First off, the good news. Your copy of New Super Mario Bros. has a heretofore completely undiscovered secret mode of play, dubbed "Challenge Mode" by the creators. Certainly, this mere sentence has already launched your hopes and potential delight into the ionosphere.So, here's what's going to happen. You're going to take out your copy of NSMB right now, and turn it on. You're going to start up your game and go into the World Map pause screen. You'll then enter this button combination: L R L R X X Y Y. The screen will flash "Welcome to the secret Challenge mode". You'll enter a level of your choosing, and find out that what Nintendo considers a "challenge" is actually an almost inconsequential and possibly quite irritating facet of gameplay: in Challenge mode, the game will no longer allow you to backtrack in levels. You're going to then cry many tears of pain, for your hopes have been dashed 'gainst the sharp rocks of reality.
Okay, so it's a nice throwback to the old days of the original Super Mario Bros., and that's not actually a bad thing. Still, gamers these days prefer the option of backtracking for hidden coins and whatnot, and labelling such a minor addition as a secret Challenge mode is a bit of a faux pas, no?
[Update 1: Commenters are reporting that the code appears to function only once the game has been beaten. Why haven't you beaten it yet? Go go go!]
[Thanks, Lotsofno!]
_thumbnail.jpg "Mega Man Star Force 2")
_thumbnail.jpg "Rune Factory 2")
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
7-03-2006 @ 11:25PM
Josh said...
Very nice. The replay value of the game was just extended by two minutes as I inputted the code, tried
World 1-1, inputted the code again to disable Challenge Mode, and beat World 1-1 once more.
Nice, and the game looks excellent on my new DS Lite. Very very nice...
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7-04-2006 @ 12:17AM
Franky Digital said...
This is awesome! Gotta love those infuriating but awesome challenges. Can't wait to see how much it changes the game.
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7-04-2006 @ 1:06AM
Probot said...
Nintendo games aren't really known for their difficulty, so I'm glad they added this in.
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7-04-2006 @ 2:03AM
Metayoshi said...
Seems more like a nostalgic thing to do than a "challenge" to me. I rarely even backtracked in NSMB (Ok, maybe to get some of the gold star coins). Truthfully, the only levels that would piss me off with this feature turned on are the vertical levels and if you die if you go down. I can't test this right now because my friend is borrowing my NSMB. If only I knew this sooner.
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7-04-2006 @ 5:01AM
Jayenkai said...
"my friend is borrowing my NSMB."
Hehehe... You'll never get it back ;)
Can't get this to work, by the way, but then I've not quite completed the game just yet. World 8-Mini Castle 2's stupid slow moving green thing keeps getting me killed.. But then I'm impatient so that'll probably be why.
Perhaps you need to complete the game before it works..?
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7-04-2006 @ 5:31AM
ryan_rocks29 said...
I have completed the game and i can't get it to work, very strange.
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7-04-2006 @ 6:20AM
limerick said...
I got it to work but I don't know what it does exactly. If I finish, say, World 1-2, I won't be able to get back to World 1-1?
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7-04-2006 @ 6:34AM
Jayenkai said...
No, it makes the game play like Original SMB.
Basically during normal gameplay, as the screen scrolls towards the right it will then lock, and not scroll back to the left again.
Take World 1-1 as an example. Hit the brick to launch the Mega-Mushroom. If you wander to the right to hit the goomba, and the Mega-mushroom hops off to the left, beyond the left hand side of the screen, you then can't go back to get it, because the screen won't move back that way.
That's the way OSMB did it..
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7-04-2006 @ 9:51AM
FrenchPoodle said...
Nice! I want to know how people find these things out? Like do people just sit tehre and try out button combinations? Its always amazed me!
But sweet for the tip I'll use it once I finnish the game to have more fun with it :-)
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7-04-2006 @ 10:32AM
Marc said...
Damn, I still don't have the game! (curse you savings that aren't enough for a DS lite!)
As soon as that game is mine, This "Challenge mode" will be vanquished!
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7-04-2006 @ 3:13PM
Fortyseven said...
Took me a minute to figure this out, and then I re-read it a couple times and finally the important words "pause screen" registered in my head. Doh.
Awesome. ;D
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7-06-2006 @ 5:55PM
asurroca said...
Neat idea. Somehow, it leaves me wishing that Nintendo had implemented something simliar the points system the Xbox 360 uses. It would be nice getting some sort of kudos added to your Wi-Fi score or something for beating this challenge mode...
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7-06-2006 @ 8:46PM
Krunk said...
Im playing through the game again in this mode and I found that world 2 level 3 you can backtrack, this is the underground pipe level. You cannot beat this level without backtracking.
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7-07-2006 @ 11:14AM
andyr said...
I have really enjoyed revisiting my love afair with Super Mario Bros (original) and Super Mario World. Both seem nicely rapped up in this package.
I had been hoping for some unlockables like this. Something more akin to the mirror tracks in Mariokart would have been more of an interesting challenge. Who knows perhaps we just need to find the right code.
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7-07-2006 @ 9:31PM
Vance said...
Hey, i read everywhere that to get to locked worlds 4 and 7 you have to defeat the boss of the last castle of worlds 2 and 5 as mini mario........ok............how the F do you do that? there is no way to bp thgem on the head as mini mario, and no other way to beat them. please help me, thanks
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7-08-2006 @ 3:01AM
drew said...
jump over them!
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7-08-2006 @ 3:02AM
drew said...
Jump over them!
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7-08-2006 @ 12:26PM
oneshotbilly said...
u have to ground pound them...
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7-09-2006 @ 10:23AM
Wilerson said...
If it's too hard, you may leave your mini-mushroom in stock and use it before the last blow in the bosses. But it is not SO difficult to defeat the bosses as mini-Mario, you just have to time well your ground-pounds.
What IS difficult is to beat the final bosses as mini-Mario. Hell, it took me FOREVER to do it.
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7-12-2006 @ 12:00AM
JuJ said...
Hey anyone knows if there is a way to save your records in challenge mode? i mean can we know if we have beaten this or this lvl in challenge mode?
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