The game was first released in Japan on Jand was released in Europe, Australia, and North America in August 2012, and is the first Nintendo-published game to be released simultaneously in both digital and physical forms. The game is a direct sequel to New Super Mario Bros., released in 2006 for the Nintendo DS and is the third New Super Mario Bros. 2 is a side-scrolling platformer video game in the Super Mario series developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS handheld console.
