming to replicate such experiences, including Yooka-Laylee and A Hat in Time . Super Mario Odyssey is a return to the open-world "sandbox" 3D style of gameplay, with "more open-ended exploration like in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine ." It was released in October 2017 for Nintendo Switch . Bowser's Fury is part of the 2021 re-release of Super Mario 3D World on

23628-467: The monochromatic Super Mario Land and Super Mario Land 2 , instead of a differently colored mushroom, the 1-Up is shown as a heart. Super Mario World introduced the 3-Up Moon. 1-Ups can also be earned through collecting a certain number of coins or playing minigames. Invincibility is an effect first appearing in the three Super Mario Bros. games, where it is granted by a "Starman", an anthropomorphized, flashing star. The star has also been named

23807-414: The most recent Wii games, which were released on July 9, 2020 (more than 13 years after the Wii's launch). On January 27, 2020, Nintendo announced that it will no longer repair any faulty Wii consoles in Japan starting on February 6 due to a scarcity of spare parts. In building the Wii, Nintendo did not aim to outpace the performance of their competitors. Unlike the company's previous consoles, they built

23986-890: The music tracks in Kirby Super Star have been remixed in various games, such as the Super Smash Bros. series ; the Nintendo 64 game, for instance, had a new version of the Gourmet Race theme as Kirby's theme song. Meta Knight's battleship, the Halberd, would reappear in several games such as Kirby: Squeak Squad , Super Smash Bros. Brawl , Kirby's Epic Yarn , Super Smash Bros. for Wii U , Kirby: Planet Robobot , and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate . A stage based on The Great Cave Offensive appears in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U . In reference to

24165-549: The new Cape Feather, which lets Mario and Luigi fly with a cape, and the P-balloon, which inflates the player character to allow him to float. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins was released for the Game Boy in 1992. It introduces Mario's rival, Wario , who took over Mario's castle during the events of Super Mario Land and forces Mario to collect the six golden coins to reenter and reclaim his castle. While its predecessor

24344-416: The new revision in August 2011 as a replacement for the original Wii model which it was discontinuing in certain regions including Europe and the United States. The new unit in its bundles was priced at $ 149.99 , a further reduction for the Wii's MSRP at the time of $ 199.99 established in September 2009. The console was first released in North America on October 23, 2011, in a black finish, bundled with

24523-423: The offline Wii Mini, though the Wii Shop Channel remained available. Nintendo discontinued production of the Wii in October 2013 after selling over 100 million units worldwide, though the company continued to produce the Wii Mini unit primarily for the North American market. The WiiConnect24 service and several channels based on that service were shuttered in June 2013. Support for online multiplayer games via

24702-576: The paintings in Peach's castle to unlock later courses and areas. The Nintendo 64's analog stick makes an extensive repertoire of precise movements in all directions possible. The game introduced moves such as punching, triple jumping, and using a Wing Cap to fly. It is the first Super Mario series game to feature Charles Martinet 's voice acting for Mario. Mario must once again save Princess Peach from Bowser. The game's power-ups differ from previous games, now being three different hats with temporary powers:

24881-418: The player character in several Super Mario games since Super Mario World . In Yoshi's Island and 64 DS , instead of the player character merely riding on Yoshi's back, Yoshi is the player character. Yoshis generally have abilities including eating enemies, flying, and breathing fire. Miyamoto had originally wished for Mario to be able to ride a dinosaur in Super Mario Bros. , but this wasn't possible due to

25060-556: The player's choice. Super Mario World introduced levels with multiple exits. 3D installments in the series have had two subgenres: open world exploration based games and more linear 3D games with a predetermined path. Levels in the open world games, 64 , Sunshine and Odyssey , allow the player to freely explore multiple enclosed environments in 360-degree movement. As the game progresses, more environments become accessible. The linear 3D games, Galaxy , Galaxy 2 , 3D Land and 3D World , feature more fixed camera angles and

25239-400: The player's hand. Up to four Wii Remotes could connect wirelessly to a Wii, with LED lights on each remote indicating which controller number the Remote had connected as. The remote is battery -operated, and when the Remote is not powered on, these LED lights can display the remaining battery power. A wrist-mounted strap is included with the Wii Remote, with one end affixed to the bottom of

25418-620: The primary antagonist , Bowser . The first game in the series, Super Mario Bros. , released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985, established the series' core gameplay concepts and elements. These include a multitude of power-ups and items that give the character special powers such as fireball-throwing and size-changing. The Super Mario series is part of the greater Mario franchise, which includes other video game genres and media such as film, television, printed media, and merchandise. More than 380 million copies of Super Mario games have been sold worldwide, making it

25597-716: The range of exercises using the Wii Balance Board, the accessory can be used in other third-party games that translated the player's balance on the unit into in-game controls such as Shaun White Snowboarding and Skate It . Namco Bandai produced a mat controller (a simpler, less-sophisticated competitor to the Balance Board). One of Iwata's initiatives at Nintendo was focused on "quality of life" products, those that encouraged players to do other activities beyond simply sitting and playing video games as to promote physical wellbeing. The use of motion controls in

25776-475: The red Wii system bundles feature the Wii Remote Plus, with integrated Wii MotionPlus technology. The prefix for the numbering scheme of the Wii system and its parts and accessories is "RVL-" for its codename , "Revolution". The base Wii console had a model number of RVL-001, for example. A cost-reduced variant of the Wii (model RVL-101) was released late into the platform's lifespan that removed

25955-402: The roles in August 2023. The Super Mario series has seen tremendous critical acclaim from both critics and audiences. The series was ranked as the best game franchise by IGN in 2006. In 1996 Next Generation ranked the series as number 5 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", additionally ranking Super Mario 64 at number 1 although stating the rule that series of games be confined to

26134-472: The scope of the mode of the same name, the arena is amongst the largest stages in the game's catalog, and thus supports up to eight players. It features a unique mechanic dubbed the "Danger Zones", stage hazards that instantly KO any fighter whose damage percentages exceed 100%. The stage was also included in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate . In 2021, Charlie Rosen and Jake Silverman arranged the composition "Meta Knight's Revenge" for The 8-Bit Big Band. Their cover

26313-431: The series and incorporated into modern games. The original Super Mario Bros. theme , composed by Koji Kondo , has become one of the most well known video game themes around the world. Super Mario Galaxy , released in 2007, became the first game in the Super Mario series to feature orchestrated music, which would return in its sequel and other subsequent games such as Super Mario 3D World . Super Mario Bros. ,

26492-487: The series since 1995, New Super Mario Bros. was released on the Nintendo DS in 2006. In it, Mario and Luigi set out to save Princess Peach from Bowser Jr. The gameplay is 2D, but most of the characters and objects are 3D on two-dimensional backgrounds, resulting in a 2.5D effect. The game uses an overworld map similar to those of Super Mario Bros. Deluxe . Some levels have multiple exits. The classic power-ups (Super Mushroom, Fire Flower and Super Star) return alongside

26671-456: The series. Mario pilots the armed Sky Pop biplane and Marine Pop submarine in Land . The Koopa Clown Car, aircraft of Bowser and the Koopalings, can sometimes shoot fireballs in Maker . Apart from automated objects in levels that may transport the player character, certain ridable animals and vehicles have appeared that the player controls. Mario's dinosaur friend Yoshi has appeared as a mount to

26850-416: The special worlds in 3D Land ; these feature lower gravity and reduced friction for Luigi. Later games allow four player simultaneous play. Other playable characters include Princess Peach, Princess Daisy , Toads , Yoshi , Rosalina, and Nabbit, among others. Characters are sometimes differentiated by special abilities. Mushroom power-ups appear in almost every Super Mario game. The most iconic of these

27029-402: The team building the console's hardware components, and Miyamoto spearheaded the development of a new type of controller, based on Gyration's motion-sensing technology. Iwata had proposed that this new console use motion sensing to simplify the gaming interface, increasing appeal to all audiences. An initial prototype was completed within six months. The Nintendo DS was said to have influenced

27208-488: The technical restraints of the system. Poochi is a dog featuring in Yoshi's Island who Yoshi can ride. Plesiosaurs Dorrie and Plessie can be ridden by the player characters in 64 and 3D World respectively, with Plessie serving a larger role in Bowser's Fury . Various vehicles that the player character can control have also appeared. These include a magic carpet in 2 , flying clouds in several 2D games, submarines in Land and Yoshi's Island , an airplane in Land ,

27387-459: The title came from the integration of the Super Mushroom into the game. The brothers Mario and Luigi must rescue Princess Toadstool/Peach from Bowser/King Koopa in the Mushroom Kingdom. The game consists of eight worlds of four levels each, totaling 32 levels altogether. Though the worlds differ in themes, the fourth level is always a fortress or castle that ends with a fight against Bowser (or one of his minions disguised as him). Super Mario Bros.

27566-487: The two gaming systems would be identical. Miyamoto also stated, "if the DS had flopped, we might have taken the Wii back to the drawing board." Prior to E3 2004, Iwata had referred to Nintendo's upcoming console offering as the GameCube Next (GCNext or GCN). Iwata first unveiled some details of Nintendo's new home console at E3 2004 under the codename "Revolution", as Iwata believed the console would revolutionize

27745-479: The unit. Nintendo strongly encouraged players to use the strap in case the Wii Remote accidentally slipped out of their hands. Nintendo recalled the original straps in December 2006 and provided a free, stronger strap as a replacement, as well as packaging the new strap in future bundles after the company faced legal challenges from users that reported damage to their homes from the Wii Remote slipping from their hands while playing. In October 2007, Nintendo also added

27924-536: The use of F.L.U.D.D. The game contains a number of independent levels, which can be reached from the hub, Delfino Plaza. Mario collects Shine Sprites by completing tasks in the levels, which in return unlock levels in Delfino Plaza by way of abilities and plot-related events. Sunshine introduces the last of Bowser's eight children, Bowser Jr. , as an antagonist. Yoshi also appears again for Mario to ride in certain sections. After no original 2D game releases in

28103-622: The varied controls leads to simple-but-charming fun." Reviewing the Virtual Console release, Nintendo Life praised the "impressive" musical score and "colorful" visuals. Electronic Gaming Monthly named Kirby Super Star a runner-up for Side-Scrolling Game of the Year (behind Guardian Heroes ). Gamesradar ranked the game at number 19 in their "The Best SNES Game of All Time." In 2018, Complex listed Kirby Super Star number 51 in its "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time." IGN rated Kirby Super Star 47th on their "Top 100 SNES Games." They praised

28282-430: The various buttons on the controller and relayed that to the Wii. The Wii launch bundle included the console; a stand to allow the console to be placed vertically; a plastic stabilizer for the main stand, one Wii Remote, a Nunchuk attachment for the Remote, a Sensor Bar and a removable stand for the bar to mount on a television set, an external power adapter , and two AA batteries for the Wii Remote. The bundle included

28461-411: The video game industry, such as adapting to online gaming. He also thought that video gaming had become too exclusive and wanted Nintendo to pursue gaming hardware and software that would appeal to all demographics. Nintendo's market analysis found that their focus on novel hardware had created consoles that made it difficult for third-party developers to create games for, hampering their position. One of

28640-620: The world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion." The name resulted in criticism and mockery. Forbes expressed a fear that the console would be seen as juvenile. BBC News reported the day after the name was announced that "a long list of puerile jokes, based on the name," had appeared on the Internet. Some video game developers and members of the press stated that they preferred "Revolution" over "Wii". Nintendo of America's Vice President of Corporate Affairs Perrin Kaplan defended

28819-485: Was a final boss , and Luigi , who first appeared in Mario Bros . Super Mario Bros. established many core Mario elements, such as Goombas , Koopa Troopas , Bowser, Peach, and its three power-ups: the Super Mushroom, increasing the character's size and providing an extra hit point , Fire Flower, allowing the character to throw fireballs as weapons, and Super Star, granting temporary invincibility. The "Super" in

28998-445: Was also the first in the series in which Kirby's appearance changed depending on his copy ability. The omnibus format was chosen because Sakurai noted most SNES and some NES games were of considerable length, and prices were high. Kirby Super Star served as "the antithesis to that trend," with Sakurai hoping to create sections with different stories and gameplay that appealed to both experienced and inexperienced players. Spring Breeze ,

29177-458: Was available in Japan on November 11, 2010, commemorating the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. The European version of the limited-edition red Wii bundle was released on October 29, 2010, which includes the original Donkey Kong game pre-installed onto the console, New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Wii Sports . The red Wii bundle was released in North America on November 7, 2010, with New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Wii Sports . All of

29356-431: Was considered the killer app for the console; other flagship games included entries in the Super Mario , Legend of Zelda , Pokémon , and Metroid series. Within a year of launch, the Wii became the best-selling seventh-generation console as well as a social phenomenon in many countries. Total lifetime sales of the Wii had reached over 101 million units, making it Nintendo's best-selling home console until it

29535-480: Was developed over approximately three years, with one year spent on the design concept and approximately two years on production. Production began on September 7, 1994, and concluded on May 20, 1996. Super Mario 64 is the first 3D and open world game in the series, and a launch game for the Nintendo 64 home console. Each level is an enclosed environment where the player is free to explore in all directions without time limits. The player collects Power Stars from

29714-550: Was discarded due to time constraints. Kagero Mansion was a horror game with an emphasis on action and puzzle elements; it saw Kirby stuck in a mansion and unable to inhale. HAL also planned to add a move that allowed Kirby to create an explosion from guarding, but cut the idea. The game's working title was Kirby of the Stars: Active , which "suggest[ed] that the game was more proactive and had more active gameplay." Mother series creator Shigesato Itoi came up with

29893-521: Was first released on December 7, 2012, exclusively in Canada with a MSRP of CA$ 99.99 . It was later released in Europe on March 22, 2013, and in the United States on November 17, 2013. The Canadian and European releases did not include a game, while Mario Kart Wii had been included in all launch bundles in the United States. Nintendo added several best-selling and critically acclaimed Wii games to its Nintendo Selects label and marketed those alongside

30072-404: Was first released on November 18, 2012 in North America; November 30, 2012 in Europe and Australia, and December 8, 2012 in Japan. Nintendo continued to sell the revised Wii model and the Wii Mini alongside the Wii U during the Wii U's first release year. During 2013, Nintendo began to sunset certain Wii online functions as they pushed consumers towards the Wii U as a replacement system or towards

30251-485: Was firstly named "GameCube Next" as a placeholder. The price of the new console was originally envisioned to be as low as 100 euros but the NAND flash memory desired by Satoru Iwata would force that price to slightly more than the double. Miyamoto cited Dance Dance Revolution 's unique game controllers as inspiration for developing new input devices. Later on September 24, 2001, Nintendo began working with Gyration Inc.,

30430-460: Was formally announced as the Wii in April 2006, a month prior to E3 2006 . Nintendo's spelling of "Wii" (with two lower-case "i" characters) was intended to represent both two people standing side by side, and the Wii Remote and its Nunchuk. In the company's announcement, they stated: "Wii sounds like 'we', which emphasizes that the console is for everyone. Wii can easily be remembered by people around

30609-554: Was including actions similar to those in fighting games . The third was an omnibus format." The addition of cooperative gameplay was something Shigeru Miyamoto requested. While Sakurai knew a SNES Kirby game would mean bigger, more detailed characters and graphics, he wanted to hear from Miyamoto before thinking about the foundation and other important aspects. Sakurai and Iwata traveled to Kyoto ; there, Miyamoto told them he wanted cooperative gameplay, something uncommon in side-scrolling platform games. Miyamoto had dreamed of creating

30788-423: Was launched in 2007 for the Wii . It is set in outer space , where Mario or Luigi travel between " galaxies " to collect Power Stars, earned by completing quests or defeating enemies. It introduced motion controls to the series. Each galaxy contains a number of planets and other space objects for the player to explore. The game's physics system gives each celestial object its own gravitational force, which lets

30967-537: Was not released outside Japan since Nintendo of America did not want the Super Mario series to be known to players outside Japan for frustrating difficulty. It remained inaccessible to a steadily broadening market of American video game players, becoming stylistically outdated by the time the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 could be eventually delivered to America. The game later debuted outside Japan in 1993 as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels in

31146-426: Was part of the Mario world, and that be conveyed whether through title or gameplay. To me, it's part of the Mario series, but today's Yoshi games? They've changed from those origins, so I think it's okay to think of Yoshi living in his own universe. You can think of it separately from Mario's world." In the early 1990s, director and producer Shigeru Miyamoto had conceived a 3D Mario design during development of

31325-436: Was released alongside Wii Fit in December 2007. It is a wireless balance board accessory for the Wii, with multiple pressure sensors used to measure the user's center of balance . Wii Fit offers a number of different exercise modes which monitored the player's position on the board, as well as exercise gamification, as to encourage players to exercise daily. In addition to use in Nintendo's Wii Fit Plus that expanded

31504-466: Was rereleased on the Wii and Wii U via Nintendo's Virtual Console digital distribution service. The Wii version was released in Japan in October 2009 and in the West in May 2010, and the Wii U version was released worldwide in May 2013. The game was also included in Kirby's Dream Collection (2012), a 20th anniversary compilation of Kirby titles for the Wii. Kirby Super Star is also included in

31683-481: Was subsequently nominated for and won the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella . Wii The Wii ( / w iː / , WEE ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo . It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, following

31862-470: Was surpassed by the Nintendo Switch in 2021. As of 2022, the Wii is the fifth-best-selling home console of all time . The Wii repositioned Nintendo as a key player in the video game console marketplace. The introduction of motion-controlled games via the Wii Remote led both Microsoft and Sony to develop their own competing products—the Kinect and PlayStation Move , respectively. Nintendo found that, while

32041-410: Was the third Kirby game he directed, following Kirby's Dream Land and Kirby's Adventure . Although a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) title, the Kirby Super Star prototype was developed for the original Nintendo Entertainment System . According to Sakurai, although the prototype was for internal use only, it was almost complete and some of Kirby's animations were nearly identical in

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